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D. V. Nanopoulos

Publications and source records attributed to D. V. Nanopoulos.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
arXiv1998

Toward the M(F)--Theory Embedding of Realistic Free-Fermion Models

We construct a Landau-Ginzburg model with the same data and symmetries as a $Z_2\times Z_2$ orbifold that corresponds to a class of realistic free-fermion models. Within the class of interest, we show that this orbifolding connects between different $Z_2\times Z_2$ orbifold models and commutes with the mirror symmetry. Our work suggests that duality symmetries previously discussed in the context of specific $M$ and $F$ theory compactifications may be extended to the special $Z_2\times Z_2$ orbifold that characterizes realistic free-fermion models.

hep-th↗
arXiv1998

Ferroelectrics and their possible involvement in Biology

We present the main properties of ferroelectricity, with emphasis given to a specific family of hydrated ferroelectric crystals, which can serve as model systems for corresponding configurations in biology like the microtubules. An experimental method is described, which allows to establish the ferroelectric property of microtubules in suspension.

quant-ph↗
arXiv1998

Quantum Mechanics in Cell Microtubules: Wild Imagination or Realistic Possibility?

We focus on potential mechanisms for `energy-loss-free' transport along the cell microtubules, which could be considered as realizations of Fröhlich's ideas on the role of solitons for superconductivity and/or biological matter. In particular, by representing the MT arrangements as `cavities',we present a novel scenario on the formation of macroscopic (or mesoscopic) quantum-coherent states, as a result of the (quantum-electromagnetic) interactions of the MT dimers with the surrounding molecules of the ordered water in the interior of the MT cylinders. We present some generic order of magnitude estimates of the decoherence time in a typical model for MT dynamics. The role of (conjectured) ferroelectric properties of MT arrangements on the above quantum phenomena is emphasized. Based on these considerations, we also present a conjecture on the role of the MT in `holographic' information processing, which resembles the situation encountered in internal source X-ray holography in atomic physics.

quant-ph↗
arXiv1997

Irreversible Time Flow in a Two-Dimensional Dilaton Black Hole with Matter

We show that an exact solution of two-dimensional dilaton gravity with matter discovered previously exhibits an irreversible temporal flow towards flat space with a vanishing cosmological constant. This time flow is induced by the back reaction of matter on the space-time geometry. We demonstrate that the system is not in equilibrium if the cosmological constant is non-zero, whereas the solution with zero cosmological constant is stable. The flow of the system towards this stable end-point is derived from the renormalization-group flow of the Zamolodchikov function. This behaviour is interpreted in terms of non-critical Liouville string, with the Liouville field identified as the target time.

gr-qc↗
arXiv1997

Fermion Mass Textures in an M-Inspired Flipped SU(5) Model Derived from String

We are inspired by the facts that M-theory may reconcile the supersymmetric GUT scale with that of quantum gravity, and that it provides new avenues for low-energy supersymmetry breaking, to re-examine a flipped SU(5) model that has been derived from string and may possess an elevation to a fully-fledged M-phenomenological model. Using a complete analysis of all superpotential terms through the sixth order, we explore in this model a new flat potential direction that provides a pair of light Higgs doublets, yields realistic textures for the fermion mass matrices, and is free of R-violating interactions and dimension-five proton decay operators.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1997

Decoherent Scattering of Light Particles in a D-Brane Background

We discuss the scattering of two light particles in a D-brane background. It is known that, if one light particle strikes the D brane at small impact parameter, quantum recoil effects induce entanglement entropy in both the excited D brane and the scattered particle. In this paper we compute the asymptotic `out' state of a second light particle scattering off the D brane at large impact parameter, showing that it also becomes mixed as a consequence of quantum D-brane recoil effects. We interpret this as a non-factorizing contribution to the superscattering operator S-dollar for the two light particles in a Liouville D-brane background, that appears when quantum D-brane excitations are taken into account.

hep-th↗
arXiv1997

M-Phenomenology

Recent developments involving strongly coupled superstrings are discussed from a phenomenological point of view. In particular, strongly coupled $E_8\times E'_8$ is described as an appropriate long-wavelength limit of M-theory, and some generic phenomenological implications are analyzed, including a long sought downward shift of the string unification scale and a novel way to break supersymmetry. A specific scenario is presented that leads to a rather light, and thus presently experimentally testable, sparticle spectrum.

hep-th↗
arXiv1997

M-Theory Model-Building and Proton Stability

We study the problem of baryon stability in M theory, starting from realistic four-dimensional string models constructed using the free-fermion formulation of the weakly-coupled heterotic string. Suitable variants of these models manifest an enhanced custodial gauge symmetry that forbids to all orders the appearance of dangerous dimension-five baryon-decay operators. We exhibit the underlying geometric (bosonic) interpretation of these models, which have a $Z_2 \times Z_2$ orbifold structure similar, but not identical, to the class of Calabi-Yau threefold compactifications of M and F theory investigated by Voisin and Borcea. A related generalization of their work may provide a solution to the problem of proton stability in M theory.

hep-th↗
arXiv1997

On Quantum Mechanical Aspects of Microtubules

We discuss possible quantum mechanical aspects of MicroTubules (MT), based on recent developments in quantum physics.We focus on potential mechanisms for `energy-loss-free' transport along the microtubules, which could be considered as realizations of Fröhlich's ideas on the rôle of solitons for superconductivity and/or biological matter. By representing the MT arrangements as cavities,we present a novel scenario on the formation of macroscopic (or mesoscopic) quantum-coherent states, as a result of the (quantum-electromagnetic) interactions of the MT dimers with the surrounding molecules of the ordered water in the interior of the MT cylinders. We suggest specific experiments to test the above-conjectured quantum nature of the microtubular arrangements inside the cell. These experiments are similar in nature to those in atomic physics, used in the detection of the Rabi-Vacuum coupling between coherent cavity modes and atoms. Our conjecture is that a similar Rabi-Vacuum-splitting phenomenon occurs in the MT case.

quant-ph↗
arXiv1997

Light-Gravitino Production at Hadron Colliders

We consider the production of gravitinos ($\widetilde G$) in association with gluinos ($\tilde g$) or squarks ($\tilde q$) at hadron colliders, including the three main sub-processes: $q \bar q -> \tilde g\widetilde G$, $qg -> \tilde q\widetilde G$, and $gg -> \tilde g\widetilde G$. These channels become enhanced to the point of being observable for sufficiently light gravitino masses ($m_{\widetilde G} < 10^{-4} eV$), as motivated by some supersymmetric explanations of the CDF $eeγγ+ E_{T,miss}$ event. The characteristic signal of such events would be monojets, as opposed to dijets obtained in the more traditional supersymmetric process $p \bar p -> \tilde g\tilde g$. Searches for such events at the Tevatron can impose lower limits on the gravitino mass. In the Appendix, we provide a complete set of Feynman rules for gravitino interactions used in our calculation.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1997

Vacuum Fluctuations and Decoherence in Mesoscopic and Microscopic Systems

We discuss recent experimental evidence of decoherence in a laboratory mesoscopic system in a cavity, from which we draw analogies with the decoherence that we argue is induced by microscopic quantum-gravity fluctuations in the space-time background. We emphasize the parallel rôles played in both cases by dissipation through non-trivial vacuum fluctuations that trigger the collapse of an initially coherent quantum state. We review a phenomenological parametrization of possible effects of this kind in the neutral kaon system, where they would induce CPT violation, and describe some epxerimental tests.

quant-ph↗
arXiv1997

M Theory from World-Sheet Defects in Liouville String

We have argued previously that black holes may be represented in a D-brane approach by monopole and vortex defects in a sine-Gordon field theory model of Liouville dynamics on the world sheet. Supersymmetrizing this sine-Gordon system, we find critical behaviour in 11 dimensions, due to defect condensation that is the world-sheet analogue of D-brane condensation around an extra space-time dimension in M theory. This supersymmetric description of Liouville dynamics has a natural embedding within a 12-dimensional framework suggestive of F theory.

hep-th↗
arXiv1997

New Supersymmetric Contributions to $t->cV$

We calculate the electroweak-like one-loop supersymmetric contributions to the rare and flavor-violating decay of the top quark into a charm quark and a gauge boson: $t->c V$, with $V=γ,Z,g$. We consider loops of both charginos and down-like squarks (where we identify and correct an error in the literature) and neutralinos and up-like squarks (which have not been calculated before). We also account for left-right and generational squark mixing. Our numerical results indicate that supersymmetric contributions to $t->cV$ can be upto 5 orders of magnitude larger than their Standard Model counterparts. However, they still fall short of the sensitivity expected at the next-generation top-quark factories.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1997

Quantum Decoherence in a D-Foam Background

Within the general framework of Liouville string theory, we construct a model for quantum D-brane fluctuations in the space-time background through which light closed-string states propagate. The model is based on monopole and vortex defects on the world sheet, which have been discussed previously in a treatment of 1+1-dimensional black-hole fluctuations in the space-time background, and makes use of a T-duality transformation to relate formulations with Neumann and Dirichlet boundary conditions. In accordance with previous general arguments, we derive an open quantum-mechanical description of this D-brane foam which embodies momentum and energy conservation and small mean energy fluctuations. Quantum decoherence effects appear at a rate consistent with previous estimates.

hep-th↗
arXiv1997

Microtubules: The neuronic system of the neurons?

In this talk we review recent work on integrable models for Microtubule (MT) networks, subneural paracrystalline cytosceletal structures, which seem to play a fundamental role in the neurons. We cast here the complicated MT dynamics in the form of a 1+1-dimensional non-critical string theory, which can be formulated in terms of (dual) Dirichlet branes, according to modern perspectives. We suggest that the MTs are the microsites in the brain, for the emergence of stable, macroscopic quantum coherent states, identifiable with the ``preconscious states''. Quantum space-time effects, as described by non-critical string theory, trigger then an ``organized collapse'' of the coherent states down to a specific or ``conscious state''. The whole process we estimate to take O(1 sec), in excellent agreement with a plethora of experimental/observational findings. The complete integrability of the stringy model for MT proves sufficient in providing a satisfactory solution to memory coding and capacity. Such features might turn out to be important for a model of the brain as a quantum computer.

quant-ph↗
arXiv1996

CPT and Superstring

We discuss the possibility that CPT violation may appear as a consequence of microscopic decoherence due to quantum-gravity effects, that we describe using a density-matrix formalism motivated by our studies of non-critical string theory. The maximum possible order of magnitude of such decohering CPT-violating effects is not far from the sensitivity of present experiments on the neutral kaon system, and we review a simple parametrization for them. We also review a recent data analysis carried out together with the CPLEAR collaboration, which bounds any such decohering CPT-violating parameters to be $\lappeq 10^{-19}$ GeV.

hep-ph↗
arXiv1996

D Branes from Liouville Strings

We develop quantization aspects of our Liouville approach to non-critical strings, proposing a path-integral formulation of a second quantization of string theory, that incorporates naturally the couplings of string sources to background fields. Such couplings are characteristic of macroscopic string solutions and/or $D$-brane theories. Resummation over world-sheet genera in the presence of stringy ($σ$-model) soliton backgrounds, and recoil effects associated with logarithmic operators on the world sheet, play a crucial rôle in inducing such sources as well-defined renormalization-group counterterms. Using our Liouville renormalization group approach, we derive the appropriate second-order equation of motion for the $D$ brane. We discuss within this approach the appearance of open strings, whose ends carry non-trivial Chan-Paton-like quantum numbers related to the $W_\infty$ charges of two-dimensional string black holes.

hep-th↗