Spacetime as a membrane in higher dimensions

Abstract

By means of a simple model we investigate the possibility that spacetime is a membrane embedded in higher dimensions. We present cosmological solutions of d-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell theory which compactify to two dimensions. These solutions are analytically continued to obtain dual solutions in which a (d − 2)-dimensional Einstein spacetime “membrane” is embedded in d dimensions. The membrane solutions generalise Melvin's 4-dimensional flux tube solution. The flat membrane is shown to be classically stable. It is shown that there are zero mode solutions of the d-dimensional Dirac equation which are confined to a neighbourhood of the membrane and move within it like massless chiral (d − 2)-dimensional fermions. An investigation of the spectrum of scalar perturbations shows that a well-defined mass gap between the zero modes and massive modes can be obtained if there is a positive cosmological term in (d − 2) dimensions or a negative cosmological term in d dimensions.