451 research outputs found
Small effects of smoking on visual spatiotemporal processing
Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Holographic superfluids as duals of rotating black strings
We study the breaking of an Abelian symmetry close to the horizon of an
uncharged rotating Anti-de Sitter black string in 3+1 dimensions. The boundary
theory living on R^2 x S^1 has no rotation, but a magnetic field that is
aligned with the axis of the black string. This boundary theory decribes
non-rotating (2+1)-dimensional holographic superfluids with non-vanishing
superfluid velocity. We study these superfluids in the grand canonical ensemble
and show that for sufficiently small angular momentum of the dual black string
and sufficiently small superfluid velocity the phase transition is 2nd order,
while it becomes 1st order for larger superfluid velocity. Moreover, we observe
that the phase transition is always 1st order above a critical value of the
angular momentum independent of the choice of the superfluid velocity.Comment: 9 pages including 5 figures: v2: 12 pages including 7 figures; 2
figures added, discussion on free energy added; accepted for publication in
JHE
Sound-Induced Flash Illusion is Resistant to Feedback Training
A single flash accompanied by two auditory beeps tends to be perceived as two flashes (Shams et al. Nature 408:788, 2000, Cogn Brain Res 14:147â152, 2002). This phenomenon is known as âsound-induced flash illusion.â Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that this illusion is correlated with modulation of activity in early visual cortical areas (Arden et al. Vision Res 43(23):2469â2478, 2003; Bhattacharya et al. NeuroReport 13:1727â1730, 2002; Shams et al. NeuroReport 12(17):3849â3852, 2001, Neurosci Lett 378(2):76â81, 2005; Watkins et al. Neuroimage 31:1247â1256, 2006, Neuroimage 37:572â578, 2007; Mishra et al. J Neurosci 27(15):4120â4131, 2007). We examined how robust the illusion is by testing whether the frequency of the illusion can be reduced by providing feedback. We found that the sound-induced flash illusion was resistant to feedback training, except when the amount of monetary reward was made dependent on accuracy in performance. However, even in the latter case the participants reported that they still perceived illusory two flashes even though they correctly reported single flash. Moreover, the feedback training effect seemed to disappear once the participants were no longer provided with feedback suggesting a short-lived refinement of discrimination between illusory and physical double flashes rather than vanishing of the illusory percept. These findings indicate that the effect of sound on the perceptual representation of visual stimuli is strong and robust to feedback training, and provide further evidence against decision factors accounting for the sound-induced flash illusion
Lifshitz black holes in string theory
We provide the first black hole solutions with Lifshitz asymptotics found in
string theory. These are expected to be dual to models enjoying anisotropic
scale invariance with dynamical exponent z=2 at finite temperature. We employ a
consistent truncation of type IIB supergravity to four dimensions with an
arbitrary 5-dimensional Einstein manifold times a circle as internal geometry.
New interesting features are found that significantly differ from previous
results in phenomenological models. In particular, small black holes are shown
to be thermodynamically unstable, analogously to the usual AdS-Schwarzschild
black holes, and extremality is never reached. This signals a possible
Hawking-Page like phase transition at low temperatures.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures. v2 references adde
Lovelock-Lifshitz Black Holes
In this paper, we investigate the existence of Lifshitz solutions in Lovelock
gravity, both in vacuum and in the presence of a massive vector field. We show
that the Lovelock terms can support the Lifshitz solution provided the
constants of the theory are suitably chosen. We obtain an exact black hole
solution with Lifshitz asymptotics of any scaling parameter in both
Gauss-Bonnet and in pure 3rd order Lovelock gravity. If matter is added in the
form of a massive vector field, we also show that Lifshitz solutions in
Lovelock gravity exist; these can be regarded as corrections to Einstein
gravity coupled to this form of matter. For this form of matter we numerically
obtain a broad range of charged black hole solutions with Lifshitz asymptotics,
for either sign of the cosmological constant. We find that these asymptotic
Lifshitz solutions are more sensitive to corrections induced by Lovelock
gravity than are their asymptotic AdS counterparts. We also consider the
thermodynamics of the black hole solutions and show that the temperature of
large black holes with curved horizons is proportional to where is
the critical exponent; this relationship holds for black branes of any size. As
is the case for asymptotic AdS black holes, we find that an extreme black hole
exists only for the case of horizons with negative curvature. We also find that
these Lovelock-Lifshitz black holes have no unstable phase, in contrast to the
Lovelock-AdS case. We also present a class of rotating Lovelock-Lifshitz black
holes with Ricci-flat horizons.Comment: 26 pages, 10 figures, a few references added, typo fixed and some
comments have been adde
Holographic Lovelock Gravities and Black Holes
We study holographic implications of Lovelock gravities in AdS spacetimes.
For a generic Lovelock gravity in arbitrary spacetime dimensions we formulate
the existence condition for asymptotically AdS black holes. We consider small
fluctuations around these black holes and determine the constraint on Lovelock
parameters by demanding causality of the boundary theory. For the case of cubic
Lovelock gravity in seven spacetime dimensions we compute the holographic Weyl
anomaly and determine the three point functions of the stress energy tensor in
the boundary CFT. Remarkably, these correlators happen to satisfy the same
relation as the one imposed by supersymmetry. We then compute the energy flux;
requiring it to be positive is shown to be completely equivalent to requiring
causality of the finite temperature CFT dual to the black hole. These
constraints are not stringent enough to place any positive lower bound on the
value of viscosity. Finally, we conjecture an expression for the energy flux
valid for any Lovelock theory in arbitrary dimensions.Comment: 31 pages, 1 figure, harvmac, references added, calculation of
viscosity/entropy ratio include
Zero Sound in Strange Metallic Holography
One way to model the strange metal phase of certain materials is via a
holographic description in terms of probe D-branes in a Lifshitz spacetime,
characterised by a dynamical exponent z. The background geometry is dual to a
strongly-interacting quantum critical theory while the probe D-branes are dual
to a finite density of charge carriers that can exhibit the characteristic
properties of strange metals. We compute holographically the low-frequency and
low-momentum form of the charge density and current retarded Green's functions
in these systems for massless charge carriers. The results reveal a
quasi-particle excitation when z<2, which in analogy with Landau Fermi liquids
we call zero sound. The real part of the dispersion relation depends on
momentum k linearly, while the imaginary part goes as k^2/z. When z is greater
than or equal to 2 the zero sound is not a well-defined quasi-particle. We also
compute the frequency-dependent conductivity in arbitrary spacetime dimensions.
Using that as a measure of the charge current spectral function, we find that
the zero sound appears only when the spectral function consists of a single
delta function at zero frequency.Comment: 20 pages, v2 minor corrections, extended discussion in sections 5 and
6, added one footnote and four references, version published in JHE
The Shine-Through Masking Paradigm Is a Potential Endophenotype of Schizophrenia
BACKGROUND: To understand the genetics of schizophrenia, a hunt for so-called intermediate phenotypes or endophenotypes is ongoing. Visual masking has been proposed to be such an endophenotype. However, no systematic study has been conducted yet to prove this claim. Here, we present the first study showing that masking meets the most important criteria for an endophenotype. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We tested 62 schizophrenic patients, 39 non-affected first-degree relatives, and 38 healthy controls in the shine-through masking paradigm and, in addition, in the Continuous Performance Test (CPT) and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Most importantly, masking performance of relatives was significantly in between the one of patients and controls in the shine-through paradigm. Moreover, deficits were stable throughout one year. Using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) methods, we show that the shine-through paradigm distinguishes with high sensitivity and specificity between schizophrenic patients, first-order relatives and healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The shine-through paradigm is a potential endophenotype
Pathologies in Asymptotically Lifshitz Spacetimes
There has been significant interest in the last several years in studying
possible gravitational duals, known as Lifshitz spacetimes, to anisotropically
scaling field theories by adding matter to distort the asymptotics of an AdS
spacetime. We point out that putative ground state for the most heavily studied
example of such a spacetime, that with a flat spatial section, suffers from a
naked singularity and further point out this singularity is not resolvable by
any known stringy effect. We review the reasons one might worry that
asymptotically Lifshitz spacetimes are unstable and employ the initial data
problem to study the stability of such systems. Rather surprisingly this
question, and even the initial value problem itself, for these spacetimes turns
out to generically not be well-posed. A generic normalizable state will evolve
in such a way to violate Lifshitz asymptotics in finite time. Conversely,
enforcing the desired asymptotics at all times puts strong restrictions not
just on the metric and fields in the asymptotic region but in the deep interior
as well. Generically, even perturbations of the matter field of compact support
are not compatible with the desired asymptotics.Comment: 36 pages, 1 figure, v2: Enhanced discussion of singularity, including
relationship to Gubser's conjecture and singularity in RG flow solution, plus
minor clarification
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