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Regularization of the linearized gravitational self-force for branes.
Richard A Battye1, Brandon Carter, Andrew Mennim
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK11 9DL, United Kingdom.
Physical Review Letters
|June 1, 2004
Summary
Gravitational self-interaction is analyzed for branes in various dimensions. For codimension two, the gravitational self-force is zero, suppressing the cosmological constant problem in brane-world models.
Area of Science:
- Theoretical physics
- Gravitational physics
- String theory
Background:
- Investigating gravitational self-interaction is crucial for understanding higher-dimensional theories.
- Previous work established the vanishing self-force for strings in four dimensions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To generalize the analysis of gravitational self-interaction to branes of arbitrary codimension and spacetime dimension.
- To explore the implications of vanishing self-force for specific brane-world models, particularly the 3-brane in six dimensions.
Main Methods:
- Linearized gravitational self-interaction calculations.
- Analysis of Nambu-Goto equation of state for branes.
- Examination of brane-world models with specific dimensionalities.
Main Results:
- The gravitational self-force is exactly zero for a codimension two brane with a Nambu-Goto equation of state.
- This result generalizes previous findings for strings in four dimensions.
- A 3-brane in a six-dimensional spacetime exhibits special properties, including the local irrelevance of bare tension.
Conclusions:
- The vanishing gravitational self-force in codimension two scenarios offers a mechanism to suppress the cosmological constant problem.
- The 3-brane in six dimensions presents a unique case with implications for brane-world cosmology.
- Bare tension's local irrelevance highlights a significant feature of these specific brane configurations.