Sonia Stanciu

Nonsemisimple Sugawara construction

Abstract By a Sugawara construction we mean a generalized Virasoro construction in which the currents are primary fields of conformal weight one. For simple Lie algebras, this singles out the standard Sugawara construction out of all the solutions to the Virasoro master equation. Examples of nonsemisimple Sugawara constructions have appeared recently. They share the properties that the Virasoro central charge is an integer equal to the dimension of the Lie algebra and that they can be obtained by high-level contraction of reductive Sugawara constructions: they thus correspond to free bosons. Exploiting a recent structure theorem for Lie algebras with an invariant metric, we are able to unify all the known constructions under the same formalism and, at the same time, to prove several results about the Sugawara constructions. In particular, we prove that all such constructions factorize into a standard (semisimple) Sugawara construction and a nonsemisimple one (with integral central charge) of a form which generalizes the nonsemisimple examples known so far.

D-BRANES IN AN AdS3 BACKGROUND ∗

We study the possible D-brane configurations in an AdS3 × S3 × T4 background with a NS-NS B field. We use its WZW model description and the boundary state formalism, and we analyse the bosonic and the N = 1 supersymmetric cases separately. We also discuss the corresponding classical open string sigma model. We determine the spacetime supersymmetry preserved by the supersymmetric D-brane configurations.

Planes, branes and automorphisms: II. Branes in motion

We complete the classification of supersymmetric configurations of two M5-branes, started by Ohta and Townsend. The novel configurations not considered before are those in which the two branes are moving relative to one another. These configurations are obtained by starting with two coincident branes and Lorentz-transforming one of them while preserving some supersymmetry. We completely classify the supersymmetric configurations involving two M5-branes, and interpret them group-theoretically. We also present some partial results on supersymmetric configurations involving an arbitrary number of M5-branes. We show that these configurations correspond to Cayley planes in eight-dimensions which are null-rotated relative to each other in the remaining (2+1) dimensions. The generic configuration preserves 1/32 of the supersymmetry, but other fractions (up to 1/4) are possible by restricting the planes to certain subsets of the Cayley grassmannian. We discuss some examples with larger fractions as well as their associated geometries.

D-brane charge, flux quantization and relative (co)homology

We reconsider the problem of U(1) flux and D0-charge for D-branes in the WZW model and investigate the relationship between the different definitions that have been proposed recently. We identify the D0-charge as a particular reduction of a class in the relative cohomology of the group modulo the D-submanifold. We investigate under which conditions this class is equivalent to the first Chern class of a line bundle on the D-submanifold and we find that in general there is an obstruction given by the cohomology class of the NS 3-form. Therefore we conclude that for topologically nontrivial B-fields, there is strictly speaking no U(1) gauge field on the D-submanifold. Nevertheless the ambiguity in the flux is not detected by the D0-charge. This has a natural interpretation in terms of gerbes.

A note on D-branes in group manifolds: flux quantisation and D0-charge

We show that a D-brane in a group manifold given by a (twisted) conjugacy class is characterised by a gauge invariant two-form field determined in terms of the matrix of gluing conditions. Using a quantisation argument based on the path integral one obtains the known quantisation condition for the corresponding D-branes. We find no evidence for the existence of a quantised U(1) gauge field flux. We propose an expression for the D0 charge of such D-branes.

More D-branes in the Nappi-Witten background

We re-examine the problem of determining the possible D-branes in the Nappi-Witten background. In addition to the known branes, we find that there are also D-instantons, flat euclidean D-strings and curved D-membranes admitting parallel spinors, all of which can be interpreted as (twisted) conjugacy classes in the Nappi-Witten group.

On the structure of symmetric self‐dual Lie algebras

A finite‐dimensional Lie algebra is called (symmetric) self‐dual, if it possesses an invariant nondegenerate (symmetric) bilinear form. Symmetric self‐dual Lie algebras have been studied by Medina and Revoy, who have proven a very useful theorem about their structure. In this paper we prove a refinement of their theorem that has wide applicability in conformal field theory, where symmetric self‐dual Lie algebras start to play an important role due to the fact that they are precisely the Lie algebras that admit a Sugawara construction. We also prove a few corollaries that are important in conformal field theory.

Penrose limits of Lie Branes and a Nappi-Witten braneworld

Departing from the observation that the Penrose limit of AdS3 × S3 is a group contraction in the sense of Inonu and Wigner, we explore the relation between the symmetric D-branes of AdS3 × S3 and those of its Penrose limit, a six-dimensional symmetric plane wave analogous to the four-dimensional Nappi–Witten spacetime. Both backgrounds are Lie groups admitting bi-invariant lorentzian metrics and symmetric D-branes wrap their (twisted) conjugacy classes. We determine the (twisted and untwisted) symmetric D-branes in the plane wave background and we prove the existence of a space-filling D5-brane and, separately, of a foliation by D3-branes with the geometry of the Nappi-Witten spacetime which can be understood as the Penrose limit of the AdS2 × S2 D3-brane in AdS3 × S3. Parenthetically we also derive a simple criterion for a symmetric plane wave to be isometric to a lorentzian Lie group. In particular we observe that the maximally supersymmetric plane wave in IIB string theory is isometric to a lorentzian Lie group, whereas the one in M-theory is not.

D-branes in curved spacetime

We find exact D-brane configurations in the Nappi-Witten background using the boundary state approach and describe how they are related by T-duality transformations. We also show that the classical boundary conditions of the associated sigma model correspond to a field dependent automorphism relating the chiral currents and discuss the correspondence between the boundary state approach and the sigma model approach.We find exact D-brane configurations in the Nappi-Witten background using the boundary state approach and describe how they are related by T-duality transformations. We also show that the classical boundary conditions of the associated sigma model correspond to a field dependent automorphism relating the chiral currents and discuss the correspondence between the boundary state approach and the sigma model approach.

D-BRANES IN KAZAMA-SUZUKI MODELS

Abstract We investigate boundary states of D-branes wrapped around supersymmetric cycles in Kazama-Suzuki models. We show that the geometry of the D-branes corresponds to a generalisation of calibrated geometry. We comment on the link with the geometry of the coset space and discuss how T -duality maps between these boundary states.