8,878 research outputs found
Bistable Gestalts reduce activity in the whole of V1, not just the retinotopically predicted parts
Activity in the primary visual cortex reduces when certain stimuli can be perceptually organized as a unified Gestalt. This reduction could offer important insights into the nature of feedback computations within the human visual system; however, the properties of this response reduction have not yet been investigated in detail. Here we replicate this reduced V1 response, but find that the modulation in V1 (and V2) to the perceived organization of the input is not specific to the retinotopic location at which the sensory input from that stimulus is represented. Instead, we find a response modulation that is equally evident across the primary visual cortex. Thus in contradiction to some models of hierarchical predictive coding, the perception of an organized Gestalt causes a broad feedback effect that does not act specifically on the part of the retinotopic map representing the sensory input
The general gaugings of maximal d=9 supergravity
We use the embedding tensor method to construct the most general maximal
gauged/massive supergravity in d=9 dimensions and to determine its extended
field content. Only the 8 independent deformation parameters (embedding tensor
components, mass parameters etc.) identified by Bergshoeff \textit{et al.} (an
SL(2,R) triplet, two doublets and a singlet can be consistently introduced in
the theory, but their simultaneous use is subject to a number of quadratic
constraints. These constraints have to be kept and enforced because they cannot
be used to solve some deformation parameters in terms of the rest. The
deformation parameters are associated to the possible 8-forms of the theory,
and the constraints are associated to the 9-forms, all of them transforming in
the conjugate representations. We also give the field strengths and the gauge
and supersymmetry transformations for the electric fields in the most general
case. We compare these results with the predictions of the E11 approach,
finding that the latter predicts one additional doublet of 9-forms, analogously
to what happens in N=2, d=4,5,6 theories.Comment: Latex file, 43 pages, reference adde
M Theory As A Matrix Model: A Conjecture
We suggest and motivate a precise equivalence between uncompactified eleven
dimensional M-theory and the N = infinity limit of the supersymmetric matrix
quantum mechanics describing D0-branes. The evidence for the conjecture
consists of several correspondences between the two theories. As a consequence
of supersymmetry the simple matrix model is rich enough to describe the
properties of the entire Fock space of massless well separated particles of the
supergravity theory. In one particular kinematic situation the leading large
distance interaction of these particles is exactly described by supergravity .
The model appears to be a nonperturbative realization of the holographic
principle. The membrane states required by M-theory are contained as
excitations of the matrix model. The membrane world volume is a noncommutative
geometry embedded in a noncommutative spacetime.Comment: Typo and tex error corrected. 41 pages, harvma
Supersymmetric Brane World Scenarios from Off-Shell Supergravity
Using N=2 off-shell supergravity in five dimensions, we supersymmetrize the
brane world scenario of Randall and Sundrum. We extend their construction to
include supersymmetric matter at the fixpoints.Comment: 15 pages, no figures, late
N=8 Counterterms and E7(7) Current Conservation
We examine conservation of the E7(7) Noether-Gaillard-Zumino current in the
presence of N=8 supergravity counterterms using the momentum space helicity
formalism, which significantly simplifies the calculations. The main result is
that the 4-point counterterms at any loop order L are forbidden by the E7(7)
current conservation identity. We also clarify the relation between linearized
and full non-linear superinvariants as candidate counterterms. This enables us
to show that all n-point counterterms at L=7, 8 are forbidden since they
provide a non-linear completions of the 4-point ones. This supports and
exemplifies our general proof in arXiv:1103.4115 of perturbative UV finiteness
of N=8 supergravity.Comment: 18 page
Disk-Loss and Disk Renewal Phases in Classical Be Stars II. Detailed Analysis of Spectropolarimetric Data
In Wisniewski et al. 2010, paper I, we analyzed 15 years of spectroscopic and
spectropolarimetric data from the Ritter and Pine Bluff Observatories of 2 Be
stars, 60 Cygni and {\pi} Aquarii, when a transition from Be to B star
occurred. Here we anaylize the intrinsic polarization, where we observe
loop-like structures caused by the rise and fall of the polarization Balmer
Jump and continuum V-band polarization being mismatched temporally with
polarimetric outbursts. We also see polarization angle deviations from the
mean, reported in paper I, which may be indicative of warps in the disk, blobs
injected at an inclined orbit, or spiral density waves. We show our ongoing
efforts to model time dependent behavior of the disk to constrain the
phenomena, using 3D Monte Carlo radiative transfer codes.Comment: 2 pages, 6 figures, IAU Symposium 27
E{7(7)} Symmetry and Finiteness of N=8 Supergravity
We study N=8 supergravity deformed by the presence of the candidate
counterterms. We show that even though they are invariant under undeformed
E{7(7)}, all of the candidate counterterms violate the deformed E{7(7)} current
conservation. The same conclusion follows from the uniqueness of the Lorentz
and SU(8) covariant, E{7(7)} invariant unitarity constraint expressing the
56-dimensional E{7(7)} doublet via 28 independent vectors. Therefore E{7(7)}
duality predicts the all-loop UV finiteness of perturbative N=8 supergravity.Comment: 18 page
Hidden Symmetries, Central Charges and All That
In this review we discuss hidden symmetries of toroidal compactifications of
eleven-dimensional supergravity. We recall alternative versions of this theory
which exhibit traces of the hidden symmetries when still retaining the massive
Kaluza-Klein states. We reconsider them in the broader perspective of M-theory
which incorporates a more extended variety of BPS states. We also argue for a
new geometry that may underly these theories. All our arguments point towards
an extension of the number of space-time coordinates beyond eleven.Comment: 19 pages (LATEX), contribution to the G\"ursey memorial Conference
II, Istanbul, June 200
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