763 research outputs found
Perturbative Search for Fixed Lines in Large N Gauge Theories
The logarithmic running of marginal double-trace operators is a general
feature of 4-d field theories containing scalar fields in the adjoint or
bifundamental representation. Such operators provide leading contributions in
the large N limit; therefore, the leading terms in their beta functions must
vanish for a theory to be large N conformal. We calculate the one-loop beta
functions in orbifolds of the N=4 SYM theory by a discrete subgroup Gamma of
the SU(4) R-symmetry, which are dual to string theory on AdS_5 x S^5/Gamma. We
present a general strategy for determining whether there is a fixed line
passing through the origin of the coupling constant space. Then we study in
detail some classes of non-supersymmetric orbifold theories, and emphasize the
importance of decoupling the U(1) factors. Among our examples, which include
orbifolds acting freely on the S^5, we do not find any large N
non-supersymmetric theories with fixed lines passing through the origin.
Connection of these results with closed string tachyon condensation in AdS_5 x
S^5/Gamma is discussed.Comment: 31 pages, 4 figures, latex v2: Clarifications and reference adde
Heterotic Strings in Two Dimensions and New Stringy Phase Transitions
We discuss heterotic string theories in two dimensions with gauge groups
Spin(24) and Spin(8) x E_8. After compactification the theories exhibit a rich
spectrum of states with both winding and momentum. At special points some of
these stringy states become massless, leading to new first order phase
transitions. For example, the thermal theories exhibit standard thermodynamics
below the phase transition, but novel and peculiar behavior above it. In
particular, when the radius of the Euclidean circle is smaller than the phase
transition point the torus partition function is not given by the thermal trace
over the spacetime Hilbert space. The full moduli space of compactified
theories is 13 dimensional, when Wilson lines are included; the Spin(24) and
Spin(8) x E_8 theories correspond to distinct decompactification limits.Comment: 32 pages; v2: references added, minor change
RSPO1/beta-Catenin Signaling Pathway Regulates Oogonia Differentiation and Entry into Meiosis in the Mouse Fetal Ovary
Differentiation of germ cells into male gonocytes or female oocytes is a central event in sexual reproduction. Proliferation and differentiation of fetal germ cells depend on the sex of the embryo. In male mouse embryos, germ cell proliferation is regulated by the RNA helicase Mouse Vasa homolog gene and factors synthesized by the somatic Sertoli cells promote gonocyte differentiation. In the female, ovarian differentiation requires activation of the WNT/β-catenin signaling pathway in the somatic cells by the secreted protein RSPO1. Using mouse models, we now show that Rspo1 also activates the WNT/β-catenin signaling pathway in germ cells. In XX Rspo1(−/−) gonads, germ cell proliferation, expression of the early meiotic marker Stra8, and entry into meiosis are all impaired. In these gonads, impaired entry into meiosis and germ cell sex reversal occur prior to detectable Sertoli cell differentiation, suggesting that β-catenin signaling acts within the germ cells to promote oogonial differentiation and entry into meiosis. Our results demonstrate that RSPO1/β-catenin signaling is involved in meiosis in fetal germ cells and contributes to the cellular decision of germ cells to differentiate into oocyte or sperm
Perturbative Gauge Theory and Closed String Tachyons
We find an interesting connection between perturbative large N gauge theory
and closed superstrings. The gauge theory in question is found on N D3-branes
placed at the tip of the cone R^6/Gamma. In our previous work we showed that,
when the orbifold group Gamma breaks all supersymmetry, then typically the
gauge theory is not conformal because of double-trace couplings whose one-loop
beta functions do not possess real zeros. In this paper we observe a precise
correspondence between the instabilities caused by the flow of these
double-trace couplings and the presence of tachyons in the twisted sectors of
type IIB theory on orbifolds R^{3,1}x R^6/Gamma. For each twisted sectors that
does not contain tachyons, we show that the corresponding double-trace coupling
flows to a fixed point and does not cause an instability. However, whenever a
twisted sector is tachyonic, we find that the corresponding one-loop beta
function does not have a real zero, hence an instability is likely to exist in
the gauge theory. We demonstrate explicitly the one-to-one correspondence
between the regions of stability/instability in the space of charges under
Gamma that arise in the perturbative gauge theory and in the free string
theory. Possible implications of this remarkably simple gauge/string
correspondence are discussed.Comment: 25 pages, Latex; V2: Clarifications and references adde
On the effective action of confining strings
We study the low-energy effective action on confining strings (in the
fundamental representation) in SU(N) gauge theories in D space-time dimensions.
We write this action in terms of the physical transverse fluctuations of the
string. We show that for any D, the four-derivative terms in the effective
action must exactly match the ones in the Nambu-Goto action, generalizing a
result of Luscher and Weisz for D=3. We then analyze the six-derivative terms,
and we show that some of these terms are constrained. For D=3 this uniquely
determines the effective action for closed strings to this order, while for D>3
one term is not uniquely determined by our considerations. This implies that
for D=3 the energy levels of a closed string of length L agree with the
Nambu-Goto result at least up to order 1/L^5. For any D we find that the
partition function of a long string on a torus is unaffected by the free
coefficient, so it is always equal to the Nambu-Goto partition function up to
six-derivative order. For a closed string of length L, this means that for D>3
its energy can, in principle, deviate from the Nambu-Goto result at order
1/L^5, but such deviations must always cancel in the computation of the
partition function. Next, we compute the effective action up to six-derivative
order for the special case of confining strings in weakly-curved holographic
backgrounds, at one-loop order (leading order in the curvature). Our
computation is general, and applies in particular to backgrounds like the
Witten background, the Maldacena-Nunez background, and the Klebanov-Strassler
background. We show that this effective action obeys all of the constraints we
derive, and in fact it precisely agrees with the Nambu-Goto action (the single
allowed deviation does not appear).Comment: 71 pages, 7 figures. v2: added reference, minor corrections. v3:
removed one term from the effective action since it is trivial. The
conclusions on the corrections to energy levels are unchanged, but the claim
that the holographic computation shows a deviation from Nambu-Goto was
modified. v4: added reference
Random walks and the Hagedorn transition
We study details of the approach to the Hagedorn temperature in string theory
in various static spacetime backgrounds. We show that the partition function
for a {\it single} string at finite temperature is the torus amplitude
restricted to unit winding around Euclidean time. We use the worldsheet path
integral to derive the statement that the the sum over random walks of the
thermal scalar near the Hagedorn transition is precisely the image under a
modular transformation of the sum over spatial configurations of a single
highly excited string. We compute the radius of gyration of thermally excited
strings in . We show that the winding mode indicates an
instability despite the AdS curvature at large radius, and that the negative
mass squared decreases with decreasing AdS radius, much like the type 0
tachyon. We add further arguments to statements by Barbon and Rabinovici, and
by Adams {\it et. al.}, that the Euclidean AdS black hole can thought of as a
condensate of the thermal scalar. We use this to provide circumstantial
evidence that the condensation of the thermal scalar decouples closed string
modes.Comment: 34 pages (7 of references), 5 figures. v2: Reference added, grant
acknowledgement added, typos correcte
Energy Quantisation in Bulk Bouncing Tachyon
We argue that the closed string energy in the bulk bouncing tachyon
background is to be quantised in a simple manner as if strings were trapped in
a finite time interval. We discuss it from three different viewpoints; (1) the
timelike continuation of the sinh-Gordon model, (2) the dual matrix model
description of the (1+1)-dimensional string theory with the bulk bouncing
tachyon condensate, (3) the c_L=1 limit of the timelike Liouville theory with
the dual Liouville potential turned on. There appears to be a parallel between
the bulk bouncing tachyon and the full S-brane of D-brane decay. We find the
critical value \lambda_c of the bulk bouncing tachyon coupling which is
analogous to \lambda_o=1/2 of the full S-brane coupling, at which the system is
thought to be at the bottom of the tachyon potential.Comment: 25 pages, minor changes, one reference adde
Off-Shell Interactions for Closed-String Tachyons
Off-shell interactions for localized closed-string tachyons in C/Z_N
superstring backgrounds are analyzed and a conjecture for the effective height
of the tachyon potential is elaborated. At large N, some of the relevant
tachyons are nearly massless and their interactions can be deduced from the
S-matrix. The cubic interactions between these tachyons and the massless fields
are computed in a closed form using orbifold CFT techniques. The cubic
interaction between nearly-massless tachyons with different charges is shown to
vanish and thus condensation of one tachyon does not source the others. It is
shown that to leading order in N, the quartic contact interaction vanishes and
the massless exchanges completely account for the four point scattering
amplitude. This indicates that it is necessary to go beyond quartic
interactions or to include other fields to test the conjecture for the height
of the tachyon potential.Comment: 37 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX, JHEP class. Typos corrected, references
added, published versio
Closed String Tachyon Condensation at c=1
The c=1 matrix model, with or without a type 0 hat, has an exact quantum
solution corresponding to closed string tachyon condensation along a null
surface. The condensation occurs, and spacetime dissolves, at a finite retarded
time on I^+. The outgoing quantum state of tachyon fluctuations in this
time-dependent background is computed using both the collective field and exact
fermion pictures. Perturbative particle production induced by the moving
tachyon wall is shown to be similar to that induced by a soft moving mirror.
Hence, despite the fact that I^+ for the tachyon is geodesicaly incomplete,
quantum correlations in the incoming state are unitarily transmitted to the
outgoing state in perturbation theory. It is also shown that,
non-perturbatively, information can leak across the tachyon wall, and tachyon
scattering is not unitary. Exact unitarity remains intact only in the free
fermion picture.Comment: Minor corrections; References added; 24 pages, 2 figures, harvma
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