1,668 research outputs found
Black Hole Complementarity vs. Locality
The evaporation of a large mass black hole can be described throughout most
of its lifetime by a low-energy effective theory defined on a suitably chosen
set of smooth spacelike hypersurfaces. The conventional argument for
information loss rests on the assumption that the effective theory is a local
quantum field theory. We present evidence that this assumption fails in the
context of string theory. The commutator of operators in light-front string
theory, corresponding to certain low-energy observers on opposite sides of the
event horizon, remains large even when these observers are spacelike separated
by a macroscopic distance. This suggests that degrees of freedom inside a black
hole should not be viewed as independent from those outside the event horizon.
These nonlocal effects are only significant under extreme kinematic
circumstances, such as in the high-redshift geometry of a black hole.
Commutators of space-like separated operators corresponding to ordinary
low-energy observers in Minkowski space are strongly suppressed in string
theory.Comment: 32 pages, harvmac, 3 figure
Generalized Conformal Symmetry and Oblique AdS/CFT Correspondence for Matrix Theory
The large N behavior of Matrix theory is discussed on the basis of the
previously proposed generalized conformal symmetry. The concept of `oblique'
AdS/CFT correspondence, in which the conformal symmetry involves both the
space-time coordinates and the string coupling constant, is proposed. Based on
the explicit predictions for two-point correlators, possible implications for
the Matrix-theory conjecture are discussed.Comment: LaTeX, 10 pages, 2 figures, written version of the talk presented at
Strings'9
The Wave Function of Vasiliev's Universe - A Few Slices Thereof
We study the partition function of the free Sp(N) conformal field theory
recently conjectured to be dual to asymptotically de Sitter higher-spin gravity
in four-dimensions. We compute the partition function of this CFT on a round
sphere as a function of a finite mass deformation, on a squashed sphere as a
function of the squashing parameter, and on an S2xS1 geometry as a function of
the relative size of S2 and S1. We find that the partition function is
divergent at large negative mass in the first case, and for small in the
third case. It is globally peaked at zero squashing in the second case. Through
the duality this partition function contains information about the wave
function of the universe. We show that the divergence at small S1 occurs also
in Einstein gravity if certain complex solutions are included, but the
divergence in the mass parameter is new. We suggest an interpretation for this
divergence as indicating an instability of de Sitter space in higher spin
gravity, consistent with general arguments that de Sitter space cannot be
stable in quantum gravity.Comment: 30 pages plus appendices, 6 figure
The Gauge Hierarchy Problem and Higher Dimensional Gauge Theories
We report on an attempt to solve the gauge hierarchy problem in the framework
of higher dimensional gauge theories. Both classical Higgs mass and
quadratically divergent quantum correction to the mass are argued to vanish.
Hence the hierarchy problem in its original sense is solved. The remaining
finite mass correction is shown to depend crucially on the choice of boundary
condition for matter fields, and a way to fix it dynamically is presented. We
also point out that on the simply-connected space even the finite mass
correction vanishes.Comment: LaTeX2e. 12 pages, 3 Postscript figures; Added references, some
comment
Black Hole Horizons and Complementarity
We investigate the effect of gravitational back-reaction on the black hole
evaporation process. The standard derivation of Hawking radiation is
re-examined and extended by including gravitational interactions between the
infalling matter and the outgoing radiation. We find that these interactions
lead to substantial effects. In particular, as seen by an outside observer,
they lead to a fast growing uncertainty in the position of the infalling matter
as it approaches the horizon. We argue that this result supports the idea of
black hole complementarity, which states that, in the description of the black
hole system appropriate to outside observers, the region behind the horizon
does not establish itself as a classical region of space-time. We also give a
new formulation of this complementarity principle, which does not make any
specific reference to the location of the black hole horizon.Comment: Some minor modifications in text and the title chang
D-Sitter Space: Causal Structure, Thermodynamics, and Entropy
We study the entropy of concrete de Sitter flux compactifications and
deformations of them containing D-brane domain walls. We determine the relevant
causal and thermodynamic properties of these "D-Sitter" deformations of de
Sitter spacetimes. We find a string scale correspondence point at which the
entropy localized on the D-branes (and measured by probes sent from an observer
in the middle of the bubble) scales the same with large flux quantum numbers as
the entropy of the original de Sitter space, and at which Bousso's bound is
saturated by the D-brane degrees of freedom (up to order one coefficients) for
an infinite range of times. From the geometry of a static patch of D-Sitter
space and from basic relations in flux compactifications, we find support for
the possibility of a low energy open string description of the static patch of
de Sitter space.Comment: 46 pages, harvmac big; 14 figure
The Trouble with de Sitter Space
In this paper we assume the de Sitter Space version of Black Hole
Complementarity which states that a single causal patch of de Sitter space is
described as an isolated finite temperature cavity bounded by a horizon which
allows no loss of information. We discuss the how the symmetries of de Sitter
space should be implemented. Then we prove a no go theorem for implementing the
symmetries if the entropy is finite. Thus we must either give up the finiteness
of the de Sitter entropy or the exact symmetry of the classical space. Each has
interesting implications for the very long time behavior. We argue that the
lifetime of a de Sitter phase can not exceed the Poincare recurrence time. This
is supported by recent results of Kachru, Kallosh, Linde and Trivedi.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure. v2: added fifth section with comments on long
time stability of de Sitter space, in which we argue that the lifetime can
not exceed the Poincare recurrence time. v3: corrected a minor error in the
appendi
Emergence of thin shell structure during collapse in isotropic coordinates
Numerical studies of gravitational collapse in isotropic coordinates have
recently shown an interesting connection between the gravitational Lagrangian
and black hole thermodynamics. A study of the actual spacetime was not the main
focus of this work and in particular, the rich and interesting structure of the
interior has not been investigated in much detail and remains largely unknown.
We elucidate its features by performing a numerical study of the spacetime in
isotropic coordinates during gravitational collapse of a massless scalar field.
The most salient feature to emerge is the formation of a thin shell of matter
just inside the apparent horizon. The energy density and Ricci scalar peak at
the shell and there is a jump discontinuity in the extrinsic curvature across
the apparent horizon, the hallmark that a thin shell is present in its
vicinity. At late stages of the collapse, the spacetime consists of two vacuum
regions separated by the thin shell. The interior is described by an
interesting collapsing isotropic universe. It tends towards a vacuum (never
reaches a perfect vacuum) and there is a slight inhomogeneity in the interior
that plays a crucial role in the collapse process as the areal radius tends to
zero. The spacetime evolves towards a curvature (physical) singularity in the
interior, both a Weyl and Ricci singularity. In the exterior, our numerical
results match closely the analytical form of the Schwarzschild metric in
isotropic coordinates, providing a strong test of our numerical code.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures. version to appear in Phys. Rev.
The Number of States of Two Dimensional Critical String Theory
We discuss string theory vacua which have the wrong number of spacetime
dimensions, and give a crude argument that vacua with more than four large
dimensions are improbable. We then turn to two dimensional vacua, which naively
appear to violate Bekenstein's entropy principle. A classical analysis shows
that the naive perturbative counting of states is unjustified. All excited
states of the system have strong coupling singularities which prevent us from
concluding that they really exist. A speculative interpretation of the
classical solutions suggests only a finite number of states will be found in
regions bounded by a finite area. We also argue that the vacuum degeneracy of
two dimensional classical string theory is removed in quantum mechanics. The
system appears to be in a Kosterlitz-Thouless phase. This leads to the
conclusion that it is also improbable to have only two large spacetime
dimensions in string theory. However, we note that, unlike our argument for
high dimensions, our conclusions about the ground state have neglected two
dimensional quantum gravitational effects, and are at best incomplete.Comment: 12 pages, harvma
The rationale and suggested approaches for research geosynchronous satellite measurements for severe storm and mesoscale investigations
The measurements from current and planned geosynchronous satellites provide quantitative estimates of temperature and moisture profiles, surface temperature, wind, cloud properties, and precipitation. A number of significant observation characteristics remain, they include: (1) temperature and moisture profiles in cloudy areas; (2) high vertical profile resolution; (3) definitive precipitation area mapping and precipitation rate estimates on the convective cloud scale; (4) winds from low level cloud motions at night; (5) the determination of convective cloud structure; and (6) high resolution surface temperature determination. Four major new observing capabilities are proposed to overcome these deficiencies: a microwave sounder/imager, a high resolution visible and infrared imager, a high spectral resolution infrared sounder, and a total ozone mapper. It is suggested that the four sensors are flown together and used to support major mesoscale and short range forecasting field experiments
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