898 research outputs found
The 24-Cell and Calabi-Yau Threefolds with Hodge Numbers (1,1)
Calabi-Yau threefolds with h^11(X)=h^21(X)=1 are constructed as free
quotients of a hypersurface in the ambient toric variety defined by the
24-cell. Their fundamental groups are SL(2,3), a semidirect product of Z_3 and
Z_8, and Z_3 x Q_8.Comment: 22 pages, 3 figures, 3 table
F-theory on Genus-One Fibrations
We argue that M-theory compactified on an arbitrary genus-one fibration, that
is, an elliptic fibration which need not have a section, always has an F-theory
limit when the area of the genus-one fiber approaches zero. Such genus-one
fibrations can be easily constructed as toric hypersurfaces, and various
and models are presented as examples. To each
genus-one fibration one can associate a -function on the base as well as
an representation which together define the IIB axio-dilaton
and 7-brane content of the theory. The set of genus-one fibrations with the
same -function and representation, known as the
Tate-Shafarevich group, supplies an important degree of freedom in the
corresponding F-theory model which has not been studied carefully until now.
Six-dimensional anomaly cancellation as well as Witten's zero-mode count on
wrapped branes both imply corrections to the usual F-theory dictionary for some
of these models. In particular, neutral hypermultiplets which are localized at
codimension-two fibers can arise. (All previous known examples of localized
hypermultiplets were charged under the gauge group of the theory.) Finally, in
the absence of a section some novel monodromies of Kodaira fibers are allowed
which lead to new breaking patterns of non-Abelian gauge groups.Comment: 53 pages, 9 figures, 6 tables. v2: references adde
F-Theory GUT Vacua on Compact Calabi-Yau Fourfolds
We present compact three-generation F-theory GUT models meeting in particular
the constraints of D3-tadpole cancellation and D-term supersymmetry. To this
end we explicitly construct elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau fourfolds as
complete intersections in a toric ambient space. Toric methods enable us to
control the singular geometry of the SU(5) GUT model. The GUT brane wraps a
non-generic del Pezzo surface admitting GUT symmetry breaking via hypercharge
flux. It is contractible to a curve and we demonstrate the existence of a
consistent decoupling limit. We compute the Euler characteristic of the
singular Calabi-Yau fourfold to show that our three-generation flux solutions
obtained via the spectral cover construction are consistent with D3-tadpole
cancellation.Comment: 22+12 pages; v2: minor clarifications on decoupling limi
The MSSM Spectrum from (0,2)-Deformations of the Heterotic Standard Embedding
We construct supersymmetric compactifications of E_8 \times E_8 heterotic
string theory which realise exactly the massless spectrum of the Minimal
Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) at low energies. The starting point is the
standard embedding on a Calabi-Yau threefold which has Hodge numbers
(h^11,h^21) = (1,4) and fundamental group Z_12, which gives an E_6 grand
unified theory with three net chiral generations. The gauge symmetry is then
broken to that of the standard model by a combination of discrete Wilson lines
and continuous deformation of the gauge bundle. On eight distinct branches of
the moduli space, we find stable bundles with appropriate cohomology groups to
give exactly the massless spectrum of the MSSM.Comment: 37 pages including appendice
Fluctuations of Particle Yield Ratios in Heavy-Ion Collisions
We study the dynamical fluctuations of various particle yield ratios at
different incident energies. Assuming that the particle production yields in
the hydronic final state are due to equilibrium chemical processes
(), the experimental results available so far are compared with the
hadron resonance gas model (HRG) taking into account the limited momentum
acceptance in heavy-ion collisions experiments. Degenerated light and conserved
strange quarks are presumed at all incident energies. At the SPS energies, the
HRG with provides a good description for the measured dynamical
fluctuations in . To reproduce the RHIC results,
should be larger than one. We also studied the dynamical fluctuations
of . It is obvious that the energy-dependence of
these dynamical fluctuations is non-monotonic.Comment: 8 pages, 2 eps figures and 1 tabl
A Calabi-Yau Database: Threefolds Constructed from the Kreuzer-Skarke List
Kreuzer and Skarke famously produced the largest known database of Calabi-Yau threefolds by providing a complete construction of all 473,800,776 reflexive polyhedra that exist in four dimensions [1]. These polyhedra describe the singular limits of ambient toric varieties in which Calabi-Yau threefolds can exist as hypersurfaces. In this paper, we review how to extract topological and geometric information about Calabi-Yau threefolds using the toric construction, and we provide, in a companion online database (see http://nuweb1.neu.edu/cydatabase), a detailed inventory of these quantities which are of interest to physicists. Many of the singular ambient spaces described by the Kreuzer-Skarke list can be smoothed out into multiple distinct toric ambient spaces describing different Calabi-Yau threefolds. We provide a list of the different Calabi-Yau threefolds which can be obtained from each polytope, up to current computational limits. We then give the details of a variety of quantities associated to each of these Calabi-Yau such as Chern classes, intersection numbers, and the Kähler and Mori cones, in addition to the Hodge data. This data forms a useful starting point for a number of physical applications of the Kreuzer-Skarke list
ARPES: A probe of electronic correlations
Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) is one of the most direct
methods of studying the electronic structure of solids. By measuring the
kinetic energy and angular distribution of the electrons photoemitted from a
sample illuminated with sufficiently high-energy radiation, one can gain
information on both the energy and momentum of the electrons propagating inside
a material. This is of vital importance in elucidating the connection between
electronic, magnetic, and chemical structure of solids, in particular for those
complex systems which cannot be appropriately described within the
independent-particle picture. Among the various classes of complex systems, of
great interest are the transition metal oxides, which have been at the center
stage in condensed matter physics for the last four decades. Following a
general introduction to the topic, we will lay the theoretical basis needed to
understand the pivotal role of ARPES in the study of such systems. After a
brief overview on the state-of-the-art capabilities of the technique, we will
review some of the most interesting and relevant case studies of the novel
physics revealed by ARPES in 3d-, 4d- and 5d-based oxides.Comment: Chapter to appear in "Strongly Correlated Systems: Experimental
Techniques", edited by A. Avella and F. Mancini, Springer Series in
Solid-State Sciences (2013). A high-resolution version can be found at:
http://www.phas.ubc.ca/~quantmat/ARPES/PUBLICATIONS/Reviews/ARPES_Springer.pdf.
arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:cond-mat/0307085,
arXiv:cond-mat/020850
Prime movers : mechanochemistry of mitotic kinesins
Mitotic spindles are self-organizing protein machines that harness teams of multiple force generators to drive chromosome segregation. Kinesins are key members of these force-generating teams. Different kinesins walk directionally along dynamic microtubules, anchor, crosslink, align and sort microtubules into polarized bundles, and influence microtubule dynamics by interacting with microtubule tips. The mechanochemical mechanisms of these kinesins are specialized to enable each type to make a specific contribution to spindle self-organization and chromosome segregation
Galactic and Extragalactic Samples of Supernova Remnants: How They Are Identified and What They Tell Us
Supernova remnants (SNRs) arise from the interaction between the ejecta of a
supernova (SN) explosion and the surrounding circumstellar and interstellar
medium. Some SNRs, mostly nearby SNRs, can be studied in great detail. However,
to understand SNRs as a whole, large samples of SNRs must be assembled and
studied. Here, we describe the radio, optical, and X-ray techniques which have
been used to identify and characterize almost 300 Galactic SNRs and more than
1200 extragalactic SNRs. We then discuss which types of SNRs are being found
and which are not. We examine the degree to which the luminosity functions,
surface-brightness distributions and multi-wavelength comparisons of the
samples can be interpreted to determine the class properties of SNRs and
describe efforts to establish the type of SN explosion associated with a SNR.
We conclude that in order to better understand the class properties of SNRs, it
is more important to study (and obtain additional data on) the SNRs in galaxies
with extant samples at multiple wavelength bands than it is to obtain samples
of SNRs in other galaxiesComment: Final 2016 draft of a chapter in "Handbook of Supernovae" edited by
Athem W. Alsabti and Paul Murdin. Final version available at
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20794-0_90-
- …