Conformal Symmetry for Black Holes in Four Dimensions

We show that the asymptotic boundary conditions of general asymptotically flat black holes in four dimensions can be modified such that a conformal symmetry emerges. The black holes with the asymptotic geometry removed in this manner satisfy the equations of motion of minimal supergravity in five dimensions. We develop evidence that a two dimensional CFT dual of general black holes in four dimensions account for their black hole entropy.Comment: 24 pages, minor correction

Brane-world Kaluza-Klein reductions and Branes on the Brane

We present a systematic study of a new type of consistent ``Brane-world Kaluza-Klein Reduction,'' which describe fully non-linear deformations of co-dimension one objects that arise as solutions of a large class of gauged supergravity theories in diverse dimensions, and whose world-volume theories are described by ungauged supergravities with one half of the original supersymmetry. In addition, we provide oxidations of these Ansatze which are in general related to sphere compactified higher dimensional string theory or M-theory. Within each class we also provide explicit solutions of brane configurations localised on the world-brane. We show that at the Cauchy horizon (in the transverse dimension of the consistently Kaluza-Klein reduced world-brane) there is a curvature singularity for any configuration with a non-null Riemann curvature or a non-vanishing Ricci scalar that lives in the world-brane. Since the massive Kaluza-Klein modes can be consistently decoupled, they cannot participate in regulating these singularities.Comment: latex, 30 page

Conformal Symmetry for General Black Holes

We show that the warp factor of a generic asymptotically flat black hole in five dimensions can be adjusted such that a conformal symmetry emerges. The construction preserves all near horizon properties of the black holes, such as the thermodynamic potentials and the entropy. We interpret the geometry with modified asymptotic behavior as the "bare" black hole, with the ambient flat space removed. Our warp factor subtraction generalizes hidden conformal symmetry and applies whether or not rotation is significant. We also find a relation to standard AdS/CFT correspondence by embedding the black holes in six dimensions. The asymptotic conformal symmetry guarantees a dual CFT description of the general rotating black holes.Comment: 26 page

Phenomenology of A Three-Family Standard-like String Model

We discuss the phenomenology of a three-family supersymmetric Standard-like Model derived from the orientifold construction, in which the ordinary chiral states are localized at the intersection of branes at angles. In addition to the Standard Model group, there are two additional U(1)' symmetries, one of which has family non-universal and therefore flavor changing couplings, and a quasi-hidden non-abelian sector which becomes strongly coupled above the electroweak scale. The perturbative spectrum contains a fourth family of exotic (SU(2)- singlet) quarks and leptons, in which, however, the left-chiral states have unphysical electric charges. It is argued that these decouple from the low energy spectrum due to hidden sector charge confinement, and that anomaly matching requires the physical left-chiral states to be composites. The model has multiple Higgs doublets and additional exotic states. The moduli-dependent predictions for the gauge couplings are discussed. The strong coupling agrees with experiment for reasonable moduli, but the electroweak couplings are too small.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figure

Microstates of Four-Dimensional Rotating Black Holes from Near-Horizon Geometry

We show that a class of four-dimensional rotating black holes allow five-dimensional embeddings as black rotating strings. Their near-horizon geometry factorizes locally as a product of the three-dimensional anti-deSitter space-time and a two-dimensional sphere (AdS_3 x S^2), with angular momentum encoded in the global space-time structure. Following the observation that the isometries on the AdS_3 space induce a two-dimensional (super)conformal field theory on the boundary, we reproduce the microscopic entropy with the correct dependence on the black hole angular momentum.Comment: 11 pages, revte

Bottonium mass - evaluation using renormalon cancellation

We present a method of calculating the bottonium mass M[Upsilon(1S)] = [2 mb + E(b barb)]. The binding energy is separated into the soft and ultrasoft components E(b barb)=[E(s)+E(us)] by requiring the reproduction of the correct residue parameter value of the renormalon singularity for the renormalon cancellation in the sum [2 mb + E(s)]. The Borel resummation is then performed separately for (2 mb) and E(s), using the infrared safe MSbar mass [bar mb] as input. E(us) is estimated. Comparing the result with the measured value of M[Upsilon(1S)], the extracted value of the quark mass is [bar mb](mu=[bar mb]) = 4.241 +- 0.068 GeV (for the central value alphas(MZ)=0.1180). This value of [bar mb] is close to the earlier values obtained from the QCD spectral sum rules, but lower than from pQCD evaluations without the renormalon structure for heavy quarkonia.Comment: 4 pages, uses espcrc2.sty, presented at QCD0

A K-theory Anomaly Free Supersymmetric Flipped SU(5) Model from Intersecting Branes

We construct an N=1 supersymmetric three-family flipped SU(5) model from type IIA orientifolds on $T^6/(\Z_2\times \Z_2)$ with D6-branes intersecting at general angles. The model is constrained by the requirement that Ramond-Ramond tadpoles cancel, the supersymmetry conditions, and that the gauge boson coupled to the $U(1)_X$ factor does not get a string-scale mass via a generalised Green-Schwarz mechanism. The model is further constrained by requiring cancellation of K-theory charges. The spectrum contains a complete grand unified and electroweak Higgs sector, however the latter in a non-minimal number of copies. In addition, it contains extra matter both in bi-fundamental and vector-like representations as well as two copies of matter in the symmetric representation of SU(5).Comment: 17 Pages, LaTe

General Rotating Black Holes in String Theory: Greybody Factors and Event Horizons

We derive the wave equation for a minimally coupled scalar field in the background of a general rotating five-dimensional black hole. It is written in a form that involves two types of thermodynamic variables, defined at the inner and outer event horizon, respectively. We model the microscopic structure as an effective string theory, with the thermodynamic properties of the left and right moving excitations related to those of the horizons. Previously known solutions to the wave equation are generalized to the rotating case, and their regime of validity is sharpened. We calculate the greybody factors and interpret the resulting Hawking emission spectrum microscopically in several limits. We find a U-duality invariant expression for the effective string length that does not assume a hierarchy between the charges. It accounts for the universal low-energy absorption cross-section in the general non-extremal case.Comment: 33 pages, latex; minor typos corrected; version to appear in PR

Dynamical Supersymmetry Breaking in Standard-like Models with Intersecting D6-branes

We address dynamical supersymmetry breaking within a N=1 supersymmetric Standard-like Model based on a Z_2 x Z_2 Type IIA orientifold with intersecting D6-branes. The model possesses an additional, confining gauge sector with the USp(2)_A x USp(2)_B x USp(4) gauge group, where the gaugino condensation mechanism allows for the breaking of supersymmetry and stabilizes moduli. We derive the leading contribution to the non-perturbative effective superpotential and determine numerically the minima of the supergravity potential. These minima break supersymmetry and fix two undetermined moduli, which in turn completely specify the gauge couplings at the string scale. For this specific construction the minima have a negative cosmological constant. We expect that for other supersymmetric Standard-like models with intersecting D6-branes, which also possess confining gauge sectors, the supersymmetry breaking mechanism would have qualitatively similar features.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figur