12,569 research outputs found
Supersymmetry, the Cosmological Constant and a Theory of Quantum Gravity in Our Universe
There are many theories of quantum gravity, depending on asymptotic boundary
conditions, and the amount of supersymmetry. The cosmological constant is one
of the fundamental parameters that characterize different theories. If it is
positive, supersymmetry must be broken. A heuristic calculation shows that a
cosmological constant of the observed size predicts superpartners in the TeV
range. This mechanism for SUSY breaking also puts important constraints on low
energy particle physics models. This essay was submitted to the Gravity
Research Foundation Competition and is based on a longer article, which will be
submitted in the near future
On the Possibility of Large Axion Decay Constants
The decay constant of the QCD axion is required by observation to be small
compared to the Planck scale. In theories of "natural inflation," and certain
proposed anthropic solutions of the cosmological constant problem, it would be
interesting to obtain a large decay constant for axion-like fields from
microscopic physics. String theory is the only context in which one can
sensibly address this question. Here we survey a number of periodic fields in
string theory in a variety of string vacua. In some examples, the decay
constant can be parameterically larger than the Planck scale but the effective
action then contains appreciable harmonics of order . As a result,
these fields are no better inflaton candidates than Planck scale axions.Comment: 17 pages, no figures, minor change mad
CPT and Other Symmetries in String/M Theory
We initiate a search for non-perturbative consistency conditions in M theory.
Some non-perturbative conditions are already known in Type I theories; we
review these and search for others. We focus principally on possible anomalies
in discrete symmetries. It is generally believed that discrete symmetries in
string theories are gauge symmetries, so anomalies would provide evidence for
inconsistencies. Using the orbifold cosmic string construction, we give some
evidence that the symmetries we study are gauged. We then search for anomalies
in discrete symmetries in a variety of models, both with and without
supersymmetry. In symmetric orbifold models we extend previous searches, and
show in a variety of examples that all anomalies may be canceled by a
Green-Schwarz mechanism. We explore some asymmetric orbifold constructions and
again find that all anomalies may be canceled this way. Then we turn to Type
IIB orientifold models where it is known that even perturbative anomalies are
non-universal. In the examples we study, by combining geometric discrete
symmetries with continuous gauge symmetries, one may define non-anomalous
discrete symmetries already in perturbation theory; in other cases, the
anomalies are universal. Finally, we turn to the question of CPT conservation
in string/M theory. It is well known that CPT is conserved in all string
perturbation expansions; here in a number of examples for which a
non-perturbative formulation is available we provide evidence that it is
conserved exactly.Comment: 52 pages.1 paragraph added in introduction to clarify assumption
The Number of States of Two Dimensional Critical String Theory
We discuss string theory vacua which have the wrong number of spacetime
dimensions, and give a crude argument that vacua with more than four large
dimensions are improbable. We then turn to two dimensional vacua, which naively
appear to violate Bekenstein's entropy principle. A classical analysis shows
that the naive perturbative counting of states is unjustified. All excited
states of the system have strong coupling singularities which prevent us from
concluding that they really exist. A speculative interpretation of the
classical solutions suggests only a finite number of states will be found in
regions bounded by a finite area. We also argue that the vacuum degeneracy of
two dimensional classical string theory is removed in quantum mechanics. The
system appears to be in a Kosterlitz-Thouless phase. This leads to the
conclusion that it is also improbable to have only two large spacetime
dimensions in string theory. However, we note that, unlike our argument for
high dimensions, our conclusions about the ground state have neglected two
dimensional quantum gravitational effects, and are at best incomplete.Comment: 12 pages, harvma
Model validation for a noninvasive arterial stenosis detection problem
Copyright @ 2013 American Institute of Mathematical SciencesA current thrust in medical research is the development of a non-invasive method for detection, localization, and characterization of an arterial stenosis (a blockage or partial blockage in an artery). A method has been proposed to detect shear waves in the chest cavity which have been generated by disturbances in the blood flow resulting from a stenosis. In order to develop this methodology further, we use both one-dimensional pressure and shear wave experimental data from novel acoustic phantoms to validate corresponding viscoelastic mathematical models, which were developed in a concept paper [8] and refined herein. We estimate model parameters which give a good fit (in a sense to be precisely defined) to the experimental data, and use asymptotic error theory to provide confidence intervals for parameter estimates. Finally, since a robust error model is necessary for accurate parameter estimates and confidence analysis, we include a comparison of absolute and relative models for measurement error.The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Deopartment of Education and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
Matrix Sigma-models for Multi D-brane Dynamics
We describe a dynamical worldsheet origin for the Lagrangian describing the
low-energy dynamics of a system of parallel D-branes. We show how matrix-valued
collective coordinate fields for the D-branes naturally arise as couplings of a
worldsheet sigma-model, and that the quantum dynamics require that these
couplings be mutually noncommutative. We show that the low-energy effective
action for the sigma-model couplings describes the propagation of an open
string in the background of the multiple D-brane configuration, in which all
string interactions between the constituent branes are integrated out and the
genus expansion is taken into account, with a matrix-valued coupling. The
effective field theory is governed by the non-abelian Born-Infeld target space
action which leads to the standard one for D-brane field theory.Comment: 14 pages LaTeX, 1 encapsulated postscript figure; uses epsf.te
On the Twisted (2,0) and Little-String Theories
We study the compactification of the and type-II little-string
theories on , and with an R-symmetry twist that preserves half
the supersymmetry. We argue that it produces the same moduli spaces of vacua as
compactification of the theory with Wilson lines given by a
maximal embedding of SU(2). In certain limits, this reproduces the moduli space
of SU(2) with a massive adjoint hyper-multiplet. In the type-II little-string
theory case, we observe a peculiar phase transition where the strings condense.
We conjecture a generalization to more than two 5-branes which involves
instantons on non-commutative . We conclude with open questions.Comment: 27pp TeX, one eps figur
Is There A String Theory Landscape
We examine recent claims of a large set of flux compactification solutions of
string theory. We conclude that the arguments for AdS solutions are plausible.
The analysis of meta-stable dS solutions inevitably leads to situations where
long distance effective field theory breaks down. We then examine whether these
solutions are likely to lead to a description of the real world. We conclude
that one must invoke a strong version of the anthropic principle. We explain
why it is likely that this leads to a prediction of low energy supersymmetry
breaking, but that many features of anthropically selected flux
compactifications are likely to disagree with experiment.Comment: 39 pages, Latex, ``Terminology surrounding the anthropic principle
revised to conform with accepted usage. More history of the anthropic
principle included. Various references added.
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