T self-dual transverse space and gravity trapping

We advocate that the orbifold Z(2) symmetry of the gravity trapping model proposed by Randall and Sundrum can be seen, in appropriate coordinates, as a symmetry that exchanges the short distances with the large ones. Using diffeomorphism invariance, we construct extensions defined by patch glued together. A singularity occurs at the junction and it is interpreted as a brane, the jump brane, of codimension one. We give explicit realization in ten and eleven dimensional supergravity and show that the lower dimensional Planck scale on the brane is finite. The standard model would be trapped on a supersymmetric brane located at the origin whereas the jump brane would surround it at a finite distance. The bulk interactions could transmit the supersymmetry breaking from the jump brane to the SM brane. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.