77 research outputs found
Modified Gravity via Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking
We construct effective field theories in which gravity is modified via
spontaneous breaking of local Lorentz invariance. This is a gravitational
analogue of the Higgs mechanism. These theories possess additional graviton
modes and modified dispersion relations. They are manifestly well-behaved in
the UV and free of discontinuities of the van Dam-Veltman-Zakharov type,
ensuring compatibility with standard tests of gravity. They may have important
phenomenological effects on large distance scales, offering an alternative to
dark energy. For the case in which the symmetry is broken by a vector field
with the wrong sign mass term, we identify four massless graviton modes (all
with positive-definite norm for a suitable choice of a parameter) and show the
absence of the discontinuity.Comment: 5 pages; revised versio
Conformal Tightness of Holographic Scaling in Black Hole Thermodynamics
The near-horizon conformal symmetry of nonextremal black holes is shown to be
a mandatory ingredient for the holographic scaling of the scalar-field
contribution to the black hole entropy. This conformal tightness is revealed by
semiclassical first-principle scaling arguments through an analysis of the
multiplicative factors in the entropy due to the radial and angular degrees of
freedom associated with a scalar field. Specifically, the conformal SO(2,1)
invariance of the radial degree of freedom conspires with the area
proportionality of the angular momentum sums to yield a robust holographic
outcome.Comment: 23 pages, 1 figure. v2 & v3: expanded explanations and proofs,
references added, typos corrected; v3: published versio
Integrability in SFT and new representation of KP tau-function
We are investigating the properties of vacuum and boundary states in the CFT
of free bosons under the conformal transformation. We show that transformed
vacuum (boundary state) is given in terms of tau-functions of dispersionless KP
(Toda) hierarchies. Applications of this approach to string field theory is
considered. We recognize in Neumann coefficients the matrix of second
derivatives of tau-function of dispersionless KP and identify surface states
with the conformally transformed vacuum of free field theory.Comment: 25 pp, LaTeX, reference added in the Section 3.
Competitive Entertainment: Implications of the NFL Lockout Litigation for Sports, Theatre, Music, and Video Entertainment
Astrophysical Bounds on Planck Suppressed Lorentz Violation
This article reviews many of the observational constraints on Lorentz
symmetry violation (LV). We first describe the GZK cutoff and other phenomena
that are sensitive to LV. After a brief historical sketch of research on LV, we
discuss the effective field theory description of LV and related questions of
principle, technical results, and observational constraints. We focus on
constraints from high energy astrophysics on mass dimension five operators that
contribute to LV electron and photon dispersion relations at order E/M_Planck.
We also briefly discuss constraints on renormalizable operators, and review the
current and future contraints on LV at order (E/M_Planck)^2.Comment: 30 pages, submitted to Lecture Notes in Physics, Quantum Gravity
Phenomenology, eds. G.Amelino-Camelia, J. Kowalski-Glikman (Springer-Verlag
Stress-Induced Reinstatement of Drug Seeking: 20 Years of Progress
In human addicts, drug relapse and craving are often provoked by stress. Since 1995, this clinical scenario has been studied using a rat model of stress-induced reinstatement of drug seeking. Here, we first discuss the generality of stress-induced reinstatement to different drugs of abuse, different stressors, and different behavioral procedures. We also discuss neuropharmacological mechanisms, and brain areas and circuits controlling stress-induced reinstatement of drug seeking. We conclude by discussing results from translational human laboratory studies and clinical trials that were inspired by results from rat studies on stress-induced reinstatement. Our main conclusions are (1) The phenomenon of stress-induced reinstatement, first shown with an intermittent footshock stressor in rats trained to self-administer heroin, generalizes to other abused drugs, including cocaine, methamphetamine, nicotine, and alcohol, and is also observed in the conditioned place preference model in rats and mice. This phenomenon, however, is stressor specific and not all stressors induce reinstatement of drug seeking. (2) Neuropharmacological studies indicate the involvement of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), noradrenaline, dopamine, glutamate, kappa/dynorphin, and several other peptide and neurotransmitter systems in stress-induced reinstatement. Neuropharmacology and circuitry studies indicate the involvement of CRF and noradrenaline transmission in bed nucleus of stria terminalis and central amygdala, and dopamine, CRF, kappa/dynorphin, and glutamate transmission in other components of the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system (ventral tegmental area, medial prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, and nucleus accumbens). (3) Translational human laboratory studies and a recent clinical trial study show the efficacy of alpha-2 adrenoceptor agonists in decreasing stress-induced drug craving and stress-induced initial heroin lapse
Comparing two approaches to Hawking radiation of Schwarzschild-de Sitter black holes
We study two different ways to analyze the Hawking evaporation of a
Schwarzschild-de Sitter black hole. The first one uses the standard approach of
surface gravity evaluated at the possible horizons. The second method derives
its results via the Generalized Uncertainty Principle (GUP) which offers a yet
different method to look at the problem. In the case of a Schwarzschild black
hole it is known that this methods affirms the existence of a black hole
remnant (minimal mass ) of the order of Planck mass
and a corresponding maximal temperature also of the order of
. The standard dispersion relation is, in the GUP
formulation, deformed in the vicinity of Planck length which is
the smallest value the horizon can take. We generalize the uncertainty
principle to Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetime with the cosmological constant
and find a dual relation which, compared to
and , affirms the existence of a maximal mass
of the order , minimum
temperature . As compared to the standard
approach we find a deformed dispersion relation close to
and in addition at the maximally possible horizon approximately at
. agrees with the standard results at
(or equivalently at ).Comment: new references adde
To Whom should We be Fair? Ethical Issues in Balancing Stakeholder Interests from Banco Compartamos Case Study
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