Perturbations on a moving D3-brane and mirage cosmology

Abstract

We study the evolution of perturbations on a moving probe D3-brane coupled to a 4-form field in an AdS$_5$-Schwarzschild bulk. The unperturbed dynamics are parametrised by a conserved energy $E$ and lead to Friedmann-Robertson-Walker `mirage' cosmology on the brane with scale factor $a(τ)$. The fluctuations about the unperturbed worldsheet are then described by a scalar field $ϕ(τ,\vec{x})$. We derive an equation of motion for $ϕ$, and find that in certain regimes of $a$ the effective mass squared is negative. On an expanding BPS brane with E=0 superhorizon modes grow as $a^4$ whilst subhorizon modes are stable. When the brane contracts, all modes grow. We also briefly discuss the case when $E>0$, BPS anti-branes as well as non-BPS branes. Finally, the perturbed brane embedding gives rise to scalar perturbations in the FRW universe. We show that $ϕ$ is proportional to the gauge invariant Bardeen potentials on the brane.