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We propose a class of AdS/CFT dual pairs which have small internal dimensions on the gravity side. Starting from known Freund-Rubin AdS/CFT dual pairs, we use 7-branes to nearly cancel the curvature energy of the internal dimensions while maintaining their stabilization. This leads to a new corner of the landscape - a class of AdS solutions with a hierarchically large AdS radius - with a dual field theory given (implicitly) by the infrared limit of a concrete brane construction involving D3-branes, 7-branes, and curvature. We first construct a class of hierarchical AdS5/CFT4 dual pairs with a simple formula for the number of degrees of freedom which we interpret in the dual QFT. We then generalize these to AdS4/CFT3 duals, and suggest extensions of the method to obtain de Sitter solutions.

We construct composite Higgs models admitting a weakly coupled Seiberg dual description. We focus on the possibility that only the up-type Higgs is an elementary field, while the down-type Higgs arises as a composite hadron. The model, based on a confining SQCD theory, breaks supersymmetry and electroweak symmetry dynamically and calculably. This simultaneously solves the {mu}/B{sub {mu}} problem and explains the smallness of the bottom and tau masses compared to the top mass. The proposal is then applied to a class of models where the same confining dynamics is used to generate the Standard Model flavor hierarchy by quark and lepton compositeness. This provides a unified framework for flavor, supersymmetry breaking and electroweak physics. The weakly coupled dual is used to explicitly compute the MSSM parameters in terms of a few microscopic couplings, giving interesting relations between the electroweak and soft parameters. The RG evolution down to the TeV scale is obtained and salient phenomenological predictions of this class of 'single-sector' models are discussed.

Efforts to promote rechargeable electric lighting as a replacement for fuel-based light sources in developing countries are typically predicated on the notion that lighting service levels can be maintained or improved while reducing the costs and environmental impacts of existing practices. However, the extremely low incomes of those who depend on fuel-based lighting create a need to balance the hypothetically possible or desirable levels of light with those that are sufficient and affordable. In a pilot study of four night vendors in Kenya, we document a field technique we developed to simultaneously measure the effectiveness of lighting service provided by a lighting system and conduct a survey of lighting service demand by end-users. We took gridded illuminance measurements across each vendor's working and selling area, with users indicating the sufficiency of light at each point. User light sources included a mix of kerosene-fueled hurricane lanterns, pressure lamps, and LED lanterns.We observed illuminance levels ranging from just above zero to 150 lux. The LED systems markedly improved the lighting service levels over those provided by kerosene-fueled hurricane lanterns. Users reported that the minimum acceptable threshold was about 2 lux. The results also indicated that the LED lamps in use by the …

One of the challenges of supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking and mediation is generating a {mu} term consistent with the requirements of electro-weak symmetry breaking. The most common approach to the problem is to generate the {mu} term through a SUSY breaking F-term. Often these models produce unacceptably large B{mu} terms as a result. We will present an alternate approach, where the {mu} term is generated directly by non-perturtative effects. The same non-perturbative effect will also retrofit the model of SUSY breaking in such a way that {mu} is at the same scale as masses of the Standard Model superpartners. Because the {mu} term is not directly generated by SUSY breaking effects, there is no associated B{mu} problem. These results are demonstrated in a toy model where a stringy instanton generates {mu}.

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A new set of analytic formulae describes the transmission of soft X-ray (SXR) continuum radiation through a metallic foil for its application to fast electron temperature measurements in fusion plasmas. This novel approach shows good agreement with numerical calculations over a wide range of plasma temperatures in contrast with the solutions obtained when using a transmission approximated by a single-Heaviside function [S. von Goeler, Rev. Sci. Instrum., 20, 599, (1999)]. The new analytic formulae can improve the interpretation of the experimental results and thus contribute in obtaining fast teperature measurements in between intermittent Thomson Scattering data.