Remarks on the consistency of minimal deviations from General Relativity

We study the consequences of the modification of the phase space structure of General Relativity imposed by breaking the full diffeomorphism invariance but retaining the time foliation preserving diffeomorphisms. We examine the different sectors in phase space that satisfy the new structure of constraints. For some sectors we find an infinite tower of constraints. In spite of that, we also show that these sectors allow for solutions, among them some well known families of black hole and cosmologies which fulfill all the constraints. We raise some physical concerns on the consequences of an absolute Galilean time, on the thermodynamical pathologies of such models and on their unusual vacuum structure.Comment: latex 28 pages, 1 figure. Added comments and a reference. Text improved

Enhanced symmetry and Entropy of Schwarzschild-deSitter spacetime

In this paper we show that the equation of motion of a massless scalar particle near the black hole (BH) horizon in the Schwarzschild-deSitter (SdS) spacetime enjoys a hidden conformal symmetry when the two horizons satisfy a quadratic relation, not related with the Nariai limit. This hidden symmetry is $SL(2,\mathbb{R})\times SO(2)$ instead of $SO(2,1)\times SO(2)$, the expected symmetry of $dS_2\times S^2$. We present a structural analysis of SdS spacetime and compute the leading quantum corrections to the entropy of SdS spacetime in a semi-classical way.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figure; Added references and some parts rewritte

An effective theory of accelerated expansion

We work out an effective theory of accelerated expansion to describe general phenomena of inflation and acceleration (dark energy) in the Universe. Our aim is to determine from theoretical grounds, in a physically-motivated and model independent way, which and how many (free) parameters are needed to broadly capture the physics of a theory describing cosmic acceleration. Our goal is to make as much as possible transparent the physical interpretation of the parameters describing the expansion. We show that, at leading order, there are five independent parameters, of which one can be constrained via general relativity tests. The other four parameters need to be determined by observing and measuring the cosmic expansion rate only, H(z). Therefore we suggest that future cosmology surveys focus on obtaining an accurate as possible measurement of $H(z)$ to constrain the nature of accelerated expansion (dark energy and/or inflation).Comment: In press; minor changes, results unchange

Binding interface change and cryptic variation in the evolution of protein-protein interactions

Background:Physical interactions between proteins are essential for almost all biological functions and systems. To understand the evolution of function it is therefore important to understand the evolution of molecular interactions. Of key importance is the evolution of binding specificity, the set of interactions made by a protein, since change in specificity can lead to “rewiring” of interaction networks. Unfortunately, the interfaces through which proteins interact are complex, typically containing many amino-acid residues that collectively must contribute to binding specificity as well as binding affinity, structural integrity of the interface and solubility in the unbound state. Results: In order to study the relationship between interface composition and binding specificity, we make use of paralogous pairs of yeast proteins. Immediately after duplication these paralogues will have identical sequences and protein products that make an identical set of interactions. As the sequences diverge, we can correlate amino-acid change in the interface with any change in the specificity of binding. We show that change in interface regions correlates only weakly with change in specificity, and many variants in interfaces are functionally equivalent. We show that many of the residue replacements within interfaces are silent with respect to their contribution to binding specificity. Conclusions: We conclude that such functionally-equivalent change has the potential to contribute to evolutionary plasticity in interfaces by creating cryptic variation, which in turn may provide the raw material for functional innovation and coevolution.BBSRCWellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Awar

A silence black hole: Hawking radiation at the Hagedorn temperature

We compute semi-classically the Hawking emission for different types of black hole in type II string theory. In particular we analyze the thermal transition between NS5 branes and Little String Theory, finding compelling evidence for information recovering. We find that once the near horizon limit is taken the emission of a full family of models is exactly thermal even if back-reaction is taken into account. Consequently these theories are non-unitary and can not convey any information about the black hole internal states. It is argue that this behaviour matches the string theory expectations. We suggest a plausible reason for the vanishing of the jet-quenching parameter in such theories.Comment: 18 pages, harvma