The group structure of non-Abelian NS-NS transformations

We study the transformations of the worldvolume fields of a system of multiple coinciding D-branes under gauge transformations of the supergravity Kalb-Ramond field. We find that the pure gauge part of these NS-NS transformations can be written as a U(N) symmetry of the underlying Yang-Mills group, but that in general the full NS-NS variations get mixed up non-trivially with the U(N). We compute the commutation relations and the Jacobi identities of the bigger group formed by the NS-NS and U(N) transformations.Comment: Latex, 11 pages. v2: Typos corrected; version to appear in JHEP

On effective actions of BPS branes and their higher derivative corrections

We calculate in detail the disk level S-matrix element of one Ramond-Ramond field and three gauge field vertex operators in the world volume of BPS branes, to find four gauge field couplings to all orders of $\alpha'$ up to on-shell ambiguity. Then using these infinite couplings we find that the massless pole of the field theory amplitude is exactly equal to the massless pole S-matrix element of this amplitude for the $p=n$ case to all orders of $\alpha'$. Finally we show that the infinite massless poles and the contact terms of this amplitude for the $p=n+2$ case can be reproduced by the Born-Infeld action and the Wess-Zumino actions and by their higher derivative corrections.Comment: 26 pages, 2 figures, minor corrections,references added and version published in JHE

Higher Curvature Gravity and the Holographic fluid dual to flat spacetime

Recent works have demonstrated that one can construct a (d+2) dimensional solution of the vacuum Einstein equations that is dual to a (d+1) dimensional fluid satisfying the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. In one important example, the fluid lives on a fixed timelike surface in the flat Rindler spacetime associated with an accelerated observer. In this paper, we show that the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio of the fluid takes the universal value 1/4\pi in a wide class of higher curvature generalizations to Einstein gravity. Unlike the fluid dual to asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetimes, here the choice of gravitational dynamics only affects the second order transport coefficients. We explicitly calculate these in five-dimensional Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity and discuss the implications of our results.Comment: 13 pages; v2: modified abstract, added references; v3: added clarifying comments, modified discussio

Nanomechanical Detection of Itinerant Electron Spin Flip

Spin is an intrinsically quantum property, characterized by angular momentum. A change in the spin state is equivalent to a change in the angular momentum or mechanical torque. This spin-induced torque has been invoked as the intrinsic mechanism in experiments ranging from the measurements of angular momentum of photons g-factor of metals and magnetic resonance to the magnetization reversal in magnetic multi-layers A spin-polarized current introduced into a nonmagnetic nanowire produces a torque associated with the itinerant electron spin flip. Here, we report direct measurement of this mechanical torque and itinerant electron spin polarization in an integrated nanoscale torsion oscillator, which could yield new information on the itinerancy of the d-band electrons. The unprecedented torque sensitivity of 10^{-22} N m/ \sqrt{Hz} may enable applications for spintronics, precision measurements of CP-violating forces, untwisting of DNA and torque generating molecules.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures. visit http://nano.bu.edu/ for related paper

On Non-linear Action for Gauged M2-brane

We propose a non-linear extension of U(1) \times U(1) (abelian) ABJM model including T_{M2} (higher derivative) corrections. The action proposed here is expected to describe a single M2-brane proving C^4/Z_k target space. The model includes couplings with the 3-form background in the eleven-dimensional supergravity which is consistent with the orbifold projection. We show that the novel higgs mechanism proposed by Mukhi and Papageorgakis does work even in the presence of higher derivative corrections and couplings with the background field, giving the correct structure of the Dirac-Born-Infeld action with Wess-Zumino term for a D2-brane. We also find half BPS solutions in the full non-linear theory which is interpreted as an another M2-brane intersecting with the original M2-brane. A possible generalization to U(N) \times U(N) gauge group is briefly discussed.Comment: 19 pages, no figure, references added, typos correcte

f(R) Gravities, Killing Spinor Equations, "BPS" Domain Walls and Cosmology

We derive the condition on f(R) gravities that admit Killing spinor equations and construct explicit such examples. The Killing spinor equations can be used to reduce the fourth-order differential equations of motion to the first order for both the domain wall and FLRW cosmological solutions. We obtain exact "BPS" domain walls that describe the smooth Randall-Sundrum II, AdS wormholes and the RG flow from IR to UV. We also obtain exact smooth cosmological solutions that describe the evolution from an inflationary starting point with a larger cosmological constant to an ever-expanding universe with a smaller cosmological constant. In addition, We find exact smooth solutions of pre-big bang models, bouncing or crunching universes. An important feature is that the scalar curvature R of all these metrics is varying rather than a constant. Another intriguing feature is that there are two different f(R) gravities that give rise to the same "BPS" solution. We also study linearized f(R) gravities in (A)dS vacua.Comment: 37 pages, discussion on gravity trapping in RSII modified, typos corrected, further comments and references added; version to appear in JHE

D-branes in Generalized Geometry and Dirac-Born-Infeld Action

The purpose of this paper is to formulate the Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) action in a framework of generalized geometry and clarify its symmetry. A D-brane is defined as a Dirac structure where scalar fields and gauge field are treated on an equal footing in a static gauge. We derive generalized Lie derivatives corresponding to the diffeomorphism and B-field gauge transformations and show that the DBI action is invariant under non-linearly realized symmetries for all types of diffeomorphisms and B-field gauge transformations. Consequently, we can interpret not only the scalar field but also the gauge field on the D-brane as the generalized Nambu-Goldstone boson.Comment: 32 pages, 4 figures, ver2:typos corrected, references adde

Non-Equilibrium Field Dynamics of an Honest Holographic Superconductor

Most holographic models of superconducting systems neglect the effects of dynamical boundary gauge fields during the process of spontaneous symmetry-breaking. Usually a global symmetry gets broken. This yields a superfluid, which then is gauged "weakly" afterwards. In this work we build (and probe the dynamics of) a holographic model in which a local boundary symmetry is spontaneously broken instead. We compute two-point functions of dynamical non-Abelian gauge fields in the normal and in the broken phase, and find non-trivial gapless modes. Our AdS3 gravity dual realizes a p-wave superconductor in (1+1) dimensions. The ground state of this model also breaks (1+1)-dimensional parity spontaneously, while the Hamiltonian is parity-invariant. We discuss possible implications of our results for a wider class of holographic liquids.Comment: 32 pages, 12 figures; v3: string theory derivation of setup added (section 3.1), improved presentation, version accepted by JHEP; v2: paragraph added to discussion, figure added, references added, typos correcte

On renormalization group flows and the a-theorem in 6d

We study the extension of the approach to the a-theorem of Komargodski and Schwimmer to quantum field theories in d=6 spacetime dimensions. The dilaton effective action is obtained up to 6th order in derivatives. The anomaly flow a_UV - a_IR is the coefficient of the 6-derivative Euler anomaly term in this action. It then appears at order p^6 in the low energy limit of n-point scattering amplitudes of the dilaton for n > 3. The detailed structure with the correct anomaly coefficient is confirmed by direct calculation in two examples: (i) the case of explicitly broken conformal symmetry is illustrated by the free massive scalar field, and (ii) the case of spontaneously broken conformal symmetry is demonstrated by the (2,0) theory on the Coulomb branch. In the latter example, the dilaton is a dynamical field so 4-derivative terms in the action also affect n-point amplitudes at order p^6. The calculation in the (2,0) theory is done by analyzing an M5-brane probe in AdS_7 x S^4. Given the confirmation in two distinct models, we attempt to use dispersion relations to prove that the anomaly flow is positive in general. Unfortunately the 4-point matrix element of the Euler anomaly is proportional to stu and vanishes for forward scattering. Thus the optical theorem cannot be applied to show positivity. Instead the anomaly flow is given by a dispersion sum rule in which the integrand does not have definite sign. It may be possible to base a proof of the a-theorem on the analyticity and unitarity properties of the 6-point function, but our preliminary study reveals some difficulties.Comment: 41 pages, 5 figure