We report lattice computations in SU(Nc) pure gauge theory, where Nc is increased beyond the physical value of 3. We demonstrate two-loop scaling of Tc, thus obtaining the variation of Tc/ΛMS with Nc, and fixing the temperature scale. We study the equation of state of the gluoNc plasma, the conformal anomaly, and the approach to the weak coupling theory. We find that the weak-coupling predictio...

We study a monomer-dimer mixture defined on a honeycomb lattice as a toy model for the spin-ice system in a magnetic field. In a low-doping region of monomers, the effective description of this system is given by the dual sine-Gordon model. In intermediate- and strong-doping regions, the Potts lattice gas theory can be employed. Synthesizing these results, we construct a renormalization-group f...

We calculate numerically the torus one-point string diagram in two-dimensional cosmology background by decomposing functions $c=1$ and $c=25$ Liouville CFT into Virasoro conformal blocks integrating over fundamental domain of moduli space. find a remarkably simple result as function outgoing closed energy. This is expected to contribute cosmological wavefunction at order $g_s$, four-point $g_s^...

Renormalization group flows of quiver gauge theories play a central role in determining the low-energy properties of string vacua. We demonstrate that useful predictions about the RG dynamics of a quiver gauge theory may be extracted from the global structure of its quiver diagram. For quiver theories of a certain type, we develop an efficient and practical method for determining which superpot...

We consider Quid vesicles of toroidal topology. Minimization of the curvature energy at fixed volume and area leads to three difterent branches of axisymmetric shapes. By using conformal transformations, we identify a large region of nonaxisymmetric shapes in the phase diagram. For vanishing spontaneous curvature, the ground state is twofold degenerate in this region and corresponds to zero pre...

The backreaction of D-branes on closed string moduli is studied in perturbed conformal field theory. To this end we analyse the divergences in the modular integral of the annulus diagram. By the Fischler-Susskind mechanism, these divergences lead to additional terms in the bulk renormalisation group equations. We derive explicit expressions for these backreaction terms, and follow the resulting...

We report on numerical simulations of SU(2) lattice gauge theory with two flavors of light dynamical quarks in the adjoint of the gauge group. The dynamics of this theory is thought to be very different from QCD – the theory exhibiting conformal or near conformal behavior in the infrared. We make a high resolution survey of the phase diagram of this model in the plane of the bare coupling and q...

The desire to extend the Hubble Diagram to higher redshifts than the range of current Type 1a Supernovae observations has prompted investigation into spectral correlations in gamma-ray bursts (GBRs), in the hope that standard candle-like properties can be identified. In this paper, we discuss the potential of these new 'cosmic rulers' and highlight their limitations by investigating the constra...

The extreme Schwarzschild–de Sitter space-time is a spherically symmetric solution of Einstein's equations with a cosmological constant Λ and mass parameter m > 0 which is characterized by the condition that 9Λm 2 = 1. The global structure of this space-time is here analyzed in detail. Conformal and embedding diagrams are constructed, and synchronous coordinates which are suitable for a discuss...