arXiv subjects

Kostas Skenderis

Publications and source records attributed to Kostas Skenderis.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2007

BRST quantization of the pure spinor superstring

We present a derivation of the scattering amplitude prescription for the pure spinor superstring from first principles, both in the minimal and non-minimal formulations, and show that they are equivalent. This is achieved by first coupling the worldsheet action to topological gravity and then proceeding to BRST quantize this system. Our analysis includes the introduction of constant ghosts and associated auxiliary fields needed to gauge fix symmetries associated with zero modes. All fields introduced in the process of quantization can be integrated out explicitly, resulting in the prescriptions for computing scattering amplitudes that have appeared previously in the literature. The zero mode insertions in the path integral follow from the integration over the constant auxiliary fields.

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arXiv2007

Domain-wall/Cosmology correspondence in adS/dS supergravity

We realize the domain-wall/cosmology correspondence for (pseudo)supersymmetric domain walls (cosmologies) in the context of four-dimensional supergravity. The OSp(2|4)-invariant anti-de Sitter (adS) vacuum of a particular N=2 Maxwell-Einstein supergravity theory is shown to correspond to the OSp(2^*|2,2)-invariant de Sitter (dS) vacuum of a particular pseudo-supergravity model, with `twisted' reality conditions on spinors. More generally, supersymmetric domain walls of the former model correspond to pseudo-supersymmetric cosmologies of the latter model, with time-dependent pseudo-Killing spinors that we give explicitly.

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arXiv2007

Fuzzballs with internal excitations

We construct general 2-charge D1-D5 horizon-free non-singular solutions of IIB supergravity on T^4 and K3 describing fuzzballs with excitations in the internal manifold; these excitations are characterized by arbitrary curves. The solutions are obtained via dualities from F1-P solutions of heterotic and type IIB on T^4 for the K3 and T^4 cases, respectively. We compute the holographic data encoded in these solutions, and show that the internal excitations are captured by vevs of chiral primaries associated with the middle cohomology of T^4 or K3. We argue that each geometry is dual to a specific superposition of R ground states determined in terms of the Fourier coefficients of the curves defining the supergravity solution. We compute vevs of chiral primaries associated with the middle cohomology and show that they indeed acquire vevs in the superpositions corresponding to fuzzballs with internal excitations, in accordance with the holographic results. We also address the question of whether the fuzzball program can be implemented consistently within supergravity.

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arXiv2007

Fuzzball solutions for black holes and D1-brane--D5-brane microstates

We revisit the relation between fuzzball solutions and D1-D5 microstates. A consequence of the fact that the R ground states (in the usual basis) are eigenstates of the R-charge is that only neutral operators can have non-vanishing expectation values on these states. We compute the holographic 1-point functions of the fuzzball solutions and find that charged chiral primaries have non-zero expectation values, except when the curve characterizing the solution is circular. The non-zero vevs reflect the fact that a generic curve breaks R-symmetry completely. This implies that fuzzball solutions (excepting circular ones) can only correspond to superpositions of R states and we give a proposal for the superposition corresponding to a given curve. We also address the question of what would be the geometric dual of a given R ground state.

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arXiv2006

Hamilton-Jacobi method for Domain Walls and Cosmologies

We use Hamiltonian methods to study curved domain walls and cosmologies. This leads naturally to first order equations for all domain walls and cosmologies foliated by slices of maximal symmetry. For Minkowski and AdS-sliced domain walls (flat and closed FLRW cosmologies) we recover a recent result concerning their (pseudo)supersymmetry. We show how domain-wall stability is consistent with the instability of adS vacua that violate the Breitenlohner-Freedman bound. We also explore the relationship to Hamilton-Jacobi theory and compute the wave-function of a 3-dimensional closed universe evolving towards de Sitter spacetime.

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arXiv2006

Kaluza-Klein Holography

We construct a holographic map between asymptotically AdS_5 x S^5 solutions of 10d supergravity and vacuum expectation values of gauge invariant operators of the dual QFT. The ingredients that enter in the construction are (i) gauge invariant variables so that the KK reduction is independent of any choice of gauge fixing; (ii) the non-linear KK reduction map from 10 to 5 dimensions (constructed perturbatively in the number of fields); (iii) application of holographic renormalization. A non-trivial role in the last step is played by extremal couplings. This map allows one to reliably compute vevs of operators dual to any KK fields. As an application we consider a Coulomb branch solution and compute the first two non-trivial vevs, involving operators of dimension 2 and 4, and reproduce the field theory result, in agreement with non-renormalization theorems. This constitutes the first quantitative test of the gravity/gauge theory duality away from the conformal point involving a vev of an operator dual to a KK field (which is not one of the gauged supergravity fields).

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arXiv2006

Hidden supersymmetry of domain walls and cosmologies

We show that all domain-wall solutions of gravity coupled to scalar fields for which the worldvolume geometry is Minkowski or anti-de Sitter admit Killing spinors, and satisfy corresponding first-order equations involving a superpotential determined by the solution. By analytic continuation, all flat or closed FLRW cosmologies are shown to satisfy similar first-order equations arising from the existence of ``pseudo-Killing'' spinors.

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arXiv2006

Holographic Renormalization of Probe D-Branes in AdS/CFT

We perform holographic renormalization for probe branes in AdS_5 x S^5. We show that for four known probe D-branes wrapping an AdS_m x S^n, the counterterms needed to render the action finite are identical to those for the free, massive scalar in AdS_m plus counterterms for the renormalization of the volume of AdS_m. The four cases we consider are the probe D7, two different probe D5's and a probe D3. In the D7 case there are scheme-dependent finite counterterms that can be fixed by supersymmetry.

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arXiv2005

Thermodynamics of Asymptotically Locally AdS Spacetimes

We formulate the variational problem for AdS gravity with Dirichlet boundary conditions and demonstrate that the covariant counterterms are necessary to make the variational problem well-posed. The holographic charges associated with asymptotic symmetries are then rederived via Noether's theorem and `covariant phase space' techniques. This allows us to prove the first law of black hole mechanics for general asymptotically locally AdS black hole spacetimes. We illustrate our discussion by computing the conserved charges and verifying the first law for the four dimensional Kerr-Newman-AdS and the five dimensional Kerr-AdS black holes.

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arXiv2005

Positivity of energy for asymptotically locally AdS spacetimes

We derive necessary conditions for the spinorial Witten-Nester energy to be well-defined for asymptotically locally AdS spacetimes. We find that the conformal boundary should admit a spinor satisfying certain differential conditions and in odd dimensions the boundary metric should be conformally Einstein. We show that these conditions are satisfied by asymptotically AdS spacetimes. The gravitational energy (obtained using the holographic stress energy tensor) and the spinorial energy are equal in even dimensions and differ by a bounded quantity related to the conformal anomaly in odd dimensions.

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arXiv2005

Comments on BRST quantization of strings

The BRST quantization of strings is revisited and the derivation of the path integral measure for scattering amplitudes is streamlined. Gauge invariances due to zero modes in the ghost sector are taken into account by using the Batalin-Vilkovisky formalism. This involves promoting the moduli of Riemann surfaces to quantum mechanical variables on which BRST transformations act. The familiar ghost and antighost zero mode insertions are recovered upon integrating out auxiliary fields. In contrast to the usual treatment, the gauge-fixed action including all zero mode insertions is BRST invariant. Possible anomalous contributions to BRST Ward identities due to boundaries of moduli space are reproduced in a novel way. Two models are discussed explicitly: bosonic string theory and topological gravity coupled to the topological A-model.

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arXiv2004

Correlation Functions in Holographic RG Flows

We discuss the computation of correlation functions in holographic RG flows. The method utilizes a recently developed Hamiltonian version of holographic renormalization and it is more efficient than previous methods. A significant simplification concerns the treatment of infinities: instead of performing a general analysis of counterterms, we develop a method where only the contribution of counterterms to any given correlator needs to be computed. For instance, the computation of renormalized 2-point functions requires only an analysis at the linearized level. We illustrate the method by discussing flat and AdS-sliced domain walls. In particular, we discuss correlation functions of the Janus solution, a recently discovered non-supersymmetric but stable AdS-sliced domain wall.

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arXiv2004

AdS/CFT correspondence and Geometry

In the first part of this paper we provide a short introduction to the AdS/CFT correspondence and to holographic renormalization. We discuss how QFT correlation functions, Ward identities and anomalies are encoded in the bulk geometry. In the second part we develop a Hamiltonian approach to the method of holographic renormalization, with the radial coordinate playing the role of time. In this approach regularized correlation functions are related to canonical momenta and the near-boundary expansions of the standard approach are replaced by covariant expansions where the various terms are organized according to their dilatation weight. This leads to universal expressions for counterterms and one-point functions (in the presence of sources) that are valid in all dimensions. The new approach combines optimally elements from all previous methods and supersedes them in efficiency.

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arXiv2004

Comments on the Gauge Fixed BRST Cohomology and the Quantum Noether Method

We discuss in detail the relation between the gauge fixed and gauge invariant BRST cohomology. We showed previously that in certain gauges some cohomology classes of the gauge-fixed BRST differential do not correspond to gauge invariant observables. We now show that in addition ``accidental'' conserved currents may appear. These correspond one-to-one to observables that become trivial in this gauge. We explicitly show how the gauge-fixed BRST cohomology appears in the context of the Quantum Noether Method.

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arXiv2003

Properties of branes in curved spacetimes

A generic property of curved manifolds is the existence of focal points. We show that branes located at focal points of the geometry satisfy special properties. Examples of backgrounds to which our discussion applies are AdS_m x S^n and plane wave backgrounds. As an example, we show that a pair of AdS_2 branes located at the north and south pole of the S^5 in AdS_5 x S^5 are half supersymmetric and that they are dual to a two-monopole solution of N=4 SU(N) SYM theory. Our second example involves spacelike branes in the (Lorentzian) plane wave. We develop a modified lightcone gauge for the open string channel, analyze in detail the cylinder diagram and establish open-closed duality. When the branes are located at focal points of the geometry the amplitude acquires most of the characteristics of flat space amplitudes. In the open string channel the special properties are due to stringy modes that become massless.

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arXiv2003

On a supersymmetric completion of the R^4 term in IIB supergravity

We analyze the possibility of constructing a supersymmetric invariant that contains the $R^4$ term among its components as a superpotential term in type IIB on-shell superspace. We consider a scalar superpotential, i.e. an arbitrary holomorphic function of a chiral scalar superfield. In general, IIB superspace does not allow for the existence of chiral superfields, but the obstruction vanishes for a specific superfield, the dilaton superfield. This superfield contains all fields of type IIB supergravity among its components, and its existence is implied by the solution of the Bianchi identities. The construction requires the existence of an appropriate chiral measure, and we find an obstruction to the existence of such a measure. The obstruction is closely related to the obstruction for the existence of chiral superfields and is non-linear in the fields. These results imply that the IIB superinvariant related to the $R^4$ term is not associated with a scalar chiral superpotential.

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arXiv2003

On alpha'-corrections to D-brane solutions

We discuss the computation of the leading corrections to D-brane solutions due to higher derivative terms in the corresponding low energy effective action. We develop several alternative methods for analyzing the problem. In particular, we derive an effective one-dimensional action from which the field equations for spherically symmetric two-block brane solutions can be derived, show how to obtain first order equations, and discuss a few other approaches. We integrate the equations for extremal branes and obtain the corrections in terms of integrals of the evaluation of the higher derivative terms on the lowest order solution. To obtain completely explicit results one would need to know all leading higher derivative corrections which at present are not available. One of the known higher derivative terms is the R^4 term, and we obtain the corrections to the D3 brane solution due to this term alone. We note, however, that (unknown at present) higher terms depending on F_5 are expected to modify our result. We analyze the thermodynamics of brane solutions when such quantum corrections are present. We find that the R^4 term induces a correction to the tension and the electric potential of the D3 brane but not to its charge, and the tension is still proportional to the electric potential times the charge. In the near-horizon limit the corrected solution becomes AdS_5 \times S^5 with the same cosmological constant as the lowest order solution but a different value of the (constant) dilaton.

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arXiv2003

Open strings in the plane wave background I: Quantization and symmetries

We systematically investigate open strings in the plane wave background of type IIB string theory. We carefully analyze possible boundary conditions for open strings and find static as well as time-dependent branes. The branes fall into equivalence classes depending on whether they are related by the action of target space isometries. In particular static branes localized at the origin of transverse space and certain time-dependent branes fall into the same equivalence class. We analyze thoroughly the symmetries of all branes we discuss. Apart from symmetries descending from target space isometries, the worldsheet action being free admits a countably infinite number of other global worldsheet symmetries. We find that one can use such worldsheet symmetries to restore seemingly broken target space symmetries. In particular, we show that D-branes localized at arbitrary constant positions which were thought to be 1/4 supersymmetric in fact have sixteen supercharges whilst D-branes which were thought to be non-supersymmetric have eight supercharges. We discuss in detail the quantization in all cases.

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