Marco Cavaglia

Two-dimensional black holes as open strings: a new realization of the ADS/CFT correspondence

Abstract We show that weak-coupled two-dimensional dilaton gravity on anti-de Sitter space can be described by the dynamics of an open string. Neumann and Dirichlet boundary conditions for the string lead to two different realizations of the anti-de Sitter/Conformal Field Theory correspondence. In particular, in the Dirichlet case the thermodynamical entropy of two-dimensional black holes can be exactly reproduced by counting the string states.

Quantum gravitational corrections to black hole geometries

We calculate perturbative quantum gravity corrections to eternal two-dimensional black holes. We estimate the leading corrections to the AdS_2 black hole entropy and determine the quantum modification of N-dimensional Schwarzschild spacetime.

Essay: A New Era in High-Energy Physics

In TeV-scale gravity, scattering of particles with center-of-mass energy of the order of a few TeV can lead to the creation of nonperturbative, extended, higher-dimensional gravitational objects: Branes. Neutral or charged, spinning or spinless, Einsteinian or supersymmetric, low-energy branes could dramatically change our picture of high-energy physics. Will we create branes in future particle colliders, observe them from ultra high energy cosmic rays, and discover them to be dark matter?

Two-dimensional dS/CFT correspondence

We investigate de Sitter/conformal field theory (dS/CFT) correspondence in two dimensions. We define the conserved mass of de Sitter spacetime and formulate the correspondence along the lines of the antichar21{}de Sitter/conformal field theory duality. The asymptotic symmetry group, mass, and central charge of de Sitter spacetime are equal to those of antichar21{}de Sitter spacetime. The entropy of two-dimensional de Sitter spacetime is evaluated by applying the Cardy formula. We calculate the boundary correlators induced by the propagation of the dilaton in two-dimensional de Sitter space. Although the dilaton is a tachyonic perturbation in the bulk, boundary conformal correlators have a positive dimension.

Canonical and quantum FRW cosmological solutions in M-theory

We present a canonical and quantum cosmological investigation of a spatially flat, four-dimensional Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) model that is derived from the M-theory effective action obtained originally by Billyard, Coley, Lidsey and Nilsson (BCLN). The analysis makes use of two sets of canonical variables, the Shanmugadhasan gauge-invariant canonical variables and the `hybrid variables which diagonalize the Hamiltonian. We find the observables and discuss in detail the phase space of the classical theory. In particular, a region of phase space exists that describes a four-dimensional FRW spacetime first contracting from a strong-coupling regime and then expanding to a weak-coupling regime, while the internal space always contracts. We find the quantum solutions of the model and obtain the positive norm Hilbert space of states. Finally, the correspondence between wavefunctions and classical solutions is outlined.

Conformal dynamics of 0-branes

We investigate the dynamics of dilatonic D-dimensional 0-branes in the near-horizon regime. The theory is given in a twofold form: two-dimensional dilaton gravity and the nonlinear sigma model. Using asymptotic symmetries, duality relations, and sigma model techniques we find that the theory has three conformal points which correspond to (a) the asymptotic (antichar21{}de Sitter) region of the two-dimensional spacetime, (b) the horizon of the black hole, and (c) the infinite limit of the coupling parameter. We show that the conformal symmetry is perturbatively preserved at one loop, identify the corresponding conformal field theories, and calculate the associated central charges. Finally, we use the conformal field theories to explain the thermodynamical properties of the two-dimensional black holes.

Pre-big bang in M-theory

We discuss a simple cosmological model derived from M-theory. Three assumptions lead naturally to a pre-big bang scenario: (a) 11-dimensional supergravity describes the low-energy world; (b) non-gravitational fields live on a three-dimensional brane; and (c) asymptotically past triviality.

First Mediterranean Conference on Classical and Quantum Gravity (MCCQG 2009)

The year 2009 signals the birth of a new conference series under the name of Mediterranean Conference on Classical and Quantum Gravity (MCCQG). The main purpose of this new series is to bring together physicists working on General Relativity, Field Theory, and related areas to discuss the present status and latest developments in the classical and quantum treatment of gravitational systems, as well as to support and strengthen the scientific communication between the physicists of the wide Mediterranean region, working in the field of Classical and Quantum Gravity. For the latter reason, we plan to organize all future conferences of this series in the Mediterranean region. The First Mediterranean Conference on Classical and Quantum Gravity took place at the Orthodox Academy of Crete (OAC) in Kolymbari (Crete, Greece) from 14–18 September 2009. Physicists from countries all around the world travelled to Kolymbari to discuss hot topics in the classical and quantum treatment of gravitational systems such as string theory and branes, classical gravity and alternative theories, gravitational waves and experiments, quantum gravity, cosmology, and black holes. The program consisted of invited plenary talks and contributed talks in parallel sessions. We were able to give full financial support for accommodation to all invited speakers and partial support to younger people at the beginning of their scientific careers. In particular, help was provided to students and scientists from non-EU countries. The financial support was provided by the Academy of Athens and the Tomalla Foundation. During the MCCQG two social events were organized. The first one was a half-day guided bus excursion to Knossos and the surrounding area which took place on 16 September. The second one was the conference dinner on 18 September at the OAC. Traditional Cretan dishes were served and dancers performing in traditional costumes entertained the participants. These events contributed to create a quite fruitful, enjoyable Mediterranean atmosphere for the exchange of ideas and discussion. It is a pleasure to thank our administrative and technical staff Georgia Angelopoulou, Athina Pouri, Mando Zambeli and Manolis Zoulias for their untiring assistance. We also thank the staff of the OAC for the enthusiastic support and their hospitality. We are grateful to the Academy of Athens and the Tomalla Foundation for their generous financial support which made MCCQG possible. Finally, our gratitude goes to all the participants and especially the many experienced scientists. Their contributions highlighted the meeting. The success of the MCCQG is due to them and to the enthusiasm of the younger participants. The Editors March 2010 COMMITTEES Organising Committee Spyros Basilakos (RCAAM, Academy of Athens, Greece) Mariano Cadoni (University and INFN Cagliari, Italy) Marco Cavaglia (University of Mississippi, USA) Theodosios Christodoulakis (University of Athens, Greece) Elias Vagenas (RCAAM, Academy of Athens, Greece) Advisory Committee Ignatios Antoniadis (CERN, Switzerland) Orfeu Bertolami (IST, Lisbon, Portugal) Loriano Bonora (SISSA, Trieste, Italy) George Contopoulos (Academy of Athens, Greece) Ruth Durrer (Geneva University, Switzerland) Enrique Gaztanaga (IEEC, Barcelona, Spain) Gabriela Gonzalez (Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA) Marc Henneaux (Brussels University, Belgium) Roman Jackiw (MIT, USA) Claus Kiefer (Cologne University, Germany) Stefano Liberati (SISSA, Trieste, Italy) Ofer Lahav (University College London, UK) Roy Maartens (University of Portsmouth, UK) Don Marolf (UC Santa Barbara, USA) Hermann Nicolai (AEI, Potsdam, Germany) Augusto Sagnotti (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy) Mairi Sakellariadou (Kings College London, UK) Jorge Zanelli (CECS, Valdivia, Chile) SPONSORS Academy of Athens The Tomalla Foundation Universita di Cagliari University of Mississippi University of Athens LIST OF PARTICIPANTS Abdalla, Elcio (Instituto de Fisica, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brasil) Antoniadis, Ignatios (CERN, Geneva, Switzerland) Arminjon, Mayeul (CNRS, Section of Theoretical Physics, France) Banados, Max (University of Oxford, UK) Basilakos, Spyros (RCAAM, Academy of Athens, Greece) Bastos, Catarina (IST, Departamento de Fisica, Portugal) Bertolami, Orfeu (IST, Departamento de Fisica, Portugal) Bevilaqua, Leandro Ibiapina (Instituto de Fisica, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil) Bezerra De Mello, Eugenio (Dept. de Fisica, CCEN Universidade Federal da Paraiba, Brazil) Blake, Russ (Readify Pty Ltd, Australia) Bogdanos, Charalampos (LPT-Orsay, France) Burinskii, Alexander (Gravity Research Group NSI, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia) Cadonati, Laura (University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA) Cadoni, Mariano (Universita di Cagliari, Italy) Capone, Monica (University of Turin, Italy) Cavaglia, Marco (University of Mississippi, USA) Chirco, Goffredo (SISSA-International School for Advanced Studies, Italy) Christodoulakis, Theodosios (University of Athens, Greece) Domingues Zarro, Carlos Augusto ((IST, Departamento de Fisica, Portugal) Durrer, Ruth (Universite de Geneve, Departement de Physique Theorique, Switzerland) Fagnocchi, Serena (SISSA-International School for Advanced Studies, Italy) Finazzi, Stefano (SISSA-International School for Advanced Studies, Italy) Francia, Dario (University Paris 7 - APC, France) Ghosh, Subir (Indian Statistical Institute, India) Gomberoff, Andres (Universidad Catolica de Chile, Chile) Grumiller, Daniel (Institute for Theoretical Physics Vienna University of Technology, Austria) Herrera-Aguilar, Alfredo (IFM, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolas de Hidalgo, Mexico) Hsu, Steve (University of Oregon, USA) Ichinose, Shoichi (University of Shizuoka, SFNS, Japan) Kiefer, Claus (Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Cologne, Germany) Kokkotas, Kostas (Theoretical Astrophysics, Eberhard Karls University of Tuebingen, Germany) Kothawala, Dawood (IUCAA, Pune, India) Liberati, Stefano (SISSA, Trieste, Italy) Lopez-Villarejo, Juan Jose (Dep. de Fisica Teorica, Univ. Autonoma de Madrid, Spain) Louko, Jorma (University of Nottingham, UK) Lusanna, Luca (Sezione INFN di Firenze, Italy) Majumdar, Archan S (S N Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, India) Melis, Maurizio (Universita di Cagliari and INFN, Italy) Menotti, Pietro (Department of Physics, University of Pisa, Italy) Mignemi, Salvatore (Universita di Cagliari, Italy) Monni, Cristina (Universita di Cagliari and INFN, Italy) Pani, Paolo (Universita di Cagliari and INFN, Italy) Papazoglou, Antonios (ICG, University of Portsmouth, UK) Paramos, Jorge (Instituto de Plasmas e Fusāo Nuclear, IST, Portugal) Pavsic, Matej (Jozef Stefan Institute, Slovenia) Perivolaropoulos, Leandros (University of Ioannina, Greece) Plionis, Manolis (Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics, National Observatory of Athens, Greece) Pons, Josep (Universitat de Barcelona, Spain) Pouri, Athina (University of Athens, Greece) Radicella, Ninfa (Polytechnic of Turin, Italy) Rocha, Jorge (IST, Portugal) Russo, Jorge (ICREA, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain) Sakai, Norisuke (Department of Mathematics, Tokyo Womans Christian University, Japan) Sakellariadou, Mairi (Department of Physics, Kings College University of London, UK) Salisbury, Donald (Austin College, USA and MPI for the History of Science, Germany) Shnir, Yakov (National University of Ireland, Maynooth and DIAS, Ireland) Skenderis, Kostas (Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands) Sotiriou, Thomas (DAMTP, Cambridge, UK) Sundermeyer, Kurt (Free University Berlin Institute for Theoretical Physics, Germany) Tartaglia, Angelo (DIFIS, Politecnico and INFN, Torino, Italy) Vagenas, Elias (RCAAM, Academy of Athens, Greece) Wallden, Petros (Raman Research Institute, India) Wang, Bin (Fudan University, China) Weinfurtner, Silke (University of British Columbia, Canada) Zampeli, Mando (National Technical University of Athens, Greece) Zanelli, Jorge (Centro de Estudios Cientificos CECS-Valdivia, Chile)

DETECTING TEV BLACK HOLES FROM EXTENSIVE AIR SHOWERS

In models with large extra dimensions particle collisions with centre-of-mass energy larger than the fundamental gravitational scale can generate non-perturbative gravitational objects such as black holes and branes. They might be created in the next generation particle colliders or by neutrino induced air showers in the Earths atmosphere. The decay of these non-perturbative gravitational objects is significantly different from other standard model processes. We present a comprehensive study of how to differentiate extensive air showers generated by TeV gravity effects from those generated by standard model interactions.

Fourth Meeting on Constrained Dynamics and Quantum Gravity

The formulation of a quantum theory of gravity seems to be the unavoidable endpoint of modern theoretical physics. Yet the quantum description of the gravitational field remains elusive. The year 2005 marks the tenth anniversary of the First Meeting on Constrained Dynamics and Quantum Gravity, held in Dubna (Russia) due to the efforts of Alexandre T. Filippov (JINR, Dubna) and Vittorio de Alfaro (University of Torino, Italy). At the heart of this initiative was the desire for an international forum where the status and perspectives of research in quantum gravity could be discussed from the broader viewpoint of modern gauge field theories. Since the Dubna meeting, an increasing number of scientists has joined this quest. Progress was reported in two other conferences in this series: in Santa Margherita Ligure (Italy) in 1996 and in Villasimius (Sardinia, Italy) in 1999. After a few years of ``working silence the time was now mature for a new gathering. The Fourth Meeting on Constrained Dynamics and Quantum Gravity (QG05) was held in Cala Gonone (Sardinia, Italy) from Monday 12th to Friday 16th September 2005. Surrounded by beautiful scenery, 100 scientists from 23 countries working in field theory, general relativity and related areas discussed the latest developments in the quantum treatment of gravitational systems. The QG05 edition covered many of the issues that had been addressed in the previous meetings and new interesting developments in the field, such as brane world models, large extra dimensions, analogue models of gravity, non-commutative techniques etc. The format of the meeting was similar to the previous ones. The programme consisted of invited plenary talks and parallel sessions on cosmology, quantum gravity, strings and phenomenology, gauge theories and quantisation and black holes. A major goal was to bring together senior scientists and younger people at the beginning of their scientific career. We were able to give financial support to both groups. In particular, help was provided to students and scientists from non-EU countries. It is our great pleasure to thank those people and institutions whose help and support was crucial to the success of the meeting. We appreciate the enthusiastic support of our colleagues of the academic community, especially those from the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare and the Universities of Cagliari, Pisa, Torino and Mississippi. Financial support was provided by the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, the Universities of Cagliari, Torino, Pisa and Mississippi. This was used largely to support participants, especially younger people. Special thanks go to Pietro Menotti (University of Pisa) and Stefano Sciuto (University of Torino) for their friendship and their universities financial contributions. It is also a pleasure to acknowledge financial support from the Regione Autonoma della Sardegna and from Tiscali, the communications and Internet company, for providing free telephone cards. Technical support and local organisation was provided by the Sezione di Cagliari of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare. Warmest thanks go to our administrative and technical staff—Maria Assunta Lecca and Simona Renieri, for their untiring assistance, and to Palmasera Village and Hotel Smeraldo for their splendid hospitality. And finally, our gratitude goes to all the participants and especially the many experienced scientists. Their contributions highlighted the meeting and were largely without support. The success of the meeting is due to them and to the enthusiasm of the younger participants. The Editors January 2006 COMMITTEES Organising Committee Mariano Cadoni (Universita and INFN Cagliari) Marco Cavaglia (University of Mississippi) Jeanette E. Nelson (Universita and INFN Torino) Advisory Committee Orfeu Bertolami (IST Lisboa, Portugal) Luca Bombelli (Univ. Mississippi) Steve Carlip (UC Davis, USA) Alessandro DAdda (INFN Torino, Italy) Stanley Deser (Brandeis, USA) Georgi Dvali (NYU, USA) Sergio Ferrara (CERN) Gian Francesco Giudice (CERN) Roman Jackiw (MIT, USA) Edward W. Kolb (Fermilab, USA) Luca Lusanna (INFN Firenze, Italy) Roy Maartens (Univ. Portsmouth, UK) Hermann Nicolai (AEI, Potsdam, Germany) Tullio Regge (Politecnico di Torino, Italy) Augusto Sagnotti (Univ. Roma Tor Vergata, Italy) Kellogg S. Stelle (Imperial College London, UK) Ruth Williams (DAMTP, Cambridge, UK) SPONSORS Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Universita di Cagliari Universita di Torino University of Mississippi Universita di Pisa Regione autonoma della Sardegna Tiscali LIST OF PARTICIPANTS Eun-Joo Ahn (University of Chicago, USA) David Alba (Universita di Firenze, Italy) Stanislav Alexeyev (Lomonosov Moscow State U., Russia) Damiano Anselmi (Universita di Pisa, Italy) Ignatios Antoniadis (CERN, Geneva, Switzerland) Maria Da Conceicao Bento (Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisboa, Portugal) Orfeu Bertolami (Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisboa, Portugal) Massimo Bianchi (Universita di Roma Tor Vergata, Italy) Mariam Bouhmadi-Lopez (University of Portsmouth, UK) Raphael Bousso (University of California at Berkeley, USA) Mariano Cadoni (Universita di Cagliari, Italy) Steven Carlip (University of California at Davis, USA) Roberto Casadio (Universita di Bologna, Italy) Marco Cavaglia (University of Mississippi, USA) Demian Cho (Raman Research Institute, Bangalore, India) Theodosios Christodoulakis (University of Athens, Greece) Chryssomalis Chryssomalakos (Inst. de Ciencias Nucleares - UNAM, Mexico) Diego Julio Cirilo-Lombardo (JINR, Dubna, Russia) Denis Comelli INFN, Sezione di Ferrara, Italy ) Ruben Cordero-Elizalde (Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Mexico) Lorenzo Cornalba (Universita di Roma Tor Vergata, Italy) Branislav Cvetkovic (Institute of Physics, Belgrade, Serbia ) Maro Cvitan (University of Zagreb, Croatia) Alessandro DAdda (Universita di Torino, Italy) Claudio Dappiaggi (Universita di Pavia, Italy) Roberto De Leo (Universita di Cagliari, Italy) Roberto De Pietri (Universita di Parma, Italy) Giuseppe De Risi (Universita di Bari, Italy) Hans-Thomas Elze (Univ. Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil) Alessandro Fabbri (Universita di Bologna, Italy) Sergey Fadeev (VNIIMS, Moscow, Russia) Serena Fagnocchi (Universita di Bologna, Italy) Sara Farese (Universidad de Valencia, Spain) Alessandra Feo (Universita di Parma, Italy) Dario Francia (Universita di Roma Tor Vergata, Italy) Francesco Fucito (Universita di Roma Tor Vergata, Italy) Dmitri Fursaev (JINR, Dubna, Russia) Daniel Galehouse (University of Akron, Ohio, USA) Remo Garattini (Universita di Bergamo, Italy) Florian Girelli (Perimeter Institute, Waterloo, Canada) Luca Griguolo (Universita di Parma, Italy) Daniel Grumiller (Universitat Leipzig, Germany) Shinichi Horata (Hayama Center of Advanced Research, Japan) Giorgio Immirzi (Universita di Perugia, Italy) Roman Jackiw (MIT, Cambridge, USA) Matyas Karadi (DAMTP, University of Cambridge, UK) Mikhail Katanaev (Steklov Mathematical Institute, Moscow, Russia) Claus Kiefer (Universitat Koln, Germany) John Klauder (University of Florida, Gainesville, USA) Pavel Klepac (Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic) Jen-Chi Lee (National Chiao-Tung University, Taiwan) Carlos Leiva (Universidad de Tarapaca, Arica, Chile) Stefano Liberati (SISSA/ISAS, Trieste, Italy) Jorma Louko (University of Nottingham, UK) Luca Lusanna (INFN, Sezione di Firenze, Italy) Roy Maartens (University of Portsmouth, UK) Fotini Markopoulou (Perimeter Institute, Waterloo, Canada) Annalisa Marzuoli (Universita di Pavia, Italy) Evangelos Melas (QMW, University of London, UK) Maurizio Melis (Universita di Cagliary, Italy) Vitaly Melnikov (VNIIMS, Moscow, Russia) Guillermo A. Mena Marugan (CSIC, Madrid, Spain) Pietro Menotti (Universita di Pisa, Italy) Salvatore Mignemi (Universita di Cagliari, Italy) Aleksandar Mikovic (Universidade Lusofona, Lisboa, Portugal) Leonardo Modesto (Universite de la Mediterranee, Marseille, France) Michael Mueller (Sardinien.com, Cagliari, Italy) Mario Nadalini (Universita di Trento, Italy) Jose Navarro-Salas (Universidad de Valencia, Spain) Jeanette E. Nelson (Universita di Torino, Italy) Alexander Nesterov (Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico) Hermann Nicolai (Albert-Einstein-Institut, Golm, Germany) Daniele Oriti (DAMTP, University of Cambridge, UK) Marcello Ortaggio (Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic) Silvio Pallua (University of Zagreb, Croatia) Matej Pavsic (Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia) Wlodzimierz Piechocki (Soltan Inst. for Nuclear Studies, Warsaw, Poland) Nicola Pinamonti (Universita di Trento, Italy) J. Brian Pitts (University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA) Vojtech Pravda (Academy of Sciences, Praha, Czech Rep.) Gianpaolo Procopio (DAMTP, University of Cambridge, UK) Alice Rogers (Kings College London, UK) Efrain Rojas (Universidad Veracruzana, Mexico) James Ryan (DAMTP, University of Cambridge, UK) Augusto Sagnotti (Universita di Roma Tor Vergata, Italy) Wenceslao Santiago-German (University of California at Davis, USA) Stefano Sciuto (Universita di Torino, Italy) Domenico Seminara (Universita di Firenze, Italy) Lorenzo Sindoni (Universita di Udine, Italy) Kellogg S. Stelle (Imperial College, London, UK) Cosimo Stornaiolo (INFN, Sezione di Napoli, Italy) Ward Struyve (Perimeter Institute, Waterloo, Canada) Makoto Tanabe (Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan) Daniel Terno (Perimeter Institute, Waterloo, Canada) Charles Wang (Lancaster University, UK) Silke Weinfurtner (Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand) Hans Westman (Perimeter Institute, Waterloo, Canada) Ruth Williams (DAMTP, University of Cambridge, UK) Tetsuyuki Yukawa (Graduate U. for Adv. Studies, Kanagawa, Japan) Jorge Zanelli (CECS, Santiago, Chile)