809 research outputs found
Topics in String Theory and Quantum Gravity
These are the lecture notes for the Les Houches Summer School on Quantum
Gravity held in July 1992. The notes present some general critical assessment
of other (non-string) approaches to quantum gravity, and a selected set of
topics concerning what we have learned so far about the subject from string
theory. Since these lectures are long (133 A4 pages), we include in this
abstract the table of contents, which should help the user of the bulletin
board in deciding whether to latex and print the full file.
1-FIELD THEORETICAL APPROACH TO QUANTUM GRAVITY: Linearized gravity;
Supergravity; Kaluza-Klein theories; Quantum field theory and classical
gravity; Euclidean approach to Quantum Gravity; Canonical quantization of
gravity; Gravitational Instantons.
2-CONSISTENCY CONDITIONS: ANOMALIES: Generalities about anomalies; Spinors in
2n dimensions; When can we expect to find anomalies?; The Atiyah-Singer Index
Theorem and the computation of anomalies; Examples: Green-Schwarz cancellation
mechanism and Witten's SU(2) global anomaly.
3-STRING THEORY I. BOSONIC STRING: Bosonic string; Conformal Field Theory;
Quantization of the bosonic string; Interaction in string theory and the
characterization of the moduli space; Bosonic strings with background fields.
Stringy corrections to Einstein equations; Toroidal compactifications.
-duality; Operator formalism
4-STRING THEORY II. FERMIONIC STRINGS: Fermionic String; Heterotic String;
Strings at finite temperature; Is string theory finite?
5-OTHER DEVELOPMENTS AND CONCLUSIONS: String ``Phenomenology''; Black Holes
and Related SubjectsComment: 133 pages, 22 figures (not included, available upon request), LaTe
Comments on Noncommutative Field Theories
We discuss some aspects of noncommutative quantum field theories obtained
from the Seiberg-Witten limit of string theories in the presence of an external
B-field. General properties of these theories are studied as well as the
phenomenological potential of noncommutative QED.Comment: 15 pages. Based on talks at the 9th Adriatic Meeting (Dubrovnik,
Croatia) and at String Phenomenology 2003 (Durham, UK). v2 references adde
Powering AGNs with super-critical black holes
We propose a novel mechanism for powering the central engines of Active
Galactic Nuclei through super-critical (type II) black hole collapse. In this
picture, ~ of material collapsing at relativistic speeds can
trigger a gravitational shock, which can eject a large percentage of the
collapsing matter at relativistic speeds, leaving behind a "light" black hole.
In the presence of a poloidal magnetic field, the plasma collimates along two
jets, and the associated electron synchrotron radiation can easily account for
the observed radio luminosities, sizes and durations of AGN jets. For Lorentz
factors of order 100 and magnetic fields of a few hundred , synchrotron
electrons can shine for yrs, producing jets of sizes of order 100 kpc.
This mechanism may also be relevant for Gamma Ray Bursts and, in the absence of
magnetic field, supernova explosions.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Superloop Equations and Two Dimensional Supergravity
We propose a discrete model whose continuum limit reproduces the string
susceptibility and the scaling dimensions of -minimal superconformal
models coupled to -supergravity. The basic assumption in our presentation
is a set of super-Virasoro constraints imposed on the partition function. We
recover the Neveu-Schwarz and Ramond sectors of the theory, and we are also
able to evaluate all planar loop correlation functions in the continuum limit.
We find evidence to identify the integrable hierarchy of non-linear equations
describing the double scaling limit as a supersymmetric generalization of KP
studied by Rabin.Comment: 34 page
Gluon Saturation and Black Hole Criticality
We discuss the recent proposal in hep-th/0611312 where it was shown that the
critical anomalous dimension associated to the onset of non-linear effects in
the high energy limit of QCD coincides with the critical exponent governing the
radius of the black hole formed in the spherically symmetric collapse of a
massless scalar field. We argue that a new essential ingredient in this mapping
between gauge theory and gravity is continuous self-similarity, not present in
the scalar field case but in the spherical collapse of a perfect fluid with
barotropic equation of state. We identify this property with geometric scaling,
present in DIS data at small values of Bjorken x. We also show that the
Choptuik exponent in dimension five tends to the QCD critical value in the
traceless limit of the energy momentum tensor.Comment: Talk given at 12th International Conference on Elastic and
Diffractive Scattering: Forward Physics and QCD, Hamburg, DESY, Germany,
21-25 May 200
Feynman Path Integral on the Noncommutative Plane
We formulate Feynman path integral on a non commutative plane using coherent
states. The propagator for a free particle exhibits UV cut-off induced by the
parameter of non commutativity.Comment: 7pages, latex 2e, no figures. Accepted for publication on J.Phys.
Photometric observations of selected, optically bright quasars for Space Interferometry Mission and other future celestial reference frames
Photometric observations of 235 extragalactic objects that are potential
targets for the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) are presented. Mean B, V, R,
I magnitudes at the 5% level are obtained at 1 - 4 epochs between 2005 and 2007
using the 1-m telescopes at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory and Naval
Observatory Flagstaff Station. Of the 134 sources which have V magnitudes in
the Veron & Veron-Cetty catalog a difference of over 1.0 mag is found for the
observed-catalog magnitudes for about 36% of the common sources, and 10 sources
show over 3 mag difference. Our first set of observations presented here form
the basis of a long-term photometric variability study of the selected
reference frame sources to assist in mission target selection and to support in
general QSO multi-color photometric variability studies.Comment: 40 pages, 13 figures, 4 table
Radiative B-L symmetry breaking in supersymmetric models
We propose a scheme where the three relevant physics scales related to the
supersymmetry, electroweak, and baryon minus lepton (B-L) breakings are linked
together and occur at the TeV scale. The phenomenological implications in the
Higgs and leptonic sectors are discussed.Comment: 4 page
Critical formation of trapped surfaces in the collision of gravitational shock waves
We study the formation of marginally trapped surfaces in the head-on
collision of two shock waves both in anti-de Sitter and Minkowski space-time in
various dimensions as a function of the spread of the energy density in
transverse space. For D=4 and D=5 it is shown that there exists a critical
value of this spread above which no solution to the trapped surface equation is
found. In four dimensions the trapped surface at criticality has a finite size,
whereas in five the critical size vanishes. In both cases we find scaling
relations characterized by critical exponents. Finally, when D>5 there is
always a solution to the trapped surface equation for any transverse spread.Comment: 16 page
- …