arXiv subjects

M. Gutperle

Publications and source records attributed to M. Gutperle.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2003

Type IIB Colliding Plane Waves

Four-dimensional colliding plane wave (CPW) solutions have played an important role in understanding the classical non-linearities of Einstein's equations. In this note, we investigate CPW solutions in $2n+2$--dimensional Einstein gravity with a $n+1$-form flux. By using an isomorphism with the four-dimensional problem, we construct exact solutions analogous to the Szekeres vacuum solution in four dimensions. The higher-dimensional versions of the Khan-Penrose and Bell-Szekeres CPW solutions are studied perturbatively in the vicinity of the light-cone. We find that under small perturbations, a curvature singularity is generically produced, leading to both space-like and time-like singularities. For $n=4$, our results pertain to the collision of two ten-dimensional type IIB Blau - Figueroa o'Farrill - Hull - Papadopoulos plane waves.

hep-th↗

arXiv2003

Timelike Boundary Liouville Theory

The timelike boundary Liouville (TBL) conformal field theory consisting of a negative norm boson with an exponential boundary interaction is considered. TBL and its close cousin, a positive norm boson with a non-hermitian boundary interaction, arise in the description of the $c=1$ accumulation point of $c<1$ minimal models, as the worldsheet description of open string tachyon condensation in string theory and in scaling limits of superconductors with line defects. Bulk correlators are shown to be exactly soluble. In contrast, due to OPE singularities near the boundary interaction, the computation of boundary correlators is a challenging problem which we address but do not fully solve. Analytic continuation from the known correlators of spatial boundary Liouville to TBL encounters an infinite accumulation of poles and zeros. A particular contour prescription is proposed which cancels the poles against the zeros in the boundary correlator $d(ø) $ of two operators of weight $ø^2$ and yields a finite result. A general relation is proposed between two-point CFT correlators and stringy Bogolubov coefficients, according to which the magnitude of $d(ø)$ determines the rate of open string pair creation during tachyon condensation. The rate so obtained agrees at large $ø$ with a minisuperspace analysis of previous work. It is suggested that the mathematical ambiguity arising in the prescription for analytic continuation of the correlators corresponds to the physical ambiguity in the choice of open string modes and vacua in a time dependent background.

hep-th↗

arXiv1998

D-particle bound states and the D-instanton measure

A connection is made between the Witten index of relevance to threshold bound states of D-particles in the type IIA superstring theory and the measure that enters D-instanton sums for processes dominated by single multiply-charged D-instantons in the type IIB theory.

hep-th↗

arXiv1997

One loop in eleven dimensions

Four-graviton scattering in eleven-dimensional supergravity is considered at one loop compactified on one, two and three-dimensional tori. The dependence on the toroidal geometry determines the known perturbative and non-perturbative terms in the corresponding processes in type II superstring theories in ten, nine and eight dimensions. The ultra-violet divergence must be regularized so that it has a precisely determined finite value that is consistent both with T-duality in nine dimensions and with eleven-dimensional supersymmetry.

hep-th↗

arXiv1996

Configurations of two D-instantons

The potential between two separated D-instantons at fixed (super) space-time points is obtained by a simple explicit integration over the `massive' variables of the zero-dimensional reduction of ten-dimensional U(2) super Yang-Mills theory. This potential vanishes for asymptotically large separations, becoming significant at separations of around the ten-dimensional Planck scale with a singularity at the origin, which is resolved by the extra `massless' internal Yang-Mills super-coordinates.

hep-th↗