Large deformations of relativistic membranes: A generalization of the Raychaudhuri equations

A coupled system of nonlinear partial differential equations is presented which describes nonperturbatively the evolution of deformations of a relativistic membrane of arbitrary dimension D in an arbitrary background spacetime. These equations can be considered from a formal point of view as higher dimensional analogues of the Raychaudhuri equations for point particles to which they are shown to reduce when D=1. For D=1 or D=2 (a string), there are no constraints on the initial data. If D>2, however, there will be constraints with a corresponding complication of the evolution problem. The consistent evolution of the constraints is guaranteed by an integrability condition which is satisfied when the equations of motion are satisfied. Explicit calculations are performed for membranes described by the Nambu action.