Brane

For other uses, see Brane (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Brain.

In string theory and related theories such as supergravity

theories, a brane is a physical object that general-
izes the notion of a point particle to higher dimen-
sions. Branes are dynamical objects which can propagate
through spacetime according to the rules of quantum me-
chanics. They have mass and can have other attributes
such as charge.
Mathematically, branes can be represented within
categories, and are studied in pure mathematics
for insight into homological mirror symmetry and
Open strings attached to a pair of D-branes
noncommutative geometry.

in the standard model of particle physics. This connec-

1 p-branes
A point particle can be viewed as a brane of dimension of the AdS/CFT correspondence, a theoretical tool that
zero, while a string can be viewed as a brane of dimension physicists use to translate difficult problems in gauge the-
one.
In addition to point particles and strings, it is possible
to consider higher-dimensional branes. A p-dimensional
brane is generally called "p-brane”. The word “brane”
comes from the word “membrane” which refers to a two- 3 Categorical description
dimensional brane.[1]
A p-brane sweeps out a (p+1)-dimensional volume in
spacetime called its worldvolume. Physicists often study
fields analogous to the electromagnetic field, which live on
the worldvolume of a brane.[2]
2 D-branes
Main article: D-brane
In string theory, a string may be open (forming a segment
with two endpoints) or closed (forming a closed loop). D-
branes are an important class of branes that arise when
one considers open strings. As an open string propagates
through spacetime, its endpoints are required to lie on a
D-brane. The letter “D” in D-brane refers to Dirichlet
boundary condition, which the D-brane satisfies.[3]
One crucial point about D-branes is that the dynamics on
the D-brane worldvolume is described by a gauge the-
ory, a kind of highly symmetric physical theory which is
also used to describe the behavior of elementary particles
tion has led to important insights into gauge theory and
quantum field theory. For example, it led to the discovery
ory into more mathematically tractable problems in string
theory.[4]
Mathematically, branes can be described using the notion
of a category.[5] This is a mathematical structure con-
sisting of objects, and for any pair of objects, a set of
morphisms between them. In most examples, the objects
are mathematical structures (such as sets, vector spaces,
or topological spaces) and the morphisms are functions
between these structures.[6] One can also consider cate-
gories where the objects are D-branes and the morphisms
between two branes α and β are states of open strings
stretched between α and β .[7]
In one version of string theory known as the topological
B-model, the D-branes are complex submanifolds of
certain six-dimensional shapes called Calabi–Yau man-
ifolds, together with additional data that arise physically
from having charges at the endpoints of strings.[8] Intu-
itively, one can think of a submanifold as a surface em-
bedded inside of a Calabi–Yau manifold, although sub-
manifolds can also exist in dimensions different from
two.[9] In mathematical language, the category having
these branes as its objects is known as the derived cat-
egory of coherent sheaves on the Calabi–Yau.[10] In an-
other version of string theory called the topological A-

1
2 6 REFERENCES

• M5-brane
• NS5-brane

5 Notes
[1] Moore 2005, p. 214

[2] Moore 2005, p. 214

[3] Moore 2005, p. 215

[4] Moore 2005, p. 215

[5] Aspinwall et al. 2009

[6] A basic reference on category theory is Mac Lane 1998.

[7] Zaslow 2008, p. 536

[8] Zaslow 2008, p. 536

A cross section of a Calabi–Yau manifold [9] Yau and Nadis 2010, p. 165

[10] Aspinwal et al. 2009, p. 575

model, the D-branes can again be viewed as submani- [11] Aspinwal et al. 2009, p. 575
folds of a Calabi–Yau manifold. Roughly speaking, they
are what mathematicians call special Lagrangian subman- [12] Yau and Nadis 2010, p. 175
ifolds.[11] This means among other things that they have [13] Aspinwal et al. 2009, p. 575
half the dimension of the space in which they sit, and they
are length-, area-, or volume-minimizing.[12] The cate- [14] Yau and Nadis 2010, pp. 180–1
gory having these branes as its objects is called the Fukaya [15] Zaslow 2008, p. 531
category.[13]
[16] Aspinwall et al. 2009, p. 616
The derived category of coherent sheaves is constructed
using tools from complex geometry, a branch of math- [17] Yau and Nadis 2010, p. 181
ematics that describes geometric curves in algebraic
terms and solves geometric problems using algebraic
equations.[14] On the other hand, the Fukaya category 6 References
is constructed using symplectic geometry, a branch of
mathematics that arose from studies of classical physics. • Aspinwall, Paul; Bridgeland, Tom; Craw, Alastair;
Symplectic geometry studies spaces equipped with a Douglas, Michael; Gross, Mark; Kapustin, Anton;
symplectic form, a mathematical tool that can be used Moore, Gregory; Segal, Graeme; Szendröi, Balázs;
to compute area in two-dimensional examples.[15] Wilson, P.M.H., eds. (2009). Dirichlet Branes and
The homological mirror symmetry conjecture of Maxim Mirror Symmetry. American Mathematical Society.
Kontsevich states that the derived category of coherent ISBN 978-0-8218-3848-8.
sheaves on one Calabi–Yau manifold is equivalent in a • Mac Lane, Saunders (1998). Categories for the
certain sense to the Fukaya category of a completely Working Mathematician. ISBN 978-0-387-98403-
different Calabi–Yau manifold.[16] This equivalence pro- 2.
vides an unexpected bridge between two branches of ge-
ometry, namely complex and symplectic geometry.[17] • Moore, Gregory (2005). “What is ... a Brane?"
(PDF). Notices of the AMS. 52: 214. Retrieved June
2013. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
4 See also • Yau, Shing-Tung; Nadis, Steve (2010). The Shape
of Inner Space: String Theory and the Geometry of
• Black brane the Universe’s Hidden Dimensions. Basic Books.
ISBN 978-0-465-02023-2.
• Brane cosmology
• Zaslow, Eric (2008). “Mirror Symmetry”. In Gow-
• Dirac membrane ers, Timothy. The Princeton Companion to Mathe-
matics. ISBN 978-0-691-11880-2.
• M2-brane
 3

7 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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