Effective field theories and matching for codimension-2 branes

It is generic for the bulk fields sourced by branes having codimension two and higher to diverge at the brane position, much as does the Coulomb potential at the position of its source charge. This complicates finding the relation between brane properties and the bulk geometries they source. (These complications do not arise for codimension-1 sources, such as in RS geometries, because of the special properties unique to codimension one.) Understanding these relations is a prerequisite for phenomenological applications involving higher-codimension branes. Using codimension-2 branes in extra-dimensional scalar-tensor theories as an example, we identify the classical matching conditions that relate the near-brane asymptotic behaviour of bulk fields to the low-energy effective actions describing how space-filling codimension-2 branes interact with the surrounding extra-dimensional bulk. We do so by carefully regulating the near-brane divergences, and show how these may be renormalized in a general way. Among the interesting consequences is a constraint relating the on-brane curvature to its action, for maximally symmetric brane geometries. It represents the codimension-2 generalization of the well-known modification of the Friedmann equation for codimension-1 branes. We argue that its interpretation within an effective field theory framework in this case is as a relation 4 pi U-2 similar or equal to kappa(2) (Tau(2)')(2) between the codimension-2 brane tension, T-2(phi), and its contribution to the low-energy on-brane effective potential, U-2(phi). This relation implies that any dynamics that minimizes a brane contribution to the on-brane curvature automatically also minimizes its couplings to the extra-dimensional scalar.