Boundaries in M-theory Original Research Article

We formulate boundary conditions for an open membrane that ends on the fivebrane of M-theory. We show that the dynamics of the eleven-dimensional fivebrane can be obtained from the quantization of a “small membrane” that is confined to a single fivebrane and which moves with the speed of light. This shows that the eleven-dimensional fivebrane has an interpretation as a D-brane of an open supermembrane as has recently been proposed by Strominger and Townsend. We briefly discuss the boundary dynamics of an infinitely extended planar membrane that is stretched between two parallel fivebranes.