299 research outputs found
Nonsingular instantons for the creation of open universes
We show that the instability of the singular Vilenkin instanton describing
the creation of an open universe can be avoided using, instead of a minimally
coupled scalar field, an axionic massless scalar field which gives rise to the
Giddings-Strominger instanton. However, if we replace the singularity of the
Hawking Turok instanton for an axionic wormhole some interpretational and
technical difficulties would appear which can be overcome by introducing a
positive cosmological constant in the action. This would make the instanton
finite and free constant in the action. This would make the instanton finite
and free from any instabilities.Comment: 8 pages, RevTex. A new section on the instantonic global structure
and a figure have been added. To appear in Phys. Rev.
On the existence of supergravity duals to D1--D5 CFT states
We define a metric operator in the 1/2-BPS sector of the D1-D5 CFT, the
eigenstates of which have a good semi-classical supergravity dual; the
non-eigenstates cannot be mapped to semi-classical gravity duals. We also
analyse how the data defining a CFT state manifests itself in the gravity side,
and show that it is arranged into a set of multipoles. Interestingly, we find
that quantum mechanical interference in the CFT can have observable
manifestations in the semi-classical gravity dual. We also point out that the
multipoles associated to the normal statistical ensemble fluctuate wildly,
indicating that the mixed thermal state should not be associated to a
semi-classical geometry.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figures. v2 : references added, typos correcte
Theory of Multiphonon Excitation in Heavy-Ion Collisions
We study the effects of channel coupling in the excitation dynamics of giant
resonances in relativistic heavy ions collisions. For this purpose, we use a
semiclassical approximation to the Coupled-Channels problem and separate the
Coulomb and the nuclear parts of the coupling into their main multipole
components. In order to assess the importance of multi-step processes, we
neglect the resonance widths and solve the set of coupled equations exactly.
Finite widths are then considered. In this case, we handle the coupling of the
ground state with the dominant Giant Dipole Resonance exactly and study the
excitation of the remaining resonances within the Coupled-Channels Born
Approximation. A comparison with recent experimental data is made.Comment: 29 pages, 7 Postscript figures available upon reques
Quantum geometry and gravitational entropy
Most quantum states have wavefunctions that are widely spread over the
accessible Hilbert space and hence do not have a good description in terms of a
single classical geometry. In order to understand when geometric descriptions
are possible, we exploit the AdS/CFT correspondence in the half-BPS sector of
asymptotically AdS_5 x S^5 universes. In this sector we devise a
"coarse-grained metric operator" whose eigenstates are well described by a
single spacetime topology and geometry. We show that such half-BPS universes
have a non-vanishing entropy if and only if the metric is singular, and that
the entropy arises from coarse-graining the geometry. Finally, we use our
entropy formula to find the most entropic spacetimes with fixed asymptotic
moments beyond the global charges.Comment: 29 pages, 2 figures; references adde
Chern-Simons Matrix Models and Unoriented Strings
For matrix models with measure on the Lie algebra of SO/Sp, the sub-leading
free energy is given by F_{1}(S)=\pm{1/4}\frac{\del F_{0}(S)}{\del S}.
Motivated by the fact that this relationship does not hold for Chern-Simons
theory on S^{3}, we calculate the sub-leading free energy in the matrix model
for this theory, which is a Gaussian matrix model with Haar measure on the
group SO/Sp. We derive a quantum loop equation for this matrix model and then
find that F_{1} is an integral of the leading order resolvent over the spectral
curve. We explicitly calculate this integral for quadratic potential and find
agreement with previous studies of SO/Sp Chern-Simons theory.Comment: 28 pages, 2 figures V2: re-organised for clarity, results unchange
Generalized harmonic formulation in spherical symmetry
In this pedagogically structured article, we describe a generalized harmonic
formulation of the Einstein equations in spherical symmetry which is regular at
the origin. The generalized harmonic approach has attracted significant
attention in numerical relativity over the past few years, especially as
applied to the problem of binary inspiral and merger. A key issue when using
the technique is the choice of the gauge source functions, and recent work has
provided several prescriptions for gauge drivers designed to evolve these
functions in a controlled way. We numerically investigate the parameter spaces
of some of these drivers in the context of fully non-linear collapse of a real,
massless scalar field, and determine nearly optimal parameter settings for
specific situations. Surprisingly, we find that many of the drivers that
perform well in 3+1 calculations that use Cartesian coordinates, are
considerably less effective in spherical symmetry, where some of them are, in
fact, unstable.Comment: 47 pages, 15 figures. v2: Minor corrections, including 2 added
references; journal version
Surface Terms as Counterterms in the AdS/CFT Correspondence
We examine the recently proposed technique of adding boundary counterterms to
the gravitational action for spacetimes which are locally asymptotic to anti-de
Sitter. In particular, we explicitly identify higher order counterterms, which
allow us to consider spacetimes of dimensions d<=7. As the counterterms
eliminate the need of ``background subtraction'' in calculating the action, we
apply this technique to study examples where the appropriate background was
ambiguous or unknown: topological black holes, Taub-NUT-AdS and Taub-Bolt-AdS.
We also identify certain cases where the covariant counterterms fail to render
the action finite, and we comment on the dual field theory interpretation of
this result. In some examples, the case of vanishing cosmological constant may
be recovered in a limit, which allows us to check results and resolve
ambiguities in certain asymptotically flat spacetime computations in the
literature.Comment: Revtex, 18 pages. References updated and few typo's fixed. Final
versio
Gauss-Bonnet Black Holes in dS Spaces
We study the thermodynamic properties associated with black hole horizon and
cosmological horizon for the Gauss-Bonnet solution in de Sitter space. When the
Gauss-Bonnet coefficient is positive, a locally stable small black hole appears
in the case of spacetime dimension , the stable small black hole
disappears and the Gauss-Bonnet black hole is always unstable quantum
mechanically when . On the other hand, the cosmological horizon is
found always locally stable independent of the spacetime dimension. But the
solution is not globally preferred, instead the pure de Sitter space is
globally preferred. When the Gauss-Bonnet coefficient is negative, there is a
constraint on the value of the coefficient, beyond which the gravity theory is
not well defined. As a result, there is not only an upper bound on the size of
black hole horizon radius at which the black hole horizon and cosmological
horizon coincide with each other, but also a lower bound depending on the
Gauss-Bonnet coefficient and spacetime dimension. Within the physical phase
space, the black hole horizon is always thermodynamically unstable and the
cosmological horizon is always stable, further, as the case of the positive
coefficient, the pure de Sitter space is still globally preferred. This result
is consistent with the argument that the pure de Sitter space corresponds to an
UV fixed point of dual field theory.Comment: Rextex, 17 pages including 8 eps figures, v2: minor changes, to
appear in PRD, v3: references adde
The Fall of Stringy de Sitter
Kachru, Kallosh, Linde, & Trivedi recently constructed a four-dimensional de
Sitter compactification of IIB string theory, which they showed to be
metastable in agreement with general arguments about de Sitter spacetimes in
quantum gravity. In this paper, we describe how discrete flux choices lead to a
closely-spaced set of vacua and explore various decay channels. We find that in
many situations NS5-brane meditated decays which exchange NSNS 3-form flux for
D3-branes are comparatively very fast.Comment: 35 pp (11 pp appendices), 5 figures, v3. fixed minor typo
Charged AdS Black Holes and Catastrophic Holography
We compute the properties of a class of charged black holes in anti-de Sitter
space-time, in diverse dimensions. These black holes are solutions of
consistent Einstein-Maxwell truncations of gauged supergravities, which are
shown to arise from the inclusion of rotation in the transverse space. We
uncover rich thermodynamic phase structures for these systems, which display
classic critical phenomena, including structures isomorphic to the van der
Waals-Maxwell liquid-gas system. In that case, the phases are controlled by the
universal `cusp' and `swallowtail' shapes familiar from catastrophe theory. All
of the thermodynamics is consistent with field theory interpretations via
holography, where the dual field theories can sometimes be found on the world
volumes of coincident rotating branes.Comment: 19 pages, revtex, psfig, 6 multicomponent figures, typos, references
and a few remarks have been repaired, and adde
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