M 5-brane and superconformal (0,2) tensor multiplet in 6 dimensions

Abstract

We present a gauge-fixed M 5-brane action: a 6-dimensional field theory of a self-interacting (0,2) tensor multiplet with 32 worldvolume supersymmetries. The quadratic part of this action is shown to be invariant under rigid OSp(6,2|4) superconformal symmetry, with 16 supersymmetries and 16 special supersymmetries. We explore a deep relation between the superconformal symmetry on the worldvolume of the brane and symmetry of the near horizon anti-de Sitter infinite throat geometry of the M 5-brane in space-time.