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

Yukawa Couplings in Heterotic Standard Models

In this paper, we present a formalism for computing the Yukawa couplings in heterotic standard models. This is accomplished by calculating the relevant triple products of cohomology groups, leading to terms proportional to Q*H*u, Q*Hbar*d, L*H*nu and L*Hbar*e in the low energy superpotential. These interactions are subject to two very restrictive selection rules arising from the geometry of the Calabi-Yau manifold. We apply our formalism to the "minimal" heterotic standard model whose observable sector matter spectrum is exactly that of the MSSM. The non-vanishing Yukawa interactions are explicitly computed in this context. These interactions exhibit a texture rendering one out of the three quark/lepton families naturally light.Comment: 21 pages, LaTe

QSO Absorption Line Constraints on Intragroup High-Velocity Clouds

We show that the number statistics of moderate redshift MgII and Lyman limit absorbers may rule out the hypothesis that high velocity clouds are infalling intragroup material.Comment: 4 pages, no figures; submitted to Astrophysical Journal Letters; revised version, more general and includes more about Braun and Burton CHVC

Kink-antikink vortex transfer in periodic-plus-random pinning potential: Theoretical analysis and numerical experiments

The influence of random pinning on the vortex dynamics in a periodic square potential under an external drive is investigated. Using theoretical approach and numerical experiments, we found several dynamical phases of vortex motion that are different from the ones for a regular pinning potential. Vortex transfer is controlled by kinks and antikinks, which either preexist in the system or appear spontaneously in pairs and then propagate in groups. When kinks and antikinks collide, they annihilate.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Cumulative structure function in terms of nucleonic wave function of the nucleus

The structure function of the nucleus in the cumulative region $x>1$ is studied in terms of nucleon degrees of freedom. At high $Q^2$ the resulting expressions are presented as a sum of contributions from few-nucleon correlations. Two-nucleon correlations are studied in some detail. Spin variables are averaged out. In the region $1<x<2$ the structure functions are calculated for the relativistic interaction proposed by F.Gross {\it et al}. They are found to fall with $x$ faster than the exponential. For Carbon at $x=1.05$, where the method is not rigorously applicable, they turn out to be rougly twice larger than the experimental data.Comment: text and 2 figures in LaTex, 7 figures in P

Particle Number Fluctuations in Relativistic Bose and Fermi Gases

Particle number fluctuations are studied in relativistic Bose and Fermi gases. The calculations are done within both the grand canonical and canonical ensemble. The fluctuations in the canonical ensemble are found to be different from those in the grand canonical one. Effects of quantum statistics increase in the grand canonical ensemble for large chemical potential. This is, however, not the case in the canonical ensemble. In the limit of large charge density a strongest difference between the grand canonical and canonical ensemble results is observed.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

High-resolution imaging of compact high-velocity clouds (II)

We have imaged five compact high-velocity clouds in HI with arcmin angular- and km/s spectral-resolution using the WSRT. Supplementary total-power data, which is fully sensitive to both the cool and warm components of HI, is available for comparison for all the sources, albeit with angular resolutions that vary from 3' to 36'. The fractional HI flux in compact CNM components varies from 4% to 16% in our sample. All objects have at least one local peak in the CNM column which exceeds about 10^19 cm^-2 when observed with arcmin resolution. It is plausible that a peak column density of 1-2x10^19 cm^-2 is a prerequisite for the long-term survival of these sources. One object in our sample, CHVC120-20-443 (Davies' cloud), lies in close projected proximity to the disk of M31. This object is characterized by exceptionally broad linewidths in its CNM concentrations (more than 5 times greater than the median value). These CNM concentrations lie in an arc on the edge of the source facing the M31 disk, while the diffuse HI component of this source has a position offset in the direction of the disk. All of these attributes suggest that CHVC120-20-443 is in a different evolutionary state than most of the other CHVCs which have been studied. Similarly broad CNM linewidths have only been detected in one other object, CHVC111-07-466, which also lies in the Local Group barycenter direction and has the most extreme radial velocity known. A distinct possibility for Davies' cloud seems to be physical interaction of some type with M31. The most likely form of this interaction might be the ram-pressure or tidal- stripping by either one of M31's visible dwarf companions, M32 or NGC205, or else by a dark companion with an associated HI condensation.Comment: 12 pages, 11 (low res.) png figs, accepted for pub. in A&

Heterotic Compactification, An Algorithmic Approach

We approach string phenomenology from the perspective of computational algebraic geometry, by providing new and efficient techniques for proving stability and calculating particle spectra in heterotic compactifications. This is done in the context of complete intersection Calabi-Yau manifolds in a single projective space where we classify positive monad bundles. Using a combination of analytic methods and computer algebra we prove stability for all such bundles and compute the complete particle spectrum, including gauge singlets. In particular, we find that the number of anti-generations vanishes for all our bundles and that the spectrum is manifestly moduli-dependent.Comment: 36 pages, Late