An Introduction to T-Duality in String Theory

In these lectures a general introduction to T-duality is given. In the abelian case the approaches of Buscher, and Ro\u{c}ek and Verlinde are reviewed. Buscher's prescription for the dilaton transformation is recovered from a careful definition of the gauge integration measure. It is also shown how duality can be understood as a quite simple canonical transformation. Some aspects of non-abelian duality are also discussed, in particular what is known on relation to canonical transformations. Some implications of the existence of duality on the cosmological constant and the definition of distance in String Theory are also suggested.Comment: Latex file (1 figure), dina4p macro inserte

The structure of the exact effective action and the quark confinement in MSSM QCD

An expression for the exact (nonperturbative) effective action of $N$=1 supersymmetric gauge theories is proposed, supposing, that all particles except for the gauge bosons are massive. Analysis of its form shows, that instanton effects in the supersymmetric theories can lead to the quark confinement. The typical scale of confinement in MSSM QCD, calculated from the first principles, is in agreement with the experimental data. The proposed explanation is quite different from the dual Higgs mechanism.Comment: Final version to appear in Sov.J.Nucl.Phys. Some insignificant errors and misprints are correcte

Supersymmetry and Large Scale Left-Right Symmetry

We show that the low energy limit of the minimal supersymmetric Left-Right models is the supersymmetric standard model with an exact R-parity. The theory predicts a number of light Higgs scalars and fermions with masses much below the $B-L$ and $SU(2)_R$ breaking scales. The non-renormalizable version of the theory has a striking prediction of light doubly charged supermultiplets which may be accessible to experiment. Whereas in the renormalizable case the scale of parity breaking is undetermined, in the non-renormalizable one it must be bigger than about $10^{10} - 10^{12}$ GeV. The precise nature of the see-saw mechanism differs in the two versions, and has important implications for neutrino masses.Comment: LaTeX, 30 pages. Minor changes. Some references adde

Search for squarks and gluinos in events with hadronically decaying tau leptons, jets and missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at s√ = 13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector

A search for supersymmetry in events with large missing transverse momentum, jets, and at least one hadronically decaying tau lepton has been performed using 3.2 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data at s√=13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2015. Two exclusive final states are considered, with either exactly one or at least two tau leptons. No excess over the Standard Model prediction is observed in the data. Results are interpreted in the context of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking and a simplified model of gluino pair production with tau-rich cascade decays, substantially improving on previous limits. In the GMSB model considered, supersymmetry-breaking scale (Λ) values below 92 TeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level, corresponding to gluino masses below 2000 GeV. For large values of tanβ, values of Λ up to 107 TeV and gluino masses up to 2300 GeV are excluded. In the simplified model, gluino masses are excluded up to 1570 GeV for neutralino masses around 100 GeV. Neutralino masses up to 700 GeV are excluded for all gluino masses between 800 GeV and 1500 GeV, while the strongest exclusion of 750 GeV is achieved for gluino masses around 1400 GeV

Virtual Reality for Anxiety Disorders: Rethinking a Field in Expansion

The principal aim to this chapter is to present the latest ideas in virtual reality (VR), some of which have already been applied to the field of anxiety disorders, and others are still pending to be materialized. More than 20 years ago, VR emerged as an exposure tool in order to provide patients and therapists with more appealing ways of delivering a technique that was undoubtedly effective but also rejected and thus underused. Throughout these years, many improvements were achieved. The first section of the chapter describes those improvements, both considering the research progresses and the applications in the real world. In a second part, our main interest is to expand the discussion of the new applications of VR beyond its already known role as an exposure tool. In particular, VR is enabling the materialization of numerous ideas that were previously confined to a merely philosophical discussion in the field of cognitive sciences. That is, VR has the enormous potential of providing feasible ways to explore nonclassical ways of cognition, such as embodied and situated information processing. Despite the fact that many of these developments are not fully developed, and not specifically designed for anxiety disorders, we want to introduce these new ideas in a context in which VR is experiencing an enormous transformation