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  1. Henneaux, M; Nepomechie, R; Seminara, D (Ed.)
    Abstract In Anti de Sitter space both massive and massless high-spin particles can have consistent local interactions. Both can couple to conserved currents. In this paper we show that when the particles have spin one or greater, there exists a universal feature associated to the particle becoming massive: the currents possess a non-vanishing boundary flux. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available January 7, 2026
  2. A<sc>bstract</sc> We use effective string theory to study mesons with large spinJin largeNcQCD as rotating open strings. In the first part of this work, we formulate a consistent effective field theory (EFT) for open spinning strings with light quarks. Our EFT provides a consistent treatment of the endpoints’ singularities that arise in the massless limit. We obtain results, in a systematic 1/Jexpansion, for the spectrum of the leading and daughter Regge trajectories. Interestingly, we find that the redshift factor associated with the quarks’ acceleration implies that the applicability regime of the EFT is narrower compared to that of static flux tubes. In the second part of this work, we discuss several extensions of phenomenological interests, including mesons with heavy quarks, the quarks’ spin and the daughter Regge trajectories associated with the worldsheet axion, a massive string mode identified in lattice simulations of 4dflux tubes. We compare our predictions with 4dQCD spectroscopy data, and suggest potentialstringyinterpretations of the observed mesons. We finally comment on the relation between the EFT spectrum and the Axionic String Ansatz, a recently proposed characterization of the spectrum of Yang-Mills glueballs. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available April 1, 2026
  3. Multiple (Ed.)
    A<sc>bstract</sc> Powerful techniques have been developed in quantum field theory that employ algebras of local operators, yet local operators cannot create physical charged states in gauge theory or physical nonzero-energy states in perturbative quantum gravity. A common method to obtain physical operators out of local ones is to dress the latter using appropriate Wilson lines. This procedure destroys locality, it must be done case by case for each charged operator in the algebra, and it rapidly becomes cumbersome, particularly in perturbative quantum gravity. In this paper we present an alternative approach to the definition of physical charged operators: we define an automorphism that maps an algebra of local charged operators into a (non-local) algebra of physical charged operators. The automorphism is described by a formally unitary intertwiner mapping the exact BRS operator associated to the gauge symmetry into its quadratic part. The existence of an automorphism between local operators and the physical ones, describing charged states, allows to retain many of the results derived in local operator algebras and extend them to the physical-but-nonlocal algebra of charged operators as we discuss in some simple applications of our construction. We also discuss a formal construction of physical states and possible obstructions to it. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available March 1, 2026
  4. A<sc>bstract</sc> A model of supergravity inflation we recently proposed can produce slow roll inflation and a realistic spectrum of particles even without F-term supersymmetry breaking. Supersymmetry is broken only by a D-term induced by a recently discovered new type of Fayet-Iliopoulos (FI) term. Almost all supersymmetric partners of the standard model fields can get masses as high as the inflationary Hubble scale. The exception is gauginos, for which the vanishing of F-terms implies an exact cancellation that keeps their masses exactly zero. To cure this problem without spoiling the simplicity of our model we introduce a new term that further enlarges the space of supergravity effective actions. It is an F-term that, similarly to the new FI term, becomes singular in the supersymmetric limit. We show that this term can produce large gaugino masses without altering the spectrum of other states and without lowering the cutoff of the effecive theory. 
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  5. A<sc>bstract</sc> In perturbative string theory, one is generally interested in asymptotic observables, such as the S-matrix in flat spacetime, and boundary correlation functions in anti-de Sitter spacetime. However, there are backgrounds in which such observables do not exist. We study examples of such backgrounds in 1 + 1 dimensional string theory. In these examples, the Liouville wall accelerates and can become spacelike in the past and/or future. When that happens, the corresponding null infinity, at which the standard scattering states are defined, is shielded by the Liouville wall. We compute scattering and particle production amplitudes in these backgrounds in the region in parameter space where the wall remains timelike, and discuss the continuation of this picture to the spacelike regime. We also discuss the physics from the point of view of the dynamics of free fermions in backgrounds with a time-dependent Fermi surface. 
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  6. We study inflation in a recently proposed gravitational effective field theory describing the trace anomaly. The theory requires an additional scalar which is massless in the early universe. This scalar—referenced as an anomalyon—couples to the familiar matter and radiation through the gauge field trace anomaly. We derive a class of cosmological solutions that deviate from the standard inflationary ones only slightly, in spite of the fact that the anomalyon has a sizable time dependent background. On the other hand, the scalar cosmological perturbations in this theory are different from the conventional inflationary perturbations. The inflaton and anomalyon perturbations mix, and one of the diagonal combinations gives the standard nearly scale-invariant adiabatic spectrum, while the other combination has a blue power spectrum at short distance scales. We argue that this blue spectrum can lead to the formation of primordial black holes (PBHs) at distance scales much shorter than the ones tested in cosmic microwave background observations. The resulting PBHs can be heavy enough to survive to the present day Universe. For natural values of the parameters involved the PBHs would constitute only a tiny fraction of the dark matter, but with fine-tunings perhaps all of dark matter could be accounted by them. We also show that the theory predicts primordial gravitational waves which are almost identical to the standard inflationary ones. Published by the American Physical Society2025 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available March 1, 2026
  7. A bstract We study solvable deformations of two-dimensional quantum field theories driven by a bilinear operator constructed from a pair of conserved U(1) currents J a . We propose a quantum formulation of these deformations, based on the gauging of the corresponding symmetries in a path integral. This formalism leads to an exact dressing of the S -matrix of the system, similarly as what happens in the case of a $$ \textrm{T}\overline{\textrm{T}} $$ T T ¯ deformation. For conformal theories the deformations under study are expected to be exactly marginal. Still, a peculiar situation might arise when the conserved currents J a are not well-defined local operators in the original theory. A simple example of this kind of system is provided by rotation currents in a theory of multiple free, massless, non-compact bosons. We verify that, somewhat unexpectedly, such a theory is indeed still conformal after deformation and that it coincides with a TsT transformation of the original system. We then extend our formalism to the case in which the conserved currents are non-Abelian and point out its connection with Deformed T-dual Models and homogeneous Yang-Baxter deformations. In this case as well the deformation is based on a gauging of the symmetries involved and it turns out to be non-trivial only if the symmetry group admits a non-trivial central extension. Finally we apply what we learned by relating the $$ \textrm{T}\overline{\textrm{T}} $$ T T ¯ deformation to the central extension of the two-dimensional Poincaré algebra. 
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