The M5-Brane Limit of Eleven-Dimensional Supergravity

Abstract

We construct the M5-brane limit of eleven-dimensional supergravity. The resulting action is invariant under Galilean boosts and has a local scale symmetry. We also consider the limit of the equations of motion where we recover a Poisson-like equation arising from an M5-brane source but which does not follow from the non-relativistic action. We argue that the resulting theory describes gravitational fluctuations around a stack of M5-branes, represented by a trivial Minkowskian spacetime, but where the number of M5-branes is determined by the flux of a Lagrange multiplier field.