Lensing in an interior Kottler solution

We derive the interior Kottler solution of the incompressible fluid and show that the bending of light in this solution does depend on the cosmological constant.Comment: The inner Kottler solution derived and used in this paper is not new. Corresponding references to Stuchlik (2000) and Boehmer (2003) are added. Also added: a numerical example and a figure. This is the version accepted by Gen. Rel. Grav. However it includes a short passage that an anonymous referee had me suppress

From AdS Black Holes to Supersymmetric Flux-branes

We show that AdS black hole solutions admit an analytical continuation to become magnetic flux-branes. Although a BPS AdS black hole generally has a naked singularity, the BPS flux-brane can be regular everywhere with an appropriate choice of U(1)-charges. This flux-brane interpolates from AdS_{D-2} \times H^2 at small distance to an asymptotic AdS_D-type metric with an AdS_{D-2}\times S^1 boundary. We also obtain a smooth cosmological solution of de Sitter Einstein-Maxwell gravity which flows from dS_2\times S^{D-2} in the infinite past to a dS_D-type metric, with an S^{D-2}\times S^1 boundary, in the infinite future.Comment: Plain latex, 25 pages, references adde

Born-Infeld Theory and Stringy Causality

Fluctuations around a non-trivial solution of Born-Infeld theory have a limiting speed given not by the Einstein metric but the Boillat metric. The Boillat metric is S-duality invariant and conformal to the open string metric. It also governs the propagation of scalars and spinors in Born-Infeld theory. We discuss the potential clash between causality determined by the closed string and open string light cones and find that the latter never lie outside the former. Both cones touch along the principal null directions of the background Born-Infeld field. We consider black hole solutions in situations in which the distinction between bulk and brane is not sharp such as space filling branes and find that the location of the event horizon and the thermodynamic properties do not depend on whether one uses the closed or open string metric. Analogous statements hold in the more general context of non-linear electrodynamics or effective quantum-corrected metrics. We show how Born-Infeld action to second order might be obtained from higher-curvature gravity in Kaluza-Klein theory. Finally we point out some intriguing analogies with Einstein-Schr\"odinger theory.Comment: 31 pages, 4 figures, LaTex; Some comments and references adde

Phenomenological implications of light stop and higgsinos

We examine the phenomenological implications of light $\tilde{t}_R$ and higgsinos in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, assuming $\tan^2 \beta < m_t / m_b$ and heavy $\tilde{t}_L$ and gauginos. In this simplified setting, we study the contributions to $\Delta m_{B_d}$, $\epsilon_K$, $BR(b \rightarrow s \gamma)$, $R_b \equiv \Gamma (Z \rightarrow b \overline{b}) / \Gamma ( Z \to {\rm hadrons})$, $BR(t \to b W)$, and their interplay.Comment: plain LATEX, 6 figures, 23 A4 page

Resolution of Overlapping Branes

We obtain singularity resolutions for various overlapping brane configurations, including those of two heterotic 5-branes, type II 5-branes or D4-branes. In these solutions, the ``harmonic'' function H for each brane component depends only on the associated four-dimensional relative transverse space. The resolution is achieved by replacing these transverse spaces with Eguchi-Hanson or Taub-NUT spaces, both of which admit a normalisable self-dual (or anti-self-dual) harmonic 2-form. Due to the manner in which the interaction terms for the form fields modify their Bianchi identities or equations of motion, these normalisable harmonic 2-forms provide regular sources for the branes. We also obtain resolved 5-branes and D4-branes wrapped on S^1, which is fibred over the transverse Eguchi-Hanson or Taub-NUT spaces. The T-duality invariance of the NS-NS 5-brane is retained after the resolution. The resolved 5-branes and D4-branes provide regular supergravity duals of certain supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories in five and four dimensions.Comment: Latex, 13 pages, typo corrected, references added, resolved D4-brane wrapped on S^1 adde

Twistor geometry of a pair of second order ODEs

We discuss the twistor correspondence between path geometries in three dimensions with vanishing Wilczynski invariants and anti-self-dual conformal structures of signature $(2, 2)$. We show how to reconstruct a system of ODEs with vanishing invariants for a given conformal structure, highlighting the Ricci-flat case in particular. Using this framework, we give a new derivation of the Wilczynski invariants for a system of ODEs whose solution space is endowed with a conformal structure. We explain how to reconstruct the conformal structure directly from the integral curves, and present new examples of systems of ODEs with point symmetry algebra of dimension four and greater which give rise to anti--self--dual structures with conformal symmetry algebra of the same dimension. Some of these examples are $(2, 2)$ analogues of plane wave space--times in General Relativity. Finally we discuss a variational principle for twistor curves arising from the Finsler structures with scalar flag curvature.Comment: Final version to appear in the Communications in Mathematical Physics. The procedure of recovering a system of torsion-fee ODEs from the heavenly equation has been clarified. The proof of Prop 7.1 has been expanded. Dedicated to Mike Eastwood on the occasion of his 60th birthda

Ultrarelativistic black hole in an external electromagnetic field and gravitational waves in the Melvin universe

We investigate the ultrarelativistic boost of a Schwarzschild black hole immersed in an external electromagnetic field, described by an exact solution of the Einstein-Maxwell equations found by Ernst (the ``Schwarzschild-Melvin'' metric). Following the classical method of Aichelburg and Sexl, the gravitational field generated by a black hole moving ``with the speed of light'' and the transformed electromagnetic field are determined. The corresponding exact solution describes an impulsive gravitational wave propagating in the static, cylindrically symmetric, electrovac universe of Melvin, and for a vanishing electromagnetic field it reduces to the well known Aichelburg-Sexl pp-wave. In the boosting process, the original Petrov type I of the Schwarzschild-Melvin solution simplifies to the type II on the impulse, and to the type D elsewhere. The geometry of the wave front is studied, in particular its non-constant Gauss curvature. In addition, a more general class of impulsive waves in the Melvin universe is constructed by means of a six-dimensional embedding formalism adapted to the background. A coordinate system is also presented in which all the impulsive metrics take a continuous form. Finally, it is shown that these solutions are a limiting case of a family of exact gravitational waves with an arbitrary profile. This family is identified with a solution previously found by Garfinkle and Melvin. We thus complement their analysis, in particular demonstrating that such spacetimes are of type II and belong to the Kundt class.Comment: 11 pages, REVTeX