Massive IIA string theory and Matrix theory compactification Original Research Article

We propose a Matrix theory approach to Romansʹ massive Type IIA supergravity. It is obtained by applying the procedure of Matrix theory compactifications to Hullʹs proposal of the massive Type IIA string theory as M-theory on a twisted torus. The resulting Matrix theory is a super-Yang–Mills theory on large N three-branes with a space-dependent noncommutativity parameter, which is also independently derived by a T-duality approach. We give evidence showing that the energies of a class of physical excitations of the super-Yang–Mills theory show the correct symmetry expected from massive Type IIA string theory in a lightcone quantization.