A Note on the Stability of Quantum Supermembranes

Abstract

We re-examine the question of the stability of quantum supermembranes. In the past, the instability of supermembranes was established by using a regulator, i.e. approximating the membrane by SU(N) super Yang-Mills theory and letting $N \rightarrow \infty$. In this paper, we (a) show that the instability persists even if we directly examine the continuum theory (b) give heuristic arguments that even a theory of unstable membranes at the Planck length may still be compatible with experiment (c) resolve a certain puzzling discrepancy between earlier works on the stability of supermembranes. Presented at the 2nd International Sakharov Conference in Moscow, May 1996.