Brane solutions of gravity-dilaton-axion systems

We consider general properties of brane solutions of gravity-dilaton-axion systems. We focus on the case of 7-branes and instantons. In both cases we show that besides the standard solutions there are new deformed solutions whose charges take value in any of the three conjugacy classes of SL(2, R). In the case of 7-branes we find that for each conjugacy class the 7-brane solutions are 1/2 BPS. Next, we discuss the relation of the 7-branes with the DW/QFT correspondence. In particular, we show that the two (inequivalent) 7-brane solutions in the SO(2) conjugacy class have a nice interpretation as a distribution of (the so-called near horizon limit of) branes. This suggests a way to define the near-horizon limit of a 7-brane. In the case of instantons only the solutions corresponding to the R conjugacy class are 1/2 BPS. The solutions corresponding to the other two conjugacy classess correspond to non-extremal deformations. We first discuss an alternative description of these solutions as the geodesic motion of a particle in a two-dimensional AdS(2) space. Next, we discuss the instanton-soliton correspondence. In particular, we show that for two of the conjugacy classes the instanton action in D dimensions is given by the mass of the corresponding soliton which is a (non-extremal) black hole solution in D+1 dimension. We speculate on the role of the non-extremal instantons in calculating higher-derivative corrections to the string effective action and, after a generalization from a flat to a curved AdS(5) background, on their role in the AdS/CFT corresopondence