M-Fivebrane from the Open Supermembrane

TL;DR

The paper addresses deriving covariant M-fivebrane dynamics from the kappa-symmetry of an open supermembrane ending on the M-fivebrane. It develops a covariant open-membrane action with boundary coupling to the fivebrane's worldvolume B-field and analyzes kappa-symmetry to obtain the essential constraints, namely a superembedding condition and a modified three-form constraint, which together reproduce the M5-brane equations of motion. The analysis clarifies how boundary terms and potential modifications to Bianchi identities enter but focuses on the bulk equations of motion for the fivebrane. The work provides a unified covariant framework linking open membrane endpoints to M5 dynamics and suggests broad generalizations to D-branes, heterotic fivebranes, and open branes in curved backgrounds, with possible matrix-model perspectives.

Abstract

Covariant field equations of M-fivebrane in eleven dimensional curved superspace are obtained from the requirement of kappa-symmetry of an open supermembrane ending on a fivebrane. The worldvolume of the latter is a (6|16) dimensional supermanifold embedded in the (11|32) dimensional target superspace. The kappa-symmetry of the system imposes a constraint on this embedding, and a constraint on a modified super 3-form field strength on the fivebrane worldvolume. These constraints govern the dynamics of the M-fivebrane.