No Arabic abstract
In 4D general relativity, the angular momentum of a black hole is limited by the Kerr bound. We suggest that in string theory, this bound can be breached and compact black-hole-like objects can spin faster. Near such superspinars, the efficiency of energy transfer from the accreting matter to radiation can reach 100%, compared to the maximum efficiency of 42% of the extremal Kerr (or 6% of the Schwarzschild) black hole. Finding such superspinning objects as active galactic nuclei, GBHCs, or sources of gamma ray bursts, could be viewed as experimental support for string theory.
We construct a model of quintessence in string theory based on the idea of axion monodromy as discussed by McAllister, Silverstein and Westphal arXiv:0808.0706. In the model, the quintessence field is an axion whose shift symmetry is broken by the presence of 5-branes which are placed in highly warped throats. This gives rise to a potential for the axion field which is slowly varying, even after incorporating the effects of moduli stabilization and supersymmetry breaking. We find that the resulting time dependence in the equation of state of Dark Energy is potentially detectable, depending on the initial conditions. The model has many very light extra particles which live in the highly warped throats, but these are hard to detect. A signal in the rotation of the CMB polarization can also possibly arise.
We demonstrate that AdS_5 x T^{pq} is unstable, in the sense of Breitenlohner and Freedman, for unequal p and q. This settles, negatively, the long-standing question of whether the T^{pq} manifolds for unequal p and q might correspond to non-supersymmetric fixed points of the renormalization group. We also show that the AdS_3 x S^7 vacuum of Sugimotos USp(32) open string theory is unstable. This explains, at a heuristic level, the apparent absence of a heterotic string dual.
In this work we briefly review the Kovtun-Son-Starinet (KSS) computation of the ratio eta/s for quantum field theories with gravitational dual and the related conjecture that it is bound from below by 1/(4 pi). We discuss the validity of the bound and the nature of its possible violations, its relevance for RHIC, its connection with phase transitions and other related issues.
We perform an extensive analysis of the statistics of axion masses and interactions in compactifications of type IIB string theory, and we show that black hole superradiance excludes some regions of Calabi-Yau moduli space. Regardless of the cosmological model, a theory with an axion whose mass falls in a superradiant band can be probed by the measured properties of astrophysical black holes, unless the axion self-interaction is large enough to disrupt formation of a condensate. We study a large ensemble of compactifications on Calabi-Yau hypersurfaces, with $1 leq h^{1,1} leq 491$ closed string axions, and determine whether the superradiance conditions on the masses and self-interactions are fulfilled. The axion mass spectrum is largely determined by the Kahler parameters, for mild assumptions about the contributing instantons, and takes a nearly-universal form when $h^{1,1} gg 1$. When the Kahler moduli are taken at the tip of the stretched Kahler cone, the fraction of geometries excluded initially grows with $h^{1,1}$, to a maximum of $approx 0.5$ at $h^{1,1} approx 160$, and then falls for larger $h^{1,1}$. Further inside the Kahler cone, the superradiance constraints are far weaker, but for $h^{1,1} gg 100$ the decay constants are so small that these geometries may be in tension with astrophysical bounds, depending on the realization of the Standard Model.
In this contribution we go through the developments that in the years 1968 to 1974 led from the Veneziano model to the bosonic string.