Casimir Effect Between World-Branes in Heterotic M-Theory

By M. Fabinger, Petr Hořava. 2000

162 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We study a non-supersymmetric E_8 × E_8 compactification of M-theory on S^1/Z_2, related to the supersymmetric E_8 × E_8 theory by a chirality flip at one of the boundaries. This system represents an M-theory analog of the D-brane anti-D-brane systems of string theory. Alternatively, this compactification can be viewed as a model of supersymmetry breaking in the “brane-world” approach to phenomenology. We calculate the Casimir energy of the system at large separations, and show that there is an attractive Casimir force between the E_8 × E_8 boundary. We predict that a tachyonic instability develops at separations of order the Planck scale, and discuss the possibility that the M-theory fivebrane might appear as a topological defect supported by the E_8 × E_8 system. Finally, we analyze the eventual fate of the configuration, in the semiclassical approximation at large separations: the two ends of the world annihilate by nucleating wormholes between the two boundaries.

Subfields: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics, Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5f051b63b5ab2c7f229dabef1b766c2633535f48

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In Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

1. E. Witten
2. J. Maldacena
3. R. Dijkgraaf
4. O. Aharony
5. E. Poppitz
6. G. Moore
7. J. Boer
8. E. Silverstein

In Nuclear and High Energy Physics

1. E. Witten
2. C. Vafa
3. J. Maldacena
4. N. Seiberg
5. Marcos Mariño
6. G. Moore
7. T. Takayanagi
8. E. Silverstein

In Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

1. E. Witten
2. Marcos Mariño
3. J. Maldacena
4. C. Vafa
5. G. Moore
6. T. Takayanagi
7. R. Dijkgraaf
8. E. Silverstein

Citations in the corpus

• Eternal black holes in anti-de Sitter (2001, background): “In fact the M2 brane is stretched between an end of the world ninebrane (at τ = 0) and an end of the world anti-ninebrane (at τ = β/2), as in [38].”
• A Derivation of K theory from M theory (2000, background): “merely a technical device, or is there an underlying physical meaning to this? (See [39] for some speculations related to this question.”
• Clean Time-Dependent String Backgrounds from Bubble Baths (2002, background): “7 In the case of M-theory it has been argued that this is closely related (in the regime of small r0) to the uncharged closed string tachyon instability [31].”
• Radion effective potential in the brane-world (2000, background): “In an interesting recent paper [12], Fabinger and Horava have considered the Casimir force in a brane-world scenario similar to the one discussed in this paper, where the internal space is topologically S(1)/Z2.”
• Don't Panic! Closed String Tachyons in ALE Spacetimes (2001, unknown): “August 2001”
• Triples, Fluxes, and Strings (2001, background): “Some of these hints suggest relations between the 3-fbrm and Es gauge bundles which are somewhat reminiscent of [3,4].”
• Overview of K theory applied to strings (2000, background): “The analog for M -theory involves E8 gauge bundles with connection [13,14,3].”
• Casimir Energy and Radius Stabilization in Five and Six Dimensional Orbifolds (2001, background): “We will only demand that the We note that all field theory orbifolds discussed in this paper have some periodic fermions, hence the nonperturbative instability of the Kaluza-Klein vacuum towards decay into “nothing,” pointed out in [19] and recently discussed in [15] is absent.”