54800654
Holography of the conformal window
Inspired by the model of Jarvinen and Kiritsis, we present a simple holographic model for the onset of chiral symmetry breaking at the edge of the conformal window in QCD in the Veneziano limit. Our most naive model enforces the QCD two-loop running coupling on a D3/D7 holographic brane system. The mass of the holographic field, describing the chiral condensate in the model, is driven below the Breitenlohner-Freedman bound when the running is sufficiently strong, triggering chiral symmetry breaking for Nf/Nc<2.9. This model though contains too great a remnant of supersymmetry and does not correctly encode the perturbative anomalous dimensions of QCD. In a second model we impose the QCD anomalous dimension result and find chiral symmetry breaking sets in for Nf/Nc=4 at a Berezinsky-Kosterlitz-Thouless-type phase transition. In this case the transition is triggered when the anomalous dimension of the mass operator γm=1.
18555159
Additional fermion families and precision electroweak data
Abstract The S , T , and U formalism for studying electroweak precision data has recently been updated to include the effects of new light physics and within this analysis the latest LEP and SLC data tightly constrain models of physics beyond the Standard Model. We re-examine the constraints on additional strong and weakly interacting fermion families in the light of these developments. We conclude that the precision data favour models with at least one fermion with a mass below 150 GeV.
7462815
Softly broken SQCD: in the continuum, on the lattice, on the brane
Abstract We review progress in studying the solutions of SQCD in the presence of explicit, soft SUSY breaking terms. Massive N = 1 SQCD in the presece of a small gaugino mass leads to a controlled solution which has interesting phase structure with changing θ angle reminiscent of the QCD chiral Lagrangian. Current attempts to test the solutions of pure glue SQCD on the lattice require a theoretical understandinf of the theory with small gaugino mass in order to understand the approach to the SUSY point. We provide such a description making predictions for the gaugino condensate and lightest bound state masses. Finally we briefly review recent D-brane constructions of 4D gauge theories in string theory including a non-supersymmetric configuration. We identify this configuration with softly broken N = 2 SQCD.
14538317
Field theory operator encoding in N = 2 geometries
We investigate supergravity solutions describing D5-branes wrapped on a two cycle which are dual to = 2 super Yang Mills theory. Brane probing these solutions allows the moduli space of the field theory to be identified. There are a unique set of coordinates in which the field theory on the probe takes an = 2 form and in these coordinates the running coupling of the gauge theory may be identified. We show that the geometry, when restricted to the moduli space, takes a very simple form involving only two functions. One is the running gauge coupling whilst the other parametrizes the scalar operators of the field theory. The D5-brane distributions, for the full set of solutions in the literature, can be determined by assuming the field theory's form for the running coupling as a function of scalar vevs. We show that the resulting distributions also correctly reproduce the scalar operators parametrized elsewhere providing the first non-trivial consistency check on the duality.
119206061
Hadronization at the AdS wall
We describe hadronization events, using the AdS/CFT Correspondence, which display many of the qualitative features expected in QCD. In particular we study the motion of strings with separating end points in a back-reacted hard wall geometry. The solutions show the development of a linear QCD-like string. The end points oscillate in the absence of string breaking. We introduce string breaking by hand and evolve the new state forward in time to observe the separation of two string segments. A kink associated with this breaking evolves to the end points of the string inducing rho meson production. We explicitly compute the rho meson production at the end point.
118470786
Chemical potential in the gravity dual of a 2 + 1 dimensional system
We study probe D5 branes in D3 brane AdS5 and AdS5-Schwarzschild backgrounds as a prototype dual description of strongly coupled 2+1 dimensional quasiparticles. We introduce a chemical potential through the U(1)R symmetry group, U(1) baryon number, and a U(1) of isospin in the multiflavor case. We find the appropriate D5 embeddings in each case—the embeddings do not exhibit the spontaneous symmetry breaking that would be needed for a superconductor. The isospin chemical potential does induce the condensation of charged meson states.
15950280
How to Identify Pre-Protostellar Cores
We have observed the HCO+ J = 3-2 line toward 17 starless cores selected from the list of Ward-Thompson and coworkers. Six of these cores have line asymmetries indicative of collapse. The excess of blue-skewed profiles over red-skewed profiles is at least as large as that found in samples of Class 0 and early Class I sources. The observed line profiles have the same narrow line widths and small peak temperatures predicted for young sources in evolutionary models, but the blue/red ratios, like those of older sources, are higher than models predict. The infall signature also occurs over large scales, suggesting that these cores have overall inward motions. We have divided these starless cores into two groups based on the continuum photometry of Ward-Thompson and coworkers and our HCO+ data. We find stronger HCO+ emission among the cores detected in the submillimeter, and all the blue-skewed line profiles are in this group, supporting the suggestion of Ward-Thompson and coworkers that these are the pre-protostellar cores.
119530552
SHARC-II Mapping of Spitzer c2d Small Clouds and Cores
We present the results of a submillimeter survey of 53 low-mass dense cores with the Submillimeter High Angular Resolution Camera II (SHARC-II). The survey is a follow-up project to the Spitzer Legacy Program From Molecular Cores to Planet-Forming Disks, with the purpose of creating a complete data set of nearby low-mass dense cores from the infrared to the millimeter. We present maps of 52 cores at 350 μm and three cores at 450 μm, two of which were observed at both wavelengths. Of these 52 cores, 41 were detected by SHARC-II; 32 contained one submillimeter source, while 9 contained multiple sources. For each submillimeter source detected, we report various source properties including source position, fluxes in various apertures, size, aspect ratio, and position angle. For the 12 cores that were not detected we present upper limits. The sources detected by SHARC-II have, on average, smaller sizes at the 2 σ contours than those derived from longer wavelength bolometer observations. We conclude that this is not caused by a failure to integrate long enough to detect the full extent of the core; instead it arises primarily from the fact that the observations presented in this survey are insensitive to smoothly varying extended emission. We find that SHARC-II observations of low-mass cores are much better suited to distinguishing between starless and protostellar cores than observations at longer wavelengths. Very low luminosity objects, a new class of objects being discovered by the Spitzer Space Telescope in cores previously classified as starless, look very similar at 350 μm to other cores with more luminous protostars.
335064
Probing protoplanetary disks with silicate emission : Where is the silicate emission zone?
Recent results indicate that the grain size and crystallinity inferred from observations of silicate features may be correlated with the spectral type of the central star and/or disk geometry. In this paper, we show that grain size, as probed by the 10 μm silicate feature peak-to-continuum and 11.3 to 9.8 μm flux ratios, is inversely proportional to log Lsstarf. These trends can be understood using a simple two-layer disk model for passive irradiated flaring disks, CGPLUS. We find that the radius, R10, of the 10 μm silicate emission zone in the disk goes as (L*/L☉)^0.56, with slight variations depending on disk geometry (flaring angle and inner disk radius). The observed correlations, combined with simulated emission spectra of olivine and pyroxene mixtures, imply a dependence of grain size on luminosity. Combined with the fact that R10 is smaller for less luminous stars, this implies that the apparent grain size of the emitting dust is larger for low-luminosity sources. In contrast, our models suggest that the crystallinity is only marginally affected, because for increasing luminosity, the zone for thermal annealing (assumed to be at T > 800 K) is enlarged by roughly the same factor as the silicate emission zone. The observed crystallinity is affected by disk geometry, however, with increased crystallinity in flat disks. The apparent crystallinity may also increase with grain growth due to a corresponding increase in contrast between crystalline and amorphous silicate emission bands.
14156633
EVOLUTIONARY SIGNATURES IN THE FORMATION OF LOW-MASS PROTOSTARS. II. TOWARD RECONCILING MODELS AND OBSERVATIONS
A long-standing problem in low-mass star formation is the luminosity problem, whereby protostars are underluminous compared to the accretion luminosity expected both from theoretical collapse calculations and arguments based on the minimum accretion rate necessary to form a star within the embedded phase duration. Motivated by this luminosity problem, we present a set of evolutionary models describing the collapse of low-mass, dense cores into protostars. We use as our starting point the evolutionary model following the inside-out collapse of a singular isothermal sphere as presented by Young & Evans. We calculate the radiative transfer of the collapsing core throughout the full duration of the collapse in two dimensions. From the resulting spectral energy distributions, we calculate standard observational signatures (L bol, T bol, L bol/L smm) to directly compare to observations. We incorporate several modifications and additions to the original Young & Evans model in an effort to better match observations with model predictions; we include (1) the opacity from scattering in the radiative transfer, (2) a circumstellar disk directly in the two-dimensional radiative transfer, (3) a two-dimensional envelope structure, taking into account the effects of rotation, (4) mass-loss and the opening of outflow cavities, and (5) a simple treatment of episodic mass accretion. We find that scattering, two-dimensional geometry, mass-loss, and outflow cavities all affect the model predictions, as expected, but none resolve the luminosity problem. On the other hand, we find that a cycle of episodic mass accretion similar to that predicted by recent theoretical work can resolve this problem and bring the model predictions into better agreement with observations. Standard assumptions about the interplay between mass accretion and mass loss in our model give star formation efficiencies consistent with recent observations that compare the core mass function and stellar initial mass function. Finally, the combination of outflow cavities and episodic mass accretion reduces the connection between observational class and physical stage to the point where neither of the two commonly used observational signatures (T bol and L bol/L smm) can be considered reliable indicators of physical stage.
119282091
The Spitzer c2d Survey Of Nearby Dense Cores. XI. Infrared And Submillimeter Observations Of CB130
We present new observations of the CB130 region composed of three separate cores. Using the Spitzer Space Telescope, we detected a Class 0 and a Class II object in one of these, CB130-1. The observed photometric data from Spitzer and ground-based telescopes are used to establish the physical parameters of the Class 0 object. Spectral energy distribution fitting with a radiative transfer model shows that the luminosity of the Class 0 object is 0.14-0.16 L ⊙ , which is low for a protostellar object. In order to constrain the chemical characteristics of the core having the low-luminosity object, we compare our molecular line observations to models of lines including abundance variations. We tested both ad hoc step function abundance models and a series of self-consistent chemical evolution models. In the chemical evolution models, we consider a continuous accretion model and an episodic accretion model to explore how variable luminosity affects the chemistry. The step function abundance models can match observed lines reasonably well. The best-fitting chemical evolution model requires episodic accretion and the formation of CO 2 ice from CO ice during the low-luminosity periods. This process removes C from the gas phase, providing a much improved fit to the observed gas-phase molecular lines and the CO 2 ice absorption feature. Based on the chemical model result, the low luminosity of CB 130-1 is explained better as a quiescent stage between episodic accretion bursts rather than being at the first hydrostatic core stage.