Non-BPS Floating Branes and Bubbling Geometries

Abstract

We derive a non-BPS linear ansatz using the charged Weyl formalism in string and M-theory backgrounds. Generic solutions are static and axially-symmetric with an arbitrary number of non-BPS sources corresponding to various brane, momentum and KKm charges. Regular sources are either four-charge non-extremal black holes or smooth non-BPS bubbles. We construct several families such as chains of non-extremal black holes or smooth non-BPS bubbling geometries and study their physics. The smooth horizonless geometries can have the same mass and charges as non-extremal black holes. Furthermore, we find examples that scale towards the four-charge BPS black hole when the non-BPS parameters are taken to be small, but the horizon is smoothly resolved by adding a small amount of non-extremality.