Thermal DBI action for the D3-brane at weak and strong coupling

We study the effective action for finite-temperature D3-branes with an electromagnetic field at weak and strong coupling. We call this action the thermal DBI action. Comparing at low temperature the leading $T^4$ correction for the thermal DBI action at weak and strong coupling we find that the $3/4$ factor well-known from the AdS/CFT correspondence extends to the case of arbitrary electric and magnetic fields on the D3-brane. We investigate the reason for this by taking the decoupling limit in both the open and the closed string descriptions thus showing that the AdS/CFT correspondence extends to the case of arbitrary constant electric and magnetic fields on the D3-brane.Comment: 30 pages, no figure

Finite-size corrections to the rotating string and the winding state

We compute higher order finite size corrections to the energies of the circular rotating string on AdS_5 x S^5, of its orbifolded generalization on AdS_5 x S^5/Z_M and of the winding state which is obtained as the limit of the orbifolded circular string solution when J -> infinity and J/M^2 is kept fixed. We solve, at the first order in lambda'=lambda/J^2, where lambda is the 't Hooft coupling, the Bethe equations that describe the anomalous dimensions of the corresponding gauge dual operators in an expansion in m/K, where m is the winding number and K is the "magnon number", and to all orders in the angular momentum J. The solution for the circular rotating string and for the winding state can be matched to the energy computed from an effective quantum Landau-Lifshitz model beyond the first order correction in 1/J. For the leading 1/J corrections to the circular rotating string in m^2 and m^4 and for the subleading 1/J^2 corrections to the m^2 term, we find agreement. For the winding state we match the energy completely up to, and including, the order 1/J^2 finite-size corrections. The solution of the Bethe equations corresponding to the spinning closed string is also provided in an expansion in m/K and to all orders in J.Comment: v2: 33 pages, misprints corrected, references added, version accepted for publication in JHE

Exciton Condensation in a Holographic Double Monolayer Semimetal

The formation of intra-layer and inter-layer exciton condensates in a model of a double monolayer Weyl semi-metal is studied in the strong coupling limit using AdS/CFT duality. We find a rich phase diagram which includes phase transitions between inter-layer and intra-layer condensates as the charge densities and the separation of the layers are varied. The tendency to inter-layer condensation is strongest when the charge densities are balanced so that the weak coupling electron and hole Fermi surfaces would be nested. For systems with multiple species of massless Fermions, we find a novel phase transition where the charge balance for nesting occurs spontaneously.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Conformal Symmetry and Differential Regularization of the Three-Gluon Vertex

The conformal symmetry of the QCD Lagrangian for massless quarks is broken both by renormalization effects and the gauge fixing procedure. Renormalized primitive divergent amplitudes have the property that their form away from the overall coincident point singularity is fully determined by the bare Lagrangian, and scale dependence is restricted to $\delta$-functions at the singularity. If gauge fixing could be ignored, one would expect these amplitudes to be conformal invariant for non-coincident points. We find that the one-loop three-gluon vertex function $\Gamma_{\mu\nu\rho}(x,y,z)$ is conformal invariant in this sense, if calculated in the background field formalism using the Feynman gauge for internal gluons. It is not yet clear why the expected breaking due to gauge fixing is absent. The conformal property implies that the gluon, ghost and quark loop contributions to $\Gamma_{\mu\nu\rho}$ are each purely numerical combinations of two universal conformal tensors $D_{\mu\nu\rho}(x,y,z)$ and $C_{\mu\nu\rho}(x,y,z)$ whose explicit form is given in the text. Only $D_{\mu\nu\rho}$ has an ultraviolet divergence, although $C_{\mu\nu\rho}$ requires a careful definition to resolve the expected ambiguity of a formally linearly divergent quantity. Regularization is straightforward and leads to a renormalized vertex function which satisfies the required Ward identity, and from which the beta-function is easily obtained. Exact conformal invariance is broken in higher-loop orders, but we outline a speculative scenario in which the perturbative structure of the vertex function is determined from a conformal invariant primitive core by interplay of the renormalization group equation and Ward identities.Comment: 65 page

The Flowing BIon

In this paper we use the effective blackfold description of branes to extend the study of the thermal BIon, a D-brane and parallel anti-D-brane connected by a wormhole with F-string charge in hot flat space, by introducing a radial boost along the brane. The boosted system behaves qualitatively differently from both the extremal and the thermal BIon considered previously. Interestingly, we are able to formulate a first law of thermodynamics for the system as a whole, despite the fact that it is not a stationary blackfold. In particular, the global temperature is given by the rest frame temperature times the gamma factor of special relativity which is the inverse transformation compared to the case of stationary blackfolds. In addition we define two new kinds of thermodynamic conjugate variables, the energy flux $W$ and the integrated velocity on the brane. We find that a phase transition occurs by varying the energy flux $W$. Below a critical value of $W$ the brane separation $\Delta$ changes only slightly with $W$. Instead above the critical value $\Delta$ grows exponentially.Comment: 26 pages, 6 figures. v2: Introduction and conclusion improved, references adde

AdS/CFT v.s. String Loops

The one string-loop correction to the energies of two impurity BMN states are computed using IIB light-cone string field theory with an improved 3-string vertex that has been proposed by Dobashi and Yoneya. As in previous published computations, the string vertices are truncated to the 2-impurity channel. The result is compared with the prediction from non-planar corrections in the BMN limit of $\mathcal{N}=4$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. It is found to agree at leading order -- one-loop in Yang-Mills theory -- and is close but not quite in agreement at order two Yang-Mills loops. Furthermore, in addition to the leading 1/2 power in the t'Hooft coupling, which is generic in string field theory, and which we have previously argued cancels, we find that the 3/2 and 5/2 powers are also miraculously absent.Comment: 13 page

On the existence of the Blandford-Znajek monopole for a slowly rotating Kerr black hole

The Blandford-Znajek monopole is a conjectured solution of force-free electrodynamics in the vicinity of a slowly rotating Kerr black hole, supposedly defined as a perturbation in small angular momentum. It is used to argue for the extraction of energy from rotating black holes by the Blandford-Znajek process. We set up a careful analysis of the perturbative definition of the Blandford-Znajek monopole, showing in particular that the regime in which it is defined allows to use the technique of matched asymptotic expansions. Our conclusion is that the Blandford-Znajek monopole, as it is defined, is not consistent with demanding physically reasonable boundary conditions far away from the event horizon. This puts into question the existence of the Blandford-Znajek monopole, at least in the limit of slow rotation of the Kerr black hole.Comment: 8 pages, pdflatex. v2: minor typos corrected, conclusion improved, acknowledgments added. v3: published version, references added, MAE explanation and conclusions slightly expande