Geometry and supersymmetry of heterotic warped flux AdS backgrounds

We classify the geometries of the most general warped, flux AdS backgrounds of heterotic supergravity up to two loop order in sigma model perturbation theory. We show under some mild assumptions that there are no $AdS_n$ backgrounds with $n\not=3$. Moreover the warp factor of AdS$_3$ backgrounds is constant, the geometry is a product $AdS_3\times M^7$ and such solutions preserve, 2, 4, 6 and 8 supersymmetries. The geometry of $M^7$ has been specified in all cases. For 2 supersymmetries, it has been found that $M^7$ admits a suitably restricted $G_2$ structure. For 4 supersymmetries, $M^7$ has an $SU(3)$ structure and can be described locally as a circle fibration over a 6-dimensional KT manifold. For 6 and 8 supersymmetries, $M^7$ has an $SU(2)$ structure and can be described locally as a $S^3$ fibration over a 4-dimensional manifold which either has an anti-self dual Weyl tensor or a hyper-K\"ahler structure, respectively. We also demonstrate a new Lichnerowicz type theorem in the presence of $\alpha'$ corrections.Comment: 34 pages. Reference adde

HKT Geometry and Fake Five Dimensional Supergravity

Recent results on the relation between hyper-Kahler geometry with torsion and solutions admitting Killing spinors in minimal de sitter supergravity are extended to more general supergravity models with vector multiplets.Comment: 14 pages, latex. Minor typos corrected, references adde

Preisach images of a simple mechanical system

This work is an an early stage of a larger project aiming at answering the question whether or not the Preisach map is really fingerprinting magnetic materials. More precisely, we are interested whether Preisach model of magnetic hysteresis indeed contains any physics or is just a convenient modeling tool. To this extent we study a very simple mechanical system, thus fully tractable, subjected to the external force. Despite of its simplicity, our model captures all the fundamental features of real magnetic materials, namely their hysteretic behavior, coercivity, remanent magnetization and saturation at high fields. Both the overall shape of major hysteresis loop as well as First Order Reversal Curves (FORC's) are reproduced quite correctly; they are very similar to those observed in magnetic materials. The model essentially consists of a single, spring loaded, rigid and rotative bar with non-zero friction torque. The length of a projection of this bar onto the direction of an external force is identified with magnetization. The friction torque and the spring constant are the only freely adjustable parameters of our model. Here we investigate, and present, their influence on the inferred Preisach maps.Comment: 3 pages, 6 figures, presented at The European Conference "Physics of Magnetism" (PM'11), June 27 - July 1, 2011, Poznan, Polan

Equal charge black holes and seven dimensional gauged supergravity

We present various supergravity black holes of different dimensions with some U(1) charges set equal in a simple, common form. Black hole solutions of seven dimensional U(1)^2 gauged supergravity with three independent angular momenta and two equal U(1) charges are obtained. We investigate the thermodynamics and the BPS limit of this solution, and find that there are rotating supersymmetric black holes without naked closed timelike curves. There are also supersymmetric topological soliton solutions without naked closed timelike curves that have a smooth geometry.Comment: 24 pages; v2, v3: minor change

M-Horizons

We solve the Killing spinor equations and determine the near horizon geometries of M-theory that preserve at least one supersymmetry. The M-horizon spatial sections are 9-dimensional manifolds with a Spin(7) structure restricted by geometric constraints which we give explicitly. We also provide an alternative characterization of the solutions of the Killing spinor equation, utilizing the compactness of the horizon section and the field equations, by proving a Lichnerowicz type of theorem which implies that the zero modes of a Dirac operator coupled to 4-form fluxes are Killing spinors. We use this, and the maximum principle, to solve the field equations of the theory for some special cases and present some examples.Comment: 36 pages, latex. Reference added, minor typos correcte

Small Horizons

All near horizon geometries of supersymmetric black holes in a N=2, D=5 higher-derivative supergravity theory are classified. Depending on the choice of near-horizon data we find that either there are no regular horizons, or horizons exist and the spatial cross-sections of the event horizons are conformal to a squashed or round S^3, S^1 * S^2, or T^3. If the conformal factor is constant then the solutions are maximally supersymmetric. If the conformal factor is not constant, we find that it satisfies a non-linear vortex equation, and the horizon may admit scalar hair.Comment: 21 pages, latex. Typos corrected and reference adde

All null supersymmetric backgrounds of N=2, D=4 gauged supergravity coupled to abelian vector multiplets

The lightlike supersymmetric solutions of N=2, D=4 gauged supergravity coupled to an arbitrary number of abelian vector multiplets are classified using spinorial geometry techniques. The solutions fall into two classes, depending on whether the Killing spinor is constant or not. In both cases, we give explicit examples of supersymmetric backgrounds. Among these BPS solutions, which preserve one quarter of the supersymmetry, there are gravitational waves propagating on domain walls or on bubbles of nothing that asymptote to AdS_4. Furthermore, we obtain the additional constraints obeyed by half-supersymmetric vacua. These are divided into four categories, that include bubbles of nothing which are asymptotically AdS_4, pp-waves on domain walls, AdS_3 x R, and spacetimes conformal to AdS_3 times an interval.Comment: 55 pages, uses JHEP3.cls. v2: Minor errors corrected, small changes in introductio