529 research outputs found
Intersecting Attractors
We apply the entropy formalism to the study of the near-horizon geometry of
extremal black p-brane intersections in D>5 dimensional supergravities. The
scalar flow towards the horizon is described in terms an effective potential
given by the superposition of the kinetic energies of all the forms under which
the brane is charged. At the horizon active scalars get fixed to the minima of
the effective potential and the entropy function is given in terms of U-duality
invariants built entirely out of the black p-brane charges. The resulting
entropy function reproduces the central charges of the dual boundary CFT and
gives rise to a Bekenstein-Hawking like area law. The results are illustrated
in the case of black holes and black string intersections in D=6, 7, 8
supergravities where the effective potentials, attractor equations, moduli
spaces and entropy/central charges are worked out in full detail.Comment: 1+41 pages, 2 Table
Canonical quantization of cylindrical gravitational waves with two polarizations
The canonical quantization of the essentially nonlinear midisuperspace model
describing cylindrically symmetric gravitational waves with two polarizations
is presented. A Fock space type representation is constructed. It is based on a
complete set of quantum observables. Physical expectation values may be
calculated in arbitrary excitations of the vacuum. Our approach provides a
non-linear generalization of the quantization of the collinearly polarized
Einstein-Rosen gravitational waves.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX2
AdS Duals of Matrix Strings
We review recent work on the holographic duals of type II and heterotic
matrix string theories described by warped AdS_3 supergravities. In particular,
we compute the spectra of Kaluza-Klein primaries for type I, II supergravities
on warped AdS_3xS^7 and match them with the primary operators in the dual
two-dimensional gauge theories. The presence of non-trivial warp factors and
dilaton profiles requires a modification of the familiar dictionary between
masses and ``scaling'' dimensions of fields and operators. We present these
modifications for the general case of domain wall/QFT correspondences between
supergravities on warped AdS_{d+1}xS^q geometries and super Yang-Mills theories
with 16 supercharges.Comment: 7 pages, Proceedings of the RTN workshop ``The quantum structure of
spacetime and the geometric nature of fundamental interactions'', Leuven,
September 200
Electrodynamics with Lorentz-violating operators of arbitrary dimension
The behavior of photons in the presence of Lorentz and CPT violation is
studied. Allowing for operators of arbitrary mass dimension, we classify all
gauge-invariant Lorentz- and CPT-violating terms in the quadratic Lagrange
density associated with the effective photon propagator. The covariant
dispersion relation is obtained, and conditions for birefringence are
discussed. We provide a complete characterization of the coefficients for
Lorentz violation for all mass dimensions via a decomposition using
spin-weighted spherical harmonics. The resulting nine independent sets of
spherical coefficients control birefringence, dispersion, and anisotropy. We
discuss the restriction of the general theory to various special models,
including among others the minimal Standard-Model Extension, the isotropic
limit, the case of vacuum propagation, the nonbirefringent limit, and the
vacuum-orthogonal model. The transformation of the spherical coefficients for
Lorentz violation between the laboratory frame and the standard Sun-centered
frame is provided. We apply the results to various astrophysical observations
and laboratory experiments. Astrophysical searches of relevance include studies
of birefringence and of dispersion. We use polarimetric and dispersive data
from gamma-ray bursts to set constraints on coefficients for Lorentz violation
involving operators of dimensions four through nine, and we describe the mixing
of polarizations induced by Lorentz and CPT violation in the cosmic-microwave
background. Laboratory searches of interest include cavity experiments. We
present the theory for searches with cavities, derive the experiment-dependent
factors for coefficients in the vacuum-orthogonal model, and predict the
corresponding frequency shift for a circular-cylindrical cavity.Comment: 58 pages two-column REVTeX, accepted in Physical Review
Duality Invariant M-theory: Gauged supergravities and Scherk-Schwarz reductions
We consider the reduction of the duality invariant approach to M-theory by a
U-duality group valued Scherk-Schwarz twist. The result is to produce
potentials for gauged supergravities that are normally associated with
non-geometric compactifications. The local symmetry reduces to gauge
transformations with the gaugings exactly matching those of the embedding
tensor approach to gauged supergravity. Importantly, this approach now includes
a nontrivial dependence of the fields on the extra coordinates of the extended
space.Comment: 22 pages Latex; v2: typos corrected and references adde
(1,0) superconformal models in six dimensions
We construct six-dimensional (1,0) superconformal models with non-abelian
gauge couplings for multiple tensor multiplets. A crucial ingredient in the
construction is the introduction of three-form gauge potentials which
communicate degrees of freedom between the tensor multiplets and the Yang-Mills
multiplet, but do not introduce additional degrees of freedom. Generically
these models provide only equations of motions. For a subclass also a
Lagrangian formulation exists, however it appears to exhibit indefinite metrics
in the kinetic sector. We discuss several examples and analyze the excitation
spectra in their supersymmetric vacua. In general, the models are
perturbatively defined only in the spontaneously broken phase with the vev of
the tensor multiplet scalars serving as the inverse coupling constants of the
Yang-Mills multiplet. We briefly discuss the inclusion of hypermultiplets which
complete the field content to that of superconformal (2,0) theories.Comment: 30 pages, v2: Note, some comments and references adde
Lectures on Gauged Supergravity and Flux Compactifications
The low-energy effective theories describing string compactifications in the
presence of fluxes are so-called gauged supergravities: deformations of the
standard abelian supergravity theories. The deformation parameters can be
identified with the various possible (geometric and non-geometric) flux
components. In these lecture notes we review the construction of gauged
supergravities in a manifestly duality covariant way and illustrate the
construction in several examples.Comment: 48 pages, lectures given at the RTN Winter School on Strings,
Supergravity and Gauge Theories, CERN, January 200
Non-supersymmetric Extremal RN-AdS Black Holes in N=2 Gauged Supergravity
We investigate extremal Reissner-Nordstrom-AdS black holes in
four-dimensional N=2 abelian gauged supergravity. We find a new attractor
equation which is not reduced to the one in the asymptotically flat spacetime.
Focusing on so-called the T^3-model with a single neutral vector multiplet, we
obtain non-supersymmetric extremal Reissner-Nordstrom-AdS black hole solutions
with regular event horizon in the D0-D4 and the D2-D6 charge configurations.
The negative cosmological constant emerges even without the Fayet-Iliopoulos
parameters. Furthermore, we also argue the formal description of the
non-supersymmetric black hole solutions of the T^3-model and the STU-model in
generic configurations.Comment: 23 pages, accepted version in JHE
Aspects of ABJM orbifolds with discrete torsion
We analyze orbifolds with discrete torsion of the ABJM theory by a finite
subgroup of . Discrete torsion is implemented by
twisting the crossed product algebra resulting after orbifolding. It is shown
that, in general, the order of the cocycle we chose to twist the algebra by
enters in a non trivial way in the moduli space. To be precise, the M-theory
fiber is multiplied by a factor of in addition to the other effects that
were found before in the literature. Therefore we got a
action on the fiber. We present a general
analysis on how this quotient arises along with a detailed analysis of the
cases where is abelian
Type-IIA flux compactifications and N=4 gauged supergravities
We establish the precise correspondence between Type-IIA flux
compactifications preserving an exact or spontaneously broken N=4 supersymmetry
in four dimensions, and gaugings of their effective N=4 supergravities. We
exhibit the explicit map between fluxes and Bianchi identities in the
higher-dimensional theory and generalized structure constants and Jacobi
identities in the reduced theory, also detailing the origin of gauge groups
embedded at angles in the duality group. We present AdS4 solutions of the
massive Type-IIA theory with spontaneous breaking to N=1, at small string
coupling and large volume, and discuss their dual CFT3.Comment: 43 pages, 1 figure. v2: refs added, v3: minor additions. Final
version to appear on JHE
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