Born-Infeld Strings Tunneling to D-branes

Recent work on solutions to the Born-Infeld theory used to describe Dbranes suggests that fundamental strings can be viewed, in a certain limit, as D-branes whose worldvolumes have collapsed to string-like configurations. Here we address the possibility of undoing this collapse, by inducing the string to tunnel to an extended brane configuration. Using semiclassical methods we argue that, by putting one of these Born-Infeld strings in the background of a uniform 4-form RR field strength, the string can nucleate a spheroidal bulge of D2-brane, or, if the string is wrapped around a small enough circle, it can tunnel to a toroidal D2-brane. This process can also be interpreted in terms of the M2-brane. We also address the extension to other Dp-branes, and discuss the range of validity of the approximations involved. Address after Jan 1, 1998: Dept. of Mathematical Sciences, University of Durham, Durham DH1 3LE, UK.