New Attractors and Area Codes

In this note we give multiple examples of the recently proposed New Attractors describing supersymmetric flux vacua and non-supersymmetric extremal black holes in IIB string theory. Examples of non-supersymmetric extremal black hole attractors arise on a hypersurface in $WP^{4}_{1,1,1,1,2}$. For flux vacua on the orientifold of the same hypersurface existence of multiple basins of attraction is established. It is explained that certain fluxes may give rise to multiple supersymmetric flux vacua in a finite region on moduli space, say at the Landau-Ginzburg point and close to conifold point. This suggests the existence of multiple basins for flux vacua and domain walls in the landscape for a fixed flux and at interior points in moduli space.Comment: 16 pages, harvmac. v2: acknowledgement update

The Non-BPS Black Hole Attractor Equation

We study the attractor mechanism for extremal non-BPS black holes with an infinite throat near horizon geometry, developing, as we do so, a physical argument as to why such a mechanism does not exist in non-extremal cases. We present a detailed derivation of the non-supersymmetric attractor equation. This equation defines the stabilization of moduli near the black hole horizon: the fixed moduli take values specified by electric and magnetic charges corresponding to the fluxes in a Calabi Yau compactification of string theory. They also define the so-called double-extremal solutions. In some examples, studied previously by Tripathy and Trivedi, we solve the equation and show that the moduli are fixed at values which may also be derived from the critical points of the black hole potential.Comment: 32 Pages, 2 Figures, LaTeX; v2: typos corrected, references adde

Noncommutative Field Theories and (Super)String Field Theories

In this lecture notes we explain and discuss some ideas concerning noncommutative geometry in general, as well as noncommutative field theories and string field theories. We consider noncommutative quantum field theories emphasizing an issue of their renormalizability and the UV/IR mixing. Sen's conjectures on open string tachyon condensation and their application to the D-brane physics have led to wide investigations of the covariant string field theory proposed by Witten about 15 years ago. We review main ingredients of cubic (super)string field theories using various formulations: functional, operator, conformal and the half string formalisms. The main technical tools that are used to study conjectured D-brane decay into closed string vacuum through the tachyon condensation are presented. We describe also methods which are used to study the cubic open string field theory around the tachyon vacuum: construction of the sliver state, ``comma'' and matrix representations of vertices.Comment: 160 pages, LaTeX, 29 EPS figures. Lectures given by I.Ya.Aref'eva at the Swieca Summer School, Brazil, January 2001; Summer School in Modern Mathematical Physics, Sokobanja, Yugoslavia, August 2001; Max Born Symposium, Karpacz, Poland, September, 2001; Workshop "Noncommutative Geometry, Strings and Renormalization", Leipzig, Germany, September 2001. Typos corrected, references adde

Warped Vacuum Statistics

We consider the effect of warping on the distribution of type IIB flux vacua constructed with Calabi-Yau orientifolds. We derive an analytical form of the distribution that incorporates warping and find close agreement with the results of a Monte Carlo enumeration of vacua. Compared with calculations that neglect warping, we find that for any finite volume compactification, the density of vacua is highly diluted in close proximity to the conifold point, with a steep drop-off within a critical distance.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figure

A Barren Landscape?

We consider the generation of a non-perturbative superpotential in F-theory compactifications with flux. We derive a necessary condition for the generation of such a superpotential in F-theory. For models with a single volume modulus, we show that the volume modulus is never stabilized by either abelian instantons or gaugino condensation. We then comment on how our analysis extends to a larger class of compactifications. From our results, it appears that among large volume string compactifications, metastable de Sitter vacua (should any exist) are non-generic.Comment: 14 pages, comments adde

Non-Supersymmetric Attractors in String Theory

We find examples of non-supersymmetric attractors in Type II string theory compactified on a Calabi Yau three-fold. For a non-supersymmetric attractor the fixed values to which the moduli are drawn at the horizon must minimise an effective potential. For Type IIA at large volume, we consider a configuration carrying D0, D2, D4 and D6 brane charge. When the D6 brane charge is zero, we find for some range of the other charges, that a non-supersymmetric attractor solution exists. When the D6 brane charge is non-zero, we find for some range of charges, a supersymmetry breaking extremum of the effective potential. Closer examination reveals though that it is not a minimum of the effective potential and hence the corresponding black hole solution is not an attractor. Away from large volume, we consider the specific case of the quintic in CP^4. Working in the mirror IIB description we find non-supersymmetric attractors near the Gepner point.Comment: Added a few clarification

Distributions of flux vacua

We give results for the distribution and number of flux vacua of various types, supersymmetric and nonsupersymmetric, in IIb string theory compactified on Calabi-Yau manifolds. We compare this with related problems such as counting attractor points.Comment: 43 pages, 7 figures. v2: improved discussion of finding vacua with discrete flux, references adde

First Order Description of Black Holes in Moduli Space

We show that the second order field equations characterizing extremal solutions for spherically symmetric, stationary black holes are in fact implied by a system of first order equations given in terms of a prepotential W. This confirms and generalizes the results in [14]. Moreover we prove that the squared prepotential function shares the same properties of a c-function and that it interpolates between M^2_{ADM} and M^2_{BR}, the parameter of the near-horizon Bertotti-Robinson geometry. When the black holes are solutions of extended supergravities we are able to find an explicit expression for the prepotentials, valid at any radial distance from the horizon, which reproduces all the attractors of the four dimensional N>2 theories. Far from the horizon, however, for N-even our ansatz poses a constraint on one of the U-duality invariants for the non-BPS solutions with Z \neq 0. We discuss a possible extension of our considerations to the non extremal case.Comment: Some points clarified, a comment on the interpretation of the prepotential W in terms of c-function added, typos corrected. Version to appear on JHE

Critical points of the Black-Hole potential for homogeneous special geometries

We extend the analysis of N=2 extremal Black-Hole attractor equations to the case of special geometries based on homogeneous coset spaces. For non-BPS critical points (with non vanishing central charge) the (Bekenstein-Hawking) entropy formula is the same as for symmetric spaces, namely four times the square of the central charge evaluated at the critical point. For non homogeneous geometries the deviation from this formula is given in terms of geometrical data of special geometry in presence of a background symplectic charge vector.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX fil