string theory In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory describes how these strings propagate through space and intera ...

, an S-brane is a hypothetical and controversial counterpart of the

D-brane In string theory, D-branes, short for Dirichlet membrane, are a class of extended objects upon which open strings can end with Dirichlet boundary conditions, after which they are named. D-branes are typically classified by their spatial dimensi ...

, which is localized in time. Depending on the context the "S" stands for "Strominger", "Sen", or "Space-like". The S-brane was originally proposed by

Andrew Strominger Andrew Eben Strominger (; born 1955) is an American theoretical physicist who is the director of Harvard's Center for the Fundamental Laws of Nature. He has made significant contributions to quantum gravity and string theory. These include his ...

in his speculative paper, and another version of S-branes was studied by

Ashoke Sen Ashoke Sen FRS (; born 1956) is an Indian theoretical physicist and distinguished professor at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), Bangalore. A former distinguished professor at the Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Pra ...

. They are thought to be extended in the space-like/temporal directions only, so that they exist at only one point in time, but are otherwise analogous to

p-brane In string theory and related theories (such as supergravity), a brane is a physical object that generalizes the notion of a zero- dimensional point particle, a one-dimensional string, or a two-dimensional membrane to higher-dimensional obje ...

References

* Giveon, A., et D. Kutasov. 1999. "Brane Dynamics and Gauge Theory." Rev. Mod. Phys. 71:983). * Zwiebach, Barton. 2004. A First Course in String Theory. Cantabrigiae: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-83143-1. String theory {{string-theory-stub