Resolving anti-brane singularities through time-dependence

TL;DR

This work addresses flux singularities arising from anti-D$3$ branes in flux backgrounds such as the Klebanov–Strassler throat. It proposes a time-dependent resolution in which flux clumps toward the anti-brane and undergoes brane–flux annihilation, governed by a flux-clumping parameter $\lambda$. The analysis shows that increasing $\lambda$ lowers or eliminates the KPV metastable barrier (with a critical value $\lambda_c$ scaling as $\lambda_c\sim (b_0^6/\pi)(p/M)^{-1/2}$ in the small $p/M$ limit), leading to a time-dependent evolution toward the SUSY vacuum. This framework resolves static flux singularities and implies that backreaction and open-string effects crucially alter the dynamics, with potential implications for de Sitter model-building and the role of brane polarisation in smoothing singularities.

Abstract

In this note we discuss a possible resolution of the flux singularities associated with the insertion of branes in backgrounds supported by fluxes that carry charges opposite to the branes. We present qualitative arguments that such a setup could be unstable both in the closed and open string sector. The singularities in the fluxes then get naturally resolved by taking the true solution to be a time-dependent process in which flux gets attracted towards the brane and subsequently annihilates.

Figures (2)

• Figure 1: The clumping of a positively charged fluid near a negatively charged particle.
• Figure 2: The effective potential relevant for the NS$5$-motion, plotted for different values of $\lambda$.