33,629 research outputs found
Gravitational Lorentz Violation and Superluminality via AdS/CFT Duality
A weak quantum mechanical coupling is constructed permitting superluminal
communication within a preferred region of a gravitating AdS_5 spacetime. This
is achieved by adding a spatially non-local perturbation of a special kind to
the Hamiltonian of a four-dimensional conformal field theory with a
weakly-coupled AdS dual, such as maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. In
particular, two issues are given careful treatment: (1) the UV-completeness of
our deformed CFT, guaranteeing the existence of a ``deformed string theory''
AdS dual, and (2) the demonstration that superluminal effects can take place in
AdS, both on its boundary as well as in the bulk. Exotic Lorentz-violating
properties such as these may have implications for tests of General Relativity,
addressing the cosmological constant problem, or probing "behind'' horizons.
Our construction may give insight into the interpretation of wormhole solutions
in Euclidean AdS gravity.Comment: 23 pages LaTex. Typo in Eq. (37) corrected. References adde
Causality-Violating Higgs Singlets at the LHC
We construct a simple class of compactified five-dimensional metrics which
admits closed timelike curves (CTCs), and derive the resulting CTCs as analytic
solutions to the geodesic equations of motion. The associated Einstein tensor
satisfies all the null, weak, strong and dominant energy conditions. In
particular, no negative-energy "tachyonic" matter is required. In
extra-dimensional models where gauge charges are bound to our brane, it is the
Kaluza-Klein (KK) modes of gauge-singlets that may travel through the CTCs.
From our brane point of view, many of these KK modes would appear to travel
backward in time. We give a simple model in which time-traveling Higgs singlets
can be produced by the LHC, either from decay of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs
or through mixing with the SM Higgs. The signature of these time-traveling
singlets is a secondary decay vertex pre-appearing before the primary vertex
which produced them. The two vertices are correlated by momentum conservation.
We demonstrate that pre-appearing vertices in the Higgs singlet-doublet mixing
model may well be observable at the LHC.Comment: 55 pages, 5 figures, v4: Version updated to include in single
manuscript the contents of Erratum [Phys. Rev. D 88, 069901(E) (2013)], Reply
[Phys. Rev. D 88, 068702 (2013)], Comment [Phys. Rev. D 88, 068701 (2013),
arXiv:1302.1711], and original published article [Phys. Rev. D 87, 045004
(2013), arXiv:1103.1373]. Positive conclusions remain unchange
On the Emergence of Time in Quantum Gravity
We discuss from a philosophical perspective the way in which the normal
concept of time might be said to `emerge' in a quantum theory of gravity. After
an introduction, we briefly discuss the notion of emergence, without regard to
time (Section 2). We then introduce the search for a quantum theory of gravity
(Section 3); and review some general interpretative issues about space, time
and matter Section 4). We then discuss the emergence of time in simple quantum
geometrodynamics, and in the Euclidean approach (Section 5). Section 6
concludes.Comment: To appear in ``The Arguments of Time'', ed. J. Butterfield, Oxford
University Press, 199
Interaction Histories and Short-Term Memory: Enactive Development of Turn-Taking Behaviours in a Childlike Humanoid Robot
In this article, an enactive architecture is described that allows a humanoid robot to learn to compose simple actions into turn-taking behaviours while playing interaction games with a human partner. The robot’s action choices are reinforced by social feedback from the human in the form of visual attention and measures of behavioural synchronisation. We demonstrate that the system can acquire and switch between behaviours learned through interaction based on social feedback from the human partner. The role of reinforcement based on a short-term memory of the interaction was experimentally investigated. Results indicate that feedback based only on the immediate experience was insufficient to learn longer, more complex turn-taking behaviours. Therefore, some history of the interaction must be considered in the acquisition of turn-taking, which can be efficiently handled through the use of short-term memory.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio
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