Boundary fermion currents and subleading order chiral anomaly in the AdS/CFT correspondence

We construct a wave-functional whose argument couples to boundary fermion currents in the AdS/CFT correspondence. Using this we calculate the contributions from bulk fermions to the chiral anomaly that give the subleading order term in the exact $N$-dependence of the chiral anomaly of ${\cal N}=4$ SYM. The result agrees with the calculation of Bilal & Chu.Comment: 6 page

Gravity and Yang-Mills theory

Three of the four forces of Nature are described by quantum Yang-Mills theories with remarkable precision. The fourth force, gravity, is described classically by the Einstein-Hilbert theory. There appears to be an inherent incompatibility between quantum mechanics and the Einstein-Hilbert theory which prevents us from developing a consistent quantum theory of gravity. The Einstein-Hilbert theory is therefore believed to differ greatly from Yang-Mills theory (which does have a sensible quantum mechanical description). It is therefore very surprising that these two theories actually share close perturbative ties. This article focuses on these ties between Yang-Mills theory and the Einstein-Hilbert theory. We discuss the origin of these ties and their implications for a quantum theory of gravity.Comment: 6 pages, based on contribution to GRF 2010, to appear in a special edition of IJMP

A Large Distance Expansion for Quantum Field Theory

Using analyticity of the vacuum wave-functional under complex scalings, the vacuum of a quantum field theory may be reconstructed from a derivative expansion valid for slowly varying fields. This enables the eigenvalue problem for the Hamiltonian to be reduced to algebraic equations. Applied to Yang-Mills theory this expansion leads to a confining force between quarks.Comment: 5 pages, latex, invited talk at the Second International Sakharov Conference on Physics, May 199

The vacuum state functional of interacting string field theory

We show that the vacuum state functional for both open and closed string field theories can be constructed from the vacuum expectation values it must generate. The method also applies to quantum field theory and as an application we give a diagrammatic description of the equivalance between Schrodinger and covariant repreresentations of field theory.Comment: 15 pages, 35 .eps figure

Continuum strong-coupling expansion of Yang-Mills theory: quark confinement and infra-red slavery

We solve Schrödinger's equation for the ground-state of four-dimensional Yang-Mills theory as an expansion in inverse powers of the coupling. Expectation values computed with the leading-order approximation are reduced to a calculation in two-dimensional Yang-Mills theory which is known to confine. Consequently the Wilson loop in the four-dimensional theory obeys an area law to leading order and the coupling becomes infinite as the mass scale goes to zero

Changing attitudes to 'the change'

Copyright © 2004 Royal Australian College of General PractitionersBACKGROUND In order to practise efficiently, experienced doctors use heuristics (decision making shortcuts). In most cases decision making shortcuts improve the service we offer, allowing us to make appropriate decisions more quickly. However, occasionally shortcuts can mislead. It is important to reflect on the shortcuts we use so as to reduce the risk of mistakes. OBJECTIVE This article examines the potential pitfalls of decision making shortcuts using hormone therapy (HT) in menopause as an example. DISCUSSION Recent randomised controlled trials have changed the thinking on the risk-benefit ratio for HT. The previously assumed long term health benefits of HT for women during and beyond menopause resulted from shortcuts in decision making including ‘association means causation’ (observational data), ‘experts know best’ (the experience of gynaecologists seeing women with severe menopausal symptoms is applied to all women) and ‘a biological theory to explain a phenomenon makes it likely to be true’ (oestrogen has a positive effect on lipid profiles and so was assumed to be cardioprotective).Katrina Allen, Peter Mansfiel

Calculating the infrared central charges for perturbed minimal models: improving the RG perturbation

We illustrate a method for improving Renormalisation Group improved perturbation theory by calculating the infrared central charge of a perturbed conformal field theory. The additional input is a dispersion relation that exploits analyticity of the energy-momentum tensor correlator

Symmetries of Self-Dual Yang-Mills Equations Dimensionally Reduced From (2,2) Space-time

We construct infinite-dimensional symmetries of the two dimensional equation which results from the dimensional reduction of the self-duality condition in (2, 2) signature space-time. These are symmetries of the dimensionally reduced Chalmers-Siegel action and so hold off-shell