742 research outputs found
Exploring the S-Matrix of Massless Particles
We use the recently proposed generalised on-shell representation for
scattering amplitudes and a consistency test to explore the space of tree-level
consistent couplings in four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. The extension of
the constructible notion implied by the generalised on-shell representation,
i.e. the possibility to reconstruct at tree level all the scattering amplitudes
from the three-particle ones, together with the imposition of the consistency
conditions at four-particle level, allow to rediscover all the known theories
and their algebra structure, if any. Interestingly, this analysis seems to
leave room for high-spin couplings, provided that at least the requirement of
locality is weakened. We do not claim to have found tree-level consistent
high-spin theories, but rather that our methods show signatures of them and
very likely, with a suitable modification, they can be a good framework to
perform a systematic search.Comment: 44 pages, 1 figur
On Tree Amplitudes in Gauge Theory and Gravity
The BCFW recursion relations provide a powerful way to compute tree
amplitudes in gauge theories and gravity, but only hold if some amplitudes
vanish when two of the momenta are taken to infinity in a particular complex
direction. This is a very surprising property, since individual Feynman
diagrams all diverge at infinite momentum. In this paper we give a simple
physical understanding of amplitudes in this limit, which corresponds to a hard
particle with (complex) light-like momentum moving in a soft background, and
can be conveniently studied using the background field method exploiting
background light-cone gauge. An important role is played by enhanced spin
symmetries at infinite momentum--a single copy of a "Lorentz" group for gauge
theory and two copies for gravity--which together with Ward identities give a
systematic expansion for amplitudes at large momentum. We use this to study
tree amplitudes in a wide variety of theories, and in particular demonstrate
that certain pure gauge and gravity amplitudes do vanish at infinity. Thus the
BCFW recursion relations can be used to compute completely general gluon and
graviton tree amplitudes in any number of dimensions. We briefly comment on the
implications of these results for computing massive 4D amplitudes by KK
reduction, as well understanding the unexpected cancelations that have recently
been found in loop-level gravity amplitudes.Comment: 22 pages, 3 figure
Tests of quantum gravity-induced non-locality: Hamiltonian formulation of a non-local harmonic oscillator
Motivated by the development of on-going optomechanical experiments aimed at constraining non-local effects inspired by some quantum gravity scenarios, the Hamiltonian formulation of a non-local harmonic oscillator, and its coupling to a cavity field mode(s), is investigated. In particular, we consider the previously studied model of non-local oscillators obtained as the nonrelativistic limit of a class of non-local Klein-Gordon operators, f, with f an analytical function. The results of previous works, in which the interaction was not included, are recovered and extended by way of standard perturbation theory. At the same time, the perturbed energy spectrum becomes available in this formulation, and we obtain the Langevin's equations characterizing the interacting system
Combining roller crimpers and flaming for the termination of cover crops in herbicide-free no-till cropping systems
The termination of cover crops in conventional no-till systems is mostly conducted mechanically
in combination with herbicides. Combining flaming and roller crimpers could be a viable
solution to avoid using herbicides for cover crop termination in farming systems where herbicides
are banned, or at least to reduce their use in an integrated management approach.
This research tested the effects of flaming used in combination with three different types of
roller crimpers to terminate a fall-sown cover crop mixture of winter pea and barley. The
cover crop termination rate was visually assessed in terms of percentage of green cover
provided by cover crop plants at different intervals from the termination date, and estimated
using a log-logistic non-linear regression model with four parameters. Machine performance
data are also reported. The results show that, irrespective of the roller type, flaming significantly
boosted the effect of the roller crimpers. In fact, an economic threshold for cover crop
suppression of 85% was reached only when the rollers were used in combination with flaming.
Nevertheless, none of the methods were able to reach the 100% of cover crop suppression.
In some case, the combined use of flaming and roller crimpers allowed reaching the
90% of cover crop devitalisation, which happened six weeks after the termination date.
More importantly, the use of flaming in combination with rollers shortened the time needed
to achieve the estimated levels of devitalisation, compared with the rollers used alone. We
conclude that flaming is an effective tool to increase the effectiveness of roller crimpers.
Nevertheless, further research is needed to identify solutions to overcome the barrier of the
high operational costs of flaming, which is constraining its wider adoption by farmers. Future
studies could focus, for instance, on the development of a new prototype of combined
machine for crimping and flaming the cover crops simultaneously, which could potentially
reduce the operational costs
The Random Discrete Action for 2-Dimensional Spacetime
A one-parameter family of random variables, called the Discrete Action, is
defined for a 2-dimensional Lorentzian spacetime of finite volume. The single
parameter is a discreteness scale. The expectation value of this Discrete
Action is calculated for various regions of 2D Minkowski spacetime. When a
causally convex region of 2D Minkowski spacetime is divided into subregions
using null lines the mean of the Discrete Action is equal to the alternating
sum of the numbers of vertices, edges and faces of the null tiling, up to
corrections that tend to zero as the discreteness scale is taken to zero. This
result is used to predict that the mean of the Discrete Action of the flat
Lorentzian cylinder is zero up to corrections, which is verified. The
``topological'' character of the Discrete Action breaks down for causally
convex regions of the flat trousers spacetime that contain the singularity and
for non-causally convex rectangles.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures, Typos correcte
The shear viscosity of the non-commutative plasma
We compute the shear viscosity of the non-commutative N=4 super Yang-Mills
quantum field theory at strong coupling using the dual supergravity background.
Special interest derives from the fact that the background presents an
intrinsic anisotropy in space through the distinction of commutative and
non-commutative directions. Despite this anisotropy the analysis exhibits the
ubiquitous result \eta/s = 1/4\pi for two different shear channels. In order to
derive this result, we show that the boundary energy momentum tensor must
couple to the open string metric. As a byproduct we compute the renormalised
holographic energy momentum tensor and show that it coincides with one in the
commutative theory.Comment: 17 pages. v2: reference adde
The Viscosity Bound Conjecture and Hydrodynamics of M2-Brane Theory at Finite Chemical Potential
Kovtun, Son and Starinets have conjectured that the viscosity to entropy
density ratio is always bounded from below by a universal multiple of
i.e., for all forms of matter. Mysteriously, the
proposed viscosity bound appears to be saturated in all computations done
whenever a supergravity dual is available. We consider the near horizon limit
of a stack of M2-branes in the grand canonical ensemble at finite R-charge
densities, corresponding to non-zero angular momentum in the bulk. The
corresponding four-dimensional R-charged black hole in Anti-de Sitter space
provides a holographic dual in which various transport coefficients can be
calculated. We find that the shear viscosity increases as soon as a background
R-charge density is turned on. We numerically compute the few first corrections
to the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio and surprisingly
discover that up to fourth order all corrections originating from a non-zero
chemical potential vanish, leaving the bound saturated. This is a sharp signal
in favor of the saturation of the viscosity bound for event horizons even in
the presence of some finite background field strength. We discuss implications
of this observation for the conjectured bound.Comment: LaTeX, 26+1 Pages, 4 Figures, Version 2: references adde
On-shell recursion relations for all Born QCD amplitudes
We consider on-shell recursion relations for all Born QCD amplitudes. This
includes amplitudes with several pairs of quarks and massive quarks. We give a
detailed description on how to shift the external particles in spinor space and
clarify the allowed helicities of the shifted legs. We proof that the
corresponding meromorphic functions vanish at z --> infinity. As an application
we obtain compact expressions for helicity amplitudes including a pair of
massive quarks, one negative helicity gluon and an arbitrary number of positive
helicity gluons.Comment: 30 pages, minor change
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