Ostrogradsky instability and Born-Infeld modified cosmology in Palatini formalism

The Ostrogradsky instability of higher derivative Lagrangians is derived from first principles using Control theory and Lyapunov Stability Analysis. This result is then used to argue that Born-Infeld Lagrangians are viable modifications of the Einstein-Hilbert action provided the action is varied in accordance with the Palatini formalism, in contrast to the metric formalism. Finally, the Born-Infeld version of the FRW equations are derived and the cosmological dynamics is studied for matter dominated closed and open universes, and the results are compared with the usual cosmology

Holographic Trace Anomaly and Local Renormalization Group

The Hamilton-Jacobi method in holography has produced important results both at a renormalization group (RG) fixed point and away from it. In this paper we use the Hamilton-Jacobi method to compute the holographic trace anomaly for four- and six-dimensional boundary conformal field theories (CFTs), assuming higher-derivative gravity and interactions of scalar fields in the bulk. The scalar field contributions to the anomaly appear in CFTs with exactly marginal operators. Moving away from the fixed point, we show that the Hamilton-Jacobi formalism provides a deep connection between the holographic and the local RG. We derive the local RG equation holographically, and verify explicitly that it satisfies Weyl consistency conditions stemming from the commutativity of Weyl scalings. We also consider massive scalar fields in the bulk corresponding to boundary relevant operators, and comment on their effects to the local RG equation.Comment: 27 pages. v3: References adde

Perturbation Theory for the Logarithm of a Positive Operator

In various contexts in mathematical physics one needs to compute the logarithm of a positive unbounded operator. Examples include the von Neumann entropy of a density matrix and the flow of operators with the modular Hamiltonian in the Tomita-Takesaki theory. Often, one encounters the situation where the operator under consideration, that we denote by $\Delta$, can be related by a perturbative series to another operator $\Delta_0$, whose logarithm is known. We set up a perturbation theory for the logarithm $\log \Delta$. It turns out that the terms in the series possess remarkable algebraic structure, which enable us to write them in the form of nested commutators plus some "contact terms."Comment: 30 page

Modular flow of excited states

Abstract We develop new techniques for studying the modular and the relative modular flows of general excited states. We show that the class of states obtained by acting on the vacuum (or any cyclic and separating state) with invertible operators from the algebra of a region is dense in the Hilbert space. This enables us to express the modular and the relative modular operators, as well as the relative entropies of generic excited states in terms of the vacuum modular operator and the operator that creates the state. In particular, the modular and the relative modular flows of any state can be expanded in terms of the modular flow of operators in vacuum. We illustrate the formalism with simple examples including states close to the vacuum, and coherent and squeezed states in generalized free field theory

Global anomalies, discrete symmetries and hydrodynamic effective actions

We derive effective actions for parity-violating fluids in both (3 + 1) and (2 + 1) dimensions, including those with anomalies. As a corollary we confirm the most general constitutive relations for such systems derived previously using other methods. We discuss in detail connections between parity-odd transport and underlying discrete symmetries. In (3+1) dimensions we elucidate connections between anomalous transport coefficients and global anomalies, and clarify a previous puzzle concerning transports and local gravitational anomalies. Keywords: Anomalies in Field and String Theories; Discrete Symmetries; Effective Field Theories; Space-Time SymmetriesUnited States. Department of Energy (Contract DE-SC0012567

Holographic trace anomaly and local renormalization group

The Hamilton-Jacobi method in holography has produced important results both at a renormalization group (RG) fixed point and away from it. In this paper we use the Hamilton-Jacobi method to compute the holographic trace anomaly for four- and six-dimensional boundary conformal field theories (CFTs), assuming higher-derivative gravity and interactions of scalar fields in the bulk. The scalar field contributions to the anomaly appear in CFTs with exactly marginal operators. Moving away from the fixed point, we show that the Hamilton-Jacobi formalism provides a deep connection between the holographic and the local RG. We derive the local RG equation holographically, and verify explicitly that it satisfies Weyl consistency conditions stemming from the commutativity of Weyl scalings. We also consider massive scalar fields in the bulk corresponding to boundary relevant operators, and comment on their effects to the local RG equation.United States. Dept. of Energy (Cooperative Research Agreement DE-FG02-05ER41360)United States. Army Research Office (Grant W911NF-12-0486

Martyr Bodies in the Media: Human Rights, Aesthetics, and the Politics of Immediation in the Palestinian Intifada

The growth of the human rights regime in the Palestinian occupied territories during the last two decades and the spread of visual media have had an extreme effect on the nature of Palestinian politics and society. They have transformed the way Palestinians represent themselves to each other and to the international community, whereby appeals to human rights help to constitute a human subject with certain kinds of rights that are seen to arise not from a political status but from the state of (human) nature. In this article, I explore the “politics of immediation” at work during the second Palestinian intifada, which began in 2000, to explain why social actors mobilize representations of people in states of acute physical and emotional distress as part of their political projects