15744838
Instabilities in heterotic M-theory induced by open membrane instantons
Abstract We study the effective low energy supergravity of the strongly coupled heterotic string compactified on a Calabi–Yau 3-fold with generic E 8 × E 8 gauge bundle. We focus on the effective potential for the chiral scalars. The effective superpotential can be studied using the dual 11-dimensional M-theory background involving insertions of M5-branes along an interval. In such backgrounds, in some regions of moduli space, the leading nonperturbative contributions are due to open membrane instantons. These instantons lead to both attractive and repulsive forces between the 5-branes and the orientifold “M9-branes”, depending on the region of moduli space. The resulting dynamics on moduli space include a strong coupling dual to the Dine–Seiberg instability, in which the interval grows. We discuss conditions under which the 5-branes are attracted to the wall and comment on the relevance of these results to the study of chirality-changing phase transitions in heterotic M-theory.
122595912
Anomalies in Nonlinear $\sigma$ Models
Certain nonlinear sigma models with fermions suffer from an anomaly similar to the one in non-Abelian gauge theory. We exhibit this anomaly using both perturbative and global methods. The affected theories are ill defined and hence unsuitable for describing low-energy dynamics. They include certain supersymmetric models in four space-time dimensions.
124306496
The M theory three form and E(8) gauge theory
15868022
Donaldson Invariants for Non-Simply Connected Manifolds
Abstract:We study Coulomb branch (“u-plane”) integrals for supersymmetric SU(2),SO(3) Yang–Mills theory on 4-manifolds X of b1(X)>0, b2+(X)= 1. Using wall-crossing arguments we derive expressions for the Donaldson invariants for manifolds with b1(X)>0, b2+(X)>0. Explicit expressions for , where Fg is a Riemann surface of genus g are obtained using Kronecker's double series identity. The result might be useful in future studies of quantum cohomology.
118337669
Symmetries of the Bosonic String S-Matrix
The bracket operation on mutually local BRST classes may be combined with Lorentz invariance and analyticity to write an infinite set of finite difference relations on string scattering amplitudes. When combined with some simple physical criteria these relations uniquely determine the genus zero string $S$-matrix for $N\leq 26$-particle scattering in $\IR^{25,1}$ in terms of a single parameter, $\kappa$, the string coupling. We propose that the high-energy limit of the relations are the Ward identities for the high-energy symmetries of string theory.
14205277
Melvin Models and Diophantine Approximation
Melvin models with irrational twist parameter provide an interesting example of conformal field theories with non-compact target space, and localized states which are arbitrarily close to being delocalized. We study the torus partition sum of these models, focusing on the properties of the regularized dimension of the space of localized states. We show that its behavior is related to interesting arithmetic properties of the twist parameter γ, such as the Lyapunov exponent. Moreover, for γ in a set of measure one the regularized dimension is in fact not a well-defined number but must be considered as a random variable in a probability distribution.
7244562
Electroweak bubble wall friction: analytic results
We present an entirely analytic, leading log order determination of the friction an electroweak bubble wall feels during a first order electroweak phase transition. The friction is dominated by W bosons, and gives a wall velocity parametrically ~ αw, and numerically small, ~ .01÷0.1 depending on the Higgs mass.
9198930
Heavy quark diffusion in perturbative QCD at next-to-leading order.
We compute the momentum diffusion coefficient of a heavy quark in a hot QCD plasma, to next-to-leading order in the weak-coupling expansion. Corrections arise at [see formula]; physically they represent interference between overlapping scatterings, as well as soft, electric scale (p approximately gT) gauge field physics, which we treat using the hard thermal loop effective theory. In 3-color, 3-flavor QCD, the momentum diffusion constant of a fundamental representation heavy quark at next-to-leading order is kappa = 16pi/3alpha(s)(2)T(3)(ln1/g(s)+0.07428+1.9026 g(s)). The convergence of the perturbative expansion is poor.
13918277
Real time simulations in lattice gauge theory
Abstract I review the study of real (Minkowski) time correlators in hot, weakly coupled Yang-Mills theory via lattice methods. I concentrate on the Minkowski time topological susceptibility, which is related to the efficiency of baryon number violation at high temperature. It can be computed by approximating the IR fields as classical and solving their dynamics nonperturbatively on the lattice. However it is essential to include the UV degrees of freedom. Their influence can be computed perturbatively and included in the lattice model by the addition of auxiliary fields.
16445189
Chern-Simons number diffusion and hard thermal loops on the lattice
We develop a discrete lattice implementation of the hard thermal loop effective action by the method of added auxiliary fields. We use the resulting model to measure the sphaleron rate (topological susceptibility) of Yang-Mills theory at weak coupling. Our results give parametric behavior in accord with the arguments of Arnold, Son, and Yaffe, and are in quantitative agreement with the results of Moors, Hu, and Muller.
117347666
Jet energy loss, photon production, and photon-hadron correlations at RHIC
Jet energy loss, photon production and photon-hadron correlations are studied together at high transverse momentum in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC energies. The modification of hard jets traversing a hot and dense nuclear medium is evaluated by consistently taking into account induced gluon radiation and elastic collisions. The production of high transverse momentum photons in Au+Au collisions at RHIC is calculated by incorporating a complete set of photon-production channels. Comparison with experimental photon production and photon-hadron correlation data is performed, using a (3+1)-dimensional relativistic hydrodynamic description of the thermalized medium created in these collisions. Our results demonstrate that the interaction between the hard jets and the soft medium is important for the study of photon production and of photon-hadron correlation at RHIC.