Tachyon condensation in noncommutative gauge theory

Abstract We show that the decay of the D 2 – D 2 system with large worldvolume magnetic fields can be described in noncommutative gauge theory. Tachyon condensation in this system describes the annihilation of D 2 – D 2 into D 0 -branes. From the (2+1) -dimensional point of view, this is the decay of a nonabelian magnetic flux into vortices. The semiclassical approximation is valid over a long period of the decay. Our analysis allows us to clarify earlier results in the literature related to tachyon condensation and noncommutative gauge theory.