Generalized mirror symmetry and trace anomalies

We consider compactification of M-theory on X7 with betti numbers (b_0, b_1, b_2, b_3, b_3, b_2, b_1, b_0) and define a generalized mirror symmetry (b_0, b_1, b_2, b_3) goes to (b_0, b_1, b_2 -rho/2, b_3+rho/2)$ under which rho = 7b_0-5b_1+3b_2 -b_3 changes sign. Generalized self-mirror theories with rho=0 have massless sectors with vanishing trace anomaly (before dualization). Examples include pure supergravity with N \geq 4 and supergravity plus matter with N \leq 4.Comment: 19 pages late

Reducing SS- duality to TT- duality

The infrared limit of $D=4,~~N=4$ Yang-Mills theory with compact gauge group $G$ compactified on a two-torus is governed by an effective superconformal field theory. We conjecture that this is a certain orbifold involving the maximal torus of $G$. Yang-Mills $S$-duality makes predictions for all correlators of this effective conformal field theory. These predictions are shown to be implied by the standard $T$-duality of the conformal field theory. Consequently, Montonen-Olive duality between electric and magnetic states reduces to the standard two-dimensional duality between momentum and winding states.Comment: 13 pages, harvmac, no figures. (Some Comments added. Some references added.

E_7 and the tripartite entanglement of seven qubits

In quantum information theory, it is well known that the tripartite entanglement of three qubits is described by the group [SL(2,C)]^3 and that the entanglement measure is given by Cayley's hyperdeterminant. This has provided an analogy with certain N=2 supersymmetric black holes in string theory, whose entropy is also given by the hyperdeterminant. In this paper, we extend the analogy to N=8. We propose that a particular tripartite entanglement of seven qubits, encoded in the Fano plane, is described by the exceptional group E_7(C) and that the entanglement measure is given by Cartan's quartic E_7 invariant.Comment: Minor improvements. 15 page late

Four-qubit entanglement from string theory

We invoke the black hole/qubit correspondence to derive the classification of four-qubit entanglement. The U-duality orbits resulting from timelike reduction of string theory from D=4 to D=3 yield 31 entanglement families, which reduce to nine up to permutation of the four qubits.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, 2 tables, revtex; minor corrections, references adde

Dimensional reduction of 4d heterotic string black holes

We perform the spherical symmetric dimensional reduction $4d\to2d$ of heterotic string theory. We find a class of two-dimensional (2d) dilaton gravity models that gives a general description of the near-horizon, near-extremal behavior of four-dimensional (4d) heterotic string black holes. We show that the duality group of the 4d theory is realized in two dimensions in terms of Weyl transformations of the metric. We use the 2d dilaton gravity theory to compute the statistical entropy of the near-extremal 4d, $a=1/\sqrt3$, black hole.Comment: 12 pages, LaTex fil

Legal coercion, respect & reason-responsive agency

Legal coercion seems morally problematic because it is susceptible to the Hegelian objection that it fails to respect individuals in a way that is ‘due to them as men’. But in what sense does legal coercion fail to do so? And what are the grounds for this requirement to respect? This paper is an attempt to answer these questions. It argues that (a) legal coercion fails to respect individuals as reason-responsive agents; and (b) individuals ought to be respected as such in virtue of the fact that they are human beings. Thus it is in this sense that legal coercion fails to treat individuals with the kind of respect ‘due to them as men’.The Leverhulme Trust (ECF-2012-032); AHRC (AH/H015655/1

Vacuum interpolation in supergravity via super p-branes

We show that many of the recently proposed supersymmetric p-brane solutions of d=10 and d=11 supergravity have the property that they interpolate between Minkowski spacetime and a compactified spacetime, both being supersymmetric supergravity vacua. Our results imply that the effective worldvolume action for small fluctuations of the super p-brane is a supersingleton field theory for $(adS)_{p+2}$, as has been often conjectured in the past.Comment: 8p

Solitonic Strings and BPS Saturated Dyonic Black Holes

We consider a six-dimensional solitonic string solution described by a conformal chiral null model with non-trivial $N=4$ superconformal transverse part. It can be interpreted as a five-dimensional dyonic solitonic string wound around a compact fifth dimension. The conformal model is regular with the short-distance (`throat') region equivalent to a WZW theory. At distances larger than the compactification scale the solitonic string reduces to a dyonic static spherically-symmetric black hole of toroidally compactified heterotic string. The new four-dimensional solution is parameterised by five charges, saturates the Bogomol'nyi bound and has nontrivial dilaton-axion field and moduli fields of two-torus. When acted by combined T- and S-duality transformations it serves as a generating solution for all the static spherically-symmetric BPS-saturated configurations of the low-energy heterotic string theory compactified on six-torus. Solutions with regular horizons have the global space-time structure of extreme Reissner-Nordstrom black holes with the non-zero thermodynamic entropy which depends only on conserved (quantised) charge vectors. The independence of the thermodynamic entropy on moduli and axion-dilaton couplings strongly suggests that it should have a microscopic interpretation as counting degeneracy of underlying string configurations. This interpretation is supported by arguments based on the corresponding six-dimensional conformal field theory. The expression for the level of the WZW theory describing the throat region implies a renormalisation of the string tension by a product of magnetic charges, thus relating the entropy and the number of oscillations of the solitonic string in compact directions.Comment: 27 Pages, uses RevTeX (solution for the axion field corrected, erratum to appear in Phys. Rev. D

Localization of Bulk Form Fields on Dilatonic Domain Walls

We study the localization properties of bulk form potentials on dilatonic domain walls. We find that bulk form potentials of any ranks can be localized as form potentials of the same ranks or one lower ranks, for any values of the dilaton coupling parameter. For large enough values of the dilaton coupling parameter, bulk form potentials of any ranks can be localized as form potentials of both the same ranks and one lower ranks.Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX, reference adde