DOCSLIB.ORG

Princeton University Bulletin, Oct. 18, 2010

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Princeton University Bulletin, Oct. 18, 2010 PRINCETON UNIVERSITY BULLETINVolume 100, Number 2 Oct. 18, 2010 been such a fantastic pleasure for me all Princeton Distinguished Visitor Vargas my life that I cannot believe I am hon- ored and recompensed for something that has been so recompensive to me.” He will receive 10 million krona ($1.5 Llosa wins Nobel Prize in literature million) as the prize winner. At a press conference at the Instituto Cervantes in New York City with a JENNIFER G REENSTEIN A LT M ANN crowd of more than 150, Vargas Llosa cclaimed Peruvian novelist Mario was asked how the prize will affect Vargas Llosa, who is spend- him. “I’ll keep on writing to the last A ing this semester as the 2010 day of my life. I don’t think the Nobel Distinguished Visitor in Princeton Prize will change my writing, my University’s Program in Latin Ameri- style, my themes — that comes from a can Studies, has been awarded the very intimate part of my personality. 2010 Nobel Prize in literature. He also What I think the prize will change is is a visiting lecturer in Princeton’s my daily life,” he quipped. “I thought Program in Creative Writing and the these months I will spend in the Lewis Center for the Arts. United States will be very quiet, (but) Known for his deep engagement with everything has changed. My life will politics and history, as well as his deft be, I think, a life in a madhouse.” storytelling and eye for the absurd, At Princeton this fall, Vargas Llosa Vargas Llosa has been a major figure in is teaching a course in Spanish on Latin American fiction since his debut techniques of the novel and another on novel, “The Time of the Hero,” was Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. published in Spanish in 1963. Vargas Llosa has had a relationship with He won this year’s Nobel “for his the Program in Latin American Studies cartography of structures of power and for several years and taught at the Uni- his trenchant images of the individu- versity in the 1992-93 academic year. In al’s resistance, revolt and defeat,” the addition, his literary papers — including Swedish Academy said in announcing notebooks, correspondence, and manu- the award Oct. 7. scripts of novels and other writing — are “I was wondering if it was a joke,” housed in Firestone Library. Vargas Llosa said of the early-morning The Lewis Center and the Latin phone call he received from the acad- American studies program hosted a emy, according to an interview on the celebratory reception on Oct. 11 for Nobel Prize website. It was 5:30 a.m. Vargas Llosa. Following the reception, Brian Wilson Brian but he was already awake, he said, pre- he presented a public lecture that was Novelist and visiting lecturer Mario Vargas Llosa (left), this year’s winner of the Nobel Prize in paring for one of his Princeton classes. scheduled before he was awarded the literature, is greeted by President Tilghman (right) at a reception in his honor. They are joined “I’m deeply moved and grateful,” he by Rubén Gallo (center), director of the Program in Latin American Studies. said. “I feel very surprised. Writing has Continued on page 6 3-D simulations help envision supernovae explosions KITTA MACPHERSON The new 3-D simulations are based on the idea that the collapsing star or scientists, supernovae are true itself is not sphere-like, but distinctly superstars — massive explo- asymmetrical and affected by a host of F sions of huge, dying stars that instabilities in the volatile mix sur- shine light on the shape and fate of the rounding its core. universe. “I think this is a big jump in our For a brief burst of time, superno- understanding of how these things vae can radiate more energy than the can explode,” said Adam Burrows, a sun will emit in its lifetime. With the professor of astrophysical sciences at potential energy of 25 hundred trillion Princeton, who led the research. “In trillion nuclear weapons, they can out- principle, if you could go inside the shine entire galaxies, producing some supernovae to their centers, this is of the biggest explosions ever seen, what you might see.” and helping track distances across the Writing in the Sept. 1 issue of cosmos. the Astrophysical Journal, Burrows Now, a Princeton-led team has found — along with first author Jason Nord- a way to make computer simulations of haus, a postdoctoral research fellow supernovae exploding in three dimen- at Princeton, and Ann Almgren and sions, which may lead to new scientific John Bell from the Lawrence Berkeley insights. National Laboratory in California — Even though these mammoth explo- reports that the Princeton team has sions have been observed for thousands developed simulations that are begin- of years, for the past 50 years research- ning to match the massive blow-outs ers have struggled to mimic the astronomers have witnessed when step-by-step destructive action on gigantic stars die. computers. Researchers argue that In the past, simulated explosions such simulations, even crude ones, represented in one and two dimensions are important, as they can lead to new often stalled, leading scientists to con- information about the universe and clude that their understanding of the help address this longstanding prob- Courtesy of Adam Burrows and Jason Nordhaus lem in astrophysics. The new 3-D simulations like this one are based on the idea that the collapsing star itself is Continued on page 8 not sphere-like, but distinctly asymmetrical and affected by a host of instabilities. What’s Working group to focus on social, residential life 2 Physicist Gubser Committee to assess disability services 3 looks to strings for answers 7 inside? Ph.D. programs receive high national marks 4 PRINCETON 2 UNIVERSITY BULLETIN Oct. 18, 2010 Life Cynthia Cherrey and Vice Presi- Tilghman appoints working group on dent and Secretary Robert Durkee, Spotlight who chaired the Eating Club Task campus social and residential life Force and co-chaired an earlier Task Force on Health and Well-Being. The undergraduate members will resident Tilghman has asked a • What is and should be the role of be senior Cesar Devers, a residential 13-member working group com- fraternities and sororities at Princeton? college adviser in Rockefeller College, P posed of undergraduates, faculty • Is it desirable, and if so, feasible, to vice president of the Black Box The- and staff to review Princeton’s goals reintroduce a campus pub? ater Dance Club and events chair at regarding undergraduate on-campus Tilghman indicated that “these ques- Charter Club; senior Samuel Dorison, social and residential life, and to con- tions are timely, in part because they vice president of the Undergraduate sider several questions that were raised arose out of the campus-wide conversa- Student Government (USG) and a but not fully addressed last year by a tion that was facilitated last year by the former chair of the Whitman Col- task force that focused on relationships Eating Club Task Force, and in part lege Council; junior Angela Groves, between the University and the eating because the four-year residential college a member of the Eating Club Task clubs. system is now fully in place, as are other Force; sophomore Cameron Hough, In her charge to the new working recent additions to campus life like the junior coordinator of the Leadership group, she asked it to examine, among Carl Fields Center and Campus Club.” and Mentoring Program at the Fields other topics, the following issues that Tilghman asked the working group Center and former social chair of the were raised by the task force: “to provide ample opportunity for class of 2013; and senior John Mona- • How can undergraduate social members of the campus community to gle, chair of the USG Projects Board. and residential life be enhanced and offer comments, perspectives and sug- The other members of the work- improved on campus? gestions,” and to aim to issue its report ing group will be Christina Davis, • How can the University enrich the during the spring semester. director of student life in Whitman Denise ApplewhiteDenise social and residential experience in the The working group will be co- College; Thomas Dunne, associ- residential colleges? chaired by Vice President for Campus ate dean of undergraduate students; Jeff Nunokawa, professor of Eng- Name: Trevor A. Dawes lish, master of Rockefeller College Position: Circulation services director for and a member of the Eating Club the Princeton University Library. Over- Eating Club Task Force issues progress report Task Force; Michael Olin, director seeing the work of several Firestone of student life at Wilson College; The University’s Eating Club Task Force has issued a progress report sum- Library public services departments Robert Sandberg, lecturer in English, marizing steps that have been taken to address the group’s recommendations — including circulation, reserve, theater and the Lewis Center for the since the issuance of its report earlier this year. The report can be found at interlibrary loan, borrow direct, stacks Arts; and Susan Teeter, head coach of <www.princeton.edu/ectf/reports/progress/>. management and the access office women’s swimming. — and coordinating these services throughout the campus library system. Quote: “I know we have done a great job, and I am satisfied when faculty and students come to the library, either and full-day noncooperative care for physically or virtually, and they leave Nursery school to host open house Oct. 20 children ages 3 and 4. The school is with the resources or information that accredited by the National Association they need. As we embark upon our he University League Nursery The school offers two-, three- and for the Education of Young Children.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Magnetic Vortices in Gauge/Gravity Duality
    Magnetic Vortices in Gauge/Gravity Duality Dissertation by Migael Strydom Magnetic Vortices in Gauge/Gravity Duality Dissertation an der Fakult¨atf¨urPhysik der Ludwig{Maximilians{Universit¨at M¨unchen vorgelegt von Migael Strydom aus Pretoria M¨unchen, den 20. Mai 2014 Dissertation submitted to the faculty of physics of the Ludwig{Maximilians{Universit¨atM¨unchen by Migael Strydom supervised by Prof. Dr. Johanna Karen Erdmenger Max-Planck-Institut f¨urPhysik, M¨unchen 1st Referee: Prof. Dr. Johanna Karen Erdmenger 2nd Referee: Prof. Dr. Dieter L¨ust Date of submission: 20 May 2014 Date of oral examination: 18 July 2014 Zusammenfassung Wir untersuchen stark gekoppelte Ph¨anomene unter Verwendung der Dualit¨at zwischen Eich- und Gravitationstheorien. Dabei liegt ein besonderer Fokus einer- seits auf Vortex L¨osungen, die von einem magnetischem Feld verursacht werden, und andererseits auf zeitabh¨angigen Problemen in holographischen Modellen. Das wichtigste Ergebnis ist die Entdeckung eines unerwarteten Effektes in einem ein- fachen holografischen Modell: ein starkes nicht abelsches magnetisches Feld verur- sacht die Entstehung eines Grundzustandes in der Form eines dreieckigen Gitters von Vortices. Die Dualit¨at zwischen Eich- und Gravitationstheorien ist ein m¨achtiges Werk- zeug welches bereits verwendet wurde um stark gekoppelte Systeme vom Quark- Gluonen Plasma in Teilchenbeschleunigern bis hin zu Festk¨orpertheorien zu be- schreiben. Die wichtigste Idee ist dabei die der Dualit¨at: Eine stark gekoppelte Quantenfeldtheorie kann untersucht werden, indem man die Eigenschaften eines aus den Einsteinschen Feldgleichungen folgenden Gravitations-Hintergrundes be- stimmt. Eine der Gravitationstheorien, die in dieser Arbeit behandelt werden, ist ei- ne Einstein{Yang{Mills Theorie in einem AdS{Schwarzschild Hintergrund mit SU(2)-Eichsymmetrie.
    [Show full text]
  • GENOME BIOLOGY and EVOLUTION (Online ISSN 1759-6653)
    GENOME BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION (Online ISSN 1759-6653) Founding Editor: Takashi Gojobori Editor-in-Chief: William Martin Editorial Assistant: Alison Bentley Editorial Board Names and full contact details for members of the editorial board are available at: www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/gbe/editorial_board.html. Information for Authors Information on preparing and submitting manuscripts and a Manuscript Submission Checklist are available at www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/gbe/for_authors/. SOCIETY FOR MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION www.smbe.org COUNCIL Michael Lynch, President Department of Biology, Indiana University, 1001 E. Third Street, Bloomington, IN 47405 USA. E-mail: [email protected]. Jody Hey, President-Elect Department of Genetics, Rutgers University, 604 Allison Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA. E-mail: [email protected]. Paul Sharp, Past President Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT UK. E-mail: [email protected]. Jianzhi George Zhang, Secretary Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, 1075 Kraus Natural Science Building, 830 N. University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1048 USA. E-mail: [email protected]. John Archibald, Treasurer Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 1X5 Canada. E-mail: [email protected]. Laura Landweber, Councillor (2007–2009) Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544-1003 USA. E-mail: lfl@princeton.edu. Ziheng Yang, Councillor (2008–2010) Department of Biology, University College London, Darwin Building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK. E-mail: [email protected]. Dan Graur, Councillor (2009–2011) Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204-5001 USA.
    [Show full text]
  • Localization of Gauge Theories on the Three-Sphere
    Localization of Gauge Theories on the Three-Sphere Thesis by Itamar Yaakov In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California 2012 (Defended May 14, 2012) ii c 2012 Itamar Yaakov All Rights Reserved iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my research adviser, Professor Anton Kapustin, for his continuing support. His mentorship, foresight, intuition and collaboration were the keys to my having a successful graduate career. The work described here was done in collaboration with Brian Willett and much of the credit for successful completion of this work is duly his. I would also like to express my deep appreciation to the California Institute of Technology, and especially the professors and staff of the physics department for a thoroughly enjoyable and interesting five years of study. Special thanks to Frank Porter, Donna Driscoll, Virginio Sannibale, and Carol Silberstein. I am grateful to Mark Wise, John Schwarz, Hirosi Ooguri, and Frank Porter for serving on my candidacy and defense committees. I benefited from discussions along the way with Ofer Aharony, John Schwarz, Sergei Gukov, Hirosi Ooguri, David Kutasov, Zohar Komargodski, Daniel Jafferis, and Jaume Gomis. I would like to thank the organizers and lecturers of the PITP 2010 summer school at the Institute for Advanced study for an impeccably produced learning experience. My thanks also to Gregory Moore and Nathan Seiberg for taking the time to discuss my research while at the school. I would like to thank UCLA, especially Yu-tin Huang, and the Perimeter Institute and Jaume Gomis for allowing me to present my work there.
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Rpt 2004 For
    I N S T I T U T E for A D V A N C E D S T U D Y ________________________ R E P O R T F O R T H E A C A D E M I C Y E A R 2 0 0 3 – 2 0 0 4 EINSTEIN DRIVE PRINCETON · NEW JERSEY · 08540-0631 609-734-8000 609-924-8399 (Fax) www.ias.edu Extract from the letter addressed by the Institute’s Founders, Louis Bamberger and Mrs. Felix Fuld, to the Board of Trustees, dated June 4, 1930. Newark, New Jersey. It is fundamental in our purpose, and our express desire, that in the appointments to the staff and faculty, as well as in the admission of workers and students, no account shall be taken, directly or indirectly, of race, religion, or sex. We feel strongly that the spirit characteristic of America at its noblest, above all the pursuit of higher learning, cannot admit of any conditions as to personnel other than those designed to promote the objects for which this institution is established, and particularly with no regard whatever to accidents of race, creed, or sex. TABLE OF CONTENTS 4·BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 7·FOUNDERS, TRUSTEES AND OFFICERS OF THE BOARD AND OF THE CORPORATION 10 · ADMINISTRATION 12 · PRESENT AND PAST DIRECTORS AND FACULTY 15 · REPORT OF THE CHAIRMAN 20 · REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 24 · OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR - RECORD OF EVENTS 31 · ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 43 · REPORT OF THE SCHOOL OF HISTORICAL STUDIES 61 · REPORT OF THE SCHOOL OF MATHEMATICS 81 · REPORT OF THE SCHOOL OF NATURAL SCIENCES 107 · REPORT OF THE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE 119 · REPORT OF THE SPECIAL PROGRAMS 139 · REPORT OF THE INSTITUTE LIBRARIES 143 · INDEPENDENT AUDITORS’ REPORT 3 INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The Institute for Advanced Study was founded in 1930 with a major gift from New Jer- sey businessman and philanthropist Louis Bamberger and his sister, Mrs.
    [Show full text]
  • Studies in Field Theories: Mhv Vertices, Twistor Space, Recursion Relations and Chiral Rings
    STUDIES IN FIELD THEORIES: MHV VERTICES, TWISTOR SPACE, RECURSION RELATIONS AND CHIRAL RINGS Peter Svr·cek Advisor: Edward Witten A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY RECOMMENDED FOR ACCEPTANCE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS April 2005 Copyright °c 2005 by Peter Svr·cek All rights reserved. ii Abstract In this thesis we study di®erent aspects of four dimensional ¯eld theories. In the ¯rst chapter we give introduction and overview of the thesis. In the second chapter we review the connection between perturbative Yang-Mills and twistor string the- ory. Inspired by this, we propose a new way of constructing Yang-Mills scattering amplitudes from Feynman graphs in which the vertices are o®-shell continuations of the tree level MHV amplitudes. The MHV diagrams lead to simple formulas for tree-level amplitudes. We then give a heuristic derivation of the diagrams from twistor string theory. In the third chapter, we explore the twistor structure of scattering amplitudes in theories for which a twistor string theory analogous to the one for N = 4 gauge theory has not yet been proposed. We study the di®erential equations of one-loop amplitudes of gluons in gauge theories with reduced supersymmetry and of tree level and one-loop amplitudes of gravitons in general relativity and supergravity. We ¯nd that the scattering amplitudes localize in twistor space on algebraic curves that are surprisingly similar to the N = 4 Yang-Mills case. In the next chapter we propose tree-level recursion relations for scattering am- plitudes of gravitons.
    [Show full text]
  • The Lamarckian Chicken and the Darwinian Egg Yitzhak Pilpel1* and Oded Rechavi2*
    Pilpel and Rechavi Biology Direct (2015) 10:34 DOI 10.1186/s13062-015-0062-9 COMMENT Open Access The Lamarckian chicken and the Darwinian egg Yitzhak Pilpel1* and Oded Rechavi2* Abstract: “Which came first, the Chicken or the Egg?” We suggest this question is not a paradox. The Modern Synthesis envisions speciation through genetic changes in germ cells via random mutations, an “Egg first” scenario, but perhaps epigenetic inheritance mechanisms can transmit adaptive changes initiated in the soma (“Chicken first”). Reviewers: The article was reviewed by Dr. Eugene Koonin, Dr. Itai Yanai, Dr. Laura Landweber. Keywords: Evolution, Darwinian Evolution, Lamarckian Evolution, Modern Synthesis, Weismann Barrier, Epigenetic Inheritance, Transgenerational RNA Interference Background solution. Nevertheless, it is important to discuss why this In this commentary paper we wish to use the well- question is perceived as being paradoxical, and to exam- known “Chicken and Egg” paradox as a gateway for ine the true mystery that it holds; at the base of this discussing different processes of evolution. While in the dilemma stands an extremely important and unsolved biological sense this is not a paradox at all, the metaphor biological question: “Can the phenotype affect the is still useful because it allows examining of the distinc- genotype”? or put differently, “Can epigenetics translate tion between Lamarckian and Darwinian evolution, and into genetics”? specifically, since it enables us to raise an important and Asking the question in this manner allows mapping of unsolved question: “Can the phenotype affect the geno- the “Egg first” vs. the “Chicken first” options onto the type?” or in other words, “can epigenetics translate into distinction between Darwinian and Lamarckian evolu- genetics”? tion.
    [Show full text]
  • Report for the Academic Year 1999
    l'gEgasag^a3;•*a^oggMaBgaBK>ry^vg^.g^._--r^J3^JBgig^^gqt«a»J^:^^^^^ Institute /or ADVANCED STUDY REPORT FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 1998-99 PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY HISTORICAL STUDIES^SOCIAl SC^JCE LIBRARY INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY 08540 Institute /or ADVANCED STUDY REPORT FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 1 998 - 99 OLDEN LANE PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY • 08540-0631 609-734-8000 609-924-8399 (Fax) http://www.ias.edu Extract from the letter addressed by the Institute's Founders, Louis Bamberger and Mrs. FeUx Fuld, to the Board of Trustees, dated June 4, 1930. Newark, New Jersey. It is fundamental m our purpose, and our express desire, that in the appointments to the staff and faculty, as well as in the admission of workers and students, no account shall be taken, directly or indirectly, of race, religion, or sex. We feel strongly that the spirit characteristic of America at its noblest, above all the pursuit of higher learning, cannot admit of any conditions as to personnel other than those designed to promote the objects for which this institution is established, and particularly with no regard whatever to accidents of race, creed, or sex. ni' TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 • BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 7 • FOUNDERS, TRUSTEES AND OFFICERS OF THE BOARD AND OF THE CORPORATION 10 • ADMINISTRATION 12 • PRESENT AND PAST DIRECTORS AND FACULTY 15 REPORT OF THE CHAIRMAN 18 • REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 22 • OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR - RECORD OF EVENTS 27 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 41 • REPORT OF THE SCHOOL OF HISTORICAL STUDIES FACULTY ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES MEMBERS, VISITORS,
    [Show full text]
  • EMT Biocomputing Workshop Report
    FINAL WORKSHOP REPORT Sponsor: 004102 : Computing Research Association Award Number: AGMT dtd 7-2-08 Title: NSF Workshop on Emerging Models and Technologies in Computing: Bio-Inspired Computing and the Biology and Computer Science Interface. Report Prepared by: Professor Ron Weiss Departments of Electrical Engineering and Molecular Biology Princeton University Professor Laura Landweber Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Molecular Biology Princeton University Other Members of the Organizing Committee Include: Professor Mona Singh Departments of Computer Science and Molecular Biology Princeton University Professor Erik Winfree Department of Computer Science California Institute of Technology Professor Mitra Basu Department of Computer Science Johns Hopkins University and the United States Naval Academy Workshop Website: https://www.ee.princeton.edu/Events/emt/ Draft: 09/07/2008 Table of Contents I. Executive Summary 1. Workshop Objectives 2. Summary of the Workshop Methodology and Findings 3. Recommendations II. Grand Challenges III. Breakout Group Presentations Appendices A1. Agenda A2. Participant List A3. Abstracts of Invited Presentations A4. Presentations Draft: 09/07/2008 I. Executive Summary I.1 Workshop Goals The National Science Foundation, Division of Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Computing and Communications Foundations (CCF) sponsored a Workshop on Emerging Models and Technologies in Computing (EMT): Bio- Inspired Computing. This workshop brought together distinguished leaders in the fields of synthetic biology, bio-computing, systems biology, and protein and nucleic acid engineering to share their vision for science and research and to learn about the research projects that EMT has funded. The goal was to explore and to drive the growing interface between Biology and Computer Science.
    [Show full text]
  • Arxiv:Hep-Th/9809022V2 8 Sep 1998
    NSF-ITP-98-086 hep-th/9809022 UV/IR Relations in AdS Dynamics Amanda W. Peet1 and Joseph Polchinski2 Institute for Theoretical Physics University of California Santa Barbara, CA 93106-4030 Abstract We point out that two distinct distance–energy relations have been discussed in the AdS/CFT correspondence. In conformal backgrounds they differ only in normalization, but in nonconformal backgrounds they differ in functional form. We discuss the relation to probe pro- cesses, the holographic principle, and black hole entropies. arXiv:hep-th/9809022v2 8 Sep 1998 [email protected] [email protected] 1 An important feature of the recently discovered AdS/CFT duality is a correspondence between long distances in the AdS space and high energies in the CFT [1, 2]. In fact, at least two quite distinct distance–energy rela- tions have been discussed. While this point may have been noted implicitly elsewhere, we believe that it is instructive to discuss it in some detail. In sec- tion 1 we consider various conformally invariant spaces (D3, M5, and M2). In section 2 we consider conformally noninvariant Dp-brane spaces, where new issues arise. 1 Conformal theories 1.1 The D3-brane For illustration let us consider the near-horizon geometry of N D3-branes, the AdS5 × S5 space with string metric 2 1/2 2 ′ U 2 gYMN 2 2 2 ds = α 1/2 dxk + 2 (dU + U dΩ5) (1.1) "gYMN U # Φ 2 and a constant dilaton e = gs = gYM. We use the conventions of refs. [1, 3] but omit all numerical constants.
    [Show full text]
  • Positive Geometry of the S-Matrix
    Positive Geometry of the S-Matrix Yuntao Bai A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Princeton University in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Recommended for Acceptance by the Department of Physics Adviser: Nima Arkani-Hamed September 2018 © Copyright by Yuntao Bai, 2018. All rights reserved. Abstract The search for a theory of the S-Matrix has revealed unprecedented structures under- lying amplitudes. In this text, we present a new framework for understanding a class of amplitudes that includes Yang-Mills, Non-linear Sigma Model, the bi-adjoint cubic scalar, planar N = 4 super Yang-Mills, and more. We introduce positive geometries, which are generalizations of convex polytopes to geometries with higher order (i.e. non-linear) boundaries. Our construction provides a unique differential form called the canonical form of the positive geometry, whose pole structure is completely con- trolled by the geometric boundaries. The central claim of this text is that positive geometries play a fundamental role in our class of scattering amplitudes, whereby the corresponding canonical form determines a physical quantity. Our primary examples are (1) the bi-adjoint cubic scalar for which the positive geometry is the famous as- sociahedron polytope whose canonical form gives the color-ordered tree amplitude, and (2) planar N = 4 super Yang-Mills for which the positive geometry is the ampli- tuhedron whose canonical form gives the scattering integrand. One recurrent theme in our text is that physical properties of amplitudes like local poles and factorization are direct consequences of the boundary structure. We are therefore led to the point of view that locality and unitarity are emergent properties of the positive geometry.
    [Show full text]
  • Theoretical Studies of Cosmic Acceleration
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2016 Theoretical Studies of Cosmic Acceleration James Stokes University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Physics Commons Recommended Citation Stokes, James, "Theoretical Studies of Cosmic Acceleration" (2016). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2040. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2040 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2040 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Theoretical Studies of Cosmic Acceleration Abstract In this thesis we describe theoretical approaches to the problem of cosmic acceleration in the early and late universe. The first approach we consider relies upon the modification of Einstein gravity by the inclusion of mass terms as well as couplings to higher-derivative scalar fields possessing generalized internal shift symmetries - the Galileons. The second half of the thesis is concerned with the quantum- mechanical consistency of a theory of the early universe known as the pseudo-conformal mechanism which, in contrast to inflation, eliesr not on the effects of gravity but on conformal field theory (CFT) dynamics. It is possible to couple Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) scalars possessing generalized Galilean internal shift symmetries (Galileons) to nonlinear massive gravity in four dimensions, in such a manner that the interactions maintain the Galilean symmetry. Such a construction is of interest because it is not possible to couple such fields ot massless General Relativity in the same way. Using tetrad techniques we show that this massive gravity-Galileon theory possesses a primary constraint necessary to ensure propagation with the correct number of degrees of freedom.
    [Show full text]
  • Laura Landweber
    Laura Landweber Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics (212) 305-3898 Department of Biological Sciences [email protected] th Columbia University 701 W 168 St, New York, NY 10032 FIELD OF SPECIALIZATION Molecular evolution and RNA-mediated epigenetic inheritance. EDUCATION Princeton University, A.B. in Molecular Biology, summa cum laude, June, 1989. Harvard University, M.A. in Biology, November, 1991. Harvard University, Ph.D. in Biology from the Department of Cellular and Developmental Biology, June, 1993. Topic of doctoral dissertation: “RNA editing and the evolution of mitochondrial DNA in kinetoplastid protozoa.” (Graduate advisors: Walter Gilbert and Richard Lewontin) POSITIONS HELD Columbia University, Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics and of Biological Sciences, July 2016 – present. Princeton University, Professor, July 2009 – June 2016. Princeton University, Visiting Senior Research Scholar, July 2016 – present. Columbia University, Visiting Professor, May 2015– June 2016. Princeton University, Associate Professor with Tenure, July 2001 – 2009. California Institute of Technology, Visiting Associate in Chemical Engineering, Sept. 2001 – Jan. 2002. Princeton University, Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB), 1994 – 2001. Princeton University, Associate Faculty, Department of Molecular Biology (Mol), 1994 – 2016. Harvard University, Junior Fellow of the Society of Fellows, 1993 – 1994. Massachusetts General Hospital, Assistant in Molecular Biology, 1993 – 1994 (sponsor: Jack Szostak). Harvard University, Parker Graduate Fellow in Cellular and Developmental Biology, 1992 – 1993. Harvard University, Teaching Fellow (year long tutorial) and Resident Tutor, Eliot House, 1991 – 1992. HONORS & AWARDS President, Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution, 2016 (SMBE Council 2016-2018). Division R Lecturer, American Society of Microbiology, 2014. Guggenheim Fellow, 2012. The New York Academy of Sciences, 2008 Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists.
    [Show full text]