Lightlike Branes as Natural Candidates for Wormhole Throats

We first briefly present a consistent world-volume Lagrangian description of lightlike p-branes (LL-branes) in two equivalent forms - a Polyakov-type and a dual to it Nambu-Goto-type formulations. The most important characteristic features of LL-brane dynamics are: (i) the brane tension appears as a non-trivial additional dynamical degree of freedom; (ii) consistency of LL-brane dynamics in a spherically or axially symmetric gravitational background of codimension one requires the presence of an event horizon which is automatically occupied by the LL-brane ("horizon straddling"). Next we consider a bulk Einstein-Maxwell system interacting self-consistently with a codimension one LL-brane. We find spherically symmetric traversable wormhole solutions of Misner-Wheeler type produced by the LL-brane sitting at the wormhole throat with wormhole parameters being functions of the dynamical LL-brane tension.Comment: Contribution to 4th RTN "Forces-Universe" Workshop, Varna (Sept. 2008

Negative Electron-electron Drag Between Narrow Quantum Hall Channels

Momentum transfer due to Coulomb interaction between two parallel, two-dimensional, narrow, and spatially separated layers, when a current I_{drive} is driven through one layer, is studied in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field B. The current induced in the drag layer, I_{drag}, is evaluated self-consistently with I_{drive} as a parameter. I_{drag} can be positive or negative depending on the value of the filling factor \nu of the highest occupied bulk Landau level (LL). For a fully occupied LL, I_{drag} is negative, i.e., it flows opposite to I_{drive}, whereas it is positive for a half-filled LL. When the circuit is opened in the drag layer, a voltage \Delta V_{drag} develops in it; it is negative for a half-filled LL and positive for a fully occupied LL. This positive \Delta V_{drag}, expressing a negative Coulomb drag, results from energetically favored near-edge inter-LL transitions that occur when the highest occupied bulk LL and the LL just above it become degenerate.Comment: Text file in Latex/Revtex/preprint format, 7 separate PS figures, Physical Review B, in pres

Lightlike Brane as a Gravitational Source of Misner-Wheeler-Type Wormhole

Consistent Lagrangian description of lightlike p-branes (LL-branes) is presented in two equivalent forms - a Polyakov-type formulation and a dual to it Nambu-Goto-type formulation. An important characteristic feature of the LL-branes is that the brane tension appears as a non-trivial additional dynamical degree of freedom. Next, properties of p=2 LL-brane dynamics (as a test brane) in D=4 Kerr or Kerr-Newman gravitational backgrounds are discussed in some detail. It is shown that the LL-brane automatically positions itself on the horizon and rotates along with the same angular velocity. Finally, a Misner-Wheeler-type of Reissner-Nordstroem wormhole is constructed in a self-consistent electrically sourceless Einstein-Maxwell system in the D=4 bulk interacting with a LL-brane. The pertinent wormhole throat is located precisely at the LL-brane sitting on the outer Reissner-Nordstroem horizon with the Reissner-Nordstroem mass and charge being functions of the dynamical LL-brane tension.Comment: improved derivation in section 4; additional comment in conclusions; results unchange

Spherically Symmetric and Rotating Wormholes Produced by Lightlike Branes

Lightlike p-branes (LL-branes) with dynamical (variable) tension allow simple and elegant Polyakov-type and dual to it Nambu-Goto-like world-volume action formulations. Here we first briefly describe the dynamics of LL-branes as test objects in various physically interesting gravitational backgrounds of black hole type, including rotating ones. Next we show that LL-branes are the appropriate gravitational sources that provide proper matter energy momentum tensors in the Einstein equations of motion needed to generate traversable wormhole solutions, in particular, self-consistent cylindrical rotating wormholes, with the LL-branes occupying their throats. Here a major role is being played by the dynamical LL-brane tension which turns out to be negative but may be of arbitrary small magnitude. As a particular solution we obtain traversable wormhole with Schwarzschild geometry generated by a LL-brane positioned at the wormhole throat, which represents the correct consistent realization of the original Einstein-Rosen "bridge" manifold.Comment: 27 pages; important clarifications regarding the meaning of the original Einstein-Rosen "bridge" construction; an important addition to the Appendix; acknowledgments adde

On the specific heat of a fermionic atomic cloud in the unitary regime

In the unitary regime, when the scattering amplitude greatly exceeds in magnitude the average inter-particle separation, and below the critical temperature thermal properties of an atomic fermionic cloud are governed by the collective modes, specifically the Bogoliubov-Anderson sound modes. The specific heat of an atomic cloud in a elongated trap in particular has a rather compex temperature dependence, which changes from an exponential behavior at very low temperatures ($T\ll\hbar\omega_{||}$), to $\propto T$ for $\hbar\omega_{||}\ll T \ll \hbar\omega_\perp$ and then continuosly to $\propto T^4$ at temperatures just below the critical temperature, when the surface modes play a dominant role. Only the low ($\hbar\omega_{||} \ll T \ll \hbar\omega_\perp$) and high ($\hbar\omega_\perp \ll T < T_c$) temperature power laws are well defined. For the intermediate temperatures one can introduce at most a gradually increasing with temperature exponent.Comment: 4 page