500 research outputs found
Effective AdS/renormalized CFT
For an effective AdS theory, we present a simple prescription to compute the
renormalization of its dual boundary field theory. In particular, we define
anomalous dimension holographically as the dependence of the wave-function
renormalization factor on the radial cutoff in the Poincare patch of AdS. With
this definition, the anomalous dimensions of both single- and double- trace
operators are calculated. Three different dualities are considered with the
field theory being CFT, CFT with a double-trace deformation and spontaneously
broken CFT. For the second dual pair, we compute scaling corrections at the UV
and IR fixed points of the RG flow triggered by the double-trace deformation.
For the last case, we discuss whether our prescription is sensitive to the AdS
interior or equivalently, the IR physics of the dual field theory.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figure
A thermodynamic unification of jamming
Fragile materials ranging from sand to fire-retardant to toothpaste are able
to exhibit both solid and fluid-like properties across the jamming transition.
Unlike ordinary fusion, systems of grains, foams and colloids jam and cease to
flow under conditions that still remain unknown. Here we quantify jamming via a
thermodynamic approach by accounting for the structural ageing and the
shear-induced compressibility of dry sand. Specifically, the jamming threshold
is defined using a non-thermal temperature that measures the 'fluffiness' of a
granular mixture. The thermodynamic model, casted in terms of pressure,
temperature and free-volume, also successfully predicts the entropic data of
five molecular glasses. Notably, the predicted configurational entropy avoids
the Kauzmann paradox entirely. Without any free parameters, the proposed
equation-of-state also governs the mechanism of shear-banding and the
associated features of shear-softening and thickness-invariance.Comment: 16 pgs double spaced. 4 figure
Isolated and dynamical horizons and their applications
Over the past three decades, black holes have played an important role in
quantum gravity, mathematical physics, numerical relativity and gravitational
wave phenomenology. However, conceptual settings and mathematical models used
to discuss them have varied considerably from one area to another. Over the
last five years a new, quasi-local framework was introduced to analyze diverse
facets of black holes in a unified manner. In this framework, evolving black
holes are modeled by dynamical horizons and black holes in equilibrium by
isolated horizons. We review basic properties of these horizons and summarize
applications to mathematical physics, numerical relativity and quantum gravity.
This paradigm has led to significant generalizations of several results in
black hole physics. Specifically, it has introduced a more physical setting for
black hole thermodynamics and for black hole entropy calculations in quantum
gravity; suggested a phenomenological model for hairy black holes; provided
novel techniques to extract physics from numerical simulations; and led to new
laws governing the dynamics of black holes in exact general relativity.Comment: 77 pages, 12 figures. Typos and references correcte
Farming fit? Dispelling the Australian agrarian myth
Background: Rural Australians face a higher mental health and lifestyle disease burden (obesity, diabetes andcardiovascular disease) than their urban counterparts. Our ongoing research reveals that the Australian farmingcommunity has even poorer physical and mental health outcomes than rural averages. In particular, farm men andwomen have high rates of overweightness, obesity, abdominal adiposity, high blood pressure and psychologicaldistress when compared against Australian averages. Within our farming cohort we observed a significantassociation between psychological distress and obesity, abdominal adiposity and body fat percentage in thefarming population.Presentation of hypothesis: This paper presents a hypothesis based on preliminary data obtained from anongoing study that could potentially explain the complex correlation between obesity, psychological distress andphysical activity among a farming population. We posit that spasmodic physical activity, changing farm practicesand climate variability induce prolonged stress in farmers. This increases systemic cortisol that, in turn, promotesabdominal adiposity and weight gain.Testing the hypothesis: The hypothesis will be tested by anthropometric, biochemical and psychological analysismatched against systemic cortisol levels and the physical activity of the subjects.Implications of the hypothesis tested: Previous studies indicate that farming populations have elevated rates ofpsychological distress and high rates of suicide. Australian farmers have recently experienced challenging climaticconditions including prolonged drought, floods and cyclones. Through our interactions and through the media it isnot uncommon for farmers to describe the effect of this long-term stress with feelings of ‘defeat’. By gaining agreater understanding of the role cortisol and physical activity have on mental and physical health we maypositively impact the current rates of psychological distress in farmers.<br /
Loop Quantum Gravity a la Aharonov-Bohm
The state space of Loop Quantum Gravity admits a decomposition into
orthogonal subspaces associated to diffeomorphism equivalence classes of
spin-network graphs. In this paper I investigate the possibility of obtaining
this state space from the quantization of a topological field theory with many
degrees of freedom. The starting point is a 3-manifold with a network of
defect-lines. A locally-flat connection on this manifold can have non-trivial
holonomy around non-contractible loops. This is in fact the mathematical origin
of the Aharonov-Bohm effect. I quantize this theory using standard field
theoretical methods. The functional integral defining the scalar product is
shown to reduce to a finite dimensional integral over moduli space. A
non-trivial measure given by the Faddeev-Popov determinant is derived. I argue
that the scalar product obtained coincides with the one used in Loop Quantum
Gravity. I provide an explicit derivation in the case of a single defect-line,
corresponding to a single loop in Loop Quantum Gravity. Moreover, I discuss the
relation with spin-networks as used in the context of spin foam models.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figure; v2: corrected typos, section 4 expanded
Critical Overview of Loops and Foams
This is a review of the present status of loop and spin foam approaches to
quantization of four-dimensional general relativity. It aims at raising various
issues which seem to challenge some of the methods and the results often taken
as granted in these domains. A particular emphasis is given to the issue of
diffeomorphism and local Lorentz symmetries at the quantum level and to the
discussion of new spin foam models. We also describe modifications of these two
approaches which may overcome their problems and speculate on other promising
research directions.Comment: 75 page
Null Geodesic Congruences, Asymptotically Flat Space-Times and Their Physical Interpretation
Shear-free or asymptotically shear-free null geodesic congruences possess a
large number of fascinating geometric properties and to be closely related, in
the context of general relativity, to a variety of physically significant
affects. It is the purpose of this paper to develop these issues and find
applications in GR. The applications center around the problem of extracting
interior physical properties of an asymptotically flat space-time directly from
the asymptotic gravitational (and Maxwell) field itself in analogy with the
determination of total charge by an integral over the Maxwell field at infinity
or the identification of the interior mass (and its loss) by (Bondi's)
integrals of the Weyl tensor, also at infinity. More specifically we will see
that the asymptotically shear-free congruences lead us to an asymptotic
definition of the center-of-mass and its equations of motion. This includes a
kinematic meaning, in terms of the center of mass motion, for the Bondi
three-momentum. In addition, we obtain insights into intrinsic spin and, in
general, angular momentum, including an angular momentum conservation law with
well-defined flux terms. When a Maxwell field is present the asymptotically
shear-free congruences allow us to determine/define at infinity a
center-of-charge world-line and intrinsic magnetic dipole moment.Comment: 98 pages, 6 appendices. v2: typos corrected; v3: significant changes
made to results section using simpler arguments, added discussion of real
structures, additional references, 2 new appendice
Stationary Black Holes: Uniqueness and Beyond
The spectrum of known black-hole solutions to the stationary Einstein
equations has been steadily increasing, sometimes in unexpected ways. In
particular, it has turned out that not all black-hole-equilibrium
configurations are characterized by their mass, angular momentum and global
charges. Moreover, the high degree of symmetry displayed by vacuum and
electro-vacuum black-hole spacetimes ceases to exist in self-gravitating
non-linear field theories. This text aims to review some developments in the
subject and to discuss them in light of the uniqueness theorem for the
Einstein-Maxwell system.Comment: Major update of the original version by Markus Heusler from 1998.
Piotr T. Chru\'sciel and Jo\~ao Lopes Costa succeeded to this review's
authorship. Significantly restructured and updated all sections; changes are
too numerous to be usefully described here. The number of references
increased from 186 to 32
Altered perivascular fibroblast activity precedes ALS disease onset
Apart from well-defined factors in neuronal cells1, only a few reports consider that the variability of sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) progression can depend on less-defined contributions from glia2,3 and blood vessels4. In this study we use an expression-weighted cell-type enrichment method to infer cell activity in spinal cord samples from patients with sporadic ALS and mouse models of this disease. Here we report that patients with sporadic ALS present cell activity patterns consistent with two mouse models in which enrichments of vascular cell genes preceded microglial response. Notably, during the presymptomatic stage, perivascular fibroblast cells showed the strongest gene enrichments, and their marker proteins SPP1 and COL6A1 accumulated in enlarged perivascular spaces in patients with sporadic ALS. Moreover, in plasma of 574 patients with ALS from four independent cohorts, increased levels of SPP1 at disease diagnosis repeatedly predicted shorter survival with stronger effect than the established risk factors of bulbar onset or neurofilament levels in cerebrospinal fluid. We propose that the activity of the recently discovered perivascular fibroblast can predict survival of patients with ALS and provide a new conceptual framework to re-evaluate definitions of ALS etiology
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