Penrose limits of branes and marginal intersecting branes

We construct the Penrose limit backgrounds in closed forms along the generic null geodesics for the near-horizon geometries of D1, D3, D5, NS1 and NS5 branes. The Penrose limit metrics of D1, D5 and NS1 have non-trivial dependence of the light-cone time coordinate, while those of D3 and NS5 have no its dependence. We study the Penrose limits on the marginal 1/4 supersymmetric configurations of standard intersecting branes, such as the NS-NS intersection of NS1 and NS5, the RR intersections of Dp and Dq over some spatial dimensions and the mix intersections of NS5 and Dp over (p - 1)-dimensional spaces. They are classified into three types that correspond to the Penrose limits of D1, D3 and D5 backgrounds. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.