Anomalously light states in super-Yang-Mills Chern-Simons theory

Inspired by our previous finding that supersymmetric Yang-Mills-Chern-Simons (SYM-CS) theory dimensionally reduced to 1+1 dimensions possesses approximate Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) states, we study the analogous phenomenon in the three-dimensional theory. Approximate BPS states in two dimensions have masses which are nearly independent of the Yang-Mills coupling and proportional to their average number of partons. These states are a reflection of the exactly massless BPS states of the underlying pure SYM theory. In three dimensions we find that this mechanism leads to anomalously light bound states. While the mass scale is still proportional to the average number of partons times the square of the CS coupling, the average number of partons in these bound states changes with the Yang-Mills coupling. Therefore, the masses of these states are not independent of the coupling. Our numerical calculations are done using supersymmetric discrete light-cone quantization (SDLCQ).Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, LaTe

Testing factorization

We briefly review the status of factorization in $b$-decays. We discuss several experimental tests of its nature and stress their importance. We show that decays into mesons which have small decay constants or spin greater than one (`designer mesons') offer a variety of new opportunities.Comment: Invited talk at the 9th International Symposium on Heavy Flavor Physics (HF9), 10-13 September 2001, Caltech, Pasadena. To be published in the proceedings; 8 pages, 1 figure, uses aippro

Numerical evidence for the Maldacena conjecture in two-dimensional N=(8,8) super Yang-Mills theory

The N=(8,8) super Yang-Mills theory in 1+1 dimensions is solved at strong coupling to directly confirm the predictions of supergravity at weak coupling. The calculations are done in the large-N_c approximation using Supersymmetric Discrete Light-Cone Quantization. The stress-energy correlator is obtained as a function of the separation r; for intermediate values of r, the correlator behaves in a manner consistent with the 1/r^5 behavior predicted by weak-coupling supergravity.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures; requires espcrc2.sty; to appear in the proceedings of the Workshop on Light-Cone QCD and Nonperturbative Hadron Physics, Cairns, Australia, July 7-15, 200

Work organization and preferences dynamics

We present a model with intergenerational transmission of preferences providing a joint explanation of preference evolution and of work organization changes in a society. We focus on the preference for autonomy, defined as an individual's degree of initiative and the value they attach to self direction. We show that the economy has several steady states with different levels of worker autonomy and of the degree of coercion in the work place. The Industrial Revolution and the recent return of flexible forms of organization enable us to illustrate the existence of organizational path dependency. Indeed, the current technological shocks, impacting on the long-run distribution of preferences, modify the future possibilities of adoption of new organizational forms.Cultural transmission, work organization, industrial revolution, historical path dependency.