M-THEORY SUPERALGEBRA FROM THE M-5-BRANE

The algebra of Noether supercharges of the M-5-brane effective action is shown to include both 2-form and 5-form central charges. Surprising ly, only the 5-form charge is entirely due to the Wess-Zumino term bec ause the 'naive' algebra is the M-2-brane supertranslation algebra. Th e full structure of central charges is shown to be directly related to the projector arising in the proof of K-symmetry of the M-5-brane act ion. It is also shown to allow 'mixed' M-brane configurations preservi ng 1/2 supersymmetry that include the (non-marginal) M-2-brane/M-5-bra ne 'bound state' as a special case. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Sci ence B.V.