Related papers: Chirality Changing Phase Transitions in 4d String …
Recent investigations involving the decay of unstable D-branes in string theory suggest that the tree level open string theory which describes the dynamics of the D-brane already knows about the closed string states produced in the decay of…
We consider a model of chiral phase transitions in nuclei, suggested by T.D. Lee et al., and argue that such transitions may be seen in cumulative effect investigations. Finite-range effects arising from the smallness of the system are…
We study "vacuum crossing", which occurs when the vacua of a theory are exchanged as we vary some periodic parameter $\theta$ in a closed loop. We show that vacuum crossing is a useful non-perturbative tool to study strongly-coupled quantum…
The spectrum of stable electrically and magnetically charged supersymmetric particles can change discontinuously as one changes the vacuum on the Coulomb branch of gauge theories with extended supersymmetry in four dimensions. We show that…
We study the restrictions imposed by cancellation of the tadpoles for two, three, and four-form gauge fields in string theory, M-theory and F-theory compactified to two, three and four dimensions, respectively. For a large class of…
The main focus of this talk is the physics of large N QCD on a continuum torus. A cascade of phase transitions associated with the breaking of U(1) symmetries will be discussed. The continuum Wilson loop as a function of its area will be…
We briefly review a class of four dimensional $\mathcal N=3$ field theories constructed by taking a quotient of $\mathcal N=4$ SYM with gauge group $U(N)$. The quotient involves a discrete symmetry that only exists for specific, order one,…
We study four-dimensional interacting fermions in a strong magnetic field, using the holographic Sakai-Sugimoto model of intersecting D4 and D8 branes in the deconfined, chiral-symmetric parallel phase. We find that as the magnetic field is…
We study the cosmological transition of 5D warped compactifications, from the high-temperature black-brane phase to the low-temperature Randall-Sundrum I phase. The transition proceeds via percolation of bubbles of IR-brane nucleating from…
The scalar potential of a multi-Higgs model can possess a rich structure of minima and saddle points, which evolves in an intricate way as the parameters change. In the hot early Universe, it could trigger multi-step phase transitions, with…
We investigate the transition from second to first order systems. This transforms configuration space into phase space and hence introduces noncommutativity in the former. Quantum mechanically, the transition may be described in terms of…
We perform Monte Carlo simulations of a gauge invariant spin system which describes random surfaces with gonihedric action in four dimensions. The Hamiltonian is a mixture of one-plaquette and additional two- and three-plaquette interaction…
We study the dynamics near a 1+1 dimensional intersection of two orthogonal stacks of fivebranes in type IIB string theory, using an open string description valid at weak coupling, and a closed string description valid at strong coupling.…
We consider a brane configuration consisting of intersecting Neveu-Schwarz five-branes, Dirichlet four-branes, and an orientifold four-plane in a C^2/Z_3 orbifold background. We show that the low-energy dynamics is described by a four…
We present a full characterization of the phase transition in U(1) scalar field theory and of the associated vortex string thermodynamics in 3D. We show that phase transitions in the string densities exist and measure their critical…
Branes are ubiquitous elements of any low-energy limit of string theory. We point out that negative tension branes violate all the standard energy conditions of the higher-dimensional spacetime they are embedded in; this opens the door to…
Within gauge/gravity duality, we study the class of four dimensional CFTs with chiral anomaly described by Einstein-Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory in five dimensions. In particular we determine the phase diagram at finite temperature, chemical…
We study M5-branes wrapped on a multi-centred Taub-NUT space. Reducing to String Theory on the circle fibration leads to D4-branes intersecting with D6-branes. D-braneology shows that there are additional charged chiral fermions from the…
Many N=1 heterotic string compactifications exhibit physically mysterious singularities at codimension one in the moduli space of vacua. At these singularities, Yukawa couplings of charged fields develop poles as a function of the moduli.…
Although one-dimensional classical spin chains do not exhibit phase transitions, we found that a phase transition does occur when they are coupled to a cavity photon mode. This provides the simplest exactly solvable examples demonstrating…