Emergence of the fuzzy horizon through gravitational collapse

For a large enough Schwarzschild black hole, the horizon is a region of space where gravitational forces are weak; yet it is also a region leading to numerous puzzles connected to stringy physics. In this work, we analyze the process of gravitational collapse and black hole formation in the context of light-cone M theory. We find that, as a shell of matter contracts and is about to reveal a black hole horizon, it undergoes a thermodynamic phase transition. This involves the binding of D0 branes into D2's, and the new phase leads to large membranes of the size of the horizon. These in turn can sustain their large size through back-reaction and the dielectric Myers effect - realizing the fuzzball proposal of Mathur and the Matrix black hole of M(atrix) theory. The physics responsible for this phenomenon lies in strongly coupled 2+1 dimensional non-commutative dynamics. The phenomenon has a universal character and appears generic.Comment: 24 pages, 4 figures; v2: minor clarifications, citations adde

From Surface Operators to Non-Abelian Volume Operators in Puff Field Theory

Puff Field Theory is a low energy decoupling regime of string theory that still retains the non-local attributes of the parent theory - while preserving isotropy for its non-local degrees of freedom. It realizes an extended holographic dictionary at strong coupling and dynamical non-local states akin to defects or the surface operators of local gauge theories. In this work, we probe the non-local features of PFT using D3 branes. We find supersymmetric configurations that end on defects endowed with non-Abelian degrees of freedom. These are 2+1 dimensional defects in the 3+1 dimensional PFT that may be viewed as volume operators. We determine their R-charge, vacuum expectation value, energy, and gauge group structure.Comment: 39 pages, 6 figure

Which is the driver, the obsessions or the compulsions, in OCD?

The conventional view is that obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is driven by irrational beliefs, which are a putative basis of obsessions. Compulsions are considered a coping mechanism, which neutralize anxiety or reduce the likelihood that these fears will be realized. Contrary to this view, recent data suggests that compulsions in OCD are a manifestation of a disruption in the neurobiologically well-defined balance between goal-directed action and automatic habits.This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Nature Publishing Group in Neuropsychopharmacology at http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npp.2014.20

D3 branes in a Melvin universe: a new realm for gravitational holography

The decoupling limit of a certain configuration of D3 branes in a Melvin universe defines a sector of string theory known as Puff Field Theory (PFT) - a theory with non-local dynamics but without gravity. In this work, we present a systematic analysis of the non-local states of strongly coupled PFT using gravitational holography. And we are led to a remarkable new holographic dictionary. We show that the theory admits states that may be viewed as brane protrusions from the D3 brane worldvolume. The footprint of a protrusion has finite size - the scale of non-locality in the PFT - and corresponds to an operator insertion in the PFT. We compute correlators of these states, and we demonstrate that only part of the holographic bulk is explored by this computation. We then show that the remaining space holographically encodes the dynamics of the D3 brane tentacles. The two sectors are coupled: in this holographic description, this is realized via quantum entanglement across a holographic screen - a throat in the geometry - that splits the bulk into the two regions in question. We then propose a description of PFT through a direct product of two Fock spaces - akin to other non-local settings that employ quantum group structures.Comment: 44 pages, 13 figures; v2: minor corrections, citations added; v3: typos corrected in section on local operators, some asymptotic expansions improved and made more consistent with rest of paper in section on non-local operator

On black hole thermalization, D0 brane dynamics, and emergent spacetime

When matter falls past the horizon of a large black hole, the expectation from string theory is that the configuration thermalizes and the information in the probe is rather quickly scrambled away. The traditional view of a classical unique spacetime near a black hole horizon conflicts with this picture. The question then arises as to what spacetime does the probe actually see as it crosses a horizon, and how does the background geometry imprint its signature onto the thermal properties of the probe. In this work, we explore these questions through an extensive series of numerical simulations of D0 branes. We determine that the D0 branes quickly settle into an incompressible symmetric state -- thermalized within a few oscillations through a process driven entirely by internal non-linear dynamics. Surprisingly, thermal background fluctuations play no role in this mechanism. Signatures of the background fields in this thermal state arise either through fluxes, i.e. black hole hair; or if the probe expands to the size of the horizon -- which we see evidence of. We determine simple scaling relations for the D0 branes' equilibrium size, time to thermalize, lifetime, and temperature in terms of their number, initial energy, and the background fields. Our results are consistent with the conjecture that black holes are the fastest scramblers as seen by Matrix theory.Comment: 43 pages, 12 figures; v2: added analysis showing that results are consistent with and confirm Susskind conjecture on black hole thermalization. Added clarification about strong coupling regime. Citation adde

Branes wrapping black holes as a purely gravitational dielectric effect

In this paper we give a microscopical description of certain configurations of branes wrapping black hole horizons in terms of dielectric gravitational waves. Interestingly, the configurations are stable only due to the gravitational background. Therefore, this constitutes a nice example of purely gravitational dielectric effect.Comment: 17 pages, no figures. JHEP published versio

In memoriam: Eugene S Paykel, MD, FRCP, FRCPsych, FMedSci ACNP Fellow Emeritus

Eugene Stern Paykel was born on 9 September 1934 in Auckland, New Zealand. His research work focused on affective disorders in which he made significant and far-reaching contributions to the study of both causes and treatments of depression, spanning the fields of epidemiology, community psychiatry, psychological therapy, and psychopharmacology. He was the sole editor of the influential ‘Handbook of Affective Disorders’ (editions 1 and 2) which brought together these disparate areas of study as an early example of the biopsychosocial framework for understanding mental illness. Overall, he published approximately 400 papers, with over 32,000 citations, and authored, co-authored, or edited eight books. As a reflection of his research interest in psychopharmacology, he served as President of The British Association for Psychopharmacology (BAP) and The Collegium Internationale Neuropsychopharmacologicum (CINP), as well as being accepted into ACNP membership in 1981, eventually becoming Fellow Emeritus

Generally Covariant Actions for Multiple D-branes

We develop a formalism that allows us to write actions for multiple D-branes with manifest general covariance. While the matrix coordinates of the D-branes have a complicated transformation law under coordinate transformations, we find that these may be promoted to (redundant) matrix fields on the transverse space with a simple covariant transformation law. Using these fields, we define a covariant distribution function (a matrix generalization of the delta function which describes the location of a single brane). The final actions take the form of an integral over the curved space of a scalar single-trace action built from the covariant matrix fields, tensors involving the metric, and the covariant distribution function. For diagonal matrices, the integral localizes to the positions of the individual branes, giving N copies of the single-brane action.Comment: 34 pages, LaTeX. v2: comments and refs adde

Gravitational Radiation from Pulsating White Dwarfs

Rotating white dwarfs undergoing quasi-radial oscillations can emit gravitational radiation in a frequency range from 0.1 - 0.3 Hz. Assuming that the energy source for the gravitational radiation comes from the oblateness of the white dwarf induced by the rotation, the strain amplitude is found to be \sim 10^{-27} for a white dwarf at \sim 50 pc. The galactic population of these sources is estimated to be \sim 10^7, and may produce a confusion limited foreground for proposed advanced detectors in the frequency band between space-based and ground-based interferometers. Nearby oscillating white dwarfs may provide a clear enough signal to investigate white dwarf interiors through gravitational wave asteroseismology.Comment: Accepted for Astrophysical Journal Letters. Changed value of branching ratio resulting in an order of magnitude drop in gravitational wave amplitude