Fluid Dynamics of NSR Strings

We show that the renormalization group flows of the massless superstring modes in the presence of fluctuating D-branes satisfy the equations of fluid dynamics.In particular, we show that the D-brane's U(1) field is related to the velocity function in the Navier-Stokes equation while the dilaton plays the role of the passive scalar advected by the turbulent flow. This leads us to suggest a possible isomorphism between the off-shell superstring theory in the presence of fluctuating branes and the fluid mechanical degrees of freedom.Comment: 24 pages Dedicated to the memory of Ian Koga

Interaction of Discrete States in Two-Dimensional String Theory

We study the couplings of discrete states that appear in the string theory embedded in two dimensions, and show that they are given by the structure constants of the group of area preserving diffeomorphisms. We propose an effective action for these states, which is itself invariant under this infinite-dimensional group.Comment: 12 page

Effects of Strain coupling and Marginal dimensionality in the nature of phase transition in Quantum paraelectrics

Here a recently observed weak first order transition in doped SrTiO3 is argued to be a consequence of the coupling between strain and order parameter fluctuations. Starting with a semi-microscopic action, and using renormalization group equations for vertices, we write the free energy of such a system. This fluctuation renormalized free energy is then used to discuss the possibility of first order transition at zero temperature as well as at finite temperature. An asymptotic analysis predicts small but a finite discontinuity in the order parameter near a mean field quantum critical point at zero temperature. In case of finite temperature transition, near quantum critical point such a possibility is found to be extremely weak. Results are in accord with some experimental findings on quantum paraelectrics such as SrTiO3 and KTaO3.Comment: Revised versio

Theory of the fractional microwave-induced resistance oscillations

We develop a systematic theory of microwave-induced oscillations in magnetoresistivity of a 2D electron gas in the vicinity of fractional harmonics of the cyclotron resonance, observed in recent experiments. We show that in the limit of well-separated Landau levels the effect is dominated by a change of the distribution function induced by multiphoton processes. At moderate magnetic field, a single-photon mechanism originating from the microwave-induced sidebands in the density of states of disorder-broadened Landau levels becomes important.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; V2: published version (typos corrected, references added and updated