The TT deformation of a relativistic two-dimensional theory results in a solvable gravitational theory. Deformed scattering amplitudes can be obtained from coupling the undeformed theory to the flat space Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity. We show that the JT description is applicable and useful also in finite volume. Namely, we calculate the torus partition function of an arbitrary matter theory coupled to the JT gravity, formulated in the first order (vielbein) formalism. The first order description provides a natural set of dynamical clocks and rods for this theory, analogous to the target space coordinates in string theory. These dynamical coordinates play the role of relational observables allowing to define a torus path integral for the JT gravity. The resulting partition function is one-loop exact and reproduces the TT deformed finite volume spectrum.

Abstract. We elaborate on the dynamics of ionized interstellar medium in the presence of hidden photon dark matter. Our main focus is the ultra-light regime, where the hidden photon mass is smaller than the plasma frequency in the Milky Way. We point out that as a result of the Galactic plasma shielding direct detection of ultra-light photons in this mass range is especially challenging. However, we demonstrate that ultra-light hidden photon dark matter provides a powerful heating source for the ionized interstellar medium. This results in a strong bound on the kinetic mixing between hidden and regular photons all the way down to the hidden photon masses of order 10 −20 eV.

We put forward the Axionic String Ansatz (ASA), which provides a unified description for the worldsheet dynamics of confining strings in pure Yang-Mills theory both in D = 3 and D = 4 space-time dimensions. The ASA is motivated by the excitation spectrum of long confining strings, as measured on a lattice, and by recently constructed integrable axionic non-critical string models. According to the ASA, pure gluodynamics in 3D is described by a non-critical bosonic string theory without any extra local worldsheet degrees of freedom. We argue that this assumption fixes the set of quantum numbers (spins, P -and C-parities) of almost all glueball states. We confront the resulting predictions with the properties of approximately 1 2 + 2 2 + 3 2 + 5 2 = 39 lightest glueball states measured on a lattice and find a good agreement. On the other hand, the spectrum of low lying glueballs in 4D gluodynamics suggests the presence of a massive pseudoscalar mode on the string worldsheet, in agreement with the ASA and lattice data for long strings.