Brane solutions of a spherical sigma model in six dimensions

We explore solutions of six-dimensional gravity coupled to a non-linear sigma model, in the presence of codimension-two branes. We investigate the compactifications induced by a spherical scalar manifold and analyze the conditions under which they are of finite volume and singularity free. We discuss the issue of single-valuedness of the scalar fields and provide some special embedding of the scalar manifold to the internal space which solves this problem. These brane solutions furnish some self-tuning features, however they do not provide a satisfactory explanation of the vanishing of the effective four-dimensional cosmological constant. We discuss the properties of this model in relation with the self-tuning example based on a hyperbolic sigma model. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.