Scaling Function for the Critical Specific Heat in a Confined Geometry : Spherical Limit

The scaling function for the critical specific heat is obtained exactly for temperatures above the bulk transition temperature by working in the spherical limit. Generalization of the function to arbitrary $\alpha$ (the specific heat exponent), gives an excellent account of the experimental data of Mehta and Gasparini near the superfluid transition.Comment: 11 pages (LaTeX), 2 figures (PostScript

A plan for the economic assessment of the benefits of improved meteorological forecasts

Benefit-cost relationships for the development of meteorological satellites are outlined. The weather forecast capabilities of the various weather satellites (Tiros, SEOS, Nimbus) are discussed, and the development of additional satellite systems is examined. A rational approach is development that leads to the establishment of the economic benefits which may result from the utilization of meteorological satellite data. The economic and social impacts of improved weather forecasting for industries and resources management are discussed, and significant weather sensitive industries are listed

Thermodynamics of Plasmaballs and Plasmarings in 3+1 Dimensions

We study localized plasma configurations in 3+1 dimensional massive field theories obtained by Scherk-Schwarz compactification of 4+1 dimensional CFT to predict the thermodynamic properties of localized blackholes and blackrings in Scherk-Schwarz compactified $AdS_6$ using the AdS/CFT correspondence. We present an exact solution to the relativistic Navier-Stokes equation in the thin ring limit of the fluid configuration. We also perform a thorough numerical analysis to obtain the thermodynamic properties of the most general solution. Finally we compare our results with the recent proposal for the phase diagram of blackholes in six flat dimensions and find some similarities but other differences.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, latex; v2: Typos corrected and new references adde

S-duality in AdS/CFT magnetohydrodynamics

We study the nonlinear hydrodynamics of a 2+1 dimensional charged conformal fluid subject to slowly varying external electric and magnetic fields. Following recent work on deriving nonlinear hydrodynamics from gravity, we demonstrate how long wavelength perturbations of the AdS dyonic black brane solution of 4D supergravity are governed by equations equivalent to fluid dynamics equations in the boundary theory. We investigate the implications of $S$-duality for our system, and derive restrictions imposed on the transport coefficients of a generic fluid invariant under the S operation. We also expand on our earlier work and determine a new set of previously undetermined transport coefficients for the conformal fluid with an AdS gravity dual. Quite surprisingly, we discover that half of the transport coefficients allowed by symmetry vanish in the holographic fluid at linear order in the hydrodynamic expansion.Comment: 25 page

Radiative neutrino decay and CP-violation in R-parity violating supersymmetry

We calculate the radiative decay amplitude for Majorana neutrinos in trilinear R-parity violating supersymmetric framework. Our results make no assumption regarding the masses and mixings of fermions and sfermions. The results obtained are exemplary for generic models with loop-generated neutrino masses. Comparison of this amplitude with the neutrino mass matrix shows that the two provide independent probes of CP-violating phases.Comment: Latex, uses axodraw, 14 pages (small changes implemented

Gauge/Gravity Duality and Some Applications

We discuss the AdS/CFT correspondence in which space-time emerges from an interacting theory of D-branes and open strings. These ideas have a historical continuity with QCD which is an interacting theory of quarks and gluons. In particular we review the classic case of D3 branes and the non-conformal D1 brane system. We outline by some illustrative examples the calculations that are enabled in a strongly coupled gauge theory by correspondence with dynamical horizons in semi-classical gravity in one higher dimension. We also discuss implications of the gauge-fluid/gravity correspondence for the information paradox of black hole physics.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures, Contribution to "Conference in Honor of Murray Gell-Mann's 80th Birthday