Tachyon condensation in noncommutative gauge theory Original Research Article

We show that the decay of the D2–D2 system with large worldvolume magnetic fields can be described in noncommutative gauge theory. Tachyon condensation in this system describes the annihilation of D2–D2 into D0-branes. From the (2+1)-dimensional point of view, this is the decay of a nonabelian magnetic flux into vortices. The semiclassical approximation is valid over a long period of the decay. Our analysis allows us to clarify earlier results in the literature related to tachyon condensation and noncommutative gauge theory.