Comment on "Relativistic Effects of Light in Moving Media with Extremely Low Group Velocity"

In [cond-mat/9906332; Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 822 (2000)] and [physics/9906038; Phys. Rev. A 60, 4301 (1999)] Leonhardt and Piwnicki have presented an interesting analysis of how to use a flowing dielectric fluid to generate a so-called "optical black hole". Qualitatively similar phenomena using acoustical processes have also been much investigated. Unfortunately there is a subtle misinterpretation in the Leonhardt-Piwnicki analysis regarding these "optical black holes": While it is clear that "optical black holes" can certainly exist as theoretical constructs, and while the experimental prospects for actually building them in the laboratory are excellent, the particular model geometries that Leonhardt and Piwnicki write down as alleged examples of "optical black holes" are in fact not black holes at all.Comment: one page comment, uses ReV_TeX 3; discussion clarified; basic physical results unaltere

Lifting a Conformal Field Theory from D-Dimensional Flat Space to (D+1)-Dimensional Ads Space

A quantum field theory on Anti-de-Sitter space can be constructed from a conformal field theory on its boundary Minkowski space by an inversion of the holographic mapping. To do this the conformal field theory must satisfy certain constraints. The structure of operator product expansions is carried over to AdS space. We show that this method yields a higher spin field theory HS(4) from the minimal conformal O(N) sigma model in three dimensions. For these models AdS/CFT correspondence is hereby proved to second order in the coupling constant.Comment: Latex file, 19 pages; one section added, 3 references added, typos correcte

Partial Transmutation of Singularities in Optical Instruments

Some interesting optical instruments such as the Eaton lens and the Invisible Sphere require singularities of the refractive index for their implementation. We show how to transmute those singularities into harmless topological defects in anisotropic media without the need for anomalous material properties

Non-Gaussian states from continuous-wave Gaussian light sources

We present a general analysis of the state obtained by subjecting the output from a continuous-wave (cw) Gaussian field to non-Gaussian measurements. The generic multimode state of cw Gaussian fields is characterized by an infinite dimensional covariance matrix involving the noise correlations of the source. Our theory extracts the information relevant for detection within specific temporal output modes from these correlation functions . The formalism is applied to schemes for production of non-classical light states from a squeezed beam of light

Fluorescence microscopy for the characterization of structural integrity

The absorption characteristics of light and the optical technique of fluorescence microscopy for enhancing metallographic interpretation are presented. Characterization of thermally sprayed coatings by optical microscopy suffers because of the tendency for misidentification of the microstructure produced by metallographic preparation. Gray scale, in bright field microscopy, is frequently the only means of differentiating the actual structural details of porosity, cracking, and debonding of coatings. Fluorescence microscopy is a technique that helps to distinguish the artifacts of metallographic preparation (pullout, cracking, debonding) from the microstructure of the specimen by color contrasting structural differences. Alternative instrumentation and the use of other dye systems are also discussed. The combination of epoxy vacuum infiltration with fluorescence microscopy to verify microstructural defects is an effective means to characterize advanced materials and to assess structural integrity

Composite fields, generalized hypergeometric functions and the U(1)YU(1)_Y symmetry in the AdS/CFT correspondence

We discuss the concept of composite fields in flat CFT as well as in the context of AdS/CFT. Furthermore we show how to represent Green functions using generalized hypergeometric functions and apply these techniques to four-point functions. Finally we prove an identity of $U(1)_Y$ symmetry for four-point functions.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure