So one can show that all of physics of M-theory, if studied in the light-cone gauge, is equivalent to an ordinary non-gravitational matrix model – a quantum mechanical model with matrix degrees of freedom.

The eigenvalues of the X^i matrices may be viewed as the positions of the gravitons (or their superpartners) in 11 dimensions; a threshold (zero-binding-energy) bound state of several such eigenvalues (which can be proved to exist, a remarkable property of SU(N) supersymmetric quantum mechanics) are gravitons that carry a higher number of units of the quantized light-like (longitudinal) momentum.

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— answered Mar 6 ’11 at 8:02

— Lubos Motl

2013.06.06 Thursday ACHK