Brane death via Born-Infeld string

Oct, 1998
6 pages
e-Print:
Report number:
  • PUPT-1818

Citations per year

199820002002200420061750
Abstract:
I revisit the solution of Born-Infeld theory which corresponds to a 3-brane and anti-brane joined by a (fundamental) string. The global instability of this configuration makes possible the semiclassical tunneling into a wide, short tube which keeps expanding out, thus annihilating the brane . This tunneling is suppressed exponentially as exp(Scl/g)\exp(- S_{cl}/g). The attraction between the branes causes them to approach and at some point to tunnel, because the action of the bounce solution goes to zero. The energy of the solution at the top of the barrier, the sphaleron, goes like D3\sim D^3 for large separarions D, while the energy of the string is proportional to its length D.
  • membrane model: p-brane
  • p-brane: 3
  • string model
  • Born-Infeld model
  • field equations: solution
  • energy