Brane

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Brane

In theoretical physics

Theoretical physics

Theoretical physics employs mathematical models and abstractions of physics in an attempt to explain experimental data taken of the natural world....
, a membrane, brane, or p-brane is a spatially extended mathematical concept that appears in string theory
String theory

String theory is a developing branch of theoretical physics that combines quantum mechanics and general relativity into a quantum gravity. The String s of string theory are one-dimensional oscillating lines, but they are no longer considered fundamental to the theory, which can be formulated in terms of points or surfaces too....
and its relatives (M-theory
M-theory

In theoretical physics, M-theory is a new limit of string theory in which 11 dimensions of spacetime may be identified. Because the dimensionality exceeds the dimensionality of five superstring theories in 10 dimensions, it was originally believed that the 11-dimensional theory is more fundamental and unifies all string theories ....
and brane cosmology
Brane cosmology

Brane cosmology refers to several theories in particle physics and physical cosmology motivated by, but not exclusively derived from, superstring theory and M-theory....
) that exists in a static number of dimensions. The variable p refers to the number of spatial dimensions
Dimensions

Dimensions is a France project that makes educational movies about mathematics, focusing on Euclidean space. It uses POV-Ray to render some of the animations, and the films are release under a Creative Commons licence....
of the brane. That is, a 0-brane is a zero-dimensional pointlike particle, a 1-brane is a string, a 2-brane is a "membrane", etc. Every p-brane sweeps out a (p+1)-dimensional world volume
World line

In physics, the world line of an object is the unique path of that object as it travels through 4-dimensional spacetime.The concept of "world line" is distinguished from the concept of "orbit" or "trajectory" by the time dimension, and typically encompasses a large area of spacetime wherein perception straight paths are recalculated to...
as it propagates through spacetime
Spacetime

In physics, spacetime is any mathematical model that combines space and Time in physics into a single continuum . Spacetime is usually interpreted with space being Three-dimensional space and time playing the role of a fourth dimension that is of a different sort than the spatial dimensions....
.

Description
Originally string theory was a theory of 1-branes called string
String (physics)

A string is one of the main objects of study in string theory, a branch of theoretical physics. There are different string theory, many of which are unified by M-theory....
s.

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Encyclopedia

In theoretical physics
Theoretical physics

Theoretical physics employs mathematical models and abstractions of physics in an attempt to explain experimental data taken of the natural world....
, a membrane, brane, or p-brane is a spatially extended mathematical concept that appears in string theory
String theory

String theory is a developing branch of theoretical physics that combines quantum mechanics and general relativity into a quantum gravity. The String s of string theory are one-dimensional oscillating lines, but they are no longer considered fundamental to the theory, which can be formulated in terms of points or surfaces too....
and its relatives (M-theory
M-theory

In theoretical physics, M-theory is a new limit of string theory in which 11 dimensions of spacetime may be identified. Because the dimensionality exceeds the dimensionality of five superstring theories in 10 dimensions, it was originally believed that the 11-dimensional theory is more fundamental and unifies all string theories ....
and brane cosmology
Brane cosmology

Brane cosmology refers to several theories in particle physics and physical cosmology motivated by, but not exclusively derived from, superstring theory and M-theory....
) that exists in a static number of dimensions. The variable p refers to the number of spatial dimensions
Dimensions

Dimensions is a France project that makes educational movies about mathematics, focusing on Euclidean space. It uses POV-Ray to render some of the animations, and the films are release under a Creative Commons licence....
of the brane. That is, a 0-brane is a zero-dimensional pointlike particle, a 1-brane is a string, a 2-brane is a "membrane", etc. Every p-brane sweeps out a (p+1)-dimensional world volume
World line

In physics, the world line of an object is the unique path of that object as it travels through 4-dimensional spacetime.The concept of "world line" is distinguished from the concept of "orbit" or "trajectory" by the time dimension, and typically encompasses a large area of spacetime wherein perception straight paths are recalculated to...
as it propagates through spacetime
Spacetime

In physics, spacetime is any mathematical model that combines space and Time in physics into a single continuum . Spacetime is usually interpreted with space being Three-dimensional space and time playing the role of a fourth dimension that is of a different sort than the spatial dimensions....
.

Description

Originally string theory was a theory of 1-branes called string
String (physics)

A string is one of the main objects of study in string theory, a branch of theoretical physics. There are different string theory, many of which are unified by M-theory....
s. By the mid-1990s it became apparent that the theory could be extended to also include higher dimensional objects. Typically these objects are non-perturbative features of the theory (meaning they do not appear in perturbation theory
Perturbation theory (quantum mechanics)

In quantum mechanics, perturbation theory is a set of approximation schemes directly related to mathematical perturbation theory for describing a complicated quantum system in terms of a simpler one....
).

Besides the fundamental string (or F-string) of string theory and its magnetic dual, the NS5-brane
NS5-brane

In theoretical physics, the NS5-brane is a five-dimensional object in string theory that carries a magnetic charge under the B-field, the field under which the fundamental string is electrically charged....
, the most important type of branes that appear are the D-brane
D-brane

In string theory, D-branes are a class of extended objects upon which open string s can end with Dirichlet boundary conditions, after which they are named....
s. Different types of D-branes appear in different theories. Even Dn-branes for n appear in type IIA string theory where as the odd Dp-branes appear in type IIB string theory.

With the development of M-theory
M-theory

In theoretical physics, M-theory is a new limit of string theory in which 11 dimensions of spacetime may be identified. Because the dimensionality exceeds the dimensionality of five superstring theories in 10 dimensions, it was originally believed that the 11-dimensional theory is more fundamental and unifies all string theories ....
, an extra dimension appeared and the fundamental string of string theory became a 2-dimensional membrane called an M2-brane (or supermembrane). Its magnetical dual is an M5-brane. The various branes of string theory are thought to be related to these higher dimensional M5-branes wrapped on various cycles.

The M-theory states that strings of energy could grow into larger membranes or branes up to even the size of the universe.

It also goes on to state that these strings need to vibrate in more than three dimensions (six) plus another dimension – time
Time

Time is a component of the measurement used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify the motions of objects....
.

See also

Black brane
Black brane

In general relativity, a black brane is a solution of the equations that generalizes a black hole solution but it is also extended ?and translationally symmetric? in p additional spatial dimensions....
Brane cosmology
Brane cosmology

Brane cosmology refers to several theories in particle physics and physical cosmology motivated by, but not exclusively derived from, superstring theory and M-theory....
Cyclic Universe Theory
D-brane
D-brane

In string theory, D-branes are a class of extended objects upon which open string s can end with Dirichlet boundary conditions, after which they are named....
S-brane
S-brane

In string theory, S-brane is a hypothetical and controversial counterpart of a D-brane, which, unlike a D-brane, is localized in time. It is thought to be extended in the space-like/temporal directions only, but is otherwise analogous to P-branes....
Multiverse
Multiverse

The multiverse is the hypothetical set of multiple possible universes that together comprise all of reality.Multiverse may also refer to:...

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