Lagrange Multipliers and Couplings in Supersymmetric Field Theory

In hep-th/0312098 it was argued that by extending the ``$a$-maximization'' of hep-th/0304128 away from fixed points of the renormalization group, one can compute the anomalous dimensions of chiral superfields along the flow, and obtain a better understanding of the irreversibility of RG flow in four dimensional supersymmetric field theory. According to this proposal, the role of the running couplings is played by certain Lagrange multipliers that are introduced in the construction. We show that one can choose a parametrization of the space of couplings in which the Lagrange multipliers can indeed be identified with the couplings, and discuss the consequences of this for weakly coupled gauge theory.Comment: 13 pages, harvma

Moduli Anomalies and Local Terms in the Operator Product Expansion

Local terms in the Operator Product Expansion in Superconformal Theories with extended supersymmetry are identified. Assuming a factorized structure for these terms their contributions are discussed.Comment: 24 pages, 2 figures, v2: footnote and reference adde

Comments on the Algebraic Properties of Dilaton Actions

We study the relation between the dilaton action and sigma models for the Goldstone bosons of the spontaneous breaking of the conformal group. We argue that the relation requires that the sigma model is diffeomorphism invariant. The origin of the WZW terms for the dilaton is clarified and it is shown that in this approach the dilaton WZW term is necessarily accompanied by a Weyl invariant term proposed before from holographic considerations.Comment: 19 page

Gauge Field Improvement,Form-Scalar Duality and Conformal Invariance

The problem of maintaining scale and conformal invariance in Maxwell and general N-form gauge theories away from their critical dimension d=2(N+1) is analyzed.We first exhibit the underlying group-theoretical clash between locality,gauge,Lorentz and conformal invariance require- ments. "Improved" traceless stress tensors are then constructed;each violates one of the above criteria.However,when d=N+2,there is a duality equivalence between N-form models and massless scalars.Here we show that conformal invariance is not lost,by constructing a quasilocal gauge invariant improved stress tensor.The correlators of the scalar theory are then reproduced,including the latter's trace anomaly.Comment: 8 pages ,CERN-TH.7224 IAS 94/2

Numerical determination of entanglement entropy for a sphere

We apply Srednicki's regularization to extract the logarithmic term in the entanglement entropy produced by tracing out a real, massless, scalar field inside a three dimensional sphere in 3+1 flat spacetime. We find numerically that the coefficient of the logarithm is -1/90 to 0.2 percent accuracy, in agreement with an existing analytical result

Chern-Simons Gravity and Holographic Anomalies

We present a holographic treatment of Chern-Simons (CS) gravity theories in odd dimensions. We construct the associated holographic stress tensor and calculate the Weyl anomalies of the dual CFT.Comment: Added references, and minor corrections. 21 pages, havmac, no figure