Geometric tachyon to universal open string tachyon

Abstract

A system of k Neveu-Schwarz (NS) 5-branes of type II string theory with one transverse direction compactified on a circle admits various unstable D-brane systems, some with geometric instability arising out of being placed at a point of unstable equilibrium in space and some with the usual open string tachyonic instability but no geometric instability. We discuss the effect of NS 5-branes on the descent relations among these branes and their physical interpretation in the T-dual ALF spaces. We argue that if the tachyon potential controlling these descent relations obeys certain conditions, then in certain region in the parameter space labelling the background the two types of unstable branes become identical via a second order phase transition, with the geometric tachyon in one system getting mapped to the usual open string tachyon of the other system. This would provide a geometric description of the tachyonic instability of the usual non-BPS Dp-brane in ten dimensional flat space-time.