Lorenzo Cornalba

A New cosmological scenario in string theory

We consider new cosmological solutions with a collapsing, an intermediate and an expanding phase. The boundary between the expanding (collapsing) phase and the intermediate phase is seen by comoving observers as a cosmological past (future) horizon. The solutions are naturally embedded in string and M theory. In the particular case of a two-dimensional cosmology, space-time is flat with an identification under boost and translation transformations. We consider the corresponding string theory orbifold and calculate the modular invariant one-loop partition function. In this case there is a strong parallel with the BTZ black hole. The higher dimensional cosmologies have a timelike curvature singularity in the intermediate region. In some cases the string coupling can be made small throughout all of space-time but string corrections become important at the singularity. This happens where string winding modes become light which could resolve the singularity. The new proposed space-time causal structure could have implications for cosmology, independently of string theory.

Nonassociative Star Product Deformations for D-Brane World-Volumes in Curved Backgrounds

Abstract: We investigate the deformation of D-brane world-volumes in curved backgrounds. We calculate the leading corrections to the boundary conformal field theory involving the background fields, and in particular we study the correlation functions of the resulting system. This allows us to obtain the world-volume deformation, identifying the open string metric and the noncommutative deformation parameter. The picture that unfolds is the following: when the gauge invariant combination ω=B+F is constant one obtains the standard Moyal deformation of the brane world-volume. Similarly, when dω= 0 one obtains the noncommutative Kontsevich deformation, physically corresponding to a curved brane in a flat background. When the background is curved, H=dω≠ 0, we find that the relevant algebraic structure is still based on the Kontsevich expansion, which now defines a nonassociative star product with an A∞ homotopy associative algebraic structure. We then recover, within this formalism, some known results of Matrix theory in curved backgrounds. In particular, we show how the effective action obtained in this framework describes, as expected, the dielectric effect of D-branes. The polarized branes are interpreted as a soliton, associated to the condensation of the brane gauge field.

A RESOLUTION OF THE COSMOLOGICAL SINGULARITY WITH ORIENTIFOLDS

Abstract We propose a new cosmological scenario which resolves the conventional initial singularity problem. The space–time geometry has an unconventional time-like singularity on a lower-dimensional hypersurface, with localized energy density. The natural interpretation of this singularity in string theory is that of negative tension branes, for example the orientifolds of type II string theory. Space–time ends at the orientifolds, and it is divided in three regions: a contracting region with a future cosmological horizon; an intermediate region which ends at the orientifols; and an expanding region separated from the intermediate region by a past cosmological horizon. We study the geometry near the singularity of the proposed cosmological scenario in a specific string model. Using D-brane probes we confirm the interpretation of the brane singularity as an orientifold. The boundary conditions on the orientifolds and the past/future transition amplitudes are well defined. Assuming the trivial vacuum in the past, we derive a thermal spectrum in the future.

Eikonal approximation in AdS/CFT: from shock waves to four-point functions

We initiate a program to generalize the standard eikonal approximation to compute amplitudes in Anti-de Sitter spacetimes. Inspired by the shock wave derivation of the eikonal amplitude in flat space, we study the two-point function E ∼ hO 1O1i shock in the presence of a shock wave in Anti-de Sitter, where O1 is a scalar primary operator in the dual conformal field theory. At tree level in the gravitational coupling, we relate the shock two-point function E to the discontinuity across a kinematical branch cut of the conformal field theory four-point function A ∼ hO 1O2O1O2i , where O2 creates the shock geometry in Anti-de Sitter. Finally, we extend the above results by computing E in the presence of shock waves along the horizon of Schwarzschild BTZ black holes. This work gives new tools for the study of Planckian physics in Anti-de Sitter spacetimes.

Eikonal Approximation in AdS/CFT: Conformal Partial Waves and Finite N Four-Point Functions

We introduce the impact parameter representation for conformal field theory correlators of the form A similar to (O1O2O1O2). This representation is appropriate in the eikonal kinematical regime, and approximates the conformal partial wave decomposition in the limit of large spin and dimension of the exchanged primary. Using recent results on the two-point function (O1O1)shock in the presence of a shock wave in anti-de Sitter, and its relation to the discontinuity of the four-point amplitude A across a kinematical branch cut, we find the high spin and dimension conformal partial wave decomposition of all tree-level anti-de Sitter Witten diagrams. We show that, as in flat space, the eikonal kinematical regime is dominated by the T-channel exchange of the massless particle with highest spin (graviton dominance). We also compute the anomalous dimensions of the high spin O1O2 composites. Finally, we conjecture a formula re-summing crossed-ladder Witten diagrams to all orders in the gravitational coupling

Deep Inelastic Scattering in Conformal QCD

We consider the Regge limit of a CFT correlation function of two vector and two scalar operators, as appropriate to study small-x deep inelastic scattering in

Flux-branes and the Dielectric Effect in String Theory

\mathcal{N} = 4

Saturation in deep inelastic scattering from the AdS/CFT correspondence

SYM or in QCD assuming approximate conformal symmetry. After clarifying the nature of the Regge limit for a CFT correlator, we use its conformal partial wave expansion to obtain an impact parameter representation encoding the exchange of a spin j Reggeon for any value of the coupling constant. The CFT impact parameter space is the three-dimensional hyperbolic space H3, which is the impact parameter space for high energy scattering in the dual AdS space. We determine the small-x structure functions associated to the exchange of a Reggeon. We discuss unitarization from the point of view of scattering in AdS and comment on the validity of the eikonal approximation.We then focus on the weak coupling limit of the theory where the amplitude is dominated by the exchange of the BFKL pomeron. Conformal invariance fixes the form of the vector impact factor and its decomposition in transverse spin 0 and spin 2 components. Our formalism reproduces exactly the general results predict by the Regge theory, both for a scalar target and for γ* − γ* scattering. We compute current impact factors for the specific examples of

Tachyon condensation in large magnetic fields with background independent string field theory

\mathcal{N} = 4

On the classical stability of orientifold cosmologies

SYM and QCD, obtaining very simple results. In the case of the R-current of