matrix theory - [jnl article] - t. banks

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1、RU-97-76MatrixTheoryT.Banks11DepartmentofPhysicsandAstronomyRutgersUniversity,Piscataway,NJ08855-0849banks@physics.rutgers.eduThisisanexpandedversionoftalksgivenbytheauthorattheTriesteSpringSchoolonSupergravityandSuperstringsinAprilof1997andattheaccompanyingworkshop.Themanuscriptis

2、intendedtobeamini-reviewofMatrixTheory.Themotivationsandsomeoftheevidenceforthetheoryarepresented,aswellasaclearstatementofthecurrentpuzzlesaboutcompactificationtolowdimensions.arXiv:hep-th/9710231v224Dec1997September19971.INTRODUCTION1.1.MTheoryMtheoryisamisnomer.Itisnotatheory,but

3、ratheracollectionoffactsandargumentswhichsuggesttheexistenceofatheory.TheliteratureonthesubjectisevensomewhatschizophrenicabouttheprecisemeaningofthetermMtheory.Forsomeauthorsitrepresentsanotherelementinalonglistofclassicalvacuumconfigurationsof“thetheoryformerlyknownasString”.Forot

4、hersitistheoverarchingurtheoryitself.Wewillseethatthisdichotomyoriginatesinadeepquestionaboutthenatureofthetheory,whichwewilldiscussextensively,butnotresolvedefinitively.IntheselectureswewillusethetermMtheorytodescribethetheorywhichunderliesthevariousstringperturbationexpansions.Wew

5、illcharacterizetheelevendimensionalquantumtheorywhoselowenergylimitissupergravity(SUGRA)withphraseslike“theelevendimensionallimitofMtheory”.MtheoryarosefromacollectionofargumentsindicatingthatthestronglycoupledlimitofTypeIIAsuperstringtheoryisdescribedatlowenergiesbyelevendimension

6、alsupergravity[1].Briefly,andsomewhatanachronistically,theargumenthingesontheexistenceofD0branesolitonsofTypeIIAstringtheory[2].Thesearepointlike(inthetendimensionalsense),Bogolmonyi-Prasad-Sommerfield(BPS)states1,withmass1.Ifonemakesthenaturalassumption[3]thatthereisathresholdbounds

7、tateoflSgSND0branesforanyN,thenonefindsinthestrongcouplinglimitaspectrumoflowenergystatescoincidingwiththespectrumofelevendimensionalsupergravity2.ThegeneralpropertiesofMtheoryarederivedsimplybyexploitingthisfact,togetherwiththeassumedexistenceofmembranesandfivebranesoftheelevendimen

8、sionaltheory3,onvariouspar