Supergravity and p-brane Ansatz

Abstract

This project explores the $D=11$ supergravity model and the properties of its p-brane ansatz. The initial field content (graviton, gravitino and the anti-symmetric tensor field) in the action of $D=11$ supergravity is explained in the context of supersymmetry. The action is then decomposed to the bosonic sector, which is compared with the $σ$-model in string theory at a low energy limit $α'\xrightarrow{}0$. The dilaton in the $D=10$ string theory can be realised from the dimensional reduction of $D=11$ supergravity, which gives the scalar contribution in the action to form the single-charge action. The field equation of the single-charged action is then derived. An $SO(D-d)\times Poincare_{d}$ ansatz is introduced to simplify the field equation. The solution of the field equation bifurcates into the electric ansatz and the magnetic ansatz. These ansatzes are called p-branes which are string-like objects that exist in their p-dimensional world volume embedded in the ambient spacetime. The BPS bounds are saturated for these p-branes, and upon dimensional reduction, they are similar to extremal Riessner-Nordstrom black holes up to the scalar. The branic motion is then derived and a special case of parallel brane orbit is explored. Similar to the Riessner-Nordstrom black hole, the circular orbit is found to require a specific angular momentum that increases further from the central brane. The circular orbit always exists for the extremal case, but the black branes that do not saturate the BPS bound may not have a circular orbit below a threshold angular momentum.