Soft masses in superstring models with anomalous U(1) symmetries

We analyze the general structure of soft scalar masses emerging in superstring models involving anomalous U(1) symmetries, with the aim of characterizing more systematically the circumstances under which they can happen to be flavor universal. We consider both heterotic orbifold and intersecting brane models, possibly with several anomalous and non-anomalous spontaneously broken U(1) symmetries. The hidden sector is assumed to consist of the universal dilaton, Kahler class and complex structure moduli, which are supposed to break supersymmetry, and a minimal set of Higgs fields which compensate the Fayet-Iliopoulos terms. We leave the superpotential that is supposed to stabilize the hidden sector fields unspecified, but we carefully take into account the relations implied by gauge invariance and the constraints required for the existence of a metastable vacuum with vanishing cosmological constant. The results are parametrized in terms of a constrained Goldstino direction, suitably defined effective modular weights, and the U(1) charges and shifts. We show that the effect induced by vector multiplets strongly depends on the functional form of the Kahler potential for the Higgs fields. We find in particular that whenever these are charged matter fields, like in heterotic models, the effect is non-trivial, whereas when they are shifting moduli fields, like in certain intersecting brane models, the effect may vanish.Comment: 35 pages, LaTe

Mindfulness-based interventions for anxiety and depression

Published in final edited form as: Psychiatr Clin North Am. 2017 December ; 40(4): 739–749. doi:10.1016/j.psc.2017.08.008.This article reviews the ways in which mindfulness practices have contributed to cognitive and behavioral treatments for depression and anxiety. Research on mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) has increased rapidly in the past decade. The most common include mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. MBIs are effective in reducing anxiety and depression symptom severity in a range of individuals. MBIs consistently outperform non-evidence-based treatments and active control conditions, such as health education, relaxation training, and supportive psychotherapy. MBIs also perform comparably with cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). The treatment principles of MBIs for anxiety and depression are compatible with standard CBT.R01 AT007257 - NCCIH NIH HH

Boundary Conformal Anomalies on Hyperbolic Spaces and Euclidean Balls

We compute conformal anomalies for conformal field theories with free conformal scalars and massless spin $1/2$ fields in hyperbolic space $\mathbb{H}^d$ and in the ball $\mathbb{B}^d$, for $2\leq d\leq 7$. These spaces are related by a conformal transformation. In even dimensional spaces, the conformal anomalies on $\mathbb{H}^{2n}$ and $\mathbb{B}^{2n}$ are shown to be identical. In odd dimensional spaces, the conformal anomaly on $\mathbb{B}^{2n+1}$ comes from a boundary contribution, which exactly coincides with that of $\mathbb{H}^{2n+1}$ provided one identifies the UV short-distance cutoff on $\mathbb{B}^{2n+1}$ with the inverse large distance IR cutoff on $\mathbb{H}^{2n+1}$, just as prescribed by the conformal map. As an application, we determine, for the first time, the conformal anomaly coefficients multiplying the Euler characteristic of the boundary for scalars and half-spin fields with various boundary conditions in $d=5$ and $d=7$.Comment: 16 pages. V3: small correction

Operator Mixing in Large NN Superconformal Field Theories on S4\mathbb{S}^4 and Correlators with Wilson loops

We find a general formula for the operator mixing on the $\mathbb{S}^4$ of chiral primary operators (CPO) for the ${\cal N}=4$ theory at large $N$ in terms of Chebyshev polynomials. As an application, we compute the correlator of a CPO and a Wilson loop, reproducing an earlier result by Giombi and Pestun obtained from a two-matrix model proposal. Finally, we discuss a simple method to obtain correlators in general ${\cal N}=2$ superconformal field theories in perturbation theory in terms of correlators of the ${\cal N}=4$ theory.Comment: 15 pages, no figure

Large N Correlation Functions in Superconformal Field Theories

We compute correlation functions of chiral primary operators in N=2 superconformal theories at large N using a construction based on supersymmetric localization recently developed by Gerchkovitz et al. We focus on N=4 SYM as well as on superconformal QCD. In the case of N=4 we recover the free field theory results as expected due to non-renormalization theorems. In the case of superconformal QCD we study the planar expansion in the large N limit. The final correlators admit a simple generalization to a finite N formula which exactly matches the various small $N$ results in the literature.Comment: 34 pages, no figure