Modular Invariant Gaugino Condensation in the Presence of an Anomalous U(1)

Starting from the previously constructed effective supergravity theory below the scale of U(1) breaking in orbifold compactifications of the weakly coupled heterotic string, we study the effective theory below the scale of supersymmetry breaking by gaugino and matter condensation in a hidden sector. Issues we address include vacuum stability, soft supersymmetry-breaking masses in the observable sector, and the masses of the various moduli fields, including those associated with flat directions at the U(1)-breaking scale, and of their fermionic superpartners. The consistent treatment of U(1) breaking together with condensation yields qualitatively new results.Comment: 73 pages, full postscript also available from http://phyweb.lbl.gov/theorygroup/papers/53960.p

Decoding the matrix: Coincident membranes on the plane wave

At the core of nonperturbative theories of quantum gravity lies the holographic encoding of bulk data in large matrices. At present this mapping is poorly understood. The plane wave matrix model provides a laboratory for isolating aspects of this problem in a controlled setting. At large boosts, configurations of concentric membranes become superselection sectors, whose exact spectra are known. From the bulk point of view one expects product states of individual membranes to be contained within the full spectrum. However, for non-BPS states this inclusion relation is obscured by Gauss law constraints. Its validity rests on nontrivial relations in representation theory, which we identify and verify by explicit computation.Comment: 43 pages, 2 figure

Holography and entropy bounds in the plane wave matrix model

As a quantum theory of gravity, Matrix theory should provide a realization of the holographic principle, in the sense that a holographic theory should contain one binary degree of freedom per Planck area. We present evidence that Bekenstein's entropy bound, which is related to area differences, is manifest in the plane wave matrix model. If holography is implemented in this way, we predict crossover behavior at strong coupling when the energy exceeds N^2 in units of the mass scale.Comment: 19 pages; v2: references adde