Heavy flavor diffusion in weakly coupled N=4 Super Yang-Mills theory

We use perturbation theory to compute the diffusion coefficient of a heavy quark or scalar moving in N=4 SU(N_c) Super Yang-Mills plasma to leading order in the coupling and the ratio T/M<<1. The result is compared both to recent strong coupling calculations in the same theory and to the corresponding weak coupling result in QCD. Finally, we present a compact and simple formulation of the Lagrangian of our theory, N=4 SYM coupled to a massive fundamental N=2 hypermultiplet, which is well-suited for weak coupling expansions.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures; v3: error corrected in calculations, figures and discussion modified accordingl

A way to estimate the heavy quark thermalization rate from the lattice

The thermalization rate of a heavy quark is related to its momentum diffusion coefficient. Starting from a Kubo relation and using the framework of the heavy quark effective theory, we argue that in the large-mass limit the momentum diffusion coefficient can be defined through a certain Euclidean correlation function, involving color-electric fields along a Polyakov loop. Furthermore, carrying out a perturbative computation, we demonstrate that the spectral function corresponding to this correlator is relatively flat at small frequencies. Therefore, unlike in the case of several other transport coefficients, for which the narrowness of the transport peak makes analytic continuation from Euclidean lattice data susceptible to severe systematic uncertainties, it appears that the determination of the heavy quark thermalization rate could be relatively well under control.Comment: 17 pages. v2: clarifications and references added, published versio

Complex structure moduli stability in toroidal compactifications

In this paper we present a classification of possible dynamics of closed string moduli within specific toroidal compactifications of Type II string theories due to the NS-NS tadpole terms in the reduced action. They appear as potential terms for the moduli when supersymmetry is broken due to the presence of D-branes. We particularise to specific constructions with two, four and six-dimensional tori, and study the stabilisation of the complex structure moduli at the disk level. We find that, depending on the cycle on the compact space where the brane is wrapped, there are three possible cases: i) there is a solution inside the complex structure moduli space, and the configuration is stable at the critical point, ii) the moduli fields are driven towards the boundary of the moduli space, iii) there is no stable solution at the minimum of the potential and the system decays into a set of branes.Comment: 24 pages, JHEP3.cls, 19 figures. A few references adde

Ground-breaking: Scientific and sonic perceptions of environmental change in the African Sahel

Soils surrounding ancient settlements can hold evidence of the activities of past societies. To seek an understanding of how past societies have reacted and contributed to environmental change requires many data sources. The real-time audiovisual installation Ground-breaking problematises the presentation of such data gained through the image-analysis of soil materials. These data are used to connote environmental events and consequent human responses. Combining these data with audiovisual synthesis and environmental recordings, a basis for developing conceptualizations of new locales undergoing environmental change is presented; the visual and sonic narratives developed allowing the art-science interface to be explored

Self-avoiding walks and connective constants in small-world networks

Long-distance characteristics of small-world networks have been studied by means of self-avoiding walks (SAW's). We consider networks generated by rewiring links in one- and two-dimensional regular lattices. The number of SAW's $u_n$ was obtained from numerical simulations as a function of the number of steps $n$ on the considered networks. The so-called connective constant, $\mu = \lim_{n \to \infty} u_n/u_{n-1}$, which characterizes the long-distance behavior of the walks, increases continuously with disorder strength (or rewiring probability, $p$). For small $p$, one has a linear relation $\mu = \mu_0 + a p$, $\mu_0$ and $a$ being constants dependent on the underlying lattice. Close to $p = 1$ one finds the behavior expected for random graphs. An analytical approach is given to account for the results derived from numerical simulations. Both methods yield results agreeing with each other for small $p$, and differ for $p$ close to 1, because of the different connectivity distributions resulting in both cases.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

The Minimal Model of Nonbaryonic Dark Matter: A Singlet Scalar

We propose the simplest possible renormalizable extension of the Standard Model - the addition of just one singlet scalar field - as a minimalist model for non-baryonic dark matter. Such a model is characterized by only three parameters in addition to those already appearing within the Standard Model: a dimensionless self-coupling and a mass for the new scalar, and a dimensionless coupling, \lambda, to the Higgs field. If the singlet is the dark matter, these parameters are related to one another by the cosmological abundance constraint, implying that the coupling of the singlet to the Higgs field is large, \lambda \sim O(0.1 - 1). Since this parameter also controls couplings to ordinary matter, we obtain predictions for the elastic cross section of the singlet with nuclei. The resulting scattering rates are close to current limits from both direct and indirect searches. The existence of the singlet also has implications for current Higgs searches, as it gives a large contribution to the invisible Higgs width for much of parameter space. These scalars can be strongly self-coupled in the cosmologically interesting sense recently proposed by Spergel and Steinhardt, but only for very low masses (< 1 GeV), which is possible only at the expense of some fine-tuning of parameters.Comment: 26 pages, latex. Minor revisions, few references adde

Energy Loss of Heavy Quarks from Asymptotically AdS Geometries

We investigate some universal features of AdS/CFT models of heavy quark energy loss. In addition, as a specific example, we examine quark damping in the spinning D3-brane solution dual to N=4 SU(N_c) super Yang-Mills at finite temperature and R-charge chemical potential.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures; v2 refs added, typo fixe

Gravitational Lorentz Violations from M-Theory

In an attempt to bridge the gap between M-theory and braneworld phenomenology, we present various gravitational Lorentz-violating braneworlds which arise from p-brane systems. Lorentz invariance is still preserved locally on the braneworld. For certain p-brane intersections, the massless graviton is quasi-localized. This also results from an M5-brane in a C-field. In the case of a p-brane perturbed from extremality, the quasi-localized graviton is massive. For a braneworld arising from global AdS_5, gravitons travel faster when further in the bulk, thereby apparently traversing distances faster than light.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure, LaTeX, references added, minor corrections and addition

String Theoretic Bounds on Lorentz-Violating Warped Compactification

We consider warped compactifications that solve the 10 dimensional supergravity equations of motion at a point, stabilize the position of a D3-brane world, and admit a warp factor that violates Lorentz invariance along the brane. This gives a string embedding of ``asymmetrically warped'' models which we use to calculate stringy (\alpha') corrections to standard model dispersion relations, paying attention to the maximum speeds for different particles. We find, from the dispersion relations, limits on gravitational Lorentz violation in these models, improving on current limits on the speed of graviton propagation, including those derived from field theoretic loops. We comment on the viability of models that use asymmetric warping for self-tuning of the brane cosmological constant.Comment: 20pg, JHEP3; v2 additional references, slight change to intro; v3. added referenc

Heavy Quark Thermalization in Classical Lattice Gauge Theory: Lessons for Strongly-Coupled QCD

Thermalization of a heavy quark near rest is controlled by the correlator of two electric fields along a temporal Wilson line. We address this correlator within real-time, classical lattice Yang-Mills theory, and elaborate on the analogies that exist with the dynamics of hot QCD. In the weak-coupling limit, it can be shown analytically that the dynamics on the two sides are closely related to each other. For intermediate couplings, we carry out non-perturbative simulations within the classical theory, showing that the leading term in the weak-coupling expansion significantly underestimates the heavy quark thermalization rate. Our analytic and numerical results also yield a general understanding concerning the overall shape of the spectral function corresponding to the electric field correlator, which may be helpful in subsequent efforts to reconstruct it from Euclidean lattice Monte Carlo simulations.Comment: 22 pages. v2: a reference and clarifications added; published versio