Integrability and conformal data of the dimer model

The central charge of the dimer model on the square lattice is still being debated in the literature. In this paper, we provide evidence supporting the consistency of a $c=-2$ description. Using Lieb's transfer matrix and its description in terms of the Temperley-Lieb algebra $TL_n$ at $\beta = 0$, we provide a new solution of the dimer model in terms of the model of critical dense polymers on a tilted lattice and offer an understanding of the lattice integrability of the dimer model. The dimer transfer matrix is analysed in the scaling limit and the result for $L_0-\frac c{24}$ is expressed in terms of fermions. Higher Virasoro modes are likewise constructed as limits of elements of $TL_n$ and are found to yield a $c=-2$ realisation of the Virasoro algebra, familiar from fermionic $bc$ ghost systems. In this realisation, the dimer Fock spaces are shown to decompose, as Virasoro modules, into direct sums of Feigin-Fuchs modules, themselves exhibiting reducible yet indecomposable structures. In the scaling limit, the eigenvalues of the lattice integrals of motion are found to agree exactly with those of the $c=-2$ conformal integrals of motion. Consistent with the expression for $L_0-\frac c{24}$ obtained from the transfer matrix, we also construct higher Virasoro modes with $c=1$ and find that the dimer Fock space is completely reducible under their action. However, the transfer matrix is found not to be a generating function for the $c=1$ integrals of motion. Although this indicates that Lieb's transfer matrix description is incompatible with the $c=1$ interpretation, it does not rule out the existence of an alternative, $c=1$ compatible, transfer matrix description of the dimer model.Comment: 54 pages. v2: minor correction

1/N_c Corrections to the Hadronic Matrix Elements of Q_6 and Q_8 in K --> pi pi Decays

We calculate long-distance contributions to the amplitudes A(K^0 --> pi pi, I) induced by the gluon and the electroweak penguin operators Q_6 and Q_8, respectively. We use the 1/N_c expansion within the effective chiral lagrangian for pseudoscalar mesons. In addition, we adopt a modified prescription for the identification of meson momenta in the chiral loop corrections in order to achieve a consistent matching to the short-distance part. Our approach leads to an explicit classification of the loop diagrams into non-factorizable and factorizable, the scale dependence of the latter being absorbed in the low-energy coefficients of the effective theory. Along these lines we calculate the one-loop corrections to the O(p^0) term in the chiral expansion of both operators. In the numerical results, we obtain moderate corrections to B_6^(1/2) and a substantial reduction of B_8^(3/2).Comment: 32 pages, LaTeX, 8 eps figures. One reference added, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Integrable Hamiltonian for Classical Strings on AdS_5 x S^5

We find the Hamiltonian for physical excitations of the classical bosonic string propagating in the AdS_5 x S^5 space-time. The Hamiltonian is obtained in a so-called uniform gauge which is related to the static gauge by a 2d duality transformation. The Hamiltonian is of the Nambu type and depends on two parameters: a single S^5 angular momentum J and the string tension \lambda. In the general case both parameters can be finite. The space of string states consists of short and long strings. In the sector of short strings the large J expansion with \lambda'=\lambda/J^2 fixed recovers the plane-wave Hamiltonian and higher-order corrections recently studied in the literature. In the strong coupling limit \lambda\to \infty, J fixed, the energy of short strings scales as \sqrt[4]{\lambda} while the energy of long strings scales as \sqrt{\lambda}. We further show that the gauge-fixed Hamiltonian is integrable by constructing the corresponding Lax representation. We discuss some general properties of the monodromy matrix, and verify that the asymptotic behavior of the quasi-momentum perfectly agrees with the one obtained earlier for some specific cases.Comment: 30 pages, LaTex; v2: a few comments added, misprints corrected, references adde

Scalar perturbations in regular two-component bouncing cosmologies

We consider a two-component regular cosmology bouncing from contraction to expansion, where, in order to include both scalar fields and perfect fluids as particular cases, the dominant component is allowed to have an intrinsic isocurvature mode. We show that the spectrum of the growing mode of the Bardeen potential in the pre-bounce is never transferred to the dominant mode of the post-bounce. The latter acquires at most a dominant isocurvature component, depending on the relative properties of the two fluids. Our results imply that several claims in the literature need substantial revision.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figur

Recent Progress in AdS/CFT

The study of AdS/CFT (or gauge/gravity) duality has been one of the most active and illuminating areas of research in string theory over the past decade. The scope of its relevance and the insights it is providing seem to be ever expanding. In this talk I briefly describe some of the attempts to explore how the duality works for maximally supersymmetric systems.Comment: 11 page

Cutoff-independent regularization of four-fermion interactions for color superconductivity

We implement a cutoff-independent regularization of four-fermion interactions to calculate the color-superconducting gap parameter in quark matter. The traditional cutoff regularization has difficulties for chemical potentials \mu of the order of the cutoff \Lambda, predicting in particular a vanishing gap at \mu \sim \Lambda. The proposed cutoff-independent regularization predicts a finite gap at high densities and indicates a smooth matching with the weak coupling QCD prediction for the gap at asymptotically high densities.Comment: 5 pages, 1 eps figure - Revised manuscript to match the published pape

Spectral method for matching exterior and interior elliptic problems

A spectral method is described for solving coupled elliptic problems on an interior and an exterior domain. The method is formulated and tested on the two-dimensional interior Poisson and exterior Laplace problems, whose solutions and their normal derivatives are required to be continuous across the interface. A complete basis of homogeneous solutions for the interior and exterior regions, corresponding to all possible Dirichlet boundary values at the interface, are calculated in a preprocessing step. This basis is used to construct the influence matrix which serves to transform the coupled boundary conditions into conditions on the interior problem. Chebyshev approximations are used to represent both the interior solutions and the boundary values. A standard Chebyshev spectral method is used to calculate the interior solutions. The exterior harmonic solutions are calculated as the convolution of the free-space Green's function with a surface density; this surface density is itself the solution to an integral equation which has an analytic solution when the boundary values are given as a Chebyshev expansion. Properties of Chebyshev approximations insure that the basis of exterior harmonic functions represents the external near-boundary solutions uniformly. The method is tested by calculating the electrostatic potential resulting from charge distributions in a rectangle. The resulting influence matrix is well-conditioned and solutions converge exponentially as the resolution is increased. The generalization of this approach to three-dimensional problems is discussed, in particular the magnetohydrodynamic equations in a finite cylindrical domain surrounded by a vacuum