A grid-based infrastructure for distributed retrieval

In large-scale distributed retrieval, challenges of latency, heterogeneity, and dynamicity emphasise the importance of infrastructural support in reducing the development costs of state-of-the-art solutions. We present a service-based infrastructure for distributed retrieval which blends middleware facilities and a design framework to ‘lift’ the resource sharing approach and the computational services of a European Grid platform into the domain of e-Science applications. In this paper, we give an overview of the DILIGENT Search Framework and illustrate its exploitation in the field of Earth Science

Semileptonic and rare B meson decays into a light pseudoscalar meson

In the framework of a QCD relativistic potential model we evaluate the form factors describing the exclusive decays B => \pi l nu and B => K l+ l-. The present calculation extends a previous analysis of B meson decays into light vector mesons. We find results in agreement with the data, when available, and with the theoretical constraints imposed by the Callan-Treiman relation and the infinite heavy quark mass limit.Comment: 11 pages LaTeX + 2 figure

The anomaly-free quantization of two-dimensional relativistic string. I

An anomaly-free quantum theory of a relativistic string is constructed in two-dimensional space-time. The states of the string are found to be similar to the states of a massless chiral quantum particle. This result is obtained by generalizing the concept of an ``operator'' in quantum field theory.Comment: LaTeX, 19 pages, no figure

Exact C=1 Boundary Conformal Field Theories

We present a solution of the problem of a free massless scalar field on the half line interacting through a periodic potential on the boundary. For a critical value of the period, this system is a conformal field theory with a non-trivial and explicitly calculable S-matrix for scattering from the boundary. Unlike all other exactly solvable conformal field theories, it is non-rational ({\it i.e.} has infinitely many primary fields). It describes the critical behavior of a number of condensed matter systems, including dissipative quantum mechanics and of barriers in ``quantum wires''.Comment: harvmac, 10 pages, PUPT-1432/IASSNS-HEP-93/7

Information Loss and Anomalous Scattering

The approach of 't Hooft to the puzzles of black hole evaporation can be applied to a simpler system with analogous features. The system is $1+1$ dimensional electrodynamics in a linear dilaton background. Analogues of black holes, Hawking radiation and evaporation exist in this system. In perturbation theory there appears to be an information paradox but this gets resolved in the full quantum theory and there exists an exact $S$-matrix, which is fully unitary and information conserving. 't Hooft's method gives the leading terms in a systematic approximation to the exact result.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures (postscript files available soon on request), (earlier version got corrupted by mail system

Gravitational Radiation from Travelling Waves on D-Strings

Boundary states that preserve supersymmetry are constructed for fractional D-strings with travelling waves on a ${\bf C}^3/ {{\bf Z}_2\times {\bf Z}_2}$ orbifold. The gravitational radiation emitted between two D-strings with antiparallel travelling waves is calculated.Comment: improvements and correction

Infinite Lorentz boost along the M-theory circle and non-asymptotically flat solutions in supergravities

Certain non-asymptotically flat but supersymmetric classical solution of the type IIA supergravity can be interpreted as the infinitely-boosted version of the D-particle solution along the M-theory circle. By a chain of T-dual transformations, this analysis also applies to yield non-asymptotically flat solutions from the asymptotically flat and (non)-extremal solutions with intersecting D-strings and D five-branes of the type IIB supergravity compactified on a five-torus. Under S-duality, the non-asymptotically flat solutions in this context can in particular be used to describe the (1+1)-dimensional CGHS type black holes via spontaneous compactifications.Comment: 14 pages, Revte

SO(10) Cosmic Strings and Baryon Number Violation

SO(10) cosmic strings formed during the phase transition Spin(10) $\rightarrow$ SU(5) $\times{\cal Z}_2$ are studied. Two types of strings --- one effectively Abelian and one non-Abelian --- are constructed and the string solutions are calculated numerically. The non-Abelian string can catalyze baryon number violation via the ``twisting'' of the scalar field which causes mixing of leptons and quarks in the fermion multiplet. The non-Abelian string is also found to have the lower energy possibly for the entire range of the parameters in the theory. Scattering of fermions in the fields of the strings is analyzed, and the baryon number violation cross section is calculated. The role of the self-adjoint parameters is discussed and the values are computed.Comment: LaTex (RevTex), 36 pages, 6 figures (available upon request), MIT-CTP#215

Improved superposition schemes for approximate multi-caloron configurations

Two improved superposition schemes for the construction of approximate multi-caloron-anticaloron configurations, using exact single (anti)caloron gauge fields as underlying building blocks, are introduced in this paper. The first improvement deals with possible monopole-Dirac string interactions between different calorons with non-trivial holonomy. The second one, based on the ADHM formalism, improves the (anti-)selfduality in the case of small caloron separations. It conforms with Shuryak's well-known ratio-ansatz when applied to instantons. Both superposition techniques provide a higher degree of (anti-)selfduality than the widely used sum-ansatz, which simply adds the (anti)caloron vector potentials in an appropriate gauge. Furthermore, the improved configurations (when discretized onto a lattice) are characterized by a higher stability when they are exposed to lattice cooling techniques.Comment: New version accepted for publication in Nucl. Phys. B. Text partly shortened, changes in the introduction, new results added on the comparison with exact solution

Ramond-Ramond (boundary) states

The description of D-branes as boundary states for type II string theories (in the covariant formulation) requires particular care in the R-R sector. Also the vertices for R-R potentials that can couple to D-branes need a careful handling. As an illustration of this, the example of the D0-D8 system is reviewed, where a ``microscopic'' description of the interaction via exchange of R-R potentials becomes possible.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX, no figures. Talk presented at the 2nd Conference on Quantum aspects of Gauge Theories, Supersymmetry and Unification, Corfu, Greece, 21-26 September 199