On a Unified Theory of Generalized Branes Coupled to Gauge Fields,Including the Gravitational and Kalb–Ramond Fields

We investigate a theory in which fundamental objects are branes described in terms of higher grade coordinates encoding both the motion of a brane as a whole, and its volume evolution. We thus formulate a dynamics which generalizes the dynamics of the usual branes. Geometrically, coordinates and associated coordinate frame fields {} extend the notion of geometry from spacetime to that of an enlarged space, called Clifford space or C-space. If we start from four-dimensional spacetime, then the dimension of C-space is 16. The fact that C-space has more than four dimensions suggests that it could serve as a realization of Kaluza-Klein idea. The “extra dimensions” are not just the ordinary extra dimensions, they are related to the volume degrees of freedom, therefore they are physical, and need not be compactified. Gauge fields are due to the metric of Clifford space. It turns out that amongst the latter gauge fields there also exist higher grade, antisymmetric fields of the Kalb–Ramond type, and their non-Abelian generalization. All those fields are naturally coupled to the generalized branes, whose dynamics is given by a generalized Howe–Tucker action in curved C-space.     

Fresh Inflation from Five-Dimensional Vacuum State

I study fresh inflation from a five-dimensional vacuum state, where the fifth dimension is constant. In this framework, the universe can be seen as inflating in a four-dimensional Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric embedding in a five-dimensional metric. Finally, the experimental data n _s = 1 (BOOMERANG-98 and MAXIMA-1, taken together COBE DMR), are consistent with in the fresh inflationary scenario.     

Gauge theory in deformed $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = (1, 1) superspace

We review the non-anticommutative Q-deformations of = (1, 1) supersymmetric theories in four-dimensional Euclidean harmonic superspace. These deformations preserve chirality and harmonic Grassmann analyticity. The associated field theories arise as a low-energy limit of string theory in specific backgrounds and generalize the Moyal-deformed supersymmetric field theories. A characteristic feature of the Q-deformed theories is the half-breaking of supersymmetry in the chiral sector of the Euclidean superspace. Our main focus is on the chiral singlet Q-deformation, which is distinguished by preserving the SO(4) ∼ Spin(4) “Lorentz” symmetry and the SU(2) R-symmetry. We present the superfield and component structures of the deformed = (1, 0) supersymmetric gauge theory as well as of hypermultiplets coupled to a gauge superfield: invariant actions, deformed transformation rules, and so on. We discuss quantum aspects of these models and prove their renormalizability in the Abelian case. For the charged hypermultiplet in an Abelian gauge superfield background we construct the deformed holomorphic effective action. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Local Critical Perturbations of Unimodal Maps

We introduce a new complete metric in the space of unimodal C ²-maps of the interval, with two maps close if they are close in the C ²-metric and differ only on a small interval containing their critical points. We identify all structurally stable maps in the sense of this metric. They are maps for which either (1) the trajectory of the critical point is attracted to a topologically attracting (at least from one side) periodic orbit, but never falls into this orbit, or (2) the critical point is mapped by some iterate to the interior of an interval consisting entirely of periodic points of the same (minimal) period. We verify the generalized Fatou conjecture for and show that structurally stable maps form an open dense subset of . Partially supported by NSF grant DMS 0456748. Partially supported by NSF grant DMS 0456526.     

A Negative Mass Theorem for Surfaces of Positive Genus

Let M be a closed surface. For a metric g on M, denote the Laplace-Beltrami operator by Δ = Δ _g . We define trace , where dA is the area element for g and m(p) is the Robin constant at the point , that is the value of the Green function G(p, q) at q = p after the logarithmic singularity has been subtracted off. Since trace Δ⁻¹ can also be obtained by regularization of the spectral zeta function, it is a spectral invariant. Heuristically it represents the sum of squares of the wavelengths of the surface. We define the Δ-mass of (M, g) to equal , where is the Laplacian on the round sphere of area A. This is an analog for closed surfaces of the ADM mass from general relativity. We show that if M has positive genus, the minimum of the Δ-mass on each conformal class is negative and attained by a smooth metric. For this minimizing metric, there is a sharp logarithmic Hardy-Littlewood-Sobolev inequality and a Moser-Trudinger-Onofri type inequality. The author would like to acknowledge the support of the Institute for Advanced Study.     

On Some Lie Bialgebra Structures on Polynomial Algebras and their Quantization

We study classical twists of Lie bialgebra structures on the polynomial current algebra , where is a simple complex finite-dimensional Lie algebra. We focus on the structures induced by the so-called quasi-trigonometric solutions of the classical Yang-Baxter equation. It turns out that quasi-trigonometric r-matrices fall into classes labelled by the vertices of the extended Dynkin diagram of . We give the complete classification of quasi-trigonometric r-matrices belonging to multiplicity free simple roots (which have coefficient 1 in the decomposition of the maximal root). We quantize solutions corresponding to the first root of .     

Spectral Analysis and Zeta Determinant on the Deformed Spheres

We consider a class of singular Riemannian manifolds, the deformed spheres , defined as the classical spheres with a one parameter family g[k] of singular Riemannian structures, that reduces for k = 1 to the classical metric. After giving explicit formulas for the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the metric Laplacian , we study the associated zeta functions . We introduce a general method to deal with some classes of simple and double abstract zeta functions, generalizing the ones appearing in . An application of this method allows to obtain the main zeta invariants for these zeta functions in all dimensions, and in particular and . We give explicit formulas for the zeta regularized determinant in the low dimensional cases, N = 2,3, thus generalizing a result of Dowker [25], and we compute the first coefficients in the expansion of these determinants in powers of the deformation parameter k. Partially supported by FAPESP: 2005/04363-4     

Twistor Actions for Self-Dual Supergravities

We give holomorphic Chern-Simons-like action functionals on supertwistor space for self-dual supergravity theories in four dimensions, dealing with supersymmetries, the cases where different parts of the R-symmetry are gauged, and with or without a cosmological constant. The gauge group is formally the group of holomorphic Poisson transformations of supertwistor space where the form of the Poisson structure determines the amount of R-symmetry gauged and the value of the cosmological constant. We give a formulation in terms of a finite deformation of an integrable -operator on a supertwistor space, i.e., on regions in . For , we also give a formulation that does not require the choice of a background.     

Cardy Condition for Open-Closed Field Algebras

Let V be a vertex operator algebra satisfying certain reductivity and finiteness conditions such that , the category of V-modules, is a modular tensor category. We study open-closed field algebras over V equipped with nondegenerate invariant bilinear forms for both open and closed sectors. We show that they give algebras over a certain -extension of the so-called Swiss-cheese partial dioperad, and we can obtain Ishibashi states easily in such algebras. The Cardy condition can be formulated as an additional condition on such open-closed field algebras in terms of the action of the modular transformation on the space of intertwining operators of V. We then derive a graphical representation of S in the modular tensor category . This result enables us to give a categorical formulation of the Cardy condition and the modular invariance condition for 1-point correlation functions on the torus. Then we incorporate these two conditions and the axioms of the open-closed field algebra over V equipped with nondegenerate invariant bilinear forms into a tensor-categorical notion called the Cardy -algebra. In the end, we give a categorical construction of the Cardy -algebra in the Cardy case.     

Wilson line inflation

We present a general setup for inflation in string theory where the inflaton field corresponds to Wilson lines in compact space in the presence of magnetic fluxes. T-dualities and limits on the value of the magnetic fluxes relate this system to the standard D-brane inflation scenarios, such as brane-antibrane inflation, D3/D7 brane inflation and different configurations of branes at angles. This can then be seen as a generalised approach to inflation from open string modes. Inflation ends when the Wilson lines achieve a critical value and an open string mode becomes tachyonic. Then hybrid-like inflation, including its cosmic string remnants, is realized in string theory beyond the brane annihilation picture. Our formalism can be incorporated within flux-induced moduli stabilisation mechanisms in type IIB strings. Also, contrary to the standard D-brane separation, Wilson lines can be considered in heterotic string models. We provide explicit examples to illustrate similarities and differences of our mechanism to D-brane inflation. In particular we present an example in which the η problem present in brane inflation models is absent in our case. We have examples with both blue and red tilted spectral index and remnant cosmic string tension .     

A Negative Mass Theorem for the 2-Torus

Let M be a closed surface. For a metric g on M, denote the area element by dA and the Laplace-Beltrami operator by Δ = Δ _g . We define the Robin mass m(p) at the point to be the value of the Green function G(p, q) at q = p after the logarithmic singularity has been subtracted off, and we define trace . This regularized trace can also be obtained by regularization of the spectral zeta function and is hence a spectral invariant which heuristically measures the total wavelength of the surface.We define the Δ-mass of (M, g) to equal , where is the Laplacian on the round sphere of area A. This scale invariant quantity is a non-trivial analog for closed surfaces of the ADM mass for higher dimensional asymptotically flat manifolds.In this paper we show that in each conformal class for the 2-torus, there exists a metric with negative Δ-mass. From this it follows that the minimum of the Δ-mass on is negative and attained by some metric . For this minimizing metric g, one gets a sharp logarithmic Hardy-Littlewood-Sobolev inequality and an Onofri-type inequality.We remark that if the flat metric in is sufficiently long and thin then the minimizing metric g is non-flat. The proof of our result depends on analyzing the ordinary differential equation which is equivalent to h′′ = 1 − 1/h. The solutions are periodic and we need to establish quite delicate, asymptotically sharp inequalities relating the period to the maximum value. The author was supported by the National Science Foundation #DMS-0302647.     

The Uncertainty of Fluxes

In the ordinary quantum Maxwell theory of a free electromagnetic field, formulated on a curved 3-manifold, we observe that magnetic and electric fluxes cannot be simultaneously measured. This uncertainty principle reflects torsion: fluxes modulo torsion can be simultaneously measured. We also develop the Hamilton theory of self-dual fields, noting that they are quantized by Pontrjagin self-dual cohomology theories and that the quantum Hilbert space is -graded, so typically contains both bosonic and fermionic states. Significantly, these ideas apply to the Ramond-Ramond field in string theory, showing that its K-theory class cannot be measured.     

Second order Kerr deflection

We perform a full second order calculation of the deflection of light along the equatorial plane in the Kerr metric. Previous Kerr deflection calculations were interested in obtaining the correction due to rotation to the Einstein deflection. By expanding to first order in the rotational parameter a, they obtain the Einstein deflection of 4M/r _o and the second order deflection due to rotation of , (where r _o is the point of closest approach). In this paper, we are interested in going beyond the rotational contribution for the purpose of astrophysical applications. We therefore keep all terms up to second order in our final weak field expansion. Besides the rotational contribution, we also obtain an extra second order term of . Since M > a, this extra term is greater than the rotational contribution of in astrophysical applications. When a/M is close to unity the terms are of the same order of magnitude.     

Random Graph Asymptotics on High-Dimensional Tori

We investigate the scaling of the largest critical percolation cluster on a large d-dimensional torus, for nearest-neighbor percolation in sufficiently high dimensions, or when d > 6 for sufficiently spread-out percolation. We use a relatively simple coupling argument to show that this largest critical cluster is, with high probability, bounded above by a large constant times V ^2/3 and below by a small constant times , where V is the volume of the torus. We also give a simple criterion in terms of the subcritical percolation two-point function on under which the lower bound can be improved to small constant times , i.e. we prove random graph asymptotics for the largest critical cluster on the high-dimensional torus. This establishes a conjecture by [1], apart from logarithmic corrections. We discuss implications of these results on the dependence on boundary conditions for high-dimensional percolation. Our method is crucially based on the results in [11, 12], where the scaling was proved subject to the assumption that a suitably defined critical window contains the percolation threshold on . We also strongly rely on mean-field results for percolation on proved in [17–20].     

Radiating gravitational collapse with shear viscosity revisited

A new model is proposed to a collapsing radiating star consisting of an isotropic fluid with shear viscosity undergoing radial heat flow with outgoing radiation. In a previous paper we have introduced a function time dependent into the g _rr , besides the time dependent metric functions and . The aim of this work is to generalize this previous model by introducing shear viscosity and compare it to the non-viscous collapse. The behavior of the density, pressure, mass, luminosity and the effective adiabatic index is analyzed. Our work is compared to the case of a collapsing shearing fluid of a previous model, for a star with 6 . The pressure of the star, at the beginning of the collapse, is isotropic but due to the presence of the shear the pressure becomes more and more anisotropic. The black hole is never formed because the apparent horizon formation condition is never satisfied. An observer at infinity sees a radial point source radiating exponentially until reaches the time of maximum luminosity and suddenly the star turns off. The effective adiabatic index has a very unusual behavior because we have a non-adiabatic regime in the fluid due to the heat flow.     

Measures on Banach Manifolds and Supersymmetric Quantum Field Theory

We show how to construct measures on Banach manifolds associated to supersymmetric quantum field theories. These measures are mathematically well-defined objects inspired by the formal path integrals appearing in the physics literature on quantum field theory. We give three concrete examples of our construction. The first example is a family of measures on a space of functions on the two-torus, parametrized by a polynomial P (the Wess-Zumino-Landau-Ginzburg model). The second is a family of measures on a space of maps from to a Lie group (the Wess-Zumino-Novikov-Witten model). Finally we study a family of measures on the product of a space of connections on the trivial principal bundle with structure group G on a three-dimensional manifold M with a space of -valued three-forms on M. We show that these measures are positive, and that the measures are Borel probability measures. As an application we show that formulas arising from expectations in the measures reproduce formulas discovered by Frenkel and Zhu in the theory of vertex operator algebras. We conjecture that a similar computation for the measures , where M is a homology three-sphere, will yield the Casson invariant of M. Dedicated to the memory of Raoul Bott Supported in part by NSF grant DMS 04/05670.     

Exact Results for Topological Strings on Resolved <Emphasis Type="Italic">Y</Emphasis><Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic"> p</Emphasis>,<Emphasis Type="Italic">q</Emphasis></Superscript> Singularities

We obtain exact results in α′ for open and closed A-model topological string amplitudes on a large class of toric Calabi-Yau threefolds by using their correspondence with five dimensional gauge theories. The toric Calabi-Yaus that we analyze are obtained as minimal resolution of cones over Y ^p,q manifolds and give rise via M-theory compactification to SU(p) gauge theories on . As an application we present a detailed study of the local case and compute open and closed genus zero Gromov-Witten invariants of the orbifold. We also display the modular structure of the topological wave function and give predictions for higher genus amplitudes. The mirror curve in this case is the spectral curve of the relativistic A ₁ Toda chain. Our results also indicate the existence of a wider class of relativistic integrable systems associated to generic Y ^p,q geometries.     

The <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis> = 1 Triplet Vertex Operator Superalgebras

We introduce a newfamily of C ₂-cofinite N = 1 vertex operator superalgebras , m ≥ 1, which are natural super analogs of the triplet vertex algebra family , p ≥ 2, important in logarithmic conformal field theory. We classify irreducible -modules and discuss logarithmic modules. We also compute bosonic and fermionic formulas of irreducible characters. Finally, we contemplate possible connections between the category of -modules and the category of modules for the quantum group , , by focusing primarily on properties of characters and the Zhu’s algebra . This paper is a continuation of our paper Adv. Math. 217, no.6, 2664–2699 (2008). The second author was partially supported by NSF grant DMS-0802962.     

Post-Newtonian Expansions for Perfect Fluids

We prove the existence of a large class of dynamical solutions to the Einstein-Euler equations that have a first post-Newtonian expansion. The results here are based on the elliptic-hyperbolic formulation of the Einstein-Euler equations used in [15], which contains a singular parameter , where v _T is a characteristic velocity associated with the fluid and c is the speed of light. As in [15], energy estimates on weighted Sobolev spaces are used to analyze the behavior of solutions to the Einstein-Euler equations in the limit , and to demonstrate the validity of the first post-Newtonian expansion as an approximation.