Potential Flow Of The Renormalisation Group In A Simple Two Component Model

The renormalisation group (RG) flow on the space of couplings of a simple model with two couplings is examined. The model considered is that of a single component scalar field with $\phi^4$ self interaction coupled, via Yukawa coupling, to a fermion in flat four dimensional space. The RG flow on the two dimensional space of couplings, ${\cal G}$, is shown to be derivable from a potential to sixth order in the couplings, which requires two loop calculations of the $\beta$-functions. The identification of a potential requires the introduction of a metric on ${\cal G}$ and it is shown that the metric defined by Zamalodchikov, in terms of two point correlation functions of composite operators, gives potential flow to this order.Comment: 7 pages Typset in PlainTeX, C Version 3.14

Bose condensation and branes

When the cosmological constant is considered to be a thermodynamical variable in black hole thermodynamics, analogous to a pressure, its conjugate variable can be thought of as a thermodynamic volume for the black hole. In the AdS/CFT correspondence this interpretation cannot be applied to the CFT on the boundary but, from the point of view of the boundary $SU(N)$ gauge theory, varying the cosmological constant in the bulk is equivalent to varying the number of colors in the gauge theory. This interpretation is examined in the case of $AdS_5\times S^5$, for ${\cal N}=4$ SUSY Yang-Mills at large $N$, and the variable thermodynamically conjugate to $N$, a chemical potential for color, is determined. It is shown that the chemical potential in the high temperature phase of the Yang-Mills theory is negative and decreases as temperature increases, as expected. For spherical black holes in the bulk the chemical potential approaches zero as the temperature is lowered below the Hawking-Page temperature and changes sign at a temperature that is within one part in a thousand of the temperature at which the heat capacity diverges.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figur

The intrinsic curvature of thermodynamic potentials for black holes with critical points

The geometry of thermodynamic state space is studied for asymptotically anti-de Sitter black holes in D-dimensional space times. Convexity of thermodynamic potentials and the analytic structure of the response functions is analysed. The thermodynamic potentials can be used to define a metric on the space of thermodynamic variables and two commonly used such metrics are the Weinhold metric, derived from the internal energy, and the Ruppeiner metric, derived from the entropy. The intrinsic curvature of these metrics is calculated for charged and for rotating black holes and it is shown that the curvature diverges when heat capacities diverge but, contrary to general expectations, the singularities in the Ricci scalars do not reflect the critical behaviour. When a cosmological constant is included as a state space variable it can be interpreted as a pressure and the thermodynamically conjugate variable as a thermodynamic volume. The geometry of the resulting extended thermodynamic state space is also studied, in the context of rotating black holes, and there are curvature singularities when the heat capacity at constant angular velocity diverges and when the black hole is incompressible. Again the critical behaviour is not visible in the singularities of the thermodynamic Ricci scalar.Comment: 35 pages, 3 figure

The Weyl-Lanczos Equations and the Lanczos Wave Equation in 4 Dimensions as Systems in Involution

Using the work by Bampi and Caviglia, we write the Weyl-Lanczos equations as an exterior differential system. Using Janet-Riquier theory, we compute the Cartan characters for all spacetimes with a diagonal metric and for the plane wave spacetime since all spacetimes have a plane wave limit. We write the Lanczos wave equation as an exterior differential system and, with assistance from Janet-Riquier theory, we find that it forms a system in involution. This result can be derived from the scalar wave equation itself. We compute its Cartan characters and compare them with those of the Weyl-Lanczos equations.Comment: 18 pages, latex, no figures, references correcte

The social welfare function and individual responsibility: Some theoretical issues and empirical evidence from health

The literature on income distribution has attempted to quantitatively analyse different degrees of inequality using a social welfare function (SWF) approach. However, it has largely ignored the source of such inequalities, and has thus failed to consider different degrees of inequity. The literature on egalitarianism has addressed issues of equity, largely in relation to individual responsibility. This paper brings these two literatures together by introducing the concept of individual responsibility into the SWF approach. The results from an empirical study of people’s preferences in relation to the distribution of health benefits are presented to illustrate how the parameter values in such a SWF might be determined

Non-commutative Complex Projective Spaces and the Standard Model

The standard model fermion spectrum, including a right handed neutrino, can be obtained as a zero-mode of the Dirac operator on a space which is the product of complex projective spaces of complex dimension two and three. The construction requires the introduction of topologically non-trivial background gauge fields. By borrowing from ideas in Connes' non-commutative geometry and making the complex spaces `fuzzy' a matrix approximation to the fuzzy space allows for three generations to emerge. The generations are associated with three copies of space-time. Higgs' fields and Yukawa couplings can be accommodated in the usual way.Comment: Contribution to conference in honour of A.P. Balachandran's 65th birthday: "Space-time and Fundamental Interactions: Quantum Aspects", Vietri sul Mare, Italy, 25th-31st May, 2003, 10 pages, typset in LaTe

Compressibility of rotating black holes

Interpreting the cosmological constant as a pressure, whose thermodynamically conjugate variable is a volume, modifies the first law of black hole thermodynamics. Properties of the resulting thermodynamic volume are investigated: the compressibility and the speed of sound of the black hole are derived in the case of non-positive cosmological constant. The adiabatic compressibility vanishes for a non-rotating black hole and is maximal in the extremal case --- comparable with, but still less than, that of a cold neutron star. A speed of sound $v_s$ is associated with the adiabatic compressibility, which is is equal to $c$ for a non-rotating black hole and decreases as the angular momentum is increased. An extremal black hole has $v_s^2=0.9 \,c^2$ when the cosmological constant vanishes, and more generally $v_s$ is bounded below by $c/ {\sqrt 2}$.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, uses revtex4, references added in v

The social welfare function and individual responsibility: Some theoretical issues and empirical evidence from health

The literature on income distribution has attempted to quantitatively analyse different degrees of inequality using a social welfare function (SWF) approach. However, it has largely ignored the source of such inequalities, and has thus failed to consider different degrees of inequity. The literature on egalitarianism has addressed issues of equity, largely in relation to individual responsibility. This paper brings these two literatures together by introducing the concept of individual responsibility into the SWF approach. The results from an empirical study of people’s preferences in relation to the distribution of health benefits are presented to illustrate how the parameter values in such a SWF might be determined