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Are M2 and M5 membranes in M-Theory excited states of some underlying field, or are they fundamental? In what sense are membranes solitonic?

In the reference question, someone made a comment that had no reply and I am just as curious

"My question is, what is the M brane itself? Is there an underlying M brane field where the branes are excitations of the field? Or is the M brane simply a fundamental object made out of no fields?"

I am confused what an M Brane really is. M2 membranes are strings when you compatify a membrane on a circle, if I am not wrong, so this means all strings and branes are really just solitons?

S. Beck
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M2-brane is a classical solution to the equations of motion of 11 dimensional supergravity. It couples electrically to the three-form field (a.k.a. C-field) of 11D SUGRA, while there is also an object that couples to the C-field magnetically -- M5-brane. Thus M2 and M5 are magnetic duals of each other. They can be considered fundamental similarly to strings and D-branes in string theories, but its not clear what they become in full M-theory.

Kosm
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