449 research outputs found
Massive IIA supergravities
We perform a systematic search for all possible massive deformations of IIA
supergravity in ten dimensions. We show that there exist exactly two
possibilities: Romans supergravity and Howe-Lambert-West supergravity. Along
the way we give the full details of the ten-dimensional superspace formulation
of the latter. The scalar superfield at canonical mass dimension zero (whose
lowest component is the dilaton), present in both Romans and massless IIA
supergravities, is not introduced from the outset but its existence follows
from a certain integrability condition implied by the Bianchi identities. This
fact leads to the possibility for a certain topological modification of
massless IIA, reflecting an analogous situation in eleven dimensions.Comment: 35 pages; v2: typos corrected, added eq. (A4
Kappa-symmetric Derivative Corrections to D-brane Dynamics
We show how the superembedding formalism can be applied to construct
manifestly kappa-symmetric higher derivative corrections for the D9-brane. We
also show that all correction terms appear at even powers of the fundamental
length scale . We explicitly construct the first potential correction, which
corresponds to the kappa-symmetric version of the , which one
finds from the four-point amplitude of the open superstring.Comment: 20 pages. Minor changes, added reference
Spinorial cohomology and maximally supersymmetric theories
Fields in supersymmetric gauge theories may be seen as elements in a
spinorial cohomology. We elaborate on this subject, specialising to maximally
supersymmetric theories, where the superspace Bianchi identities, after
suitable conventional constraints are imposed, put the theories on shell. In
these cases, the spinorial cohomologies describe in a unified manner gauge
transformations, fields and possible deformations of the models, e.g.
string-related corrections in an alpha' expansion. Explicit cohomologies are
calculated for super-Yang-Mills theory in D=10, for the N=(2,0) tensor
multiplet in D=6 and for supergravity in D=11, in the latter case from the
point of view of both the super-vielbein and the super-3-form potential. The
techniques may shed light on some questions concerning the alpha'-corrected
effective theories, and result in better understanding of the role of the
3-form in D=11 supergravity.Comment: 23 pp, plain tex. v2: Minor changes, references adde
Worldline approach to vector and antisymmetric tensor fields
The N=2 spinning particle action describes the propagation of antisymmetric
tensor fields, including vector fields as a special case. In this paper we
study the path integral quantization on a one-dimensional torus of the N=2
spinning particle coupled to spacetime gravity. The action has a local N=2
worldline supersymmetry with a gauged U(1) symmetry that includes a
Chern-Simons coupling. Its quantization on the torus produces the one-loop
effective action for a single antisymmetric tensor. We use this worldline
representation to calculate the first few Seeley-DeWitt coefficients for
antisymmetric tensor fields of arbitrary rank in arbitrary dimensions. As side
results we obtain the correct trace anomaly of a spin 1 particle in four
dimensions as well as exact duality relations between differential form gauge
fields. This approach yields a drastic simplification over standard heat-kernel
methods. It contains on top of the usual proper time a new modular parameter
implementing the reduction to a single tensor field. Worldline methods are
generically simpler and more efficient in perturbative computations then
standard QFT Feynman rules. This is particularly evident when the coupling to
gravity is considered.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures, references adde
Higher spin fields from a worldline perspective
Higher spin fields in four dimensions, and more generally conformal fields in
arbitrary dimensions, can be described by spinning particle models with a
gauged SO(N) extended supergravity on the worldline. We consider here the
one-loop quantization of these models by studying the corresponding partition
function on the one-dimensional torus. After gauge fixing the supergravity
multiplet, the partition function reduces to an integral over the corresponding
moduli space which is computed using orthogonal polynomial techniques. We
obtain a compact formula which gives the number of physical degrees of freedom
for all N in all dimensions. As an aside we compute the physical degrees of
freedom of the SO(4) = SU(2)xSU(2) model with only a SU(2) factor gauged, which
has attracted some interest in the literature.Comment: 21 page
Gallbladder agenesis mimicking cholelithiasis in an adult
We present the case of a 24-year-old woman with morbid obesity who came to the emergency department with right upper quadrant abdominal pain associated with nausea and vomiting. Her workup included a right upper quadrant ultrasound suggestive of a small gallbladder with cholelithiasis without sonographic evidence of acute cholecystitis. She underwent attempted laparoscopic cholecystectomy with no identifiable gallbladder during surgery. Postsurgical cross-sectional imaging confirmed gallbladder agenesis. This case provides an example of a rare but convincing clinical and radiologic mimic of cholelithiasis. In certain cases of biliary colic and imaging revealing a small gallbladder, a magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography may be warranted to evaluate gallbladder agenesis and avoid unnecessary surgery
Tricritical Behavior of Two-Dimensional Scalar Field Theories
We compute by Monte Carlo numerical simulations the critical exponents of
two-dimensional scalar field theories at the tricritical point.
The results are in agreement with the Zamolodchikov conjecture based on
conformal invariance.Comment: 13 pages, uuencode tar-compressed Postscript file, preprint numbers:
IF/UFRJ/25/94, DFTUZ 94.06 and NYU--TH--94/10/0
String Propagator: a Loop Space Representation
The string quantum kernel is normally written as a functional sum over the
string coordinates and the world--sheet metrics. As an alternative to this
quantum field--inspired approach, we study the closed bosonic string
propagation amplitude in the functional space of loop configurations. This
functional theory is based entirely on the Jacobi variational formulation of
quantum mechanics, {\it without the use of a lattice approximation}. The
corresponding Feynman path integral is weighed by a string action which is a
{\it reparametrization invariant} version of the Schild action. We show that
this path integral formulation is equivalent to a functional ``Schrodinger''
equation defined in loop--space. Finally, for a free string, we show that the
path integral and the functional wave equation are {\it exactly } solvable.Comment: 15 pages, no figures, ReVTeX 3.
Kappa-symmetric deformations of M5-brane dynamics
We calculate the first supersymmetric and kappa-symmetric derivative
deformation of the M5-brane worldvolume theory in a flat eleven-dimensional
background. By applying cohomological techniques we obtain a deformation of the
standard constraint of the superembedding formalism. The first possible
deformation of the constraint and hence the equations of motion arises at cubic
order in fields and fourth order in a fundamental length scale . The
deformation is unique up to this order. In particular this rules out any
induced Einstein-Hilbert terms on the worldvolume. We explicitly calculate
corrections to the equations of motion for the tensor gauge supermultiplet.Comment: 17 pages. Additional comments in section
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