977 research outputs found
On the static Lovelock black holes
We consider static spherically symmetric Lovelock black holes and generalize
the dimensionally continued black holes in such a way that they asymptotically
for large r go over to the d-dimensional Schwarzschild black hole in dS/AdS
spacetime. This means that the master algebraic polynomial is not degenerate
but instead its derivative is degenerate. This family of solutions contains an
interesting class of pure Lovelock black holes which are the Nth order Lovelock
{\Lambda}-vacuum solu- tions having the remarkable property that their
thermodynamical parameters have the universal character in terms of the event
horizon radius. This is in fact a characterizing property of pure Lovelock
theories. We also demonstrate the universality of the asymptotic Einstein limit
for the Lovelock black holes in general.Comment: 19 page
Initial psychological responses to influenza A, H1N1 ("Swine flu")
Background
The outbreak of the pandemic flu, Influenza A H1N1 (Swine Flu) in early 2009, provided a major challenge to health services around the world. Previous pandemics have led to stockpiling of goods, the victimisation of particular population groups, and the cancellation of travel and the boycotting of particular foods (e.g. pork). We examined initial behavioural and attitudinal responses towards Influenza A, H1N1 ("Swine flu") in the six days following the WHO pandemic alert level 5, and regional differences in these responses.
Methods
328 respondents completed a cross-sectional Internet or paper-based questionnaire study in Malaysia (N = 180) or Europe (N = 148). Measures assessed changes in transport usage, purchase of preparatory goods for a pandemic, perceived risk groups, indicators of anxiety, assessed estimated mortality rates for seasonal flu, effectiveness of seasonal flu vaccination, and changes in pork consumption
Results
26% of the respondents were 'very concerned' about being a flu victim (42% Malaysians, 5% Europeans, p < .001). 36% reported reduced public transport use (48% Malaysia, 22% Europe, p < .001), 39% flight cancellations (56% Malaysia, 17% Europe, p < .001). 8% had purchased preparatory materials (e.g. face masks: 8% Malaysia, 7% Europe), 41% Malaysia (15% Europe) intended to do so (p < .001). 63% of Europeans, 19% of Malaysians had discussed the pandemic with friends (p < .001). Groups seen as at 'high risk' of infection included the immune compromised (mentioned by 87% respondents), pig farmers (70%), elderly (57%), prostitutes/highly sexually active (53%), and the homeless (53%). In data collected only in Europe, 64% greatly underestimated the mortality rates of seasonal flu, 26% believed seasonal flu vaccination gave protection against swine flu. 7% had reduced/stopped eating pork. 3% had purchased anti-viral drugs for use at home, while 32% intended to do so if the pandemic worsened.
Conclusion
Initial responses to Influenza A show large regional differences in anxiety, with Malaysians more anxious and more likely to reduce travel and to buy masks and food. Discussions with family and friends may reinforce existing anxiety levels. Particular groups (homosexuals, prostitutes, the homeless) are perceived as at greater risk, potentially leading to increased prejudice during a pandemic. Europeans underestimated mortality of seasonal flu, and require more information about the protection given by seasonal flu inoculation
Causality constraints in AdS/CFT from conformal collider physics and Gauss-Bonnet gravity
We explore the relation between positivity of the energy constraints in
conformal field theories and causality in their dual gravity description. Our
discussion involves CFTs with different central charges whose description, in
the gravity side, requires the inclusion of quadratic curvature corrections. It
is enough, indeed, to consider the Gauss-Bonnet term. We find that both sides
of the AdS/CFT correspondence impose a restriction on the Gauss-Bonnet
coupling. In the case of 6d supersymmetric CFTs, we show the full matching of
these restrictions. We perform this computation in two ways. First by
considering a thermal setup in a black hole background. Second by scrutinizing
the scattering of gravitons with a shock wave in AdS. The different helicities
provide the corresponding lower and upper bounds. We generalize these results
to arbitrary higher dimensions and comment on some hints and puzzles they
prompt regarding the possible existence of higher dimensional CFTs and the
extent to which the AdS/CFT correspondence would be valid for them.Comment: 31 pages, 5 figures; v2: typos fixed, cosmetic amendments and
references adde
Logarithmic correction to BH entropy as Noether charge
We consider the role of the type-A trace anomaly in static black hole
solutions to semiclassical Einstein equation in four dimensions. Via Wald's
Noether charge formalism, we compute the contribution to the entropy coming
from the anomaly induced effective action and unveil a logarithmic correction
to the Bekenstein-Hawking area law.
The corrected entropy is given by a seemingly universal formula involving the
coefficient of the type-A trace anomaly, the Euler characteristic of the
horizon and the value at the horizon of the solution to the uniformization
problem for Q-curvature. Two instances are examined in detail: Schwarzschild
and a four-dimensional massless topological black hole. We also find agreement
with the logarithmic correction due to one-loop contribution of conformal
fields in the Schwarzschild background.Comment: 14 pages, JHEP styl
Logarithmic Corrections to Schwarzschild and Other Non-extremal Black Hole Entropy in Different Dimensions
Euclidean gravity method has been successful in computing logarithmic
corrections to extremal black hole entropy in terms of low energy data, and
gives results in perfect agreement with the microscopic results in string
theory. Motivated by this success we apply Euclidean gravity to compute
logarithmic corrections to the entropy of various non-extremal black holes in
different dimensions, taking special care of integration over the zero modes
and keeping track of the ensemble in which the computation is done. These
results provide strong constraint on any ultraviolet completion of the theory
if the latter is able to give an independent computation of the entropy of
non-extremal black holes from microscopic description. For Schwarzschild black
holes in four space-time dimensions the macroscopic result seems to disagree
with the existing result in loop quantum gravity.Comment: LaTeX, 40 pages; corrected small typos and added reference
Thermal quenches in N=2* plasmas
We exploit gauge/gravity duality to study `thermal quenches' in a plasma of
the strongly coupled N=2* gauge theory. Specifically, we consider the response
of an initial thermal equilibrium state of the theory under variations of the
bosonic or fermionic mass, to leading order in m/T<<1. When the masses are made
to vary in time, novel new counterterms must be introduced to renormalize the
boundary theory. We consider transitions the conformal super-Yang-Mills theory
to the mass deformed gauge theory and also the reverse transitions. By
construction, these transitions are controlled by a characteristic time scale
\calt and we show how the response of the system depends on the ratio of this
time scale to the thermal time scale 1/T. The response shows interesting
scaling behaviour both in the limit of fast quenches with T\calt<<1 and slow
quenches with T\calt>>1. In the limit that T\calt\to\infty, we observe the
expected adiabatic response. For fast quenches, the relaxation to the final
equilibrium is controlled by the lowest quasinormal mode of the bulk scalar
dual to the quenched operator. For slow quenches, the system relaxes with a
(nearly) adiabatic response that is governed entirely by the late time profile
of the mass. We describe new renormalization scheme ambiguities in defining
gauge invariant observables for the theory with time dependant couplings.Comment: 78 pages, 17 figure
The entropy of black holes: a primer
After recalling the definition of black holes, and reviewing their energetics
and their classical thermodynamics, one expounds the conjecture of Bekenstein,
attributing an entropy to black holes, and the calculation by Hawking of the
semi-classical radiation spectrum of a black hole, involving a thermal
(Planckian) factor. One then discusses the attempts to interpret the black-hole
entropy as the logarithm of the number of quantum micro-states of a macroscopic
black hole, with particular emphasis on results obtained within string theory.
After mentioning the (technically cleaner, but conceptually more intricate)
case of supersymmetric (BPS) black holes and the corresponding counting of the
degeneracy of Dirichlet-brane systems, one discusses in some detail the
``correspondence'' between massive string states and non-supersymmetric
Schwarzschild black holes.Comment: 51 pages, 4 figures, talk given at the "Poincare seminar" (Paris, 6
December 2003), to appear in Poincare Seminar 2003 (Birkhauser
Quantum Fluctuations and the Unruh Effect in Strongly-Coupled Conformal Field Theories
Through the AdS/CFT correspondence, we study a uniformly accelerated quark in
the vacuum of strongly-coupled conformal field theories in various dimensions,
and determine the resulting stochastic fluctuations of the quark trajectory.
From the perspective of an inertial observer, these are quantum fluctuations
induced by the gluonic radiation emitted by the accelerated quark. From the
point of view of the quark itself, they originate from the thermal medium
predicted by the Unruh effect. We scrutinize the relation between these two
descriptions in the gravity side of the correspondence, and show in particular
that upon transforming the conformal field theory from Rindler space to the
open Einstein universe, the acceleration horizon disappears from the boundary
theory but is preserved in the bulk. This transformation allows us to directly
connect our calculation of radiation-induced fluctuations in vacuum with the
analysis by de Boer et al. of the Brownian motion of a quark that is on average
static within a thermal medium. Combining this same bulk transformation with
previous results of Emparan, we are also able to compute the stress-energy
tensor of the Unruh thermal medium.Comment: 1+31 pages; v2: reference adde
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