From Dynkin diagram symmetries to fixed point structures

Any automorphism of the Dynkin diagram of a symmetrizable Kac-Moody algebra induces an automorphism of the algebra and a mapping between its highest weight modules. For a large class of such Dynkin diagram automorphisms, we can describe various aspects of these maps in terms of another Kac-Moody algebra, the `orbit Lie algebra'. In particular, the generating function for the trace of the map on modules, the `twining character', is equal to a character of the orbit Lie algebra. Orbit Lie algebras and twining characters constitute a crucial step towards solving the fixed point resolution problem in conformal field theory.Comment: Latex, 60 pages (extended version 63 pages), 4 uuencoded figures Formula (6.25) corrected. While this correction might be important in applications of our work, the results of the paper are not affected by it. In the present submission the "extended version" is default. In this version the corrected formula is (6.32

Fake R^4's, Einstein Spaces and Seiberg-Witten Monopole Equations

We discuss the possible relevance of some recent mathematical results and techniques on four-manifolds to physics. We first suggest that the existence of uncountably many R^4's with non-equivalent smooth structures, a mathematical phenomenon unique to four dimensions, may be responsible for the observed four-dimensionality of spacetime. We then point out the remarkable fact that self-dual gauge fields and Weyl spinors can live on a manifold of Euclidean signature without affecting the metric. As a specific example, we consider solutions of the Seiberg-Witten Monopole Equations in which the U(1) fields are covariantly constant, the monopole Weyl spinor has only a single constant component, and the 4-manifold M_4 is a product of two Riemann surfaces Sigma_{p_1} and Sigma_{p_2}. There are p_{1}-1(p_{2}-1) magnetic(electric) vortices on \Sigma_{p_1}(\Sigma_{p_2}), with p_1 + p_2 \geq 2 (p_1=p_2= 1 being excluded). When the two genuses are equal, the electromagnetic fields are self-dual and one obtains the Einstein space \Sigma_p x \Sigma_p, the monopole condensate serving as the cosmological constant.Comment: 9 pages, Talk at the Second Gursey Memorial Conference, June 2000, Istanbu

Gravitational Instantons from Minimal Surfaces

Physical properties of gravitational instantons which are derivable from minimal surfaces in 3-dimensional Euclidean space are examined using the Newman-Penrose formalism for Euclidean signature. The gravitational instanton that corresponds to the helicoid minimal surface is investigated in detail. This is a metric of Bianchi Type $VII_0$, or E(2) which admits a hidden symmetry due to the existence of a quadratic Killing tensor. It leads to a complete separation of variables in the Hamilton-Jacobi equation for geodesics, as well as in Laplace's equation for a massless scalar field. The scalar Green function can be obtained in closed form which enables us to calculate the vacuum fluctuations of a massless scalar field in the background of this instanton.Comment: One figure available by fax upon request. Abstract missing in original submission. Submitted to Classical and Quantum Gravit

Black brane solutions related to non-singular Kac-Moody algebras

A multidimensional gravitational model containing scalar fields and antisymmetric forms is considered. The manifold is chosen in the form M = M_0 x M_1 x ... x M_n, where M_i are Einstein spaces (i > 0). The sigma-model approach and exact solutions with intersecting composite branes (e.g., solutions with harmonic functions and black brane ones) with intersection rules related to non-singular Kac-Moody (KM) algebras (e.g. hyperbolic ones) are considered. Some examples of black brane solutions are presented, e.g., those corresponding to hyperbolic KM algebras: H_2(q,q) (q > 2), HA_2^(1) = A_2^{++} and to the Lorentzian KM algebra P_{10}.Comment: 16 pages, Late

An open bosonic string with one end fixed

We study a bosonic string with one end free and the other confined to a D-brane. Only the odd oscillator modes are allowed, which leads to a Virasoro algebra of even Virasoro modes only. The theory is quantized in a gauge where world-sheet time and ordinary time are identified. There are no negative or null norm states, and no tachyon. The Regge slope is twice that of the open string; this can serve as a test of the usefulness of the the model as a semi-quantitative description of mesons with one light and one extremely heavy quark when such higher spin mesons are found. The Virasoro conditions select specific SO(D-1) irreps. The asymptotic density of states can be estimated by adapting the Hardy-Ramanujan analysis to a partition of odd integers; the estimate becomes exact as D goes to infinity

An open bosonic string with one end fixed

We study a bosonic string with one end free and the other confined to a D-brane. Only the odd oscillator modes are allowed, which leads to a Virasoro algebra of even Virasoro modes only. The theory is quantized in a gauge where world-sheet time and ordinary time are identified. There are no negative or null norm states, and no tachyon. The Regge slope is twice that of the open string; this can serve as a test of the usefulness of the the model as a semi-quantitative description of mesons with one light and one extremely heavy quark when such higher spin mesons are found. The Virasoro conditions select specific SO(D-1) irreps. The asymptotic density of states can be estimated by adapting the Hardy-Ramanujan analysis to a partition of odd integers; the estimate becomes exact as D goes to infinity

Yang-Mills strings, Painleve-Liouville and Ernst equations and Gibbsons-Hawking metrics

SIGLEDEGerman

An open bosonic string with one end fixed

We study a bosonic string with one end free and the other confined to a D-brane. Only the odd oscillator modes are allowed, which leads to a Virasoro algebra of even Virasoro modes only. The theory is quantized in a gauge where world-sheet time and ordinary time are identified. There are no negative or null norm states, and no tachyon. The Regge slope is twice that of the open string; this can serve as a test of the usefulness of the the model as a semi-quantitative description of mesons with one light and one extremely heavy quark when such higher spin mesons are found. The Virasoro conditions select specific SO(D-1) irreps. The asymptotic density of states can be estimated by adapting the Hardy-Ramanujan analysis to a partition of odd integers; the estimate becomes exact as D goes to infinity