The Fall of Stringy de Sitter

Kachru, Kallosh, Linde, & Trivedi recently constructed a four-dimensional de Sitter compactification of IIB string theory, which they showed to be metastable in agreement with general arguments about de Sitter spacetimes in quantum gravity. In this paper, we describe how discrete flux choices lead to a closely-spaced set of vacua and explore various decay channels. We find that in many situations NS5-brane meditated decays which exchange NSNS 3-form flux for D3-branes are comparatively very fast.Comment: 35 pp (11 pp appendices), 5 figures, v3. fixed minor typo

Type IIB Solutions with Interpolating Supersymmetries

We study type IIB supergravity solutions with four supersymmetries that interpolate between two types widely considered in the literature: the dual of Becker and Becker's compactifications of M-theory to 3 dimensions and the dual of Strominger's torsion compactifications of heterotic theory to 4 dimensions. We find that for all intermediate solutions the internal manifold is not Calabi-Yau, but has SU(3) holonomy in a connection with a torsion given by the 3-form flux. All 3-form and 5-form fluxes, as well as the dilaton, depend on one function appearing in the supersymmetry spinor, which satisfies a nonlinear differential equation. We check that the fields corresponding to a flat bound state of D3/D5-branes lie in our class of solutions. The relations among supergravity fields that we derive should be useful in studying new gravity duals of gauge theories, as well as possibly compactifications.Comment: 27pp, v2 REVTeX4, typographical fixes and minor clarifications, v3 added ref, modified discussion of RR axion slightl

Moduli Stabilization from Fluxes in a Simple IIB Orientifold

We study novel type IIB compactifications on the T^6/Z_2 orientifold. This geometry arises in the T-dual description of Type I theory on T^6, and one normally introduces 16 space-filling D3-branes to cancel the RR tadpoles. Here, we cancel the RR tadpoles either partially or fully by turning on three-form flux in the compact geometry. The resulting (super)potential for moduli is calculable. We demonstrate that one can find many examples of N=1 supersymmetric vacua with greatly reduced numbers of moduli in this system. A few examples with N>1 supersymmetry or complete supersymmetry breaking are also discussed.Comment: 49 pages, harvmac big; v2, corrected some typo

N=3 Warped Compactifications

Orientifolds with three-form flux provide some of the simplest string examples of warped compactification. In this paper we show that some models of this type have the unusual feature of D=4, N=3 spacetime supersymmetry. We discuss their construction and low energy physics. Although the local form of the moduli space is fully determined by supersymmetry, to find its global form requires a careful study of the BPS spectrum.Comment: 27 pages, v2: 32pp., RevTeX4, fixed factors, slightly improved sections 3D and 4B, v3: added referenc

Flux Compactifications on Calabi-Yau Threefolds

The presence of RR and NS three-form fluxes in type IIB string compactification on a Calabi-Yau orientifold gives rise to a nontrivial superpotential W for the dilaton and complex structure moduli. This superpotential is computable in terms of the period integrals of the Calabi-Yau manifold. In this paper, we present explicit examples of both supersymmetric and nonsupersymmetric solutions to the resulting 4d N=1 supersymmetric no-scale supergravity, including some nonsupersymmetric solutions with relatively small values of W. Our examples arise on orientifolds of the hypersurfaces in $WP^{4}_{1,1,1,1,4}$ and $WP^{4}_{1,1,2,2,6}$. They serve as explicit illustrations of several of the ingredients which have played a role in the recent proposals for constructing de Sitter vacua of string theory.Comment: 30 pages, harvmac big; refs and minor comments adde

Warped Reheating in Multi-Throat Brane Inflation

We investigate in some quantitative details the viability of reheating in multi-throat brane inflationary scenarios by estimating and comparing the time scales for the various processes involved. We also calculate within perturbative string theory the decay rate of excited closed strings into KK modes and compare with that of their decay into gravitons; we find that in the inflationary throat the former is preferred. We also find that over a small but reasonable range of parameters of the background geometry, these KK modes will preferably tunnel to another throat (possibly containing the Standard Model) instead of decaying to gravitons due largely to their suppressed coupling to the bulk gravitons. Once tunneled, the same suppressed coupling to the gravitons again allows them to reheat the Standard Model efficiently. We also consider the effects of adding more throats to the system and find that for extra throats with small warping, reheating still seems viable.Comment: 29 pages, 4 figures, discussions on closed string decay expanded, references adde

de Sitter String Vacua from Supersymmetric D-terms

We propose a new mechanism for obtaining de Sitter vacua in type IIB string theory compactified on (orientifolded) Calabi-Yau manifolds similar to those recently studied by Kachru, Kallosh, Linde and Trivedi (KKLT). dS vacuum appears in KKLT model after uplifting an AdS vacuum by adding an anti-D3-brane, which explicitly breaks supersymmetry. We accomplish the same goal by adding fluxes of gauge fields within the D7-branes, which induce a D-term potential in the effective 4D action. In this way we obtain dS space as a spontaneously broken vacuum from a purely supersymmetric 4D action. We argue that our approach can be directly extended to heterotic string vacua, with the dilaton potential obtained from a combination of gaugino condensation and the D-terms generated by anomalous U(1) gauge groups.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figur

The Earth: Plasma Sources, Losses, and Transport Processes

This paper reviews the state of knowledge concerning the source of magnetospheric plasma at Earth. Source of plasma, its acceleration and transport throughout the system, its consequences on system dynamics, and its loss are all discussed. Both observational and modeling advances since the last time this subject was covered in detail (Hultqvist et al., Magnetospheric Plasma Sources and Losses, 1999) are addressed

Comprehensive analysis of epigenetic clocks reveals associations between disproportionate biological ageing and hippocampal volume

The concept of age acceleration, the difference between biological age and chronological age, is of growing interest, particularly with respect to age-related disorders, such as Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Whilst studies have reported associations with AD risk and related phenotypes, there remains a lack of consensus on these associations. Here we aimed to comprehensively investigate the relationship between five recognised measures of age acceleration, based on DNA methylation patterns (DNAm age), and cross-sectional and longitudinal cognition and AD-related neuroimaging phenotypes (volumetric MRI and Amyloid-β PET) in the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle (AIBL) and the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Significant associations were observed between age acceleration using the Hannum epigenetic clock and cross-sectional hippocampal volume in AIBL and replicated in ADNI. In AIBL, several other findings were observed cross-sectionally, including a significant association between hippocampal volume and the Hannum and Phenoage epigenetic clocks. Further, significant associations were also observed between hippocampal volume and the Zhang and Phenoage epigenetic clocks within Amyloid-β positive individuals. However, these were not validated within the ADNI cohort. No associations between age acceleration and other Alzheimer’s disease-related phenotypes, including measures of cognition or brain Amyloid-β burden, were observed, and there was no association with longitudinal change in any phenotype. This study presents a link between age acceleration, as determined using DNA methylation, and hippocampal volume that was statistically significant across two highly characterised cohorts. The results presented in this study contribute to a growing literature that supports the role of epigenetic modifications in ageing and AD-related phenotypes