New families of interpolating type IIB backgrounds

We construct new families of interpolating two-parameter solutions of type IIB supergravity. These correspond to D3-D5 systems on non-compact six-dimensional manifolds which are T^2 fibrations over Eguchi-Hanson and multi-center Taub-NUT spaces, respectively. One end of the interpolation corresponds to a solution with only D5 branes and vanishing NS three-form flux. A topology changing transition occurs at the other end, where the internal space becomes a direct product of the four-dimensional surface and the two-torus and the complexified NS-RR three-form flux becomes imaginary self-dual. Depending on the choice of the connections on the torus fibre, the interpolating family has either N=2 or N=1 supersymmetry. In the N=2 case it can be shown that the solutions are regular.Comment: 20 page

Reformulating Supersymmetry with a Generalized Dolbeault Operator

The conditions for N=1 supersymmetry in type II supergravity have been previously reformulated in terms of generalized complex geometry. We improve that reformulation so as to completely eliminate the remaining explicit dependence on the metric. Doing so involves a natural generalization of the Dolbeault operator. As an application, we present some general arguments about supersymmetric moduli. In particular, a subset of them are then classified by a certain cohomology. We also argue that the Dolbeault reformulation should make it easier to find existence theorems for the N=1 equations.Comment: 30 pages, no figures. v2: minor correction

Comments on Heterotic Flux Compactifications

In heterotic flux compactification with supersymmetry, three different connections with torsion appear naturally, all in the form $\omega+a H$. Supersymmetry condition carries $a=-1$, the Dirac operator has $a=-1/3$, and higher order term in the effective action involves $a=1$. With a view toward the gauge sector, we explore the geometry with such torsions. After reviewing the supersymmetry constraints and finding a relation between the scalar curvature and the flux, we derive the squared form of the zero mode equations for gauge fermions. With \d H=0, the operator has a positive potential term, and the mass of the unbroken gauge sector appears formally positive definite. However, this apparent contradiction is avoided by a no-go theorem that the compactification with $H\neq 0$ and \d H=0 is necessarily singular, and the formal positivity is invalid. With \d H\neq 0, smooth compactification becomes possible. We show that, at least near smooth supersymmetric solution, the size of $H^2$ should be comparable to that of \d H and the consistent truncation of action has to keep $\alpha'R^2$ term. A warp factor equation of motion is rewritten with $\alpha' R^2$ contribution included precisely, and some limits are considered.Comment: 31 pages, a numerical factor correcte

Pseudoalignment tools as an efficient alternative to detect repeated transposable elements in scRNAseq data

Transposable elements (TE) have played a major role in configuring the structures of mammalian genomes through evolution. In normal conditions, expression of these elements is repressed by different epigenetic regulation mechanisms such as DNA methylation, histone modification and regulation by small RNAs. TE re-activation is associated with stemness potential acquisition, regulation of innate immunity, and disease, such as cancer. However, the vast majority of current knowlededge in the field is based on bulk expression studies and very little is known on cell type- or state-specific expression of TE derived transcripts. Therefore, cost-efficient single cell-resolution TE expression analytical approaches are needed. We have implemented an analytical approach based on pseudoalignment to consensus sequences to incorporate TE expression information to scRNAseq data. All the data and code implemented is available as Supplementary data and in: https://github.com/jmzvillarreal/kallisto_TE_scRNAseq. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online

A Note on Supersymmetric Type II Solutions of Lifshitz Type

We discuss a class of supersymmetric type II non-relativistic solutions with exact or asymptotic scale invariance. As already emerged from previous investigations, we find a clear correspondence between anisotropic d-dimensional vacua and relativistic solutions in (d + 1)-dimensions. We will show that supersymmetric four-dimensional Poincare' invariant backgrounds in type IIB can descend to analogous solutions with anisotropic scaling in t and (x, y). This result can be applied to scale invariant theories, domain walls interpolating between four-dimensional Lifshitz vacua and more general solutions with only asymptotic or approximate scaling behaviour.Comment: Added subsection on hyperscaling violation example

Heterotic String Compactifications on Half-flat Manifolds II

In this paper, we continue the analysis of heterotic string compactifications on half-flat mirror manifolds by including the 10-dimensional gauge fields. It is argued, that the heterotic Bianchi identity is solved by a variant of the standard embedding. Then, the resulting gauge group in four dimensions is still E6 despite the fact that the Levi-Civita connection has SO(6) holonomy. We derive the associated four-dimensional effective theories including matter field terms for such compactifications. The results are also extended to more general manifolds with SU(3) structure.Comment: 31 page

Quarkonium from the Fifth Dimension

Adding fundamental matter of mass m_Q to N=4 Yang Mills theory, we study quarkonium, and "generalized quarkonium" containing light adjoint particles. At large 't Hooft coupling the states of spin<=1 are anomalously light (Kruczenski et al., hep-th/0304032). We examine their form factors, and show these hadrons are unlike any known in QCD. By a traditional yardstick they appear infinite in size (as with strings in flat space) but we show that this is a failure of the yardstick. All of the hadrons are actually of finite size ~ \sqrt{g^2N}/m_Q, regardless of their radial excitation level and of how many valence adjoint particles they contain. Certain form factors for spin-1 quarkonia vanish in the large-g^2N limit; thus these hadrons resemble neither the observed J/Psi quarkonium states nor rho mesons.Comment: 57 pages, LaTeX, 5 figure

Soft branes in supersymmetry-breaking backgrounds

We revisit the analysis of effective field theories resulting from non-supersymmetric perturbations to supersymmetric flux compactifications of the type-IIB superstring with an eye towards those resulting from the backreaction of a small number of anti-D3-branes. Independently of the background, we show that the low-energy Lagrangian describing the fluctuations of a stack of probe D3-branes exhibits soft supersymmetry breaking, despite perturbations to marginal operators that were not fully considered in some previous treatments. We take this as an indication that the breaking of supersymmetry by anti-D3-branes or other sources may be spontaneous rather than explicit. In support of this, we consider the action of an anti-D3-brane probing an otherwise supersymmetric configuration and identify a candidate for the corresponding goldstino.Comment: 36+5 pages. References added, minor typos correcte