Colliding Branes and Formation of Spacetime Singularities

Abstract

We construct a class of analytic solutions with two free parameters to the five-dimensional Einstein field equations, which represents the collision of two timelike 3-branes. We study the local and global properties of the spacetime, and find that spacelike singularities generically develop after the collision, due to the mutual focus of the two branes. Non-singular spacetime can be constructed only in the case where both of the two branes violate the energy conditions.