Speaker
Description
M-Theory has been conjectured as a single theory in which we can find each of the various superstring theories, and as such provides a UV completion of 11d supergravity. Instead of strings, we have M2-branes and M5-branes. The classic Horava-Witten result says that a compactification of M-theory on $S^1/\mathbb{Z}_2$ retrieves the $E_8\times E_8$ heterotic theory, with the wrapped M2-brane as the "fundamental" string. In this work, we reproduce this result from the perspective of the ABJM theory, a world volume theory conjectured to capture the low-energy behaviour of multiple M2-branes. In particular, we find that the subtle nature of Chern-Simons matter theories delivers a new perspective on the GSO projection and the non-supersymmetric $SO(16)\times SO(16)$ heterotic theory.
