In M-Theory are membranes excited states of a field?

Question

Are M2 and M5 membranes in M-Theory excited states of some underlying field, or are they fundamental? In what sense are membranes solitonic?

In the reference question, someone made a comment that had no reply and I am just as curious

"My question is, what is the M brane itself? Is there an underlying M brane field where the branes are excitations of the field? Or is the M brane simply a fundamental object made out of no fields?"

I am confused what an M Brane really is. M2 membranes are strings when you compatify a membrane on a circle, if I am not wrong, so this means all strings and branes are really just solitons?

Kosm · Answer 1 · 2019-04-13T15:59:32.860

0

M2-brane is a classical solution to the equations of motion of 11 dimensional supergravity. It couples electrically to the three-form field (a.k.a. C-field) of 11D SUGRA, while there is also an object that couples to the C-field magnetically -- M5-brane. Thus M2 and M5 are magnetic duals of each other. They can be considered fundamental similarly to strings and D-branes in string theories, but its not clear what they become in full M-theory.

edited Apr 13 '19 at 15:59

answered Apr 13 '19 at 15:54

Kosm

2,706

Strings and branes in string theory are the membranes in M-Theory correct? This means all strings and branes are just solitons? – S. Beck Apr 13 '19 at 16:28
@S.Beck No, it's not that simple. There are dualities between certain types of D-branes and M-branes. But we can only study M-branes as supergravity objects, full picture is not available without full M-theory – Kosm Apr 13 '19 at 17:41

In M-Theory are membranes excited states of a field?

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