Membranes on Calibrations

M2-branes can blow up into BPS funnels that end on calibrated intersections of M5-branes. In this quick note, we make the observation that the constraints required for the consistency of these solutions are automatic in Bagger-Lambert-Gustavsson (BLG) theory, thanks to the fundamental identity and the supersymmetry of the calibration. We use this to explain how the previous ad hoc fuzzy funnel constructions emerge in this picture, and make some comments about the role of the 3-algebra trace form in the derivation.Comment: 9 pages, no figures; references added, minor change

A Comment on Kerr-CFT and Wald Entropy

We point out that the entropies of black holes in general diffeomorphism invariant theories, computed using the Kerr-CFT correspondence and the Wald formula (as implemented in the entropy function formalism), need not always agree. A simple way to illustrate this is to consider Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity in four dimensions, where the Gauss-Bonnet term is topological. This means that the central charge of Kerr-CFT computed in the Barnich-Brandt-Compere formalism remains the same as in Einstein gravity, while the entropy computed using the entropy function gives a universal correction proportional to the Gauss-Bonnet coupling. We argue that at least in this example, the Kerr-CFT result is the physically reasonable one. The resolution to this discrepancy might lie in a better understanding of boundary terms.Comment: 11 pages, v2,3: refs added, minor change

Desingularization of the Milne Universe

Resolution of cosmological singularities is an important problem in any full theory of quantum gravity. The Milne orbifold is a cosmology with a big-bang/big-crunch singularity, but being a quotient of flat space it holds potential for resolution in string theory. It is known however, that some perturbative string amplitudes diverge in the Milne geometry. Here we show that flat space higher spin theories can effect a simple resolution of the Milne singularity when one embeds the latter in 2+1 dimensions. We explain how to reconcile this with the expectation that non-perturbative string effects are required for resolving Milne. Along the way, we introduce a Grassmann realization of the \.{I}n\"on\"u-Wigner contraction to export much of the AdS technology to our flat space computation.Comment: 4 pages, revtex, v2: minor clarifications/corrections, refs added, v3: minor error corrected, v4: published PLB version (essentially

A Note on D1-D5 Entropy and Geometric Quantization

We quantize the space of 2-charge fuzzballs in IIB supergravity on $K3$. The resulting entropy precisely matches the D1-D5 black hole entropy, including a specific numerical coefficient. A partial match (ie., a smaller coefficient) was found by Rychkov a decade ago using the Lunin-Mathur subclass of solutions - we use a simple observation to generalize his approach to the full moduli space of $K3$ fuzzballs, filling a small gap in the literature.Comment: v2,3: minor corrections to a footnote and acknowledgments, v1 is the JHEP versio

Higher Spin Resolution of a Toy Big Bang

Diffeomorphisms preserve spacetime singularities, whereas higher spin symmetries need not. Since three dimensional de Sitter space has quotients that have big-bang/big-crunch singularities and since dS_3-gravity can be written as an SL(2,C) Chern-Simons theory, we investigate SL(3,C) Chern-Simons theory as a higher-spin context in which these singularities might get resolved. As in the case of higher spin black holes in AdS_3, the solutions are invariantly characterized by their holonomies. We show that the dS_3 quotient singularity can be de-singularized by an SL(3,C) gauge transformation that preserves the holonomy: this is a higher spin resolution the cosmological singularity. Our work deals exclusively with the bulk theory, and is independent of the subtleties involved in defining a CFT_2 dual to dS_3 in the sense of dS/CFT.Comment: v2-v3: typos removed, refs added. v4: minor improvements, Phys Rev D version, v5: one more typo fixed, footnote adde