Monopole Black Hole Skyrmions

Charged black hole solutions with pion hair are discussed. These can be used to study monopole black hole catalysis of proton decay. There also exist multi- black hole skyrmion solutions with BPS monopole behavior.Comment: 16 pages including 6 figure

Geon black holes and quantum field theory

Black hole spacetimes that are topological geons in the sense of Sorkin can be constructed by taking a quotient of a stationary black hole that has a bifurcate Killing horizon. We discuss the geometric properties of these geon black holes and the Hawking-Unruh effect on them. We in particular show how correlations in the Hawking-Unruh effect reveal to an exterior observer features of the geometry that are classically confined to the regions behind the horizons.Comment: 11 pages. Talk given at the First Mediterranean Conference on Classical and Quantum Gravity, Kolymbari (Crete, Greece), September 2009. Dedicated to Rafael Sorkin. v2: typesetting bug fixe

Lorentz and CPT Invariance Violation In High-Energy Neutrinos

High-energy neutrino astronomy will be capable of observing particles at both extremely high energies and over extremely long baselines. These features make such experiments highly sensitive to the effects of CPT and Lorentz violation. In this article, we review the theoretical foundation and motivation for CPT and Lorentz violating effects, and then go on to discuss the related phenomenology within the neutrino sector. We describe several signatures which might be used to identify the presence of CPT or Lorentz violation in next generation neutrino telescopes and cosmic ray experiments. In many cases, high-energy neutrino experiments can test for CPT and Lorentz violation effects with much greater precision than other techniques.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figure

Monograph No. 13: Scoping the potential uses of systems thinking in developing policy on illcit drugs

This monograph (No. 13) summarises pilot work to scope the potential uses of systems thinking for developing illicit drug policy. Systems approaches have the potential to offer much to drug policy analysis through their use of participatory methods, capacity to deal with multiple simultaneous policy options, and appreciation of the complexity, interconnectedness and dynamic feedback loops associated with policy decisions. The monograph outlines six systems approaches used by the New Zealand team in exploring illicit drug policy. The results of in-depth interviews with five experienced policy makers and a demonstration project around a policy issue are described. The potential utility of systems approaches in illicit drug policy are demonstrated

Bulletin No. 9: Scoping the potential uses of systems thinking in developing policy on illicit drugs

While a great variety of systems approaches have been developed, they all have some common characteristics: a recognition of the need to deal with complex issues by looking at the ‘bigger picture’; the evaluation of multiple policy options prior to (and often during and after) implementation; and exploring interconnections and potential consequences to identify and minimise unwanted ‘side-effects’ of policy. While this focus of systems thinking on dealing with complexity has been found to be useful in many other policy contexts, such as policing and sustainable cities, systems approaches have been used less frequently in policy making on illicit drugs. However, given that this area of policy can be highly complex, characterised by tensions between stakeholder groups and requiring difficult balances to be struck between enforcement, prevention and treatment, it seems worthwhile to explore what added value systems approaches can offer, and what barriers to their use might be encountered. This DPMP project was designed to scope the potential uses of systems thinking for developing policy on illicit drugs

Dyons and dyonic black holes in su(N){\mathfrak {su}}(N) Einstein-Yang-Mills theory in anti-de Sitter space-time

We present new spherically symmetric, dyonic soliton and black hole solutions of the ${\mathfrak {su}}(N)$ Einstein-Yang-Mills equations in four-dimensional asymptotically anti-de Sitter space-time. The gauge field has nontrivial electric and magnetic components and is described by $N-1$ magnetic gauge field functions and $N-1$ electric gauge field functions. We explore the phase space of solutions in detail for ${\mathfrak {su}}(2)$ and ${\mathfrak {su}}(3)$ gauge groups. Combinations of the electric gauge field functions are monotonic and have no zeros; in general the magnetic gauge field functions may have zeros. The phase space of solutions is extremely rich, and we find solutions in which the magnetic gauge field functions have more than fifty zeros. Of particular interest are solutions for which the magnetic gauge field functions have no zeros, which exist when the negative cosmological constant has sufficiently large magnitude. We conjecture that at least some of these nodeless solutions may be stable under linear, spherically symmetric, perturbations

Vacuum polarization for lukewarm black holes

We compute the renormalized expectation value of the square of a quantum scalar field on a Reissner-Nordström–de Sitter black hole in which the temperatures of the event and cosmological horizons are equal (“lukewarm” black hole). Our numerical calculations for a thermal state at the same temperature as the two horizons indicate that this renormalized expectation value is regular on both the event and cosmological horizons. We are able to show analytically, using an approximation for the field modes near the horizons, that this is indeed the case

Densovirus induces winged morphs in asexual clones of the rosy apple aphid, Dysaphis plantaginea

Winged morphs of aphids are essential for their dispersal and survival. We discovered that the production of the winged morph in asexual clones of the rosy apple aphid, Dysaphis plantaginea, is dependent on their infection with a DNA virus, Dysaphis plantaginea densovirus (DplDNV). Virus-free clones of the rosy apple aphid, or clones infected singly with an RNA virus, rosy apple aphid virus (RAAV), did not produce the winged morph in response to crowding and poor plant quality. DplDNV infection results in a significant reduction in aphid reproduction rate, but such aphids can produce the winged morph, even at low insect density, which can fly and colonize neighboring plants. Aphids infected with DplDNV produce a proportion of virus-free aphids, which enables production of virus-free clonal lines after colonization of a new plant. Our data suggest that a mutualistic relationship exists between the rosy apple aphid and its viruses. Despite the negative impact of DplDNV on rosy apple aphid reproduction, this virus contributes to their survival by inducing wing development and promoting dispersal

Do stringy corrections stabilize coloured black holes?

We consider hairy black hole solutions of Einstein-Yang-Mills-Dilaton theory, coupled to a Gauss-Bonnet curvature term, and we study their stability under small, spacetime-dependent perturbations. We demonstrate that the stringy corrections do not remove the sphaleronic instabilities of the coloured black holes with the number of unstable modes being equal to the number of nodes of the background gauge function. In the gravitational sector, and in the limit of an infinitely large horizon, the coloured black holes are also found to be unstable. Similar behaviour is exhibited by the magnetically charged black holes while the bulk of the neutral black holes are proven to be stable under small, gauge-dependent perturbations. Finally, the electrically charged black holes are found to be characterized only by the existence of a gravitational sector of perturbations. As in the case of neutral black holes, we demonstrate that for the bulk of electrically charged black holes no unstable modes arise in this sector.Comment: 17 pages, Revtex, comments and a reference added, version to appear in Physical Review

New hairy black hole solutions with a dilaton potential

We consider black hole solutions with a dilaton field possessing a nontrivial potential approaching a constant negative value at infinity. The asymptotic behaviour of the dilaton field is assumed to be slower than that of a localized distribution of matter. A nonabelian SU(2) gauge field is also included in the total action. The mass of the solutions admitting a power series expansion in $1/r$ at infinity and preserving the asymptotic anti-de Sitter geometry is computed by using a counterterm subtraction method. Numerical arguments are presented for the existence of hairy black hole solutions for a dilaton potential of the form $V(\phi)=C_1 \exp(2\alpha_1 \phi)+C_2 \exp(2\alpha_2 \phi)+C_3$, special attention being paid to the case of ${\cal N}=4, D=4$ gauged supergravity model of Gates and Zwiebach.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures; v2:references added, typos corrected, small changes in Section