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

Zeroes of partial sums of the zeta-function

This article considers the positive integers $N$ for which $\zeta_{N}(s) = \sum_{n=1}^{N} n^{-s}$ has zeroes in the half-plane $\Re(s)>1$. Building on earlier results, we show that there are no zeroes for $1\leq N\leq 18$ and for $N=20, 21, 28$. For all other $N$ there are infinitely many zeroes.Comment: 5 Pages - Final Version will appear in LMS JC

Cardiovascular ephrinB2 function is essential for embryonic angiogenesis

EphrinB2, a transmembrane ligand of EphB receptor tyrosine kinases, is specifically expressed in arteries. In ephrinB2 mutant embryos, there is a complete arrest of angiogenesis. However, ephrinB2 expression is not restricted to vascular endothelial cells, and it has been proposed that its essential function may be exerted in adjacent mesenchymal cells. We have generated mice in which ephrinB2 is specifically deleted in the endothelium and endocardium of the developing vasculature and heart. We find that such a vascular-specific deletion of ephrinB2 results in angiogenic remodeling defects identical to those seen in the conventional ephrinB2 mutants. These data indicate that ephrinB2 is required specifically in endothelial and endocardial cells for angiogenesis, and that ephrinB2 expression in perivascular mesenchyme is not sufficient to compensate for the loss of ephrinB2 in these vascular cells

Spectro-Perfectionism: An Algorithmic Framework for Photon Noise-Limited Extraction of Optical Fiber Spectroscopy

We describe a new algorithm for the "perfect" extraction of one-dimensional spectra from two-dimensional (2D) digital images of optical fiber spectrographs, based on accurate 2D forward modeling of the raw pixel data. The algorithm is correct for arbitrarily complicated 2D point-spread functions (PSFs), as compared to the traditional optimal extraction algorithm, which is only correct for a limited class of separable PSFs. The algorithm results in statistically independent extracted samples in the 1D spectrum, and preserves the full native resolution of the 2D spectrograph without degradation. Both the statistical errors and the 1D resolution of the extracted spectrum are accurately determined, allowing a correct chi-squared comparison of any model spectrum with the data. Using a model PSF similar to that found in the red channel of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectrograph, we compare the performance of our algorithm to that of cross-section based optimal extraction, and also demonstrate that our method allows coaddition and foreground estimation to be carried out as an integral part of the extraction step. This work demonstrates the feasibility of current- and next-generation multi-fiber spectrographs for faint galaxy surveys even in the presence of strong night-sky foregrounds. We describe the handling of subtleties arising from fiber-to-fiber crosstalk, discuss some of the likely challenges in deploying our method to the analysis of a full-scale survey, and note that our algorithm could be generalized into an optimal method for the rectification and combination of astronomical imaging data.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, emulateapj; minor corrections and clarifications; to be published in the PAS

Guide to the nature and methods of analysis of the clay fraction of tephras from the South Auckland region, New Zealand.

The manual outlines some of the more common laboratory procedures available for qualitatively and quantitatively analysing the composition of the tephric clays, many of which are difficult to determine because of their short range order or 'amorphous' nature. Techniques described and assessed in terms of their rapidity and quantitativeness include XRD, IR, DTA, TEM and SEM, sodium fluoride reactivity, chemical dissolution analyses, and surface area measurements. No one technique alone produces a definitive clay fraction analysis of tephric deposits. -from Author

Book Reviews: The Yoga of the Christ in the Gospel According to St. John

Two book reviews for Ravi Ravindra\u27s The Yoga of the Christ in the Gospel According to St. John

Branes are Waves and Monopoles

In a recent paper it was shown that fundamental strings are null waves in Double Field Theory. Similarly, membranes are waves in exceptional extended geometry. Here the story is continued by showing how various branes are Kaluza-Klein monopoles of these higher dimensional theories. Examining the specific case of the E7 exceptional extended geometry, we see that all branes are both waves and monopoles. Along the way we discuss the O(d; d) transformation of localized brane solutions not associated to an isometry and how true T-duality emerges in Double Field Theory when the background possesses isometries.Comment: 32 pages, Latex, v2, typos correcte