Visco-elastic regularization and strain softening

In this paper it is intended to verify the capacity of regularization of the numerical solution of an elasto-plastic problem with linear strain softening. The finite element method with a displacement approach is used. Drucker-Prager yield criteria is considered. The radial return method is used for the integration of the elasto-plastic constitutive relations. An elastovisco- plastic scheme is used to regularize the numerical solution. Two constitutive laws have been developed and implemented in a FE-program, the first represent the radial return method applied to Drucker-Prager yield criteria and the second is a time integration procedure for the Maxwell visco-elastic model. Attention is paid to finite deformations. An associative plastic flow is considered in the Drucker-Prager elasto-plastic model. The algorithms are tested in two problems with softening. Figures showing the capability of the algorithms to regularize the solution are presented

Duality Symmetries and Supersymmetry Breaking in String Compactifications

We discuss the spontaneous supersymetry breaking within the low-energy effective supergravity action of four-dimensional superstrings. In particular, we emphasize the non-universality of the soft supersymmetry breaking parameters, the $\mu$-problem and the duality symmetries.Comment: (invited talk to the 27th ICHEP, Glasgow, July 1994), 11 page

Entropy function for rotating extremal black holes in very special geometry

We use the relation between extremal black hole solutions in five- and in four-dimensional N=2 supergravity theories with cubic prepotentials to define the entropy function for extremal black holes with one angular momentum in five dimensions. We construct two types of solutions to the associated attractor equations.Comment: 15 pages, minor change

BPS Action and Superpotential for Heterotic String Compactifications with Fluxes

We consider N =1 compactifications to four dimensions of heterotic string theory in the presence of fluxes. We show that up to order O(\alpha'^2) the associated action can be written as a sum of squares of BPS-like quantities. In this way we prove that the equations of motion are solved by backgrounds which fulfill the supersymmetry conditions and the Bianchi identities. We also argue for the expression of the related superpotential and discuss the radial modulus stabilization for a class of examples.Comment: LaTeX, 28 pages. Minor changes, one more reference added. Final version to appear on JHE

Heterotic String Theory on non-Kaehler Manifolds with H-Flux and Gaugino Condensate

We discuss compactifications of heterotic string theory to four dimensions in the presence of H-fluxes, which deform the geometry of the internal manifold, and a gaugino condensate which breaks supersymmetry. We focus on the compensation of the two effects in order to obtain vacua with zero cosmological constant and we comment on the effective superpotential describing these vacua.Comment: 6 page

BPS black holes, the Hesse potential, and the topological string

The Hesse potential is constructed for a class of four-dimensional N=2 supersymmetric effective actions with S- and T-duality by performing the relevant Legendre transform by iteration. It is a function of fields that transform under duality according to an arithmetic subgroup of the classical dualities reflecting the monodromies of the underlying string compactification. These transformations are not subject to corrections, unlike the transformations of the fields that appear in the effective action which are affected by the presence of higher-derivative couplings. The class of actions that are considered includes those of the FHSV and the STU model. We also consider heterotic N=4 supersymmetric compactifications. The Hesse potential, which is equal to the free energy function for BPS black holes, is manifestly duality invariant. Generically it can be expanded in terms of powers of the modulus that represents the inverse topological string coupling constant, $g_s$, and its complex conjugate. The terms depending holomorphically on $g_s$ are expected to correspond to the topological string partition function and this expectation is explicitly verified in two cases. Terms proportional to mixed powers of $g_s$ and $\bar g_s$ are in principle present.Comment: 28 pages, LaTeX, added comment