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# IRAS 21391+5802: The Molecular Outflow and its Exciting Source

## 1 Introduction

It is well known that Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) are embedded in dust and gas. For low-mass stars, circumstellar dusty material can be found in two basic structures: envelopes and disks. Theory outlines an evolutionary scenario in which these structures evolve from envelopes to disks as the central object evolves (Adams, Lada, & Shu 1987; Shu, Adams, & Lizano 1987) from the youngest Class 0 objects, surrounded by infalling envelopes, to the optically visible T Tauri stars, with circumstellar disks. Looney, Mundy, & Welch (2000) have carried out sub-arcsecond millimeter wavelength observations of the dust emission around low-mass objects, and have shown that the more embedded objects have most of their emission in large scale structures, consistent with envelopes, while optical/IR objects have compact continuum emission, associated with disks, with little or no extended emission. Molecular line observations also show a tendency of the gas emission to be stronger toward protostar candidates than toward T Tauri stars (e.g. Ohashi et al. 1991, 1996; Chen, Fukui, & Yang 1992).

This well-defined evolutionary sequence found for low-mass stars, however, does not have a counterpart for higher mass stars, such as Herbig Ae and Be stars and their intermediate-mass precursors with masses in the range $`2M_{\mathrm{}}M_{}10M_{\mathrm{}}`$. Circumstellar disks, similar to those surrounding T Tauri stars, have been detected around Herbig Ae stars (Guilloteau & Dutrey 1998; Mannings & Sargent 1997, 2000; Natta et al. 2001), but not around Herbig Be stars (Natta, Grinin, & Mannings 2000; Fuente et al. 2001). The non-detection of circumstellar disks around Herbig Be stars has been interpreted as a consequence of the rapid evolution of the circumstellar structures and of the outflows as compared to T Tauri and Herbig Ae stars (Natta et al. 2000; Fuente et al. 2001). Regarding the intermediate-mass very YSOs, the situation is even less studied and less well understood due to the difficulty of identifying the youngest truly protostars, which are still in the infalling envelope phase. In addition, these objects are rare in comparison with their low-mass counterparts and tend to be located at greater distances. The immediate vicinity of intermediate-mass protostars is a very complex environment, where the extended emission is usually resolved into more than one source when observed at high resolution (e.g. G173.58+2.45: Shepherd & Watson 2002). In addition, the molecular outflows driven by intermediate-mass objects are more energetic. Thus, their interaction with the circumstellar gas and dust material surrounding the protostars is expected to be stronger and more dramatic, disrupting the envelopes and pushing away the dense gas at high velocities. Although these outflows are, in general, less collimated and more chaotic than those of low-mass stars (e.g. NGC 7129: Fuente et al. 2001), this could probably be due to observational constraints. Since these regions are located, on average, further away, these outflows are usually observed with less linear spatial resolution than nearby low-mass flows. However, when observed with high angular resolution their appearance seems to be more collimated and less chaotic (e.g. HH 288: Gueth, Schilke, & McCaughrean 2001). Therefore, there is little doubt that the study of intermediate-mass star-forming regions is a very complicated task, but attractive at the same time, due to all the phenomena that are taking place in such environments. It is also clear that in order to understand the heterogeneity of the more evolved Herbig Ae and Be stars, it is necessary to study such objects at a very early stage of their evolution, when both envelopes and circumstellar disks exist around them.

In an attempt to build our understanding of intermediate-mass stars and compare their morphology and evolution with those of low-mass stars, we carried out interferometric radio observations of the dust and gas around IRAS 21391+5802, a very young intermediate-mass object. IRAS 21391+5802 is a cold far-infrared source, with a bolometric luminosity estimated to range from 235 $`L_{\mathrm{}}`$ (Saraceno et al. 1996) to 440 $`L_{\mathrm{}}`$ (Sugitani et al. 2000). It is deeply embedded in the bright-rimmed globule IC 1396N, which is located at a distance of 750 pc (Matthews 1979). This source exhibits all of the signposts of an extremely young object, such as strong submillimeter and millimeter continuum dust emission (Wilking et al. 1993; Correia 2000; Sugitani et al. 2000; Codella et al. 2001), high-density gas (Serabyn, Güsten, & Mundy 1993; Cesaroni, Felli, & Walmsley 1999; Codella et al. 2001), and water maser emission (Felli, Palagi, & Tofani 1992; Tofani et al. 1995; Patel et al. 2000). Sugitani et al. (1989) discovered an extended CO bipolar outflow, which has also been mapped by Codella et al. (2001). In addition, recent near-infrared images by Nisini et al. (2001) have revealed the presence of a collimated H2 jet driven by IRAS 21391+5802.

## 2 Observations

### 2.1 VLA observations

The 3.6 cm continuum observations were carried out in 2000 September 23 using the Very Large Array (VLA) of the NRAO111The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. in the D configuration. The field was observed for a total of about 1 hr 45 m, and the phase center was set to the position $`\alpha (\mathrm{J2000})=21^\mathrm{h}40^\mathrm{m}41\stackrel{\mathrm{s}}{\mathrm{.}}79`$, $`\delta (\mathrm{J2000})=58\mathrm{°}16\mathrm{}12\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}4`$, which coincides with the 3.1 mm position of one of the sources in the field, BIMA 2 (see $`\mathrm{\S }\text{3.2}`$). Absolute flux calibration was achieved by observing 3C 286, with an adopted flux density of 5.18 Jy. Phase was calibrated by observing 2148+611, which has a bootstrapped flux of $`0.735\pm 0.007`$ Jy. CLEANed maps were made using the task IMAGR of the Astronomical Image Processing System (AIPS) software of NRAO, with the ROBUST parameter of Briggs (1995) set equal to 5, which is close to natural weighting. The resulting synthesized beam was $`17\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}9\times 8\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}8`$ at P.A. $`=80`$°, and the rms noise of the maps was 20 $`\mu `$Jy beam-1. For the maps made with uniform weighting the synthesized beam was $`12\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}6\times 5\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}9`$ at P.A. $`=82`$°, and the rms noise was slightly higher, 32 $`\mu `$Jy beam-1.

### 2.2 BIMA observations

Millimeter interferometric observations were carried out with the BIMA array222The BIMA array is operated by the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association with support from the National Science Foundation. in the B and the C configurations between March 2000 and January 2001. The digital correlator was configured to observe simultaneously the continuum emission and some molecular lines. Details of the observations are given in Table 1. The phase center was located at $`\alpha (\mathrm{J2000})=21^\mathrm{h}40^\mathrm{m}42\stackrel{\mathrm{s}}{\mathrm{.}}40`$, $`\delta (\mathrm{J2000})=58\mathrm{°}16\mathrm{}10\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}0`$, the position of IRAS 21391+5802. Amplitude and phase were calibrated by observations of BL Lac, whose flux density was determined relative to Uranus. The uncertainty in the amplitude calibration is estimated to be $`20`$%. The data were calibrated and analyzed using standard procedures in the Multichannel Image Reconstruction Image Analysis and Display (MIRIAD) software package (Sault, Teuben, & Wright 1995). The quality of the continuum data at 2.7 mm was not good enough to use the data for mapping and analysis.

## 3 Results

### 3.1 Centimeter continuum emission

In Figure 1 we show the natural-weight map at 3.6 cm superposed on the red image of the Digitized Sky Survey333The Digitized Sky Survey was produced at the Space Telescope Science Institute under U.S. Government grant NAG W-2166. The images of these surveys are based on photographic data obtained using the Oschin Schmidt Telescope on Palomar Mountain and the UK Schmidt Telescope. The plates were processed into the present compressed digital form with the permission of these institutions. 2. The extended 3.6 cm emission matches the optical emission of a bright-rimmed cloud, catalogued as BRC 38 by Sugitani, Fukui, & Ogura (1991) and belonging to the HII region IC 1396N. Above the 5 $`\sigma `$ detection threshold, in addition to the extended emission, we detected 5 sources, VLA 1 to 5. The first three, unresolved in the natural-weight map, appear resolved into three sources separated $`15^{\prime \prime }`$ from each other in the uniform map, shown in Figure 2. The central positions and flux densities of the detected sources are given in Table 2. The spectral indices between 21 and 3.6 cm were obtained using the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (Condon et al. 1998) to measure the 21 cm flux densities, which provides an angular resolution of $`45\mathrm{}`$. The results are shown in Table 2.

The spectral index of BRC 38 is $`0.03`$, characteristic of optically thin free-free emission of a HII region. VLA 4 has a spectral index of $`0.83`$, which is consistent with non-thermal emission and is probably a background source. The emission of VLA 5, with a measured spectral index of 0.14, may have a thermal component or is time variable (and non-thermal), giving an apparently positive spectral index. As seen in Figure 1, VLA 5 is close to an optical star of spectral type F identified as Cl Trumpler 37 1030 by Alknis (1958). However, the offset of $`15^{\prime \prime }`$ between the radio continuum emission and the star is too large, and it suggests that they are likely not associated. VLA 1, VLA 2 and VLA 3 coincide with the sources BIMA 1, BIMA 2 and BIMA 3 respectively, detected at mm wavelengths with BIMA (see next section). VLA 2 lies inside the error ellipse of IRAS 21391+5802 and coincides with the near infrared source IRS 2 (Wilking et al. 1993). VLA 3 also lies within the error ellipse of the IRAS source, and it is the strongest of the three sources. Water masers have been found associated with both sources (Tofani et al. 1995)

### 3.2 Dust emission

The millimeter continuum emission around the embedded IRAS 2139+5802 was imaged at 3.1 and 1.2 mm with the BIMA, and the maps are shown in Figure 3. As can be seen in this figure, the continuum emission is dominated by an extended clumpy structure, especially at 3.1 mm, which splits into two main peaks visible at both wavelengths and separated $`13\mathrm{}`$ ($`10^4`$ AU at the distance of the source), and a weaker peak toward the west, visible at 3.1 mm; hereafter we will refer to these three clumps as BIMA 1, BIMA 2 and BIMA 3. Codella et al. (2001) detected two unresolved continuum sources by using the OVRO interferometer at millimeter wavelengths, called A and B, which are coincident with BIMA 2 and BIMA 3, respectively. The dust emission has not been resolved at submillimeter wavelengths by using the JCMT telescope (Correia 2000), which provides a resolution of $`8\mathrm{}`$ at 450 $`\mu `$m, similar to the resolution of our 3.1 mm map. However, the extended submillimeter emission suggests the presence of multiple objects in the region. A possible explanation for this could be that the interferometer is likely resolving out some of the extended cold dust emission, and thus, it is more sensitive to more compact structures. In fact, extrapolating the flux density of 10.5 Jy obtained at 850 $`\mu `$m by Correia (2000) to millimeter wavelengths by using typical spectral indices in the range 3–4, it is clear that the interferometer observations are indeed missing a significant amount of emission. Embedded sources are very often members of multiple systems, as already noticed in deeply embedded low-mass cores (Looney et al. 2000; Motte & André 2001), which indicates that truly isolated star formation is rare. The positions and flux densities of the millimeter sources at 3.1 and 1.2 mm are given in Table 3. At millimeter wavelengths the contribution by free-free emission, which is expected to be dominant at centimeter wavelengths (e.g. Anglada 1995; Anglada et al. 1998; Beltrán et al. 2001) is likely small as compared to the thermal dust emission. Wilking et al. (1989) observed the region at 2 cm with the VLA and did not detect any of the sources at a $`4\sigma `$ level of 0.51 mJy. By using this upper limit for the flux density at 2 cm, we determined the spectral index at centimeter wavelengths, $`\alpha <1.8`$ for BIMA 1, $`\alpha <1.3`$ for BIMA 2, and $`\alpha <0.4`$ for BIMA 3. On the other hand, Reynolds (1986) modeled the emission for an inhomogeneous source, for which the free-free emission can come from both optically thin and optically thick regions, and found that for a jet with constant velocity, temperature and ionization fraction the spectral index should be always $`<1.3`$. This case is the most likely scenario for outflow central sources (e.g. Anglada et al. 1998; Beltrán et al. 2001). Thus, for BIMA 1 we assumed an upper limit for the spectral index of 1.3. Extrapolating the fluxes obtained at 3.6 cm to millimeter wavelengths with these spectral indices, we found that the expected free-free emission at millimeter wavelengths is $`5.0`$ mJy ($`<79`$% of the millimeter emission; see Table 3) for BIMA 1, $`6.4`$ mJy ($`<10`$%) for BIMA 2, and $`1.1`$ mJy ($`<8`$%) for BIMA 3. Thus, for BIMA 2 and BIMA 3 the dust emission dominates at millimeter wavelengths, while for BIMA 1 it is not clear from our results.

The strongest source detected at millimeter wavelengths in the region is BIMA 2. As can be seen in the maps, BIMA 2 is the object associated with the infrared source IRAS 21391+5802. Its millimeter emission clearly shows two components, a centrally peaked source, plus an extended component, elongated roughly in the N–S and the NE–SW direction at 3.2 mm and 1.3 mm, respectively. The comparison of the peak intensities measured at both wavelengths with the total integrated flux densities (see Table 3) indicates that a considerable fraction of the flux density ($`50`$%) arises from the envelope. By fitting elliptical Gaussians to the maps, we measured the deconvolved size of the source, which is $`5500\times 3700`$ AU at P.A. $`10\mathrm{°}`$ at 3.1 mm, and $`2000\times 1600`$ AU at P.A. $`21\mathrm{°}`$ at 1.2 mm (see Table 3). Note that the deconvolved size is dependent on the synthesized beam, indicating that the source does not have a perfect Gaussian shape structure. These sizes are consistent with the values found for envelopes around low- and intermediate-mass protostars (e.g. Wilking et al. 1989; André, Ward-Thompson, & Barsony 1993; Hogerheijde & Sandell 2000; Looney et al. 2000; Fuente et al. 2001). This source also exhibits centimeter emission (see Table 2), and it is driving a molecular outflow detected in the region (see next section).

The source BIMA 3, located $`13\mathrm{}`$ ($`9800`$ AU in projection) southeast of BIMA 2, has also been detected at both millimeter wavelengths. The source is associated with centimeter emission (see Table 2) and with water maser emission (Tofani et al. 1995), indicating that BIMA 3 is a young stellar object, too. However, its emission is more compact than the emission around BIMA 2, and it has only been resolved at 1.2 mm (see Table 3), with a deconvolved size of $`1600\times 1500`$ AU at P.A. $`1\mathrm{°}`$. This deconvolved size is also very dependent on the angular resolution, having a value of $`900\times 300`$ AU at P.A. $`64\mathrm{°}`$ if we use only the B configuration data.

Finally, the other source detected in the region is BIMA 1. This source is a faint unresolved clump only detected, as stated before, at 3.1 mm (see Fig. 3). This source, also detected at centimeter wavelengths (see Table 2), is $`16\mathrm{}`$ ($`12000`$ AU) southwest of BIMA 2, and $`23\mathrm{}`$ ($`17300`$ AU) northwest of BIMA 3, and it could be the driving source of a very collimated N–S bipolar outflow discovered in the region (see next section).

### 3.3 The molecular outflow

The molecular outflow associated with IRAS 21391+5802 has been previously studied through lower resolution CO (Sugitani et al. 1989; Codella et al. 2001), CS (Serabyn et al. 1993; Codella et al. 2001), SiO and HCO+ observations (Codella et al. 2001). The observations reported in this study improve significantly the angular resolution of the maps of the region: the angular resolution of $`4\mathrm{}`$ for the CO is at least 6 times better in beam area than previous observations, revealing the structure of the molecular outflow in great detail.

#### 3.3.1 CO emission

Figure 4 shows the maps of the integrated CO ($`J`$=1$``$0) emission in different blueshifted and redshifted velocity intervals. Taking into account that the systemic velocity, $`v_{\mathrm{LSR}}`$, is roughly $`0`$ km s-1 (Patel et al. 1995), the interval of velocities \[$`\pm 3.5`$,$`\pm 9.5`$\] km s-1 corresponds to the low velocity outflow, \[$`\pm 9.5`$,$`\pm 15.5`$\] km s-1 to the intermediate velocity outflow, and \[$`\pm 15.5`$,$`\pm 21.5`$\] km s-1 to the high velocity outflow. Due to the strong self-absorption observed for the central velocity channels ($`2.8v2.3`$ km s-1), also visible in single-dish observations (Wilking et al. 1989; Codella et al. 2001), it was not possible to map and study the cloud structure. Additionally, extended emission also causes negative contours due to the fact that the interferometer is filtering out part of the emission. The CO emission traces at least two molecular outflows in the region: a stronger outflow along the E–W direction and centered at the position of BIMA 2, and a collimated, weaker and smaller bipolar outflow elongated along the N–S direction on both sides of BIMA 1 (see Fig. 4). This latter outflow is only detected at low velocities, and its presence is also marginally revealed in CO ($`J`$=2$``$1) single-dish observations of Codella et al. (2001). Taking into account the blueshifted and redshifted emission closer to BIMA 1, the total extent of this outflow is $`50\mathrm{}`$ ($`0.19`$ pc).

The E–W outflow presents a more complex structure and kinematics. At high velocities the outflow shows a very well defined bipolar morphology, with the blue lobe toward the southwest, and the red lobe toward the northeast. However, at lower velocities the blueshifted and redshifted emission are highly overlapping, and the strongest emission shows a V-shaped morphology that is probably tracing the bright-rim seen in CO ($`J`$=2$``$1) single-dish observations by Codella et al. (2001). These authors explain this morphology as a result of the interaction of the outflow with the ambient cloud (see $`\mathrm{\S }\text{5.1}`$ for a discussion of the outflow morphology). The presence of additional outflows in the region could also be a possible explanation for the complexity of the gas emission. The outflow is highly collimated, and the collimation remains even at low velocities with respect to the cloud. The morphology of the outflow at low velocities, with blueshifted and redshifted gas in both lobes, also suggests that the axis of the outflow is close to the plane of the sky. In addition to the main structure, there are also visible at low velocities some blueshifted and redshifted clumps. In particular, at $`40\mathrm{}`$ northwest from BIMA 2, there is a big bow-shock shaped clump (see Fig. 4) that coincides spatially with a CS ($`J`$=2$``$1) clump (see $`\mathrm{\S }\mathrm{3.3.2}`$), suggesting perhaps that there is a shocked surface at the position of this clump.

#### 3.3.2 CS emission

The emission of the high-density tracer CS is found to be associated with the E–W molecular outflow driven by BIMA 2. Serabyn et al. (1993) already detected CS at high velocities through the spectra of different rotational transitions showing prominent wing emission. However, this is the first time that this outflow has been mapped with high spatial resolution. Figure 5 shows the CS ($`J`$=2$``$1) emission at the same velocity intervals as shown for the CO ($`J`$=1$``$0) emission (see previous section). As can be seen in this figure, the lobes of the outflow are very well defined, with the redshifted emission NE, and the blueshifted emission toward the SW. The CS ($`J`$=2$``$1) emission shows a different morphology at different velocities, just as in the case of the CO emission. While at high velocities the outflow is clearly bipolar, the blueshifted and the redshifted emission start to overlap at lower velocities, and their structures become less collimated. At low velocities, a redshifted emission clump is also visible in CS $`40\mathrm{}`$ northwest of BIMA 2, at the same position as the bow-shock shaped clump seen in CO. In addition, at low and intermediate velocities, a redshifted clump located $`34\mathrm{}`$ northeast from IRAS 21391+5802 is detected. Finally, there is also blueshifted emission possibly associated with BIMA 1.

The molecular outflow as traced by the CS ($`J`$=5$``$4) emission shows two well differentiated and clumpy lobes (see Fig. 6). Both the blueshifted and redshifted lobes, which have been integrated for a velocity interval \[$`\pm 5,\pm 12`$\] km s-1, split into several clumps, with the emission of the northern clump in both lobes being the more prominent and strong. Hereafter we call these northern blueshifted and redshifted clumps, B and R, respectively. Additionally, the northeastern clump visible in the CS ($`J`$=2$``$1) transition is also detected in CS ($`J`$=5$``$4) (see Fig. 6). No outflowing CS ($`J`$=5$``$4) emission has been found associated with BIMA 1 nor BIMA 3.

#### 3.3.3 CH3OH emission

The molecular outflow as traced by CH3OH ($`J`$=5-1$``$4-1) resembles in internal structure and extent the emission as traced by CS ($`J`$=5$``$4) (Fig. 6). Both lobes, integrated over \[$`\pm 5,\pm 12`$\] km s-1, are also split into several clumps. The northern blueshifted and redshifted clumps are also the strongest ones, and their positions coincide with the positions of the B and R clumps detected in CS ($`J`$=5$``$4). The northeastern clump detected in CS ($`J`$=2$``$1) and CS ($`J`$=5$``$4) is not visible in CH3OH. High-velocity gas has not been detected toward BIMA 1 nor BIMA 3.

## 4 Analysis

### 4.1 Dust emission

Using the integrated flux densities at 3.1 and 1.2 mm, we measured the millimeter spectral index $`\alpha `$ (where $`S_\nu \nu ^\alpha `$) for the three sources (see Table 3). As the emission for BIMA 2 is very extended, the observations at 1.2 mm, which have a small synthesized beam, are resolving out part of the emission. Thus, in order to obtain a more accurate value of the spectral index, it is better to use the flux densities measured by using the same range of visibilities (5–28 k$`\lambda `$) at both wavelengths. By doing this, we measured a spectral index $`\alpha <2.3`$ for BIMA 1, $`\alpha =3.1\pm 0.3`$ for BIMA 2, and $`\alpha =2.0\pm 0.3`$ for BIMA 3. For the sources less resolved (BIMA 1 and BIMA 3) the values obtained do not differ significantly from the values given in Table 3.

Assuming that the dust emission is in the Rayleigh-Jeans regime and is optically thin, the spectral index $`\alpha `$ can be related directly to the power-law index $`\beta `$ of the dust emissivity $`\kappa _\nu `$ (where $`\kappa _\nu \nu ^\beta `$), through $`\alpha =2+\beta `$. For BIMA 2 the derived value of $`\beta `$ is $`1.1\pm 0.3`$. Such a value of $`\beta `$ is consistent with the values found for Class 0 low- and intermediate-mass objects (Dent, Matthews, & Ward-Thompson 1998; Testi & Sargent 1998; Chini et al. 2001). Saraceno et al. (1996) have measured a value $`\beta =1.35`$ for this source from ISO-LWS and JCMT data, with an angular resolution of $`80\mathrm{}`$ and $`19\mathrm{}`$, respectively. The value measured for BIMA 3 is $`\beta =0.0\pm 0.3`$, and for BIMA 1 is $`\beta <0.3`$. Those values are considerably lower than the value obtained for BIMA 2, and could be indicative of a different evolutionary status (see § 5.2). Note that Codella et al. (2001) have measured a higher value, $`\beta =1.7`$, for BIMA 2 and BIMA 3, by combining together data from both sources obtained with different angular resolution.

The circumstellar masses for the three sources were estimated, assuming that the dust emission is optically thin, by using

$$M=\frac{c^2}{2k\nu ^2}\frac{S_\nu d^2}{\kappa _\nu T_d},$$
(1)
where $`S_\nu `$ is the flux density, $`d`$ is the distance, $`\kappa _\nu `$ is the dust mass opacity coefficient, and $`T_d`$ is the dust temperature. We used the flux densities measured at 3.1 mm, the dust opacity given by ($`\kappa _\nu `$/cm2 g-1) $`=0.1(\nu /1200\mathrm{GHz})^\beta `$ (Hildebrand 1983), with the dust emissivity indices $`\beta `$ found from the spectral index (see above), and a dust temperature of 25 K (temperature estimates for this region range from 20 to 27 K; Serabyn et al. 1993; Codella et al. 2001). For BIMA 2, the mass derived was 5.1 $`M_{\mathrm{}}`$, while for BIMA 1 and BIMA 3 the mass was 0.07 $`M_{\mathrm{}}`$. The mass estimated for BIMA 2 is consistent with the value of 8.3 $`M_{\mathrm{}}`$ derived by Saraceno et al. (1996) through single-dish observations, which do not resolve out extended emission. However, Codella et al. (2001) estimated a mass of 20 $`M_{\mathrm{}}`$ for BIMA 2, and 4 $`M_{\mathrm{}}`$ for BIMA 3. These high values for the mass are due to the different value of the dust mass opacity coefficient used by them. This shows clearly how the dust opacity law can affect dramatically the estimate of the mass.

### 4.2 Physical parameters of the CO outflows

Assuming that the CO emission is in LTE and is optically thin, and following the derivation of Scoville et al. (1986), we calculated the mass of the gas associated with the two outflows detected in the region by using

$$\left(\frac{M}{M_{\mathrm{}}}\right)=2.19\times 10^5\frac{T_{\mathrm{ex}}+0.93}{\mathrm{exp}(5.59/T_{\mathrm{ex}})}\left(\frac{d}{\mathrm{kpc}}\right)^2\left(\frac{S_\nu }{\mathrm{Jy}}\right)\left(\frac{dv}{\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1}\right),$$
(2)
where $`T_{\mathrm{ex}}`$ is the CO excitation temperature, $`d`$ is the distance in kiloparsecs, and $`S_\nu `$ is the line flux density measured in Jy. The excitation temperature is 20 K (Codella et al. 2001). We assumed an \[H2\]/\[CO\] abundance ratio of 104, and a mean atomic weight of the gas $`\mu _G=1.36`$. In Table 4 we give the masses, the CO momentum, the kinetic energy, and the momentum rate in the outflow. We also report the range of outflow velocities for the outflows. Note that due to the missing flux, the absorption by the ambient cloud, and the possibility that CO is optically thick in portions of the flow, the masses calculated should be considered as lower limits. In addition, the integration range chosen will miss the part of the outflow at lower velocities that is not included. We estimated the optical depth from the observed brightness temperature and by taking $`T_{\mathrm{ex}}=20`$ K, and we found that our assumption that the emission is optically thin is correct if beam dilution is unimportant. However, in order to get a better estimate of the optical depth of the emission, observations of a CO isotope, such as 13CO, would be needed. Note that Codella et al. (2001) assume an optical depth of 10 for the E–W outflow emission at velocities below 20 km s-1 with respect to the cloud velocity. For such high optical depths, the opacity correction factor $`\frac{\tau }{1e^\tau }`$ is essentially the optical depth, $`10`$, dominating the uncertainty in the measurement of the masses. Thus, as we cannot rule out the possibility that the gas is clumpy and not optically thin, the estimated molecular mass may be a lower limit. The inclination angle, $`\theta `$, of the outflow with respect to the plane of the sky is also an important factor of uncertainty when estimating the momentum, the kinetic energy, and the momentum rate in the outflow. As stated before, the morphology of the outflow suggests that $`\theta `$ is small, and thus, we adopted a value $`\theta 15\mathrm{°}`$ (Codella et al.  assume a value in the range 10–$`20\mathrm{°}`$).

### 4.3 Properties of the shocked material

We convolved the CS ($`J`$=5$``$4), CH3OH, and CO maps with a Gaussian to obtain the same resolution as the CS ($`J`$=2$``$1) maps, $`7\mathrm{}`$, and thus, to derive the properties of the shocked material. In Figure 7 we show the $`7\mathrm{}`$ spectra of the observed transitions at the CS ($`J`$=5$``$4) peak intensity position of the B and R clumps. The spectra at both positions show a remarkable mirror symmetry in velocity for the CS and the CH3OH transitions. The spectral line profiles for CS ($`J`$=2$``$1), which peak near the ambient cloud velocity and then exhibit a high-velocity blue (B) or red (R) wing, indicate that the accelerated gas contains a mixture of velocities, and that most of the material is moving at low outflow velocities (Tafalla & Bachiller 1995). This mixture of velocities together with the curved shape of the clumps (see Fig. 6) suggest that the gas has been accelerated by a bow-shock, because in such a case, the curvature of the bow-shock produces a variety of shock velocities (e.g. Hartigan, Raymond, & Hartmann 1987). On the other hand, CS ($`J`$=5$``$4) and CH3OH exhibit a similar profile. The lack of emission of these two transitions at ambient velocities at the peak position of the clumps B and R is probably due to a problem of missing flux. Extended emission being filtered out by the interferometer would cause extended absorption. This is suggested by the negative contours seen clearly for ambient velocities in the channel maps of CS ($`J`$=5$``$4) and CH3OH convolved to the same resolution as CS ($`J`$=2$``$1) (not presented here), and by the negative fluxes at ambient velocities (see Fig. 7). Interestingly, the emission in the wings of CS ($`J`$=5$``$4) is roughly constant with velocity, whereas the wings of CS ($`J`$=2$``$1) clearly decrease with the outflow velocity. This probably suggests that the temperature of the high density-gas increases with the outflow velocity, although it could also be due to an increase of the density with the outflow velocity. Figure 8 shows the CS ($`J`$=2$``$1) spectra and the ($`J`$=5$``$4) to ($`J`$=2$``$1) ratio at the position of the B and R clumps. This ratio varies from 0.2 for a $`v_{\mathrm{LSR}}`$ of $`\pm 3`$ km s-1 to 0.6 for a $`v_{\mathrm{LSR}}`$ of $`\pm 14`$ km s-1. Assuming optically thin emission, this implies a variation in the excitation temperature from 7 to 12 K, thus the temperature of the gas traced by CS increases with the outflow velocity. These two temperatures should be considered as lower limit: first, the optically thin assumption may not be true, and second, it is possible that the CS ($`J`$=5$``$4) filling factor is smaller than that of the CS ($`J`$=2$``$1). Yet, taking into account that the kinetic temperature measured in the outflow is 20 K (Codella et al. 2001), one would expect much higher kinetic temperatures for the shocked material. Thus, the emission of the shock is subthermalized, and the excitation temperature measured is much lower than the real temperature of the shocked gas.

In order to estimate the CS and CH3OH beam averaged column densities, we assumed optically thin emission and adopted an excitation temperature of 11 K, which is the average value of the CS wings. For CO, the adopted excitation temperature is 20 K (Codella et al. 2001). The column densities of CO, CS, and CH3OH at the peak intensity positions of the B and R clumps are given in Table 5. The fractional abundance of CS and CH3OH with respect to CO at these two positions are shown in Table 6, together with their typical values for other low- and intermediate-mass star-forming regions, and for the quiescent and shocked regions in the low-mass star-forming region L1157. CS and CH3OH show an enhancement of roughly 2 and 3 orders of magnitude, respectively, with respect to the values of typical star-forming regions, and similar to the shocked material in the L1157 molecular outflow.

## 5 Discussion

### 5.1 Interaction of the outflow with the dense material

Figure 9 shows the outflow component of CS ($`J`$=5$``$4) overlapping with the moderate and high velocity component of the CO ($`J`$=1$``$0) emission. As can be seen in this figure, the B and R clumps of CS are located immediately ahead of the blueshifted and redshifted CO emission of the high outflow velocity component, which traces a well defined bipolar structure. Further away from the driving source, the molecular outflow is only detected at moderate or low outflow velocities.

Interestingly, the initially well defined bipolarity of the molecular outflow, with a well defined axis, appears more chaotic after its passage through these clumps. First, west of clump B, the outflow is deflected: from the driving source to clump B the molecular outflow emission is blueshifted and has a position angle $`60\mathrm{°}`$, whereas further away from clump B the outflow is redshifted and its direction changes significantly, to $`110\mathrm{°}`$. Second, the east lobe emission, between the driving source and clump R, is mainly redshifted at moderate and high outflow velocities, whereas further away from clump R the outflow emission is slightly stronger in the blue wing than in the red wing.

In addition, there is a strong abundance enhancement of CS and CH3OH toward the positions of clumps B and R (see Table 6). This is a clear evidence of strong shocks, where the CS and CH3OH abundances increase from the evaporation or dust sputtering within the shocks. This has been observed in other regions, and in particular in L1157 for these two molecules as well as several others (Mikami et al. 1992; Avery & Chiao 1996; Bachiller & Pérez Gutiérrez 1997; Zhang, Ho, & Wright 2000). These kinematical and chemical evidences strongly suggest that the CS clumps are tracing gas entrained within the surface of interaction between the molecular outflow and the dense ambient quiescent core. In order to trace and map the dense core material that is behind the clumps, higher resolution observations of low excitation molecular lines would be needed. The geometry of the interaction, sketched in Fig. 10, suggests the shocked cloudlet model scenario, where an inverted bow-shock is produced in the windward side of a dense ambient clump (Schwartz 1978; Davis, Dent, & Bell Burnell 1990). Here the bow-shock region is traced by the CS and CH3OH emission (clumps B and R). This scenario is supported by Figure 11, where we superposed the integrated intensity of the CS ($`J`$=5$``$4) emission at ambient velocities, $`[3,3]\text{km s}^1`$, and the shocked dense gas. As it can be seen in this figure, whereas the spectra at the positions of the B and R clumps are indicative of shocks, the spectra at the other two positions, which are located downstream of the clumps B and R, show a more quiescent shape, with emission peaking at ambient velocities.

### 5.2 Evolution of intermediate-mass stars

The centimeter and millimeter continuum emission around IRAS 21391+5802 has been resolved into three sources (see Fig. 2 and 3), with different morphologies and properties. Although all the sources seem to be young stellar objects, these differences suggest that they could be in different evolutionary stages. BIMA 2, the source associated with IRAS 21391+5802, has the strongest millimeter emission, and it is also the most massive object in IC 1396N. The source is associated with centimeter continuum emission, water maser emission (Tofani et al. 1995), and it is driving a powerful molecular outflow. Its millimeter emission, which accounts for most of the dust emission in the region, exhibits a very extended component, elongated in a north-south direction, consistent with an envelope surrounding the source. As seen in $`\mathrm{\S }\text{3.2}`$, the ratio of its intensity peak to its flux density indicates that there is still plenty of material which can be incorporated into the central star. The estimated power-law index of the dust emissivity for BIMA 2, $`\beta =1.1\pm 0.3`$ (see $`\mathrm{\S }\text{4.1}`$), is consistent with the values found for embedded low- and intermediate-mass objects (Dent et al. 1998; Testi & Sargent 1998; Chini et al. 2001). The circumstellar mass $`M5.1M_{\mathrm{}}`$, is also consistent with the masses in the range 3.5–12 $`M_{\mathrm{}}`$ found around other intermediate-mass protostars (Fuente et al. 2001; Shepherd & Watson 2002). This mass is also in agreement, although being slightly higher, with the envelope masses of 1.4–2.3 $`M_{\mathrm{}}`$ found by Bontemps et al. (1996) for low-mass Class 0 sources. Thus, based on the dust emission results, BIMA 2 seems to have the characteristics of a very young intermediate-mass object. Note that the morphology and properties of the dust emission do not differ significantly from the properties of the low-mass counterpart Class 0 objects.

In order to further compare the properties of BIMA 2 with the low-mass case, we also checked whether this object is consistent with some correlations between source and outflow properties found for low-mass young objects. In particular, we checked for the correlation between the circumstellar envelope mass and the momentum rate in the CO outflow given by Bontemps et al. (1996). To do this, first we corrected the momentum rate for projection and optical depth effects using the same correction factor as Bontemps et al. (1996), by taking $`\dot{P}10\times \dot{P}_{\mathrm{obs}}`$, where $`\dot{P}_{\mathrm{obs}}`$ is the observed momentum rate. We found that BIMA 2 agrees well with this correlation, and, what is more, its position in the diagram is consistent with the source being a Class 0 object, which confirms the classification of BIMA 2 as a very YSO. These authors have also found a correlation between the normalized outflow momentum rate, $`\dot{P}c/L_{\mathrm{bol}}`$, and the normalized envelope mass, $`M/L_{\mathrm{bol}}^{0.6}`$. For IRAS 21391+5802, there are some bolometric luminosity estimates, $`L_{\mathrm{bol}}235`$–440 $`L_{\mathrm{}}`$ (Saraceno et al. 1996; Sugitani et al. 2000). However, these estimates include the whole region around the IRAS coordinates. Thus, in order to derive a bolometric luminosity for BIMA 2, we used the relationship between the momentum rate and the bolometric luminosity given by Cabrit & Bertout (1992), and we inferred a luminosity of $`L_{\mathrm{bol}}150L_{\mathrm{}}`$. By using this luminosity estimate we found that the source also fits very well the correlation of normalized momentum and envelope mass as found by Bontemps et al. (1996), and BIMA 2 also lies in the Class 0 region of this diagram.

Another correlation fitted well by the source is the one between the radio continuum luminosity at centimeter wavelengths and the momentum rate of the outflow not corrected for inclination obtained by Anglada (1996). This correlation is in agreement with the predictions of a simple model of shock ionization in a plane-parallel geometry (Curiel, Cantó, & Rodríguez 1987; Curiel et al. 1989), which would be able to produce the required ionization in thermal radio jets. Regarding the morphology of the outflow, at low outflow velocities it is very complex and chaotic (see Fig. 4), as also noticed in other intermediate-mass star-forming regions (e.g. NGC 7129: Fuente et al. 2001). However, unlike the NGC 7129 FIRS1 outflow, the collimation of the BIMA 2 outflow is very high, even at low velocities, similar to the low-mass protostellar flow in HH 211 (Gueth & Guilloteau 1999). The complexity of the molecular outflows driven by intermediate-mass protostars is likely a result of the more complex protostellar environment itself. Taking into account that the outflows are usually more energetic for higher mass objects, that the dust emission is often resolved into more than one object, and that these sources are embedded in larger amounts of material, it is to be expected that the interactions between the high-velocity gas and the circumstellar material will be more active and more complex, disrupting and pushing more material. As seen in $`\mathrm{\S }\text{4.3}`$, the chemistry of the shocked material in the outflow, which shows an enhancement in the abundance of CS and CH3OH, is different from that of the quiescent material in the cloud. Interestingly, the abundances of these species are quite similar for all shocked regions, regardless of whether they are related to intermediate- or low-mass star-forming regions such as L1157 (Bachiller & Pérez Gutiérrez 1997).

BIMA 3 is the other source for which the millimeter continuum emission has been resolved, although only at 1.2 mm. Its emission is more compact than the emission around BIMA 2, and has a deconvolved size of $`1500`$ AU, which is still consistent with envelope sizes. The source is associated with centimeter continuum emission and with water maser emission (Tofani et al. 1995). The more compact appearance of the dust emission, together with the fact that the source does not seem to be associated with any molecular outflow suggest that BIMA 3 might be a less massive and/or more evolved object than BIMA 2. On one hand, the circumstellar mass obtained for this source is consistent with the values found for low-mass objects (Bontemps et al. 1996; Motte & André 2001). On the other hand, the evolved stage seems to be confirmed by the spectral index, $`\alpha =2.0\pm 0.3`$, obtained at millimeter wavelengths for this source. In order to obtain this value, the millimeter emission would have to be either optically thick, or optically thin with a dust emissivity index $`\beta =0.0\pm 0.3`$. Although the deconvolved size of the emission depends on the angular resolution (see $`\mathrm{\S }\text{3.2}`$), the size derived, even the one derived with the highest resolution, is too large to interpret this emission as an optically thick disk-like structure, which would be gravitationally unstable. Typical circumstellar dusty disk radii are on the order of 100 AU for T Tauri stars (e.g. Dutrey et al. 1996), and in the range 100–300 AU for Herbig Ae stars (Mannings & Sargent 1997, 2000; Natta et al. 2000). In addition, such a structure would be excessively massive. Perhaps a more plausible explanation is that the emission is optically thin and $`\beta =0.0\pm 0.3`$. A smaller value of $`\beta `$ around compact objects has been interpreted as caused by larger grains, indicating grain growth in dense regions (Mannings & Emerson 1994); grain shape evolution or chemical evolution are also possible causes (Ossenkopf & Henning 1994; Pollack et al. 1994).

The third source in the region, BIMA 1, is also associated with centimeter continuum emission, and it is probably the driving source of the collimated N–S bipolar outflow discovered in the region (see $`\mathrm{\S }\text{3.3.1}`$). These observational facts indicate that BIMA 1 is also a YSO, although less massive than BIMA 2. However, due to the fact that its millimeter continuum emission has not been resolved, it is not possible to say too much about its evolutionary stage. The spectral index obtained for this source is $`\alpha <2.3`$, which in the case that the millimeter continuum emission is optically thin would correspond to a low value of $`\beta <0.3`$, and might be interpreted as grain growth. However, as the deconvolved size of BIMA 1 is $`<1100`$ AU at 1.2 mm, we cannot rule out the possibility that what we are seeing is an optically thick circumstellar disk (e.g. L1641-N: Chen, Zhao, & Ohashi 1995). Assuming $`\tau =1`$, $`\kappa _\nu =0.01`$ cm2 g-1 at 3.1 mm, and $`\beta =1`$ (Beckwith et al. 1990), we obtain a disk mass $`>0.35M_{\mathrm{}},`$ for a disk radius of 100 AU. In case the emission is optically thin, the value derived for the circumstellar mass is $`M=0.07M_{\mathrm{}}`$, a value consistent with a low-mass object.

## 6 Conclusions

We studied with the VLA and the BIMA arrays the dust and the gas at centimeter and millimeter wavelengths surrounding IRAS 21391+5802, an intermediate-mass source embedded in the core of IC 1396N.

The continuum emission at centimeter and millimeter wavelengths has been resolved into three sources, BIMA 1, BIMA 2, BIMA 3, separated $`15\mathrm{}`$ of each other. The strongest source at millimeter wavelengths is BIMA 2, which is most likely the object associated with IRAS 21391+5802, and its dust emission shows a very extended envelope elongated in the N–S and the NE–SW direction at 3.2 mm and 1.3 mm, respectively. The power-law index of the dust emissivity measured from 3.1 to 1.2 mm is $`\beta =1.1\pm 0.3`$ for BIMA 2, and its circumstellar mass is $`5.1M_{\mathrm{}}`$. The dust emission around BIMA 1 has not been resolved, and the emission around BIMA 3 has only been resolved at 1.2 mm. The dust emissivity index is $`\beta <0.3`$ for BIMA 1, and $`\beta =0.0\pm 0.3`$ for BIMA 3, and the circumstellar mass is $`0.07M_{\mathrm{}}`$ for both objects.

The CO emission traces at least two molecular outflows in the region: a stronger E–W outflow centered at the position of BIMA 2, and a collimated, weaker, and smaller outflow elongated along the N–S direction on both sides of BIMA 1. The morphology and kinematics of the E–W outflow are very complex: while at high outflow velocities its morphology is clearly bipolar, at low outflow velocities the blueshifted and redshifted emission are highly overlapping, and the emission is deflected showing a V-shaped morphology. Unlike other outflows driven by intermediate-mass objects, the E–W outflow is highly collimated, and the collimation remains even at low outflow velocities.

The E–W outflow as traced by CS and CH3OH shows two well differentiated and clumpy lobes, with two prominent curved northern blueshifted and redshifted clumps. CS and the CH3OH are strongly enhanced toward the position of these clumps with respect to typical quiescent material abundances in other star-forming regions. The CS ($`J`$=5$``$4) to ($`J`$=2$``$1) ratio at both positions increases from 0.2 for a $`v_{\mathrm{LSR}}`$ of $`\pm 3`$km s-1 to 0.6 for a $`v_{\mathrm{LSR}}`$ of $`\pm 14`$km s-1, indicating that the excitation temperature of the gas traced by CS increases with the outflow velocity. All these morphological, kinematical and chemical evidences suggest that the clumps are tracing gas entrained within the surface of interaction between the molecular outflow and the dense ambient quiescent core. They also suggest that the morphology of the molecular outflow, which is being deflected toward the north at low outflow velocities, is a result of this interaction.

All the objects in IC 1396N seem to be young stellar objects, but in different evolutionary stages. The youngest one is BIMA 2: its circumstellar mass together with the dust emissivity index, and the fact that the source is driving a molecular outflow are consistent with the source being an embedded intermediate-mass protostar. In addition, the source also fits very well correlations between source and outflow properties for low-mass Class 0 objects given by Bontemps et al. (1996). By using the relationship between the momentum rate and the bolometric luminosity (Cabrit & Bertout 1992), we inferred a bolometric luminosity of $`150L_{\mathrm{}}`$ for this source. For BIMA 1 and BIMA 3, the small dust emissivity index measured is suggestive of grain growth in dense regions (e.g. Mannings & Emerson 1994). This fact together with the more compact appearance of their dust emission suggest that they are more evolved low-mass objects.

As compared with the low-mass counterparts, the morphology and properties of the dust emission around the intermediate-mass protostar BIMA 2 do not differ significantly. In addition, the properties of the outflow driven by BIMA 2 are also consistent with those of the outflows driven by low-mass young objects (Bontemps et al. 1996). The complexity of the molecular outflow, as compared with the low-mass case, is likely a result of the more complex protostellar environment itself. Interestingly, the properties of the shocked regions are quite similar to the ones related to low-mass star-forming regions. The correlation between its flux density at centimeter wavelengths and the momentum rate in the CO outflow agrees with the one found by Anglada (1996) for thermal radio jets, which can be understood under the shock ionization model of Curiel et al. (1987, 1989).

We would like to thank Qizhou Zhang for his useful help and comments on interferometric spectral line observations. We also thank Núria Calvet, Nimesh Patel and the anonymous referee for their valuable comments. We acknowledge the anonymous referee for useful comments. M. T. B. is supported by a SAO predoctoral fellowship. J. M. G. acknowledges support by NSF grant AST-99-81363 and by RED-2000 from the Generalitat de Catalunya. A. P. acknowledges support by FI-2001 grant from DURSI of the Generalitat de Catalunya. R. E., J. M. G., and A. P. are partially supported by MCYT grant PB98-0670 (Spain).

### Figure captions


text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

There is now considerable evidence that quantum gravitational theories in $`d`$-dimensions on $`AdS`$ spaces are dual to conformal gauge theories defined in $`d1`$ dimensions . This is a concrete realization of the holographic principle  which states that in quantum gravity, physics within a volume can be described in terms of a theory without gravity on the boundary of that volume. The holographic principle is usually associated with the presence of dynamical gravity in the bulk, and indeed the original motivation was to explain the area dependence of the black hole entropy. In this letter, we will argue that this principle can be generalized to world-volume theories of branes, which indicates that holography is mainly related to diffeomorphism invariance acting as a gauge symmetry. Although, world-volume theories do not contain dynamical gravity, there is still the notion of the induced geometry and gravity. A possible holographic duality of this type, between the 6-dimensional open membrane (OM) theory on $`AdS_3\times S^3`$ and $`𝒩=(4,4)`$ superconformal field theory in 2-dimensions, has been proposed in  which motivated this paper.

We consider the (2,0) theory in 6-dimensions  which is associated with the M5-brane dynamics. The theory is conformally invariant; there is no (dimensionless) coupling constant and no length scale . There are 16 real supersymmetries and the supermultiplet consists of a self-dual 2-form potential, 5 scalars and chiral spinors. The moduli space labeling the vacua of the theory is given by $`^{5K}/W`$, where $`K`$ is the number of coincident M5-branes and $`W`$ is a discrete group . The fundamental degrees of freedom are presumably related to self-dual, tensionless string excitations in 6-dimensions, and thus it is hard to give a field theoretic definition of the theory. On the other hand, it can be obtained from M-theory by taking a decoupling limit in the presence of M5-branes, which gives a dual description (for large number of coincident branes) in terms of 11-dimensional supergravity on $`AdS_7\times S^4`$.

The covariant field equations of an interacting (2,0) supermultiplet in 6-dimensions coupled to 11-dimensional supergravity background has been found by Howe and Sezgin in , which describe M5-brane dynamics in M-theory. Since the conformal (2,0) theory in 6-dimensions is also related to M5-brane dynamics, it is natural to expect a possible connection to the equations of . Because the conformal (2,0) theory is not an ordinary field theory and has stringy excitations, a connection with a field theory can only be established at “large” distances. Therefore, one should first find a way of breaking the conformal invariance in order to introduce a length scale in the theory.

The hint for how to break the conformal invariance comes from the 11-dimensional origin of the theory. It is well known that, in M-theory, an M2-brane can end on an M5-brane . This M2-brane looks like a (self-dual) string in 6-dimensional world-volume and preserves half of the supersymmetries of the M5 brane theory. Thus, the states associated with this self-dual string are stable, world-volume BPS states. The mass per unit lenght of such a string would diverge, since it is the end of an infinitely long M2-brane. However, it is possible to obtain finite energy configurations simply by cutting the M2-brane at a finite length. In 11-dimensions this has the interpretation of placing another parallel M5-brane for M2-brane to end. One can now take a decoupling limit, where two M5-branes are still separated from each other, but the mass of the streched membrane is fixed. The resulting theory on the M5-brane is the (2,0) theory decoupled from the bulk, however the conformal invariance is explicitly broken by the energy scale of the streched membrane. This is similar to breaking of the conformal invariance of the $`𝒩=4`$, $`U(N)`$, Super Yang-Mills (SYM) theory by separating a group of D3-branes from others (i.e., by Higgsing). In this paper, we assume that the (2,0) theory can be approximated by a field theory for distances larger than the scale of the self-dual string tension, and the dynamics is governed by the covariant equations obtained in , where the 11-dimensional space is chosen to be flat.333To be more precise as in the case of $`𝒩=4`$, $`U(N)`$ SYM, one should first consider the equations of coincident M5-branes and break conformal invariance by giving vacuum expectation values to some scalars. Since the world-volume equations of the coincident M5-branes are not known, we assume that at low energies, when the two parallel M5-branes are well separated, one can consider the dynamics of each one independently.

To support such a picture, the equations of the field theory should admit a self-dual string background as a solitonic solution. This is indeed the case; as shown in  there is a supersymmetric self-dual string solution which has an infinite mass per unit length. This is in agreement with the interpretation of the string being the ending of a semi-infinite membrane. As we will discuss in a moment, formally it is possible to incorporate finite energy configurations simply by cutting the solution, which can be thought of placing another parallel M5-brane for M2-brane to end. Similar solutions describing fundamental-branes or D-branes ending on D-branes have been found in .

In the (2,0) theory (and in Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) theories in general), fluctuations around a background configuration are characterized by the so called Boillat metric . As we will discuss, the Boillat metric for the self-dual string looks like a black-string metric which has a singular horizon. Singularity of the horizon is associated with the bad behaviour of the self-dual string solution at the origin. On this background, one can consider a limit in which the asymptotic region decouples from the ”near horizon” region. As in the case of $`AdS/CFT`$ duality, this is possible thanks to a redshift factor related to the underlying geometric structure of the theory. After taking the limit, the resulting background geometry can only be trusted for some region of the radial parameter. This is very similar to non-conformal supergravity duals of D-brane world-volume theories .

A possible holographic dual for this system can be obtained by using an effective string theory in 6-dimensions coupled to (2,0) tensor multiplet. The world-sheet action for this string should have $`𝒩=(4,4)`$ supersymmetry. Although the complete action is not known, one can easily determine the bosonic part (for a single string). In this action, the coupling of the string world-sheet to the bulk (2,0) multiplet is determined by the tension of the self-dual string. This implies that, in the low energy limit that we will consider, the string action decouples from the bulk (2,0) theory. The decoupled theory can be identified with the ”near horizon” region of the self-dual string soliton, which would imply a holographic duality.

The plan of the paper is as follows. In section 2, we discuss the (2,0) equations, the self-dual string solution and different possible descriptions of the system. In section 3, we define a low energy limit which would imply a holographic duality between two theories. We conclude in section 4.

## 2 The self-dual string solution

Let us start with a brief description of the equations of , which are based on super-embedding of a 6-dimensional world-volume superspace into 11-dimensional target superspace. The equations are invariant under both bosonic and fermionic reprametrizations of the world-volume superspace. The former can be regarded as the usual diffeomerphism invariance and the latter is called the $`\kappa `$-symmetry. The world-volume manifold has no specified metric structure, but it has an induced geometry defined by the embedding map.

One can use super-reparametrization invariance of the world-volume to choose the so called static gauge, where 6 of the 11 bosonic, and 16 of the 32 fermionic embedding functions are identified with the bosonic and fermionic world-volume coordinates respectively. This leaves 5 scalars, a self-dual three-form and 16 fermionic fields as physical degrees of freedom. After setting fermions to zero, the bosonic field equations are given as :

$`G^{MN}_M_NX^a^{}=0,`$ (1)
$`G^{MN}_MH_{NPQ}=0,`$ (2)
where $`M,N=0,1,\mathrm{..5}`$, $`X^a^{}`$’s ($`a^{}=1,\mathrm{..5}`$) represent transverse fluctuations of the M5-brane and $`H_{MNP}`$ is the curl of the 2-form potential. The covariant derivative $`_M`$ is constructed using $`g_{MN}`$, which is the pull-back of the 11-dimensional metric into world-volume by the map $`X^a^{}`$. The metric $`G_{MN}`$ is related to $`g_{MN}`$ by $`E_M{}_{}{}^{A}=e_M{}_{}{}^{B}(m^1)_{B}^{}^A`$, where $`E_M^A`$ and $`e_M^A`$ are vielbeins of $`G_{MN}`$ and $`g_{MN}`$ respectively, and $`m_A^B`$ is defined as

$$m_A{}_{}{}^{B}=\delta _A{}_{}{}^{B}2h_{ACD}h^{BCD},$$
(3)
and $`H_{MNP}=E_M{}_{}{}^{A}E_{N}^{}{}_{}{}^{B}E_{P}^{}{}_{}{}^{C}m_{B}^{}{}_{}{}^{D}m_{C}^{}{}_{}{}^{E}h_{ADE}^{}`$. Although, $`H_{MNP}`$ satisfies a non-linear self-duality condition, $`h_{ABC}`$ is linearly self-dual, and in general it cannot be written as the curl of a two-form.

The equations (1) and (2) admit a supersymmetric self-dual string solution , where the M5-brane is embedded into 11-dimensional flat Minkowski space. The solution is given by

$`X^5^{}`$ $`=`$ $`l_sh;`$ (4)
$`X^i^{}`$ $`=`$ $`\text{const.}\text{for}i^{}=1,2,3,4`$ (5)
$`H_{01m}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{l_s}{4}}_mh,`$ (6)
$`H_{mnp}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{l_s}{4}}ϵ_{mnpq}\delta ^{qr}_rh`$ (7)
where $`\delta ^{mn}_m_nh=0`$ and thus

$$h=1+\frac{ql_s^2}{r^2}.$$
(8)
In 6-dimensions, $`(x^0,x^1)`$ parametrize the string world-sheet, and $`y^m`$ are the transverse coordinates. $`X^5^{}`$ is one of the coordinates perpendicular to the M5-brane world-volume and together with $`(x^0,x^1)`$ it parametrizes the M2-brane ending on the M5-brane. The embedding functions $`X^a^{}`$, and the coordinates on the world-volume are chosen to have dimension of length, and the components of the tensor $`H_{MNP}`$ are dimensionless. The length scale $`l_s`$ and charge $`q`$ in (8) are related to the tension and the charge of the self-dual string.

The mass per unit length of the solution can be calculated by first performing a double dimensional reduction , which gives a 0-brane in 5-dimensions. Then, the energy is obtained by using the DBI expression, and as shown in , it turns out to be infinite. This is consistent with the interpretation that the self-dual string is the ending of a semi-infinite M2-brane. From the world-volume point of view, this infinity is associated with the $`r0`$ behaviour of the solution, and it is similar to the self-energy divergence of the Coulomb field in electromagnetism.

This shows that, the solution can only be trusted for $`r>ϵ`$ and should be modified (or possibly the field equations can no longer be trusted) for $`r<ϵ`$, where $`ϵ`$ is a small length scale. For the modified solution, the energy should be finite. This has the interpretation of placing another parallel M5-brane for M2-brane to end. Without knowing this modification, one could simply cut the space at $`r=ϵ`$. The energy would then have an $`ϵ`$ dependence and thus $`ϵ`$ acts as a regulator in the theory. (Following , 444We thank D. Mateos for pointing out this reference to us. one can sharpen these suggestions by considering a test M5-brane in a supergravity M5-brane background. In this case, the world-volume theory admits finite energy solutions corresponding to M2-branes stretched between the test and the source M5-branes .)

It is possible to relate the length scale $`l_s`$ of the (2,0) theory and the critical length $`ϵ`$ to the 11-dimensional planck length $`l_p`$ and the separation of the M5-branes $`L`$. Since the solution should be modified for $`r<ϵ`$, it is natural to assume that the M2-brane ends on the second parallel M5-brane at $`r=ϵ`$. Noting that the field $`X^5^{}`$ represents the transverse spike of the M2-brane, one finds $`L=X^5^{}(ϵ)`$ (or at least $`L`$ and $`X^5^{}(ϵ)`$ have the same order of magnitude). On the other hand, the energy (per unit length) of an M2-brane with length $`L`$ is $`T_2L`$, where $`T_2`$ is the M2-brane tension. This can be identified with the tension $`T_s`$ of the self-dual string, and thus $`1/l_s^2T_s=T_2L`$. Since $`T_21/l_p^3`$, $`l_s`$ can be determined in terms of $`l_p`$ and $`L`$. For our purposes, we are interested in a configuration where $`\sqrt{q}l_s>>ϵ`$. It is easy to see that this corresponds to $`L>>l_p`$. In this case $`l_s^2=l_p^3/L`$ and $`ϵ^4=q^2l_p^9/L^5`$.

At low energies, the dynamics of the self-dual string should be described by an effective action involving the Goldstone modes of the solution, which contains 4 bosonic and 4 fermionic zero modes. Although, we do not know the exact form of the action, it is possible to determine the bosonic part and its coupling to the bulk (2,0) fields.

In , it was shown that there is a static membrane solution on the M5-brane background of $`D=11`$ supergravity which can be interpreted as the orthogonal intersection of an M2-brane with an M5-brane. In the same paper, the dynamics of the membrane boundary on M5-brane was shown to be governed by the Nambu-Goto action for a string moving in a 6-dimensional Minkowski space. To include non-trivial 6-dimensional bulk excitations, one should consider a generalization of this action. The fluctuations and causal structure around a non-trivial background of M5-brane fields are characterized by the Boillat metric which is given by

$$C^{AB}=\frac{1}{K}\left[(1+\frac{4}{3}H^2)g^{AB}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}4}(H^2)^{AB}\right]$$
(9)
where

$$K=\sqrt{1+\frac{2}{3}H^2},$$
(10)
and all contractions are performed with the metric $`g_{AB}`$. Since the zero modes of a soliton can be viewed as fluctuations around that soliton, it is natural to assume that the effective self-dual string ,which represents the Goldstone modes, couples to the Boillat metric $`C_{AB}`$. 555 $`C_{AB}`$ is defined to be the inverse of $`C^{AB}`$. Therefore, one can write the following bosonic action

$$S_{string}=\frac{1}{l_s^2}d^2\sigma \sqrt{\text{Det}\widehat{C}}+\frac{q}{l_s^3}\widehat{B},$$
(11)
where $`B`$ is the 2-form potential for the self-dual 3-form and $`\widehat{C}`$ and $`\widehat{B}`$ are pull-backs of the $`C_{AB}`$ and $`B_{AB}`$ to the world-sheet.

In this paper, we are mainly interested in how this string action couples to the scalars of the (2,0) theory. This is important for understanding the emission, absorption or scattering of scalars by the effective string. To see the leading order couplings we first split 6-dimensional space $`(z^A)`$ into $`(x^\mu ,y^m)`$, where $`\mu ,\nu =0,1`$ and $`m,n=2,..,5`$, and use reparametrization invariance to identify the first two coordinates with the world-volume coordinates of the string. We then expand the string action (11) to obtain

$$S_{string}=\frac{1}{2l_s^2}d^2x\left[(_\mu X^a^{})^2+(_\mu y^m)^2\right]+S^{}$$
(12)
where $`y^m(x)`$ are string world-sheet scalars and $`S^{}`$ starts with the quartic couplings between $`_\mu X^a^{}`$ and $`_\mu y^m`$ which have the following structure:

$$S^{}\frac{1}{l_s^2}d^2x[XXXX+XXyy+yyyy+\mathrm{}.]$$
(13)
To include the M5-brane dynamics, this string action should be coupled to the M5-brane action in the bulk. 666As in the case of type IIB supergravity, one can write an action and then impose the self-duality of the 3-form field at the level of field equations. The leading order quadratic terms of such an action read

$$S_{bulk}=\frac{1}{l_s^6}d^6z[(_AX^a^{})^2+(H_{ABC}H^{ABC})+\mathrm{}.]$$
(14)
The total action governing the system is equal to $`S_{total}=S_{bulk}+S_{string}`$.

Compared to the usual $`p`$-brane actions coupled to supergravity scalars, $`S_{total}`$ has some interesting features. The most striking difference is that there is an extra kinetic term for the bulk scalars which appears on the world-sheet action (12). Also, the structure of the interaction terms in (13) indicates that the bulk scalars are scattered from the string rather than being absorbed or emitted. This is mainly related to the fact that the bulk scalars are themselves Goldstone modes of an M5-brane which represent transverse fluctuations, and thus only the terms containing even number of $`_\mu X`$ can appear in the interactions. All these are also consistent with the fact that contrary to the $`p`$-branes of supergravity theories which are black objects, the self-dual string is a soliton solution of a field theory.

To see the zeroth order effect of the extra kinetic terms for the bulk scalars, we ignore the interaction terms in $`S_{total}`$ and obtain the following field equations777The field equations are $`[_A^A+\delta (y)_\mu ^\mu ]X^a^{}=0`$. For smooth fields each term should vanish separately which gives (15) and (16). for $`X^a^{}`$

$`_A^AX^a^{}`$ $`=`$ $`0,`$ (15)
$`_\mu ^\mu X^a^{}|_{y=0}`$ $`=`$ $`0,`$ (16)
where we assume that the string world-sheet is located at $`y^m=0`$. For the localized modes that do not intersect the string, equation (16) is satisfied identically and equation (15) gives usual massless modes propagating in the bulk. Also the other modes in the bulk should obey (16), which implies 888(15) gives usual massless modes $`e^{i(\omega t+k_1x+k_my^m)}`$, which are also eigenvectors of the operator $`_\mu ^\mu `$ with non-zero eigenvalues. Therefore, (16) is equivalent to the Dirichlet boundary conditions $`X^a^{}=0`$ at $`y=0`$.

$$X^a^{}=e^{i(\omega t+k_1x)}\mathrm{sin}(k_my^m),$$
(17)
where $`\omega ^2=k_1^2+k_mk^m`$. Thus, these modes scatter from the string and form standing waves along transverse directions. This is the zeroth order contribution to the scattering amplitude, and higher order corrections can be calculated using the interaction terms in $`S^{}`$.

On the other hand, in finding the field equations, if one restricts the field space so that they have non-zero support only on $`y^m=0`$ hyperplane, then only $`S_{string}`$ gives non-zero contribution to the variation of $`S_{total}`$, which implies

$$_\mu ^\mu X^a^{}=0.$$
(18)
Since $`X^a^{}`$’s are assumed to have non-zero support only on $`y^m=0`$, this represents a massless mode purely localized on the string. It is also possible to see the existence of this extra sector of modes from the path integral approach. In such a functional integral, evaluating $`S_{bulk}`$ for the scalars with non-zero support only on the string world-sheet, would give no contribution. However, $`S_{string}`$ gives non-zero contrubution to the path integral, where the scalars also have the standard kinetic term. This indicates existence of an extra massless sector in the theory.

Let us try to see the validity of the effective string picture by comparing how scalars are scattered in the self-dual string solution picture. Here we analyze the following scalar fluctuations around (4)-(7)

$$X^i^{}=\text{const.}+\varphi ^i^{},\text{for}i^{}=1,2,3,4.$$
(19)
and find that for all i’ they obey the same equation

$$\eta ^{\mu \nu }_\mu _\nu \varphi +f^1\delta ^{mn}_m_n\varphi =0,$$
(20)
where

$$f=1+l_s^2\delta ^{mn}_mh_nh=1+\frac{R^6}{r^6},$$
(21)
and $`R^6=4q^2l_s^6`$. Considering a spherically symmetric s-wave, near the throat region the constant term in (21) can be ignored. In that case, one can define a new radial coordinate by $`\widehat{r}1/r^2`$ and equation (20) becomes

$$(_x^2+_{\widehat{r}}^2_t^2)\varphi =0.$$
(22)
This is nothing but the free-wave equation in the $`t,x,\widehat{r}`$ plane. As in the case of DBI theories, near the self-dual string, the solution is so singular that one reaches another asymptotic region. From (4), we recognize that near $`r=0`$, $`\widehat{r}X^5^{}(r)`$, and thus these waves can be considered to be propagating on the M2-brane. In the effective string picture, this corresponds to the extra sector that we pointed out following equation (18). We see that the effective string picture nicely captures the second asymptotic region.

Next, we consider the scattering of scalars from the self-dual string solution. Since the potential term is so singular that near $`r=0`$ there is another asymptotic region, we expect a perfect reflection at very low energies. Considering a wave of the form $`\varphi (r,t)=e^{i\omega t}\varphi (r)`$ we obtain a one-dimensional scattering problem given by

$$\left(\frac{d^2}{dz^2}+k(z)\right)\varphi =0$$
(23)
where $`z=(R\omega )^3/(r\omega )^2`$ and

$$k(z)=\frac{1}{4}[1+\frac{R^3\omega ^3}{z^3}].$$
(24)
We would like to consider the problem in the limit $`l_s0`$ or $`R\omega 0`$ which corresponds to a low energy scattering. To be able to understand the structure of the potential in this limit, following , we define a new coordinate suggested by the WKB approximation

$$x=_\kappa ^z𝑑z^{}\sqrt{k(z^{})},$$
(25)
where $`\kappa =R\omega `$. The coordinate $`x`$ extends from $`\mathrm{}`$ to $`+\mathrm{}`$. Introducing a properly-normalized (in the sense of WKB) wave-function

$$\varphi =[k(z)]^{1/4}\widehat{\varphi }$$
(26)
equation (23) becomes

$$\left(\frac{d^2}{dx^2}+V(x)1\right)\widehat{\varphi }=0,V(x)=\frac{a\kappa ^3}{z^5k(z)^3}+\frac{b\kappa ^6}{z^8k(z)^3},$$
(27)
where $`a`$ and $`b`$ are two positive numbers. This is a one-dimensional quantum mechanical scattering problem with the potential $`V(x)`$. As $`x\pm \mathrm{}`$, $`V(x)0`$ and $`V(x)`$ is finite at $`x=0`$.

Let us try to see the form of the potential for low energy scattering when $`l_s0`$, which implies $`\kappa 0`$. By a scaling argument it is easy to see that $`𝑑x\kappa V(x)`$ is independent of $`\kappa `$. Furthermore, $`V(x)`$ is everywhere positive and when $`\kappa =0`$, $`V(x)`$ is zero except at $`x=0`$. So, in the limit $`\kappa 0`$, $`V(x)`$ becomes a delta function. The scaling shows that

$$V(x)\frac{1}{\kappa }\delta (x),\kappa 0.$$
(28)
The potential turns out to have the same limiting behaviour compared to strings ending on D-branes and in this limit, one finds a perfect reflection . Recall that in the effective string picture in the same limit ($`l_s0`$), we had found perfectly reflecting modes (17) from the string. Thus, to the lowest order in perturbation theory, the effective string picture nicely captures the scalar scattering amplitudes on the string soliton.

## 3 The low energy limit

We now consider M-theory in the presence of two M5-branes and N parallel M2-branes stretched between them. In 6-dimensions, this corresponds to (2,0) theory in the presence of $`N`$ coincident self-dual strings. At low energies, this system has two different descriptions:

i) from the world-volume theory point of view; one can consider the self-dual string solution,

ii) from the effective string picture; one can consider the string action in 6-dimensions describing the fluctuations of the $`N`$ coincident self-dual strings.

We would like to consider a limit where we let the tension of the self-dual string $`l_s0`$, and keep $`L`$ fixed, which corresponds to a low energy limit. Since $`l_p^3=Ll_s^2`$, we also have $`l_p0`$. Therefore, 11-dimensional bulk excitations decouple from the system. In the world-volume theory we would like to keep the energy of coincident strings finite. As pointed out in , the string soliton might represent a D-string of (2,0) theory since the “fundamental” strings do not carry any $`H`$-charge . Therefore, to keep the energy of the coincident strings finite, one should assume $`r/l_s^2=\text{fixed}`$ where $`r`$ is the separation between parallel self-dual strings.

Let us now apply the above limit to both descriptions of the system. The solution describing $`N`$ coincident self-dual strings is given by (4)-(7) where the harmonic function $`h`$ is

$$h=1+\frac{Nql_s^2}{r^2}.$$
(29)
In taking a low energy limit we need to be carefull how we define the energy since the background solution induces a geometry. Of course far from the string the induced geometry is flat and the observer is located near that flat region. To determine how the observer sees the string solution we look at the behaviour of small fluctuations. In the previous section, we found that the scalar perturbations obey equation (20). However, (20) is nothing but the massless scalar equation on the background

$$ds^2=f^{1/2}(dt^2+dx^2)+f^{1/2}(dr^2+r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }_3^2),$$
(30)
which looks like a black-string in 6-dimensions.999For $`N`$ coincident strings, $`R`$ in (21) is given by $`R^6=4q^2N^2l_s^6`$. We conclude that, although the theory does not have any dynamical gravity, the induced geometry of the solution (4)-(7) is such that the observer far from the string sees it as a black-string background.

The same geometry can also be obtained by calculating the Boillat metric (9) corresponding to the self-dual string background. Actually this is not surprising, since the Boillat metric characterizes fluctuations around a non-trivial background. This further indicates that a complete analysis of the scalar and 3-form fluctuations should reflect the geometry of (30).

It is important to remember that, the self-dual string soliton is defined for $`r>ϵ`$. Therefore, the above geometry can only be trusted for this region. On the other hand, the metric (30) has a horizon at $`r=0`$ which turns out to be a singular surface. As we will see shortly the horizon is conformal to $`AdS_3\times S^3`$. Although the solution is defined before reaching the horizon, there is still a large red-shift factor since $`ϵ`$ can in principle be chosen very small (but still non-zero) by moving the parallel M5-branes apart (thus letting $`L`$ to be very large). This property of the (2,0) theory makes it different from other ordinary field theories defined on flat spaces.

We now consider the low energy limit on the self-dual string solution. Remembering that we define the energies with respect to the observer located at $`r\mathrm{}`$ and taking into account the red-shift factor in the metric (30), the low energy limit (which is equivalent to taking $`l_s0`$ with $`r/l_s^2`$ fixed101010The situation is very similar to the D-string of the Type IIB theory discussed in .) gives the geometry

$$ds^2=\frac{r^3}{2Nq}(dt^2+dx^2)+\frac{2Nq}{r^3}dr^2+\frac{2Nq}{r}d\mathrm{\Omega }_3^2,$$
(31)
where we set $`l_s=1`$. This is conformal to $`AdS_3\times S^3`$ and the conformal factor is $`1/r`$. Now, recall that the geometry is defined only for $`r>ϵ`$. On the other hand, the field equations break down at scales smaller than $`l_s`$. Looking at the the curvature of (31) one finds that it is small compared to $`l_s`$ when $`r<<Nq`$. Therefore, for large number of coincident strings, the low energy limit on the self dual string can be characterized by the geometry of (31), where the radial coordinate is restricted to $`ϵ<r<<Nq`$. Note that the curvature gets smaller for larger $`Nq`$.

Let us now consider the same low energy limit in the effective string picture. For $`N`$ coincident self-dual strings one should find the non-abelian generalization of (12). This is a common problem for DBI theories which has not been solved yet. On the other hand, from (12) and (14), after properly normalizing the bulk scalars, one finds that the coupling of the string world-sheet to the bulk scalars and the extra kinetic terms of the bulk scalars on the world-sheet vanishes as $`l_s0`$. This indicates that in the low energy limit of the non-abelian generalization of (12) one ends up with two different theories; a non-trivial theory living on the string-world sheet and a decoupled theory in the bulk. Similar to the well-known AdS/CFT duality, we started with two different descriptions of the same system, and after taking the limit we obtained two decoupled pieces in each description. Identifying the two non-trivial pieces one can claim a duality between (2,0) theory on the background (31) and a two-dimensional field theory on the string. The structure of (31) indicates that the string action is not conformal and for some range of the renormalization group flow one can use the dual geometry. Also, since the 6-dimensional space has 3 compact and 3 non-compact directions, (2,0) theory is effectively compactified to 3-dimensions. Thus, the suggested duality is a holographic duality in the sense that a 3-dimensional theory (having diffeomorphism gauge invariance and presumably tensionless strings) is dual to a 2-dimensional field theory.

At this point, we need to be more explicit on what we mean by saying (2,0) theory on the space defined by equation (31). Since (31) does not have conformal symmetry, there is a length scale in the theory. Thus, at low energies, we assume that the (2,0) theory is described by the equations of . Since these equations are intrinsictly 11-dimensional, the most natural thing is to start with a non-trivial background corresponding to M2-branes ending on M5-branes, obtain the near horizon geometry (which corresponds to a low energy description) and write down equations of  on this geometry. Unfortunately, to the best of our knowledge, no explicit supergravity solution describing M2-branes ending on an M5-brane exists in the literature. On the other hand, the solution of M5-M2 brane intersection is known. Choosing the harmonic functions of the branes equal, the near horizon geometry of this intersection becomes $`AdS_3\times S^3\times R^4\times R`$ (supported by non-trivial 4-form fields). This should correspond to a conformal fixed point of the dual theory. It would be interesting to find out branes ending on branes type of solutions (which would presumably have a throat region given by (31)) and give a precise meaning to the formulation of (2,0) theory on the background of (31).

## 4 Conclusions

In this paper, we considered the world-volume description of M2-branes ending on an M5-brane and defined a low energy limit which would imply a holographic duality between two theories which do not contain gravity. The duality could be established since the system has two different descriptions. This is indeed an essential ingredient in all examples of holography. Furthermore, in taking a low energy limit with respect to the observer at infinity, one needs a mechanism for energies to be red-shifted. Otherwise, in the low energy limit everything would become trivial. In gravitational theories, existence of a horizon is responsible for this red-shift. In our case, although we do not have a dynamical gravity, there is a hidden geometric structure. This defines a background geometry for fluctuations around a field configuration and for the self-dual string solution this geometry turns out to have a throat region. Therefore, energies near the throat region are red-shifted and after the low energy limit is taken one still ends up with non-trivial excitations.

The dualities proposed in this paper and in  are examples of holography where dynamical gravity does not play any role. However, as pointed out in the introduction, (2,0) theory is not an ordinary field theory. Despite the absence of a dynamical gravity, in many aspects it is similar to a gravitational theory (since it is related to tensionless strings). In the formulation of , diffeomorphism invariance for both bosonic and fermionic fields plays a crucial role. Presumably, in quantum theory, due to the diffeomorphism invariance acting as a gauge symmetry, the degrees of freedom in the bulk may have a holographic description as in the case of gravitational theories.

As in , one can also consider open membrane (OM) theory in the same context. In , OM metric was considered in the large field limit, whereas in  the complete form was found to be

$$(G_{OM})_{AB}=\frac{\left[(2K^21)2K^2\sqrt{1K^2}\right]^{1/6}}{K}\left(g_{AB}+4H_{AB}^2\right),$$
(32)
where K is given by (10). Evaluating (32) for the self-dual string solution (4)-(7), one obtains the following metric

$$ds^2=f^{2/3}(dt^2+dx^2)+f^{1/3}(dr^2+r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }_3^2),$$
(33)
where $`f`$ is given by (21). Although the solution (4)-(7) is singular at $`r=0`$ and thus valid for $`r>ϵ`$, it turns out that (33) is regular even at $`r=0`$. Indeed, $`r=0`$ is a horizon and near horizon geometry is $`AdS_3\times S^3`$ without any conformal factor. In , a low energy limit is defined so that the near horizon region is decoupled from the asymptotic region. Thus, one has OM theory defined on $`AdS_3\times S^3`$ which would be dual to a 2-dimensional field theory. The dual $`AdS_3`$ geometry indicates that this theory is defined at a conformal fixed point. The 2-dimensional field theories considered in this paper and in  should be the same (since they both describe collective motion of the same soliton). This theory should have a renormalization group flow so that at an isolated conformal fixed point it has a dual $`AdS_3`$ OM theory. When the conformal invariance is broken, (31) describes physics for some interval in the renormalization group flow. It would be interesting to verify such a picture. For that, one needs to find the complete $`𝒩=(4,4)`$ supersymmetric action for $`N`$ coincident self-dual strings in 6-dimensions.

Finally, there is also a supersymmetric 3-brane soliton of the M5-brane field equations . One may try to find the background geometry corresponding to this 3-brane and define a low energy limit which would imply a holographic duality. It turns out, the Boillat metric for the 3-brane does not have any horizon or throat region. It is a smooth metric which interpolates between $`R^6`$ and $`R^5\times S^1`$. Thus, it is not possible to define a decoupling limit in this case. The 3-brane in 6-dimensions has two transverse directions. Therefore, this object requires a special treatment (like D7-brane of IIB theory) since it is not a trivial task to define an asymptotic region.

### Acknowledgements

We are thankful to P. Sundell, D.S. Berman and T. Dereli for valuable discussions. Basic ideas of this work took shape during conversations with P. Sundell and D.S. Berman.