1,049 research outputs found
The deconfining phase transition in full QCD with two dynamical flavors
We investigate the deconfining phase transition in SU(3) pure gauge theory
and in full QCD with two flavors of staggered fermions. The phase transition is
detected by measuring the free energy in presence of an abelian monopole
background field. In the pure gauge case our finite size scaling analysis is in
agreement with the well known presence of a weak first order phase transition.
In the case of 2 flavors full QCD we find, using the standard pure gauge and
staggered fermion actions, that the phase transition is consistent with weak
first order, contrary to the expectation of a crossover for not too large quark
masses and in agreement with results obtained by the Pisa group.Comment: 23 pages, 11 figures, 4 tables (minor typos corrected, references
updated, accepted for publication on JHEP
Large N Field Theory and AdS Tachyons
In non-supersymmetric orbifolds of N =4 super Yang-Mills, conformal
invariance is broken by the logarithmic running of double-trace operators -- a
leading effect at large N. A tachyonic instability in AdS_5 has been proposed
as the bulk dual of double-trace running. In this paper we make this
correspondence more precise. By standard field theory methods, we show that the
double-trace beta function is quadratic in the coupling, to all orders in
planar perturbation theory. Tuning the double-trace coupling to its (complex)
fixed point, we find conformal dimensions of the form 2 + i b, as formally
expected for operators dual to bulk scalars that violate the stability bound.
We also show that conformal invariance is broken in perturbation theory if and
only if dynamical symmetry breaking occurs. Our analysis is applicable to a
general large N field theory with vanishing single-trace beta functions.Comment: 26 pages, 6 figures. v3: small changes, version published on JHEP
A Naturally Large Four-Point Function in Single Field Inflation
Non-Gaussianities of the primordial density perturbations have emerged as a
very powerful possible signal to test the dynamics that drove the period of
inflation. While in general the most sensitive observable is the three-point
function in this paper we show that there are technically natural inflationary
models where the leading source of non-Gaussianity is the four-point function.
Using the recently developed Effective Field Theory of Inflation, we are able
to show that it is possible to impose an approximate parity symmetry and an
approximate continuos shift symmetry on the inflaton fluctuations that allow,
when the dispersion relation is of the form , for a unique
quartic operator, while approximately forbidding all the cubic ones. The
resulting shape for the four-point function is unique. In the models where the
dispersion relation is of the form a similar construction
can be carried out and additional shapes are possible.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure. v2: extended discussion on near-de-Sitter model
Spectral Flow in AdS(3)/CFT(2)
We study the spectral flowed sectors of the H3 WZW model in the context of
the holographic duality between type IIB string theory in AdS(3)x S^3 x T^4
with NSNS flux and the symmetric product orbifold of T^4. We construct
explicitly the physical vertex operators in the flowed sectors that belong to
short representations of the superalgebra, thus completing the bulk-to-boundary
dictionary for 1/2 BPS states. We perform a partial calculation of the string
three-point functions of these operators. A complete calculation would require
the three-point couplings of non-extremal flowed operators in the H3 WZW model,
which are at present unavailable. In the unflowed sector, perfect agreement has
recently been found between the bulk and boundary three-point functions of 1/2
BPS operators. Assuming that this agreement persists in the flowed sectors, we
determine certain unknown three-point couplings in the H3 WZW model in terms of
three-point couplings of affine descendants in the SU(2) WZW model.Comment: 50 pages, 2 figure
(Small) Resonant non-Gaussianities: Signatures of a Discrete Shift Symmetry in the Effective Field Theory of Inflation
We apply the Effective Field Theory of Inflation to study the case where the
continuous shift symmetry of the Goldstone boson \pi is softly broken to a
discrete subgroup. This case includes and generalizes recently proposed String
Theory inspired models of Inflation based on Axion Monodromy. The models we
study have the property that the 2-point function oscillates as a function of
the wavenumber, leading to oscillations in the CMB power spectrum. The
non-linear realization of time diffeomorphisms induces some self-interactions
for the Goldstone boson that lead to a peculiar non-Gaussianity whose shape
oscillates as a function of the wavenumber. We find that in the regime of
validity of the effective theory, the oscillatory signal contained in the
n-point correlation functions, with n>2, is smaller than the one contained in
the 2-point function, implying that the signature of oscillations, if ever
detected, will be easier to find first in the 2-point function, and only then
in the higher order correlation functions. Still the signal contained in
higher-order correlation functions, that we study here in generality, could be
detected at a subleading level, providing a very compelling consistency check
for an approximate discrete shift symmetry being realized during inflation.Comment: v2 minor revisions; 39 pages, 5 figure
Primordial non-Gaussianity in the Bispectrum of the Halo Density Field
The bispectrum vanishes for linear Gaussian fields and is thus a sensitive
probe of non-linearities and non-Gaussianities in the cosmic density field.
Hence, a detection of the bispectrum in the halo density field would enable
tight constraints on non-Gaussian processes in the early Universe and allow
inference of the dynamics driving inflation. We present a tree level derivation
of the halo bispectrum arising from non-linear clustering, non-linear biasing
and primordial non-Gaussianity. A diagrammatic description is developed to
provide an intuitive understanding of the contributing terms and their
dependence on scale, shape and the non-Gaussianity parameter fNL. We compute
the terms based on a multivariate bias expansion and the peak-background split
method and show that non-Gaussian modifications to the bias parameters lead to
amplifications of the tree level bispectrum that were ignored in previous
studies. Our results are in a good agreement with published simulation
measurements of the halo bispectrum. Finally, we estimate the expected signal
to noise on fNL and show that the constraint obtainable from the bispectrum
analysis significantly exceeds the one obtainable from the power spectrum
analysis.Comment: 34 pages, 15 figures, (v3): matches JCAP published versio
Optimal limits on f_{NL}^{local} from WMAP 5-year data
We have applied the optimal estimator for f_{NL}^{local} to the 5 year WMAP
data. Marginalizing over the amplitude of foreground templates we get -4 <
f_{NL}^{local} < 80 at 95% CL. Error bars of previous (sub-optimal) analyses
are roughly 40% larger than these. The probability that a Gaussian simulation,
analyzed using our estimator, gives a result larger in magnitude than the one
we find is 7%. Our pipeline gives consistent results when applied to the three
and five year WMAP data releases and agrees well with the results from our own
sub-optimal pipeline. We find no evidence of any residual foreground
contamination.Comment: [v1] 21 pages, 7 figures. [v2] minor changes matching published
versio
Sine-Gordon/Coulomb Gas Soliton Correlation Functions and an Exact Evaluation of the Kosterlitz-Thouless Critical Exponent
We present an exact derivation for the asymptotic large distance behavior of
the spin two-point correlation function in the XY-model. This allows for the
exact obtainment of the critical exponent at the Kosterlitz-Thouless
transition that occurs in this model and in the 2D neutral Coulomb gas and
which has been previously obtained by scaling arguments. In order to do that,
we use the language of sine-Gordon theory to obtain a Coulomb Gas description
of the XY-model spin correlation function, which becomes identified with the
soliton correlator of that theory. Using a representation in terms of bipolar
coordinates we obtain an exact expression for the asymptotic large distance
behavior of the relevant correlator at , which corresponds to the
Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. The result is obtained by approaching this
point from the plasma (high-temperature) phase of the gas. The vortex
correlator of the XY-model is also obtained using the same procedure.Comment: To appear in J. Stat. Phys., 11 page
The Effective Field Theory of Inflation
We study the effective field theory of inflation, i.e. the most general
theory describing the fluctuations around a quasi de Sitter background, in the
case of single field models. The scalar mode can be eaten by the metric by
going to unitary gauge. In this gauge, the most general theory is built with
the lowest dimension operators invariant under spatial diffeomorphisms, like
g^{00} and K_{mu nu}, the extrinsic curvature of constant time surfaces. This
approach allows us to characterize all the possible high energy corrections to
simple slow-roll inflation, whose sizes are constrained by experiments. Also,
it describes in a common language all single field models, including those with
a small speed of sound and Ghost Inflation, and it makes explicit the
implications of having a quasi de Sitter background. The non-linear realization
of time diffeomorphisms forces correlation among different observables, like a
reduced speed of sound and an enhanced level of non-Gaussianity.Comment: 26 pages. v2: minor corrections, JHEP published versio
The Volume of the Universe after Inflation and de Sitter Entropy
We calculate the probability distribution for the volume of the Universe
after slow-roll inflation both in the eternal and in the non-eternal regime.
Far from the eternal regime the probability distribution for the number of
e-foldings, defined as one third of the logarithm of the volume, is sharply
peaked around the number of e-foldings of the classical inflaton trajectory. At
the transition to the eternal regime this probability is still peaked (with the
width of order one e-folding) around the average, which gets twice larger at
the transition point. As one enters the eternal regime the probability for the
volume to be finite rapidly becomes exponentially small. In addition to
developing techniques to study eternal inflation, our results allow us to
establish the quantum generalization of a recently proposed bound on the number
of e-foldings in the non-eternal regime: the probability for slow-roll
inflation to produce a finite volume larger than e^(S_dS/2), where S_dS is the
de Sitter entropy at the end of the inflationary stage, is smaller than the
uncertainty due to non-perturbative quantum gravity effects. The existence of
such a bound provides a consistency check for the idea of de Sitter
complementarity.Comment: 47 pages, 11 figure
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