Intersecting brane solutions in string and M-theory

Abstract

We review various aspects of configurations of intersecting branes, including the conditions for preservation of supersymmetry. In particular, we discuss the projection conditions on the Killing spinors for given brane configurations and the relation to calibrations. This highlights the close connection between intersecting branes and branes wrapping supersymmetric cycles as well as special holonomy manifolds. We also explain how these conditions can be used to find supergravity solutions without directly solving the Einstein equations. The description of intersecting branes is considered both in terms of the brane worldvolume theories and as supergravity solutions. There are well-known simple procedures (harmonic function rules) for writing down the supergravity solutions for supersymmetric configurations of orthogonally intersecting branes. However, such solutions involve smeared or delocalized branes. We describe several methods of constructing solutions with less smearing, including some fully localized solutions. Some applications of these supergravity solutions are also considered—in particular the study of black holes and gauge theories.