733 research outputs found
Entropy of Thermally Excited Black Rings
A string theory description of near extremal black rings is proposed. The
entropy is computed and the thermodynamic properties are derived for a large
family of black rings that have not yet been constructed in supergravity. It is
also argued that the most general black ring in N=8 supergravity has 21
parameters up to duality.Comment: 17 pages; v2: minor edits and refs adde
Stability of axial orbits in galactic potentials
We investigate the dynamics in a galactic potential with two reflection
symmetries. The phase-space structure of the real system is approximated with a
resonant detuned normal form constructed with the method based on the Lie
transform. Attention is focused on the stability properties of the axial
periodic orbits that play an important role in galactic models. Using energy
and ellipticity as parameters, we find analytical expressions of bifurcations
and compare them with numerical results available in the literature.Comment: 20 pages, accepted for publication on Celestial Mechanics and
Dynamical Astronom
Heterotic Strings in Two Dimensions and New Stringy Phase Transitions
We discuss heterotic string theories in two dimensions with gauge groups
Spin(24) and Spin(8) x E_8. After compactification the theories exhibit a rich
spectrum of states with both winding and momentum. At special points some of
these stringy states become massless, leading to new first order phase
transitions. For example, the thermal theories exhibit standard thermodynamics
below the phase transition, but novel and peculiar behavior above it. In
particular, when the radius of the Euclidean circle is smaller than the phase
transition point the torus partition function is not given by the thermal trace
over the spacetime Hilbert space. The full moduli space of compactified
theories is 13 dimensional, when Wilson lines are included; the Spin(24) and
Spin(8) x E_8 theories correspond to distinct decompactification limits.Comment: 32 pages; v2: references added, minor change
Holographic Gravitational Anomalies
In the AdS/CFT correspondence one encounters theories that are not invariant
under diffeomorphisms. In the boundary theory this is a gravitational anomaly,
and can arise in 4k+2 dimensions. In the bulk, there can be gravitational
Chern-Simons terms which vary by a total derivative. We work out the
holographic stress tensor for such theories, and demonstrate agreement between
the bulk and boundary. Anomalies lead to novel effects, such as a nonzero
angular momentum for global AdS(3). In string theory such Chern-Simons terms
are known with exact coefficients. The resulting anomalies, combined with
symmetries, imply corrections to the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of black holes
that agree exactly with the microscopic counting.Comment: 25 page
First-order quasilinear canonical representation of the characteristic formulation of the Einstein equations
We prescribe a choice of 18 variables in all that casts the equations of the
fully nonlinear characteristic formulation of general relativity in
first--order quasi-linear canonical form. At the analytical level, a
formulation of this type allows us to make concrete statements about existence
of solutions. In addition, it offers concrete advantages for numerical
applications as it now becomes possible to incorporate advanced numerical
techniques for first order systems, which had thus far not been applicable to
the characteristic problem of the Einstein equations, as well as in providing a
framework for a unified treatment of the vacuum and matter problems. This is of
relevance to the accurate simulation of gravitational waves emitted in
astrophysical scenarios such as stellar core collapse.Comment: revtex4, 7 pages, text and references added, typos corrected, to
appear in Phys. Rev.
Partition functions and elliptic genera from supergravity
We develop the spacetime aspects of the computation of partition functions
for string/M-theory on AdS(3) xM. Subleading corrections to the semi-classical
result are included systematically, laying the groundwork for comparison with
CFT partition functions via the AdS(3)/CFT(2) correspondence. This leads to a
better understanding of the "Farey tail" expansion of Dijkgraaf et. al. from
the point of view of bulk physics. Besides clarifying various issues, we also
extend the analysis to the N=2 setting with higher derivative effects included.Comment: 34 page
The Flare-energy Distributions Generated by Kink-unstable Ensembles of Zero-net-current Coronal Loops
It has been proposed that the million degree temperature of the corona is due
to the combined effect of barely-detectable energy releases, so called
nanoflares, that occur throughout the solar atmosphere. Alas, the nanoflare
density and brightness implied by this hypothesis means that conclusive
verification is beyond present observational abilities. Nevertheless, we
investigate the plausibility of the nanoflare hypothesis by constructing a
magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model that can derive the energy of a nanoflare from
the nature of an ideal kink instability. The set of energy-releasing
instabilities is captured by an instability threshold for linear kink modes.
Each point on the threshold is associated with a unique energy release and so
we can predict a distribution of nanoflare energies. When the linear
instability threshold is crossed, the instability enters a nonlinear phase as
it is driven by current sheet reconnection. As the ensuing flare erupts and
declines, the field transitions to a lower energy state, which is modelled by
relaxation theory, i.e., helicity is conserved and the ratio of current to
field becomes invariant within the loop. We apply the model so that all the
loops within an ensemble achieve instability followed by energy-releasing
relaxation. The result is a nanoflare energy distribution. Furthermore, we
produce different distributions by varying the loop aspect ratio, the nature of
the path to instability taken by each loop and also the level of radial
expansion that may accompany loop relaxation. The heating rate obtained is just
sufficient for coronal heating. In addition, we also show that kink instability
cannot be associated with a critical magnetic twist value for every point along
the instability threshold
Threshold criterion for wetting at the triple point
Grand canonical simulations are used to calculate adsorption isotherms of
various classical gases on alkali metal and Mg surfaces. Ab initio adsorption
potentials and Lennard-Jones gas-gas interactions are used. Depending on the
system, the resulting behavior can be nonwetting for all temperatures studied,
complete wetting, or (in the intermediate case) exhibit a wetting transition.
An unusual variety of wetting transitions at the triple point is found in the
case of a specific adsorption potential of intermediate strength. The general
threshold for wetting near the triple point is found to be close to that
predicted with a heuristic model of Cheng et al. This same conclusion was drawn
in a recent experimental and simulation study of Ar on CO_2 by Mistura et al.
These results imply that a dimensionless wetting parameter w is useful for
predicting whether wetting behavior is present at and above the triple
temperature. The nonwetting/wetting crossover value found here is w circa 3.3.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure
5D Attractors with Higher Derivatives
We analyze higher derivative corrections to attractor geometries in five
dimensions. We find corrected AdS_3xS^2 geometries by solving the equations of
motion coming from a recently constructed four-derivative supergravity action
in five dimensions. The result allows us to explicitly verify a previous
anomaly based derivation of the AdS_3 central charges of this theory. Also, by
dimensional reduction we compare our results with those of the 4D higher
derivative attractor, and find complete agreement.Comment: 18 pages, harvma
The Rolling Tachyon as a Matrix Model
We express all correlation functions in timelike boundary Liouville theory as
unitary matrix integrals and develop efficient techniques to evaluate these
integrals. We compute large classes of correlation functions explicitly,
including an infinite number of terms in the boundary state of the rolling
tachyon. The matrix integrals arising here also determine the correlation
functions of gauge invariant operators in two dimensional Yang-Mills theory,
suggesting an equivalence between the rolling tachyon and QCD_2.Comment: 22pages. 3 figures. v2: added reference, fixed minor typo
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