Bubbling AdS3

In the light of the recent Lin, Lunin, Maldacena (LLM) results we investigate 1/2-BPS geometries in minimal (and next-to minimal) supergravity in D=6 dimensions. In the case of minimal supergravity, solutions are given by fibrations of a two-torus T^2 specified by two harmonic functions. For a rectangular torus the two functions are related by a non-linear equation with rare solutions: AdS_3x S^3, the pp-wave and the multi-center string. ``Bubbling'', i.e. superpositions of droplets, is accommodated by allowing the complex structure of the T^2 to vary over the base. The analysis is repeated in the presence of a tensor multiplet and similar conclusions are reached with generic solutions describing D1D5 (or their dual fundamental string-momentum) systems. In this framework, the profile of the dual fundamental string-momentum system is identified with the boundaries of the droplets in a two-dimensional plane.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures. v3: Minor corrections in section 2.

Rashba spin-orbit interaction in graphene armchair nanoribbons

We study graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) with armchair edges in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit interaction (RSOI). We impose the boundary conditions on the tight binding Hamiltonians for bulk graphene with RSOI by means of a sine transform and study in detail the influence of RSOI on the spectra and the spin polarization. We show that the spin polarization perpendicular to the GNR changes sign when reversing the momentum along the GNR if the bands are coupled by strong RSOI. Furthermore, we derive a linearized approximation to the RSOI Hamiltonian and find that only the neighboring modes of an energy band have to be taken into account in order to achieve a good approximation for the same band. Due to their experimental availability and various proposals for engineering appropriate RSOI, GNRs with armchair edges are a promising candidate for possible spintronics applications.Comment: added journal reference, small updates, 9 pages, 8 figure

Spitzer Observations of Galaxy Clusters

We present preliminary results of a project to study three rich nearby clusters of galaxies with the Spitzer space telescope. The Spitzer observations in the four IRAC and three MIPS bands cover a region up to three virial radii, approximately, and have been recently completed. On the basis of the first Spitzer images, we followed up spectroscopically the far-infrared sources with the multi-fiber spectrograph HYDRA on the WIYN telescope. 70% of the sources brighter than 0.3 mJy at 24 μm and r’ < 20.5 have been observed for a total of 1078 spectra. For 87% of them we were able to measure redshifts obtaining 50 to 100 members for the different clusters. This first study shows that the far-IR sources in these clusters are predominantly powered by star formation and clustered in regions far from the center. In the case of A1763, they seem to be situated along a filament supporting the idea of infalling galaxies experiencing bursts of star formation during their first contact with the hot intra-cluster medium

Localization on Three-Manifolds

We consider supersymmetric gauge theories on Riemannian three-manifolds with the topology of a three-sphere. The three-manifold is always equipped with an almost contact structure and an associated Reeb vector field. We show that the partition function depends only on this vector field, giving an explicit expression in terms of the double sine function. In the large N limit our formula agrees with a recently discovered two-parameter family of dual supergravity solutions. We also explain how our results may be applied to prove vortex-antivortex factorization. Finally, we comment on the extension of our results to three-manifolds with non-trivial fundamental group.Comment: 34 pages; v2: discussion of vortex factorization added; v3: minor correction

Ising exponents from the functional renormalisation group

We study the 3d Ising universality class using the functional renormalisation group. With the help of background fields and a derivative expansion up to fourth order we compute the leading index, the subleading symmetric and anti-symmetric corrections to scaling, the anomalous dimension, the scaling solution, and the eigenperturbations at criticality. We also study the cross-correlations of scaling exponents, and their dependence on dimensionality. We find a very good numerical convergence of the derivative expansion, also in comparison with earlier findings. Evaluating the data from all functional renormalisation group studies to date, we estimate the systematic error which is found to be small and in good agreement with findings from Monte Carlo simulations, \epsilon-expansion techniques, and resummed perturbation theory.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figures, 7 table

A New Infinite Class of Sasaki-Einstein Manifolds

We show that for every positive curvature Kahler-Einstein manifold in dimension 2n there is a countably infinite class of associated Sasaki-Einstein manifolds X_{2n+3} in dimension 2n+3. When n=1 we recover a recently discovered family of supersymmetric AdS_5 x X_5 solutions of type IIB string theory, while when n=2 we obtain new supersymmetric AdS_4 x X_7 solutions of D=11 supergravity. Both are expected to provide new supergravity duals of superconformal field theories.Comment: 12 pages. v2: minor typos corrected, comment on generalisation to product base manifold

Non-perturbative treatment of non-Markovian dynamics of open quantum systems

We identify the conditions that guarantee equivalence of the reduced dynamics of an open quantum system (OQS) for two different types of environments - one a continuous bosonic environment leading to a unitary system-environment evolution and the other a discrete-mode bosonic environment resulting in a system-mode (non-unitary) Lindbladian evolution. Assuming initial Gaussian states for the environments, we prove that the two OQS dynamics are equivalent if both the expectation values and two-time correlation functions of the environmental interaction operators are the same at all times for the two configurations. Since the numerical and analytical description of a discrete-mode environment undergoing a Lindbladian evolution is significantly more efficient than that of a continuous bosonic environment in a unitary evolution, our result represents a powerful, non-perturbative tool to describe complex and possibly highly non-Markovian dynamics. As a special application, we recover and generalize the well-known pseudomodes approach to open system dynamics.Comment: 5+4 pages, 2 figures, Close to the version accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter