An action for the super-5-brane in D=11 supergravity

Abstract

An alternative path is taken for deriving an action for the supersymmetric 5-brane in 11 dimensions. Selfduality does not follow from the action, but is consistent with the equations of motion for arbitrary supergravity backgrounds. The action involves a 2-form as well as a 5-form world-volume potential; inclusion of the latter makes the action, as well as the non-linear selfduality relation for the 3-form field strength, polynomial. The requirement of invariance under kappa-transformations determines the form of the selfduality relation, as well as the action. The formulation is shown to be equivalent to earlier formulations of 5-brane dynamics.