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For a compact string embedding map coordinate, T-duality preserves its left-moving part and reverses its right-moving part. Consequently ${\partial }_{\tau }\tilde{X}={\partial }_{\sigma }X$ and ${\partial }_{\sigma }\tilde{X}={\partial }_{\tau }X$. A Neumann boundary condition becomes a Dirichlet boundary condition and conversely. A D-brane wrapping the circle loses one spatial worldvolume dimension; a D-brane transverse to it gains one in the dual description.

The spatial integration-by-parts term in the Nambu-Goto phase-space action pairs endpoint displacement with momentum flux $J_m=e{T}^2{X}_m^{\prime }+u{P}_m$. Free endpoint displacements require zero flux. Fixed normal coordinates instead set those variations to zero, while tangential variations retain a Neumann boundary condition. Boundary conditions must also be preserved by the equations of motion. In a boundary-preserving gauge with $u=0$, mixed Neumann boundary conditions and Dirichlet boundary conditions implement a planar D-brane.

A massless open-string vector polarization tangential to a planar D-brane becomes a worldvolume gauge field. Transverse polarizations become scalar fields describing fluctuations of its position. This supports the interpretation of a Dirichlet plane as a dynamical extended object. The unprojected bosonic open-string tachyon additionally signals that its brane ground state is unstable; the massless field interpretation does not remove that instability.