M-theory

In theoretical physics, M-theory is an extension of string theory in which

11 dimensions are identified. Because the dimensionality exceeds the
dimensionality of superstring theories in 10 dimensions, it is believed that
the 11-dimensional theory unites all five string theories (and supersedes
them). Though a full description of the theory is not yet known, the low-
entropy dynamics are known to be supergravity interacting with 2- and 5-
dimensional membranes.

This idea is the unique supersymmetric theory in eleven dimensions, with its
low-entropy matter content and interactions fully determined, and can be
obtained as the strong coupling limit of type IIA string theory because a
new dimension of space emerges as the coupling constant increases.

Drawing on the work of a number of string theorists (including Ashoke

Sen, Chris Hull, Paul Townsend, Michael Duff and John Schwarz),
Edward Witten of the Institute for Advanced Study suggested its existence
at a conference at USC in 1995, and used M-theory to explain a number
of previously observed dualities, sparking a flurry of new research in string
theory called the second superstring revolution.

In early 1990s, it was shown that the various superstring theories were
related by dualities, which allow physicists to relate the description of an
object in one super string theory to the description of a different object in
another super string theory. These relationships imply that each of the
super string theories is a different aspect of a single underlying theory,
proposed by Witten, and named "M-theory".

Originally the letter M in M-theory was taken from membrane, a

construct designed to generalize the strings of string theory. However, as
Witten was more skeptical about membranes than his colleagues, he opted
for "M-theory" rather than "Membrane theory". Witten has since stated
that the interpretation of the M can be a matter of taste for the user of the
name.[1]

M-theory (and string theory) has been criticized for lacking predictive
power or being untestable. Further work continues to find mathematical
constructs that join various surrounding theories. New formulations are
proposed to join many theoretic situations (usually by exploiting string
theoretic dualities). Witten has suggested that a general formulation of M-
theory will probably require the development of new mathematical
language.[citation needed] However, the tangible success of M-theory can
be questioned, given its current incompleteness and limited predictive
power, even after so many years of intense research.

History and development

Prior to May 1995

Prior to 1995 there were five (known) consistent superstring theories (henceforth referred to as string theories),
which were given the names Type I string theory, Type IIA string theory, Type IIB string theory, heterotic SO(32)
(the HO string) theory, and heterotic E8×E8 (the HE string) theory. The five theories all share essential features that
relate them to the name of string theory. Each theory is fundamentally based on vibrating, one dimensional strings at
approximately the length of the Planck length. Calculations have also shown that each theory requires more than the
normal four spacetime dimensions (although all extra dimensions are in fact spatial). However, when the theories are
analyzed in detail, significant differences appear.

Type I string theory and others

The Type I string theory has vibrating strings like the rest of the string theories. These strings vibrate both in closed
loops, so that the strings have no ends, and as open strings with two loose ends. The open loose strings are what
separates the Type I string theory from the other four string theories. This was a feature that the other string theories
did not contain.

String vibrational patterns

The calculations of the String Vibrational Patterns show that the list of string vibrational patterns and the way each
pattern interacts and influences others vary from one theory to another. These and other differences hindered the
development of the string theory as being the theory that united quantum mechanics and general relativity
successfully. Attempts by the physics community to eliminate four of the theories, leaving only one string theory,
have not been successful.

M-theory
M-theory attempts to unify the five string theories by examining certain identifications and dualities. Thus each of the
five string theories become special cases of M-theory.

As the names suggest, some of these string theories were thought to be related to each other. In the early 1990s,
string theorists discovered that some relations were so strong that they could be thought of as an identification.
Type IIA and Type IIB
The Type IIA string theory and the Type IIB string theory were known to be connected by T-duality; this
essentially meant that the IIA string theory description of a circle of radius R is exactly the same as the IIB
description of a circle of radius 1/R, where distances are measured in units of the Planck length.

This was a profound result. First, this was an intrinsically quantum mechanical result; the identification did not hold in
the realm of classical physics. Second, because it is possible to build up any space by gluing circles together in
various ways, it would seem that any space described by the IIA string theory can also be seen as a different space
described by the IIB theory. This implies that the IIA string theory can identify with the IIB string theory: any object
which can be described with the IIA theory has an equivalent, although seemingly different, description in terms of
the IIB theory. This suggests that the IIA string theory and the IIB string theory are really aspects of the same
underlying theory.

Other dualities
There are other dualities between the other string theories. The heterotic SO(32) and the heterotic E8×E8
theories[2][3] are also related by T-duality; the heterotic SO(32) description of a circle of radius R is exactly the
same as the heterotic E8×E8 description of a circle of radius 1/R. This implies that there are really only three
superstring theories, which might be called (for discussion) the Type I theory, the Type II theory, and the heterotic
theory.

There are still more dualities, however. The Type I string theory is related to the heterotic SO(32) theory by S-
duality; this means that the Type I description of weakly interacting particles can also be seen as the heterotic
SO(32) description of very strongly interacting particles. This identification is somewhat more subtle, in that it
identifies only extreme limits of the respective theories. String theorists have found strong evidence that the two
theories are really the same, even away from the extremely strong and extremely weak limits, but they do not yet
have a proof strong enough to satisfy mathematicians. However, it has become clear that the two theories are
related in some fashion; they appear as different limits of a single underlying theory.

Only two string theories

Given the above commonalities there appear to be only two string theories: the heterotic string theory (which is also
the type I string theory) and the type II theory. There are relations between these two theories as well, and these
relations are in fact strong enough to allow them to be identified.

Last step
This last step is best explained first in a certain limit. In order to describe our world, strings must be extremely tiny
objects. So when one studies string theory at low energies, it becomes difficult to see that strings are extended
objects — they become effectively zero-dimensional (pointlike). Consequently, the quantum theory describing the
low energy limit is a theory that describes the dynamics of these points moving in spacetime, rather than strings.
Such theories are called quantum field theories. However, since string theory also describes gravitational
interactions, one expects the low-energy theory to describe particles moving in gravitational backgrounds. Finally,
since superstring string theories are supersymmetric, one expects to see supersymmetry appearing in the low-energy
approximation. These three facts imply that the low-energy approximation to a superstring theory is a supergravity
theory.
Supergravity theories

The possible supergravity theories were classified by Werner Nahm in the 1970s. In 10 dimensions, there are only
two supergravity theories, which are denoted Type IIA and Type IIB. This similar denomination is not a
coincidence; the Type IIA string theory has the Type IIA supergravity theory as its low-energy limit and the Type
IIB string theory gives rise to Type IIB supergravity. The heterotic SO(32) and heterotic E8×E8 string theories also
reduce to Type IIA and Type IIB supergravity in the low-energy limit. This suggests that there may indeed be a
relation between the heterotic/Type I theories and the Type II theories.

In 1994, Edward Witten outlined the following relationship: The Type IIA supergravity (corresponding to the
heterotic SO(32) and Type IIA string theories) can be obtained by dimensional reduction from the single unique
eleven-dimensional supergravity theory. This means that if one studied supergravity on an eleven-dimensional
spacetime that looks like the product of a ten-dimensional spacetime with another very small one-dimensional
manifold, one gets the Type IIA supergravity theory. (And the Type IIB supergravity theory can be obtained by
using T-duality.) However, eleven-dimensional supergravity is not consistent on its own — it does not make sense
at extremely high energy, and likely requires some form of completion. It seems plausible, then, that there is some
quantum theory — which Witten dubbed M-theory — in eleven-dimensions which gives rise at low energies to
eleven-dimensional supergravity, and is related to ten-dimensional string theory by dimensional reduction.
Dimensional reduction to a circle yields the Type IIA string theory, and dimensional reduction to a line segment
yields the heterotic SO(32) string theory.
Same underlying theory
M-theory would implement the notion that all of the different string theories are different special cases.

Recent developments
In late 2007, Bagger and Lambert set off renewed interest in M-theory with the discovery of a candidate
Lagrangian description of coincident M2-branes, based on a non-associative generalization of Lie Algebra, Nambu
3-algebra or Filippov 3-algebra. Practitioners hope the Bagger-Lambert-Gustavsson action will provide the long-
sought microscopic description of M-theory.
Nomenclature
There are two issues to be dealt with here:

When Witten named M-theory, he did not specify what the "M" stood for, presumably because he did not
feel he had the right to name a theory which he had not been able to fully describe. According to Witten
himself, "'M' can stand for either 'magic', 'mystery', or 'matrix', according to taste."[4] According to the
BBC/TLC documentary Parallel Universes, the M stands for "membrane". Other suggestions by people
such as Michio Kaku, Michael Duff and Neil Turok in that documentary are "mother" (as in "mother of all
theories"), and "master" theory.[5]

Cynics have noted that the M might be an upside down "W", standing for Witten. Others have suggested that for
now, the "M" in M-theory should stand for Missing or Murky[6]. The various speculations as to what "M" in "M-
theory" stands for are explored in the PBS documentary based on Brian Greene's book The Elegant Universe.

The name M-theory is slightly ambiguous. It can be used to refer to both the particular eleven-dimensional
theory which Witten first proposed, or it can be used to refer to a kind of theory which looks in various limits
like the various string theories. Ashoke Sen has suggested that more general theory could go by the name U-
theory, which might stand for Ur, Uber, Ultimate, Underlying, or perhaps Unified. (It might also stand for U-
duality, which is both a reference to Sen's own work and a kind of particle physics pun.)

M-theory in the following descriptions refers to the more general theory, and will be specified when used in its more
limited sense.

M-theory and membranes

In the standard string theories, strings are assumed to be the single fundamental constituent of the universe. M-
theory adds another fundamental constituent - membranes. Like the tenth spatial dimension, the approximate
equations in the original five superstring models proved too weak to reveal membranes.

P-branes
A membrane, or brane, is a multidimensional object, usually called a P-brane, with P referring to the number of
dimensions in which it exists. The value of 'P' can range from zero to nine, thus giving branes dimensions from zero
(0-brane ≡ point particle) to nine - five more than the world we are accustomed to inhabiting. The inclusion of p-
branes does not render previous work in string theory wrong on account of not taking note of these P-branes. P-
branes
massiveare much
than morethey
strings, massive
can be("heavier") than
ignored, as strings, and
researchers hadwhen
doneallunknowingly
higher-dimensional P-branes are much more
in the 1970s.
Strings with "loose ends"

Shortly after Witten's breakthrough in 1995, Joseph Polchinski of the University of California, Santa Barbara
discovered a fairly obscure feature of string theory. He found that in certain situations the endpoints of strings
(strings with "loose ends") would not be able to move with complete freedom as they were attached, or stuck within
certain regions of space. Polchinski then reasoned that if the endpoints of open strings are restricted to move within
some p-dimensional region of space, then that region of space must be occupied by a p-brane. These type of
"sticky" branes are called Dirichlet-P-branes, or D-p-branes. His calculations showed that the newly discovered D-
P-branes had exactly the right properties to be the objects that exert a tight grip on the open string endpoints, thus
holding down these strings within the p-dimensional region of space they fill.

Strings with closed loops

Not all strings are confined to p-branes. Strings with closed loops, like the graviton, are completely free to move
from membrane to membrane. Of the four force carrier particles, the graviton is unique in this way. Researchers
speculate that this is the reason why investigation through the weak force, the strong force, and the electromagnetic
force have not hinted at the possibility of extra dimensions. These force carrier particles are strings with endpoints
that confine them to their p-branes. Further testing is needed in order to show that extra spatial dimensions indeed
exist through experimentation with gravity.

Membrane interactions
One of the reasons M-theory is so difficult to formulate is that the numbers of different types of membranes in the
various dimensions increases exponentially. For example once one gets to 3 dimensional surfaces, one has to deal
with solid objects with knot-shaped holes, and then one needs the whole of knot theory just to classify them. Since
M-theory is thought to operate in 11 dimensions this problem then becomes very difficult. But just like string theory,
in order for the theory to satisfy causality, the theory must be local, and so the topology changing must occur at a
single point. The basic orientable 2-brane interactions are easy to show. Orientable 2-branes are tori with multiple
holes cut out of them.

Matrix theory
The original formulation of M-theory was in terms of a (relatively) low-energy effective field theory, called 11-
dimensional Supergravity. Though this formulation provided a key link to the low-energy limits of string theories, it
was recognized that a full high-energy formulation (or "UV-completion") of M-theory was needed.

Analogy with water

For an analogy, the Super gravity description is like treating water as a continuous, incompressible fluid. This is
effective for describing long-distance effects such as waves and currents, but inadequate to understand short-
distance/high-energy phenomena such as evaporation, for which a description of the underlying molecules is
needed. What, then, are the underlying degrees of freedom of M-theory?

BFSS model
Banks, Fischler, Shenker and Susskind (BFSS) conjectured that Matrix theory could provide the answer. They
demonstrated that a theory of 9 very large matrices, evolving in time, could reproduce the Super gravity description
at low energy, but take over for it as it breaks down at high energy. While the Super gravity description assumes a
continuous space-time, Matrix theory predicts that, at short distances, non-commutative geometry takes over,
somewhat similar to the way the continuum of water breaks down at short distances in favor of the graininess of
molecules.

IKKT model

Another matrix string theory equivalent to Type IIB string theory was constructed in 1996 by Ishibashi, Kawai,
Kitazawa, and Tsuchiya.

Mysterious duality

There is a duality theory called mysterious duality relating M-theory and the geometry of del Pezzo surfaces.