Stochastic Spacetime and Brownian Motion of Test Particles

The operational meaning of spacetime fluctuations is discussed. Classical spacetime geometry can be viewed as encoding the relations between the motions of test particles in the geometry. By analogy, quantum fluctuations of spacetime geometry can be interpreted in terms of the fluctuations of these motions. Thus one can give meaning to spacetime fluctuations in terms of observables which describe the Brownian motion of test particles. We will first discuss some electromagnetic analogies, where quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field induce Brownian motion of test particles. We next discuss several explicit examples of Brownian motion caused by a fluctuating gravitational field. These examples include lightcone fluctuations, variations in the flight times of photons through the fluctuating geometry, and fluctuations in the expansion parameter given by a Langevin version of the Raychaudhuri equation. The fluctuations in this parameter lead to variations in the luminosity of sources. Other phenomena which can be linked to spacetime fluctuations are spectral line broadening and angular blurring of distant sources.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures. Talk given at the 9th Peyresq workshop, June 200

State-space Geometry, Statistical Fluctuations and Black Holes in String Theory

We study the state-space geometry of various extremal and nonextremal black holes in string theory. From the notion of the intrinsic geometry, we offer a new perspective of black hole vacuum fluctuations. For a given black hole entropy, we explicate the intrinsic state-space geometric meaning of the statistical fluctuations, local and global stability conditions and long range statistical correlations. We provide a set of physical motivations pertaining to the extremal and nonextremal black holes, \textit{viz.}, the meaning of the chemical geometry and physics of correlation. We illustrate the state-space configurations for general charge extremal black holes. In sequel, we extend our analysis for various possible charge and anticharge nonextremal black holes. From the perspective of statistical fluctuation theory, we offer general remarks, future directions and open issues towards the intrinsic geometric understanding of the vacuum fluctuations and black holes in string theory. Keywords: Intrinsic Geometry; String Theory; Physics of black holes; Classical black holes; Quantum aspects of black holes, evaporation, thermodynamics; Higher-dimensional black holes, black strings, and related objects; Statistical Fluctuation; Flow Instability. PACS: 02.40.Ky; 11.25.-w; 04.70.-s; 04.70.Bw; 04.70.Dy; 04.50.Gh; 5.40.-a; 47.29.KyComment: 28 pages. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1102.239

Toric Hyperkahler Varieties

Extending work of Bielawski-Dancer and Konno, we develop a theory of toric hyperkahler varieties, which involves toric geometry, matroid theory and convex polyhedra. The framework is a detailed study of semi-projective toric varieties, meaning GIT quotients of affine spaces by torus actions, and specifically, of Lawrence toric varieties, meaning GIT quotients of even-dimensional affine spaces by symplectic torus actions. A toric hyperkahler variety is a complete intersection in a Lawrence toric variety. Both varieties are non-compact, and they share the same cohomology ring, namely, the Stanley-Reisner ring of a matroid modulo a linear system of parameters. Familiar applications of toric geometry to combinatorics, including the Hard Lefschetz Theorem and the volume polynomials of Khovanskii-Pukhlikov, are extended to the hyperkahler setting. When the matroid is graphic, our construction gives the toric quiver varieties, in the sense of Nakajima.Comment: 32 pages, Latex; minor corrections and a reference adde