Non-axisymmetric instability of rotating black holes in higher dimensions

We calculate the scalar-gravitational quasi-normal modes of equal angular momenta Myers-Perry black holes in odd dimensions. We find a new bar-mode (non-axisymmetric) classical instability for $D \ge 7$. These black holes were previously found to be unstable to axisymmetric perturbations for spins very near extremality. The bar-mode instability we find sets in at much slower spins, and is therefore the dominant instability of these black holes. This instability has important consequences for the phase diagram of black holes in higher dimensions

Holographic thermalization, quasinormal modes and superradiance in Kerr-AdS

Black holes in anti-de Sitter (AdS) backgrounds play a pivotal role in the gauge/gravity duality where they determine, among other things, the approach to equilibrium of the dual field theory. We undertake a detailed analysis of perturbed Kerr-AdS black holes in four- and five-dimensional spacetimes, including the computation of its quasinormal modes, hydrodynamic modes and superradiantly unstable modes. Our results shed light on the possibility of new black hole phases with a single Killing field, possible new holographic phenomena and phases in the presence of a rotating chemical potential, and close a crucial gap in our understanding of linearized perturbations of black holes in anti-de Sitter scenarios

Exploring new physics frontiers through numerical relativity

The demand to obtain answers to highly complex problems within strong-field gravity has been met with significant progress in the numerical solution of Einstein's equations - along with some spectacular results - in various setups. We review techniques for solving Einstein's equations in generic spacetimes, focusing on fully nonlinear evolutions but also on how to benchmark those results with perturbative approaches. The results address problems in high-energy physics, holography, mathematical physics, fundamental physics, astrophysics and cosmology

Neutrinos

229 pages229 pages229 pagesThe Proceedings of the 2011 workshop on Fundamental Physics at the Intensity Frontier. Science opportunities at the intensity frontier are identified and described in the areas of heavy quarks, charged leptons, neutrinos, proton decay, new light weakly-coupled particles, and nucleons, nuclei, and atoms

A goldstino at the bottom of the cascade

Working within a five-dimensional consistent truncation of type IIB supergravity dimensionally reduced on $T^{1,1}$, we consider supersymmetry breaking solutions with the asymptotics of the supersymmetric Klebanov-Strassler background. There exists a two-parameter family of such solutions. Within this family, we show that those (and only those) solutions related to antiD-branes at the tip of the conifold correspond to dual field theory vacua where a goldstino mode is present and supercurrent Ward identities hold. Our findings do not depend on the IR singularity of the dual backgrounds, nor on its resolution. As such, they constitute an independent, necessary check for the existence of supersymmetry breaking vacua in the conifold cascading gauge theory. Our analysis relies on a holographic derivation of the Ward identities which has a wider applicability, beyond the specific system and symmetries considered here.Comment: 33+1 pages; v2: Slight rephrasing of the abstract, typos corrected and a reference added; v3: More minor typos corrected, footnote 18 added, version published in JHE