3,245 research outputs found
Is string theory a theory of quantum gravity?
Some problems in finding a complete quantum theory incorporating gravity are
discussed. One is that of giving a consistent unitary description of
high-energy scattering. Another is that of giving a consistent quantum
description of cosmology, with appropriate observables. While string theory
addresses some problems of quantum gravity, its ability to resolve these
remains unclear. Answers may require new mechanisms and constructs, whether
within string theory, or in another framework.Comment: Invited contribution for "Forty Years of String Theory: Reflecting on
the Foundations," a special issue of Found. Phys., ed. by G 't Hooft, E.
Verlinde, D. Dieks, S. de Haro. 32 pages, 5 figs., harvmac. v2: final version
to appear in journal (small revisions
Black hole information, unitarity, and nonlocality
The black hole information paradox apparently indicates the need for a
fundamentally new ingredient in physics. The leading contender is nonlocality.
Possible mechanisms for the nonlocality needed to restore unitarity to black
hole evolution are investigated. Suggestions that such dynamics arises from
ultra-planckian modes in Hawking's derivation are investigated and found not to
be relevant, in a picture using smooth slices spanning the exterior and
interior of the horizon. However, no simultaneous description of modes that
have fallen into the black hole and outgoing Hawking modes can be given without
appearance of a large kinematic invariant, or other dependence on
ultra-planckian physics; a reliable argument for information loss thus has not
been constructed. This suggests that strong gravitational dynamics is
important. Such dynamics has been argued to be fundamentally nonlocal in
extreme situations, such as those required to investigate the fate of
information.Comment: 34 pages, 4 figures. Major revision of hep-th/0604047. v2: minor
corrections and added referenc
A hard coat, a tough choice? The effects of host seed morphology and mechanics on the egg laying behaviour of the bruchid beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus.
This study investigated whether the egg laying behaviour of Callosobruchus maculatus, an important storage pest of leguminous seed crops, was related to the mechanical properties of the host seed. The hypothesis was that females avoid laying eggs on seeds with particularly tough seed coats and hard cotyledons to reduce the resistance their larvae are subjected to when they bore into the seed to complete their development.
Females were presented with seeds from three leguminous species: Vigna unguiculata, V. angularis and V. radiata. The distribution of oviposition sites on the seed's surface was related to the morphology and mechanical properties of the seed. Vickers microhardness and fracture tests were used to investigate regional variation and compare the properties of seeds with and without eggs adhered to their surface.
There were no significant regional differences in the hardness of the cotyledon material along the longitudinal axis of the seed (P > 0.05). However, there were significant differences between the mechanical properties of the seed coat and the cotyledons; in V. unguiculata the seed coat was tougher, 1249 ± 80.8 J mâ2, than the cotyledons, 402 ± 30.0 J mâ2 (P 0.05). Mechanical data are discussed in relation to the egg laying behaviour of C. maculatus
Locality in quantum gravity and string theory
Breakdown of local physics in string theory at distances longer than the
string scale is investigated. Such nonlocality would be expected to be visible
in ultrahigh-energy scattering. The results of various approaches to such
scattering are collected and examined. No evidence is found for non-locality
from strings whose length grows linearly with the energy. However, local
quantum field theory does apparently fail at scales determined by gravitational
physics, particularly strong gravitational dynamics. This amplifies locality
bound arguments that such failure of locality is a fundamental aspect of
physics. This kind of nonlocality could be a central element of a possible
loophole in the argument for information loss in black holes.Comment: 26 pages, 3 figures, harvmac. v2: minor changes to bring into accord
with revised paper hep-th/060519
Cosmological diagrammatic rules
A simple set of diagrammatic rules is formulated for perturbative evaluation
of ``in-in" correlators, as is needed in cosmology and other nonequilibrium
problems. These rules are both intuitive, and efficient for calculational
purposes.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
Nonlocality vs. complementarity: a conservative approach to the information problem
A proposal for resolution of the information paradox is that "nice slice"
states, which have been viewed as providing a sharp argument for information
loss, do not in fact do so as they do not give a fully accurate description of
the quantum state of a black hole. This however leaves an information
*problem*, which is to provide a consistent description of how information
escapes when a black hole evaporates. While a rather extreme form of
nonlocality has been advocated in the form of complementarity, this paper
argues that is not necessary, and more modest nonlocality could solve the
information problem. One possible distinguishing characteristic of scenarios is
the information retention time. The question of whether such nonlocality
implies acausality, and particularly inconsistency, is briefly addressed. The
need for such nonlocality, and its apparent tension with our empirical
observations of local quantum field theory, may be a critical missing piece in
understanding the principles of quantum gravity.Comment: 11 pages of text and figures, + references. v2 minor text. v3 small
revisions to match final journal versio
Gauge/String-Gravity Duality and Froissart Bound
The gauge/string-gravity duality correspondence opened renewed hope and
possibility to address some of the fundamental and non-perturbative QCD
problems in particle physics, such as hadron spectrum and Regge behavior of the
scattering amplitude at high energies. One of the most fundamental and
long-standing problem is the high energy behavior of total cross-sections.
According to a series of exhaustive tests by the COMPETE group, (1). total
cross-sections have a universal Heisenberg behavior in energy corresponding to
the maximal energy behavior allowed by the Froissart bound, i.e., with and for all reactions,
and (2). the factorization relation among is well satisfied by experiments. I discuss the
recent interesting application of the gauge/string-gravity duality of
correspondence with a deformed background metric so as to break the conformal
symmetry that can lead to the Heisenberg behavior of rising total
cross-sections, and present some preliminary results on the high energy QCD
from Planckian scattering in and black-hole production.Comment: 10 pages, Presented to the Coral Gables Conference 2003, Launching of
BelleE\'poque in High Energy Physics and Cosmology, 17 - 21 December 2003,
Fort Lauderdale, Florid
Dynamics of warped compactifications and the shape of the warped landscape
The dynamics of warped/flux compactifications is studied, including warping
effects, providing a firmer footing for investigation of the "landscape." We
present a general formula for the four-dimensional potential of warped
compactifications in terms of ten-dimensional quantities. This allows a
systematic investigation of moduli-fixing effects and potentials for mobile
branes. We provide a necessary criterion, "slope-dominance," for evading
"no-go" results for de Sitter vacua. We outline the ten-dimensional derivation
of the non-perturbative effects that should accomplish this in KKLT examples,
and outline a systematic discussion of their corrections. We show that
potentials for mobile branes receive generic contributions inhibiting slow-roll
inflation. We give a linearized analysis of general scalar perturbations of
warped IIB compactifications, revealing new features for both time independent
and dependent moduli, and new aspects of the kinetic part of the
four-dimensional effective action. The universal Kahler modulus is found_not_
to be a simple scaling of the internal metric, and a prescription is given for
defining holomorphic Kahler moduli, including warping effects. In the presence
of mobile branes, this prescription elucidates couplings between bulk and brane
fields. Our results are thus relevant to investigations of the existence of de
Sitter vacua in string theory, and of their phenomenology, cosmology, and
statistics.Comment: (80 pages; two appendices; harvmac. v3: minor corrections, and
references added. v4: argument that pure Kahler deformations are flat.
Entropy in Black Hole Pair Production
Pair production of Reissner-Nordstrom black holes in a magnetic field can be
described by a euclidean instanton. It is shown that the instanton amplitude
contains an explicit factor of , where is the area of the event
horizon. This is consistent with the hypothesis that measures the
number of black hole states.Comment: 24 pages (harvmac l mode
- âŠ