623 research outputs found
Holographic Entanglement Entropy at Finite Temperature
Using a holographic proposal for the entanglement entropy we study its
behavior in various supergravity backgrounds. We are particularly interested in
the possibility of using the entanglement entropy as way to detect transitions
induced by the presence horizons. We consider several geometries with horizons:
the black hole in , nonextremal Dp-branes, dyonic black holes
asymptotically to and also Schwarzschild black holes in global
coordinates. Generically, we find that the entanglement entropy does not
exhibit a transition, that is, one of the two possible configurations always
dominates.Comment: v3: 31 pp, ten figures, modified to match version accepted by IJMP
On Penrose Limits and Gauge Theories
We discuss various Penrose limits of conformal and nonconformal backgrounds.
In AdS_5 x T^{1,1}, for a particular choice of the angular coordinate in
T^{1,1} the resulting Penrose limit coincides with the similar limit for AdS_5
x S^5. In this case an identification of a subset of field theory operators
with the string zero modes creation operators is possible. For another limit we
obtain a light-cone string action that resembles a particle in a magnetic
field. We also consider three different types of backgrounds that are dual to
nonconformal field theories: The Schwarzschild black hole in AdS_5, D3-branes
on the small resolution of the conifold and the Klebanov-Tseytlin background.
We find that in all three cases the introduction of nonconformality renders a
theory that is no longer exactly solvable and that the form of the deformation
is universal. The corresponding world sheet theory in the light-cone gauge has
a \tau=x^+ dependent mass term.Comment: 17pp, late
Black Holes in Cascading Theories: Confinement/Deconfinement Transition and other Thermal Properties
We present numerical evidence for a transition between the Klebanov-Strassler
background and a solution describing a black hole in the class of cascading
solutions in the chirally restored phase. We also present a number of
properties of this solution, including the running of the coupling constant,
the viscosity to entropy ratio and the drag force on a quark moving in this
background.Comment: 34 pages, 7 figures. Version to be published by JHE
Penrose Limits and RG Flows
The Penrose-Gueven limit simplifies a given supergravity solution into a
pp-wave background. Aiming at clarifying its relation to renormalization group
flow we study the Penrose-Guven limit of supergravity backgrounds that are dual
to non-conformal gauge theories. The resulting backgrounds fall in a class
simple enough that the quantum particle is exactly solvable. We propose a map
between the effective time-dependent quantum mechanical problem and the RG flow
in the gauge theory. As a testing ground we consider explicitly two Penrose
limits of the infrared fixed point of the Pilch-Warner solution. We analyze the
corresponding gauge theory picture and write down the operators which are the
duals of the low lying string states. We also address RG flows of a different
nature by considering the Penrose-Gueven limit of a stack of N D_p branes. We
note that in the far IR (for p<3)the limit generically has negative
mass-squared. This phenomenon signals, in the world sheet picture, the
necessity to transform to another description. In this regard, we consider
explicitly the cases of M2 from D2 and F1 from D1 .Comment: 35 pp, 6 figure
Adjuvants : an essential component of neisseria vaccines
Adjuvants may be classified into delivery systems and immune potentiator or modulator molecules based on their mechanism of action. Neisseria vaccines containing traditional adjuvants such as aluminium salts have existed for long time, but meningitis caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroups, particularly serogroup B, continues to be a global health problem. Novel strategies have applied in silico and recombinant technologies to develop "universal" antigens (e.g. proteins, peptides and plasmid DNA) for vaccines, but these antigens have been shown to be poorly immunogenic even when alum adjuvanted, implying a need for better vaccine design. In this work we review the use of natural, detoxified, or synthetic molecules in combination with antigens to activate the innate immune system and to modulate the adaptive immune responses. In the main, antigenic and imune potentiator signals are delivered using nano-, micro-particles, alum, or emulsions. The importance of interaction between adjuvants and antigens to activate and target dendritic cells, the bridge between the innate and adaptive immune systems, will be discussed. In addition, nasal vaccine strategies based on the development of mucosal adjuvants and Neisseria derivatives to eliminate the pathogen at the site of infection provide promising adjuvants effective not only against respiratory pathogens, but also against pathogens responsible for enteric and sexually transmitted diseases
On a Holographic Model for Confinement/Deconfinement
We study the thermodynamics of the hard wall model, which consists in the
introduction of an infrared cut-off in asymptotically AdS spaces. This is a toy
model for confining backgrounds in the context of the gauge/gravity
correspondence. We use holographic renormalization and reproduce the existence
of a Hawking Page phase transition recently discussed by Herzog. We also show
that the entropy jumps from to , which reinforces the interpretation
of this transition as the gravity dual of confinement/deconfinement. We also
show that similar results hold for the phenomenologically motivated soft wall
model, underlining the potential universality of our analysis.Comment: 14 pages. V2: We included a new section discussing the soft wall
model and new references. V3: We clarified some points and updated the
references. Results unchanged. Version published in PR
On Horizons and Plane Waves
We investigate the possibility of having an event horizon within several
classes of metrics that asymptote to the maximally supersymmetric IIB plane
wave. We show that the presence of a null Killing vector (not necessarily
covariantly constant) implies an effective separation of the Einstein equations
into a standard and a wave component. This feature may be used to generate new
supergravity solutions asymptotic to the maximally supersymmetric IIB plane
wave, starting from standard seed solutions such as branes or intersecting
branes in flat space. We find that in many cases it is possible to preserve the
extremal horizon of the seed solution. On the other hand, non-extremal
deformations of the plane wave solution result in naked singularities. More
generally, we prove a no-go theorem against the existence of horizons for
backgrounds with a null Killing vector and which contain at most null matter
fields. Further attempts at turning on a nonzero Hawking temperature by
introducing additional matter have proven unsuccessful. This suggests that one
must remove the null Killing vector in order to obtain a horizon. We provide a
perturbative argument indicating that this is in fact possible.Comment: 46 pp, 1 figur
The Penrose limit of AdS*S space and holography
In the Penrose limit, AdS*S space turns into a Cahen-Wallach (CW) space whose
Killing vectors satisfy a Heisenberg algebra. This algebra is mapped onto the
holographic screen on the boundary of AdS. I show that the Heisenberg algebra
on the boundary of AdS may be obtained directly from the CW space by
appropriately constraining the states defined on it. The transformations
generated by the constraint are similar to gauge transformations. The
``holographic screen'' on the CW space is thus obtained as a ``gauge-fixing''
condition.Comment: 12 pages, improved discussion, to appear in Mod. Phys. Lett.
More on Penrose limits and non-local theories
We obtain the Penrose limit of six dimensional Non-Commutative Open String
(NCOS) theory and show that in the neighborhood of a particular null
geodesic it leads to an exactly solvable string theory (unlike their
counterparts in four or in other dimensions). We describe the phase structure
of this theory and discuss the Penrose limit in different phases including Open
D-string (OD1) theory. We compute the string spectrum and discuss their
relations with the states of various theories at different phases. We also
consider the case of general null geodesic for which the Penrose limit leads to
string theory in the time dependent pp-wave background and comment on the
renormalization group flow in the dual theory.Comment: latex, 22 pages, minor corrections, references added, published
versio
On the Singularity Structure and Stability of Plane Waves
We describe various aspects of plane wave backgrounds. In particular, we make
explicit a simple criterion for singularity by establishing a relation between
Brinkmann metric entries and diffeomorphism-invariant curvature information. We
also address the stability of plane wave backgrounds by analyzing the
fluctuations of generic scalar modes. We focus our attention on cases where
after fixing the light-cone gauge the resulting world sheet fields appear to
have negative "mass terms". We nevertheless argue that these backgrounds may be
stable.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figur
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