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In this work we study the dynamics of branes on group manifolds G deep in the stringy regime. After giving a brief overview of the various branes that can be constructed within the boundary conformal field theory approach, we analyze in detail the condensation processes that occur on stacks of such branes. At large volume our discussion is based on certain effective gauge theories on non-commutative 'fuzzy' spaces. Using the 'absorption of the boundary spin'-principle which was formulated by Affleck and Ludwig in their work on the Kondo model, we extrapolate the brane dynamics into the stringy regime. For supersymmetric theories, the resulting condensation processes turn out to be consistent with the existence of certain conserved charges taking values in some non-trivial discrete abelian groups. We obtain strong constraints on these charge groups for G=SU(N). The results may be compared with a recent proposal of Bouwknegt and Mathai according to which charge groups on curved spaces X (with a non-vanishing NSNS 3-form field strength H) are given by the twisted K-groups K∗H(X).
AEI-2000-079 hep-th/0012164
UUITP-nn/99 hep-th/0012164
wwwxe-mail:;
During the last years, the study of branes and their dynamics has lead to many new insights into string and M-theory. Much of this study was done in the large volume regime where geometric techniques provide reliable information. The extrapolation into the stringy regime usually requires new methods from boundary conformal field theory, in particular when the bulk supersymmetry is not maximal. The analysis of strings and branes on group manifolds gives us a good handle on such issues. The large symmetry of group manifolds G makes string theory on G rather tractable while, on the other hand, group manifolds display many interesting new features that do not appear in flat spaces. Most importantly, their non-vanishing curvature along with the string equations of motion imply that they carry a non-vanishing NSNS 3-form field strength H. Moreover, models of strings and branes on group manifolds are used as a starting point in perturbative string constructions for many other backgrounds.
Our focus in this work is on bound state formation of branes and on finding appropriate conserved quantities (charges) that encode the essential features of the brane dynamics. D-branes in a background X may be characterized by their ability to carry RR-charges [1] . The latter are assigned to arbitrary configurations of branes, stable and unstable, and they are conserved during all dynamical processes. In the world-sheet description, D-brane configurations correspond to boundary conditions for some 2D conformal field theory and their condensation is induced by relevant (or marginally relevant) boundary operators. The infra-red (IR) fixed point of the associated renormalization group (RG) trajectory provides the world-sheet theory for the decay product that is reached after the condensation has occurred. In this framework, the conserved RR-charges are simply RG-invariants.
By construction, the brane charges take values in some discrete abelian group. Obviously, the latter contains a lot of information about the brane dynamics (i.e. RG trajectories) and hence it is rather difficult to find. On the other hand, there are many constructions in mathematics that assign discrete abelian groups to a background geometry X. These include the de Rham cohomology and various different K-theories. Very naively one might think that RR-charges take values in de Rham cohomology groups H∗(X,Z) as they are associated with the n-form fields of super-gravity theories. It is by now well known that this naive expectation is incorrect and that K-groups provide a much more realistic candidate for the group of RR-charges (see e.g. [2] and the more recent developments [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8] that were initiated mainly by [9] ).
There exist various different K-theories that one uses depending on the string theory under consideration. For type IIA/B theory in a background X, the relevant groups are given by the usual K∗(X), provided that X carries a vanishing NSNS 3-form H. In dealing with the general case H∈H3(X,Z), Bouwknegt and Mathai proposed to employ the twisted K-groups K∗H(X). The latter are defined as K-groups of an algebra whose elements are sections of some bundle on X taking values in compact operators. Morita invariance of algebraic K-theory implies that one recovers K(X) for H=0. When the H-field is torsion class, i.e. some integer multiple of it vanishes in H3(X,Z), the proposal of Bouwknegt and Mathai boils down to K-groups suggested in [3] (see also [11] for an extensive discussion).
Having all these different groups at our disposal, it is important to decide which one gives the right answer, i.e. leads to some RG-invariants in boundary conformal field theories. To begin with, this requires some background X for which the various groups are actually different. In finding such examples one needs to overcome de Rham's theorem which claims that the non-torsion parts of de-Rham cohomology and of the usual K-theory are isomorphic. 111A finitely generated abelian group C is of the form C=Z⊕⋯⊕Z⊕Zx1⊕⋯⊕Zxn. The subgroup Tor(C):=Zx1⊕⋯⊕Zxn⊂C is called the torsion of C.Hence, one has to work on string backgrounds for which the cohomology and K-groups possess torsion parts. Such examples are known (see e.g. [12] ), but to study brane dynamics in such backgrounds still presents a challenge.
String theory on group manifolds provide an interesting class of examples for which the appropriate twisted K-theory is rather non-trivial while at the same time there exist powerful methods to study the dynamics of branes. Group manifolds G are curved so that by the string equations of motion they come equipped with a non-trivial H-field, known as the WZW 3-form. The latter is non-torsion and hence we expect the brane charges to take values in the twisted K-groups K∗H(G).
The simplest example is given by G=SU(2). It was shown in [13] that branes on SU(2) can wrap integer conjugacy classes. Their stability was also analyzed in [14, 15] . Generically, conjugacy classes of SU(2) are 2-spheres but there are two exceptional point-like classes provided by ±e where e is the group unit. The large volume analysis of [16] shows that an arbitrary spherical brane on SU(2) may be obtained as a bound state of some sufficiently large stack of point-like branes, similarly to the effect described in [17] . This implies that all branes carry a certain integer multiple of the charge of a single point-like brane. When the volume of SU(2)≅S3 is finite, the condensation can lead us from a sufficiently large stack of point-like branes at e to a single point-like brane at −e [18] . Hence, the authors of [18] concluded that the charge of a point-like brane does not take values in the integers but in some finite quotient thereof. We shall see that the result is in perfect agreement with the K-theoretic prediction. The investigations in [18] were motivated by [19] (see also [20] and the more recent work [21] ).
Other groups admit branes which wrap more general 'twisted' conjugacy classes [22] . Their dynamics can still be analyzed even deep in the stringy regime and the analysis gives strong constraints on the possible charge groups. In particular, we shall see that they are all finite discrete abelian groups but our information will be much more detailed. For G=SU(N) we shall show that the charge group is of the form
C(SU(N),K) = Zx⊕s⨁ν=1Zxν (1)
where x=K/gcd(K,lcm(1,…,N)) and the xν are known to divide x when N≤5 or N odd. For even N≥6 our results on xν are slightly weaker and we defer their precise formulation to Section 4.3 below. The integer K is determined by the NSNS 3-form H∈H3(SU(N),Z)≅Z. Branes wrapping ordinary conjugacy classes contribute the first summand to eq. (1) while the others come with twisted branes. Since the latter are more difficult to study, our information on the charges of twisted branes is not complete. For G=SU(2) we shall show that s=0. In case of G=SU(3), the comparison with twisted K-theory suggests that s=1 and x1=x.
The plan of this paper is as follows. In the next section we will review the theory of maximally symmetric branes on group manifolds. In particular, we shall provide a complete list of such branes and their associated open string spectra. Section 3 is devoted to the dynamics of branes on group manifolds. We start with a brief summary and generalization of the results obtained in [16] for the large volume regime. The main aim of the section is then to explain how condensation processes can be studied deep in the stringy regime and to present explicit results on bound states. This information is then used in Section 4 to derive strong constraints on the charge groups. In Section 5, finally, we make some remarks on the comparison with twisted K-theory. These will be rather preliminary, though, because there is not much known about the twisted K-groups beyond the examples of G=SU(2),SU(3).
2 D-branes on group manifolds
This section is devoted to the description of maximally symmetric branes on group manifolds. Following [13, 22] , we will begin with a brief review of their classical geometry. Then, in the second subsection, we shall present some basic results on the boundary conformal field theory of such branes.
2.1 The geometry of branes on group manifolds
Strings on the group manifold of a simple and simply connected group G are described by the WZW-model. Its action is evaluated on fields g:Σ↦G taking values in G and it involves one (integer) coupling constant k, which is known as the 'level'. For our purposes it is most convenient to think of k as controlling the size (in string units) of the background. Large values of k correspond to a large volume of the group manifold. When dealing with open strings at tree level, the 2-dimensional world sheet Σ is taken to be the upper half plane Σ={z∈C|Iz≥0}.
Along the boundary of this world sheet we need to impose some boundary condition. Here we shall analyze boundary conditions that preserve the full bulk symmetry of the model, i.e. the affine algebra ˆGk. These boundary conditions are formulated in terms of the chiral currents
J(z) = kg−1(z,¯z)∂g(z,¯z) , ¯J(¯z) = −k¯∂g(z,¯z)g−1(z,¯z) .
Note that J and ¯J take values in the finite dimensional Lie algebra G of the group G. Along the real line we glue the holomorphic and the anti-holomorphic currents according to
J(z) = Λ¯J(¯z) for all z=¯z (2)
where Λ is an appropriate automorphism of the current algebra ˆGk (see e.g. [23] ). The choice of Λ is restricted by the requirement of conformal invariance which means that T(z)=¯T(¯z) all along the boundary. Here T,¯T are the non-vanishing components of the stress energy tensor. They can be obtained through the Sugawara construction, as usual.
The allowed automorphisms Λ of the affine Lie algebra ˆG are easily classified. They are all of the form
Λ = Ω∘Adg for some g∈G . (3)
Here, Adg denotes the adjoint action of the group element g on the current algebra ˆGk. It is induced in the obvious way from the adjoint action of G on the finite dimensional Lie algebra G. The automorphism Ω does not come from conjugation with some element g. More precisely, it is an outer automorphism of the current algebra. Such outer automorphisms Ω=Ωω come with symmetries ω of the Dynkin diagram of the finite dimensional Lie algebra G. One may show that the choice of ω and g∈G in eq. (3) exhausts all possibilities for the gluing automorphism Λ (see e.g. [24] ).
Throughout this text, the groups G=SU(N) will serve as our main examples. Their Dynkin diagrams AN−1 possess the trivial symmetry ω=id and one non-trivial involution ω when N>2. We will not need explicit expressions for the associated maps Ωω, but the interested reader can find formulas e.g. in [25] .
So far, our discussion of the possible types of gluing automorphisms Λ has been fairly abstract. But it is possible to associate some concrete geometry with each choice of Λ. This was initiated in [13] for ω=id and extended to non-trivial symmetries ω≠id in [22] (see also [26] , [27] ).
Let us assume first that the element g in eq. (3) coincides with the group unit g=e. This means that Λ=Ω=Ωω is determined by ω alone. The diagram symmetry ω induces an (outer) automorphism ωG of the finite dimensional Lie algebra G through the unique correspondence between vertices of the Dynkin diagram and simple roots. After exponentiation, ωG furnishes an automorphism ωG of the group G. One can show that the gluing conditions (2) force the string ends to stay on one of the following ω-twisted conjugacy classes
Cωu := {huωG(h−1) | h∈G} .
The subsets Cωu⊂G are parametrized by equivalence classes of group elements u where the equivalence relation between two elements u,v∈G is given by: u∼ωv iff v∈Cωu. Note that this parameter space Uω of equivalence classes is not a manifold, i.e. it contains singular points.
To describe the topology of Cωu and the parameter space Uω (at least locally), we need some more notation. By construction, the action of ωG on G can be restricted to an action on the Cartan subalgebra T. We shall denote the subspace of elements which are invariant under the action of ωG by Tω⊂T. Elements in Tω generate a torus Tω⊂G. One may show that the generic ω-twisted conjugacy class Cωu looks like the quotient G/Tω. Hence, the dimension of the generic submanifolds Cωu is dimG−dimTω and the parameter space has dimension dimTω at all but finitely many points. In other words, there are dimTω directions transverse to a generic twisted conjugacy class. This implies that the branes associated with the trivial diagram automorphism ω=id have the largest number of transverse directions. It is given by the rank of the Lie algebra.
As we shall see below, not all these submanifolds Cωu can be wrapped by branes on group manifolds. There exists some integrality requirement that can be understood in various ways, e.g. as quantization condition within a semiclassical analysis [13] of the brane's stability [14, 15] . This implies that there is only a finite set of allowed branes (if k is finite). The number of branes depends on the volume of the group measured in string units.
Let us become somewhat more explicit for G=SU(N). The simplest case is certainly N=2 because there exists no non-trivial diagram automorphism ω. The conjugacy classes Cidu are 2-spheres S2⊂S3≅SU(2) for generic points u and they consist of a single point when u=±e in the center of SU(2). More generally, the formulas dimSU(N)=(N−1)(N+1) and rankSU(N)=(N−1) show that the generic submanifolds Cidu have dimension dimCidu=(N−1)N. In addition, there are N singular cases associated with elements u in the center ZN⊂SU(N). The corresponding submanifolds Cidu are 0-dimensional. Note that all the submanifolds Cidu are even dimensional. Similarly, the generic manifolds Cωu for the non-trivial diagram symmetry ω have dimension dimCωu=(N−1)(N+1/2) for odd N and dimCωu=N2−N/2−1 whenever N is even. For some exceptional values of u, the dimension can be lower.
So far we restricted ourselves to Λ=Ωω being a diagram automorphism. As we stated before, the general case is obtained by admitting an additional inner automorphism of the form Adg. Geometrically, the latter corresponds to rigid translations on the group induced from the left action of g on the group manifold (see e.g. [28] ). The freedom of translating branes on G does not lead to any new charges and we shall not consider it any further, i.e. we shall assume g=e in what follows.
2.2 Conformal field theory
The branes we considered in the previous subsection may be described through an exactly solvable conformal field theory. In particular, there exists a complete understanding of the open string spectra based on the work of Cardy [29] and of Birke, Fuchs and Schweigert [25] .
We shall use Ξ=(α,ω) to label the boundary conformal field theories. The label α is taken from some index set Jωk depending on the choice of the diagram automorphism ω and on the level k. For the trivial diagram automorphism ω=id, the set Jk=Jidk coincides with the set of primaries of the affine Kac-Moody algebra ˆGk. As is well known, Jk is a certain subset of the set J=J∞ of equivalence classes of irreducible representations for the finite dimensional Lie algebra G. The automorphism ω generates a map ϖk:Jk→Jk. In fact, given an irreducible representation τ of G, we can define another representation by composition τ∘ωG. The class of τ∘ωG is independent of the choice of τ∈[τ] and so we obtain a map ϖ:J→J. The latter descends to Jk⊂J. A label i∈Jk is said to be (ω-)symmetric, if it is invariant under the action of ϖ, i.e. if ϖi=i. The subset of symmetric labels will be denoted by Jωk⊂Jk. According to the results of [29, 25] , the labels α for branes associated with the diagram automorphism ω take values in the set Jωk.
These very formal constructions can be understood as follows: obviously we would like to think of α in Ξ=(α,ω) as labeling the position of the brane transverse to the ω-twisted conjugacy classes. As we explained before, the transverse space is locally given by Tω. This fits nicely with our description of the sets Jωk. In fact, by construction the labels α∈Jωk run through a set of points on some lattice of dimension dimTω. When ω=id, this lattice coincides with the weight lattice of G.
Our main goal here is to explain the open string spectra that come with these branes. For a pair of boundary labels (α,ω),(β,ω) associated with the same diagram automorphism ω, the partition function is of the form
Zωαβ(q) = ∑j∈Jknω;βjαχj(q) . (4)
Here, χj(q) denote the characters of the current algebra ˆGk and α,β∈Jωk. Consistency requires the numbers nω;βjα to be non-negative integers.
There exists a very simply argument due to Behrend et al. [30] which shows that the numbers nω;βjα give rise to a representation of the fusion algebra of ˆGk. This means that they obey the relations
∑β∈Jωknω;βiα nω;γjβ = ∑k∈JkN kijnω;γkα , (5)
where Nkij are the fusion rules of the current algebra ˆGk. The argument of [30] starts from a general ansatz for the boundary state assigned to (α,ω). Using world sheet duality, one can express the numbers n in terms of the coefficients of the boundary states and the modular matrix S for the current algebra ˆGk. The general form of this expressions is then sufficient to check the relations (5) (see [30] for details).
An explicit construction for the numbers n is given in [31, 25] . Let ω be a diagram automorphism, as before. Then the numbers nω are of the form
nω;βiα = ∑λ∈JωkSω∗λβSωλαSλiSλ0 for α,β∈Jωk and % i∈Jk . (6)
The matrix Sω is a unitary matrix with matrix elements Sωλα indexed by the ϖ-symmetric labels λ,α∈Jωk, i.e. they obey ϖλ=λ and ϖα=α. When ω=id, the matrix Sω coincides with the usual S-matrix so that Verlinde's formula implies
nid;βiα = N βiα for all α,β,i∈Jk .
This reproduces Cardy's results on the boundary partition functions [29] . For non-trivial automorphism ω, the matrix Sω describes modular transformations of twisted characters. Explicit formulas for Sω exist (see e.g. [25] ), but we will not need them here.
Some aspects of the formulas (4, 6) with α=β can be understood geometrically. Let us note first that the partition functions of all our boundary theories are obtained by summing characters of the ˆGk algebra. This reflects the fact that all the (twisted) conjugacy classes admit an obvious action of the Lie group G by (twisted) conjugation.
The spectrum of ordinary conjugacy classes can be explained in much more detail. For simplicity, we shall restrict to G=SU(2). In this case, generic conjugacy classes are 2-spheres and the space of functions thereon is spanned by spherical harmonics Yj/2m,|m|≤j/2 and j=0,2,4….222To be consistent with our treatment of SU(N) below, we use a convention in which the spin is labeled by integers rather than half-integers. The space of spherical harmonics is precisely reproduced by ground states in the boundary theory (α,id) when we send α (and hence k) to infinity. For finite α, the angular momentum j is cut off at a finite value j=min(2α,2k−2α)≤2α. This means that the brane's world-volume is 'fuzzy' since resolving small distances would require large angular momenta. The relation between branes on SU(2) and the familiar non-commutative fuzzy 2-spheres [32, 33] was fully analyzed in [34] and it provides the only known example of a open string non-commutative geometry beyond the familiar case of branes in flat space [35, 36, 37] . The analysis of [34] goes much beyond the study of partition functions as it employs detailed information on the operator product expansions of open string vertex operators based on [38] . Using the results in [22, 39] it is easy to generalize all these remarks on ordinary conjugacy classes to other groups (see also [32] for more details and explicit formulas on fuzzy conjugacy classes).
Twisted conjugacy classes are more difficult to understand. This is related to the fact that they are never 'small'. More precisely, it is not possible to fit a generic twisted conjugacy class into an arbitrarily small neighborhood of the group identity unless the twist ω is trivial. This implies that the spectrum of angular momenta in Zωαα is not cut off before it reaches the obvious large momentum cut-off that is set by the volume of the group, i.e. by the level k. For large α (and large k) the ground states in the boundary theory Ξ=(α,ω) span the space of functions on the generic twisted conjugacy classes Cωu [22] . The non-commutative geometry associated with twisted conjugacy classes with finite α, however, remains to be investigated.
2.3 Supersymmetric WZW models
Throughout this paper we shall address supersymmetric WZW-models. The main effect on our considerations shows up in a shift of the level k. In fact, a supersymmetric SU(N) model at level K=k+N describes strings moving on SU(N) with K units of NSNS-flux. The model contains currents Ja satisfying the relations of a level k+N affine Kac-Moody algebra along with a multiplet of free fermionic fields ψa in the adjoint representation of su(N). It is well known that one can introduce new bosonic currents
Jab := Ja+ikfa bcψbψc
which obey again the commutation relations of a current algebra but now the level is shifted to K−N=k. The fermionic fields ψa commute with the new currents. This means that the theory splits into a product of a level k WZW model and a theory of three free fermionic fields.
This split is consistent with the boundary conditions we study. We want to impose gluing conditions Ja(z)=Λ¯Ja(¯z) and ψa(z)=±Λ¯ψa(¯z) along the boundary z=¯z. This implies Jab(z)=Λ¯Jab(¯z) since Λ is an automorphism of the Kac-Moody algebra so that, in particular, its action on the product of the fermionic fields is intertwined by the structure constants of the Lie algebra. Hence, boundary conditions of the level K model are described by boundary conditions for the free fermions and for a level k bosonic current. Since the fermionic and the bosonic sectors decouple, we can restrict our attention to the latter. But eventually our results should be interpreted in terms of the original supersymmetric background which carries K=k+N units of NSNS-flux.
3 Brane dynamics on group manifolds
The central goal now is to understand the dynamics of branes on group manifolds deep in the stringy regime when the group manifolds become small in string units. As a starting point it is useful to consider condensation processes in a large volume expansion, i.e. an expansion in powers of 1/k. There one can make reliable and complete statements on the renormalization group flows using rather elementary techniques. As usual, the stringy regime is much more difficult to attack so that we cannot claim to have a complete understanding of the renormalization group flows and fixed points for small group volumes. But fortunately, a large number of condensation processes have been looked at in the past. In fact, the questions we are considering are very closely related to the Kondo problem for which a lot of technology has been invented during the last decades. As was remarked in [16, 18] , the results carry over to the study of gauge field condensates on group manifolds. Finally, the comparison with the large volume scenario suggests that the essential processes are captured by our analysis.
3.1 Brane dynamics at large volume
In our discussion of the large volume dynamics we follow very closely the studies of [16] . We consider a stack of M identical and symmetry preserving branes of type Ξ=(ω,α). This configuration preserves the full ˆGk chiral algebra and hence we find all the ˆGk currents among the boundary operators of the corresponding conformal field theory. The rest of the field content depends very much on the particular brane Ξ we consider. But in a supersymmetric theory after removal of the tachyonic modes, these additional fields will become more and more massive as we decrease the size of our group manifold.333A large number of boundary fields becomes marginal in the limit k→∞ Since we are ultimately interested in the stringy regime, this justifies to concentrate on the currents which are the only massless fields away from the k→∞ limit. In other words, we restrict to perturbations of the form
Spert = ∫∂ΣdxAaJa(x) (7)
where x is the coordinate on the boundary ∂Σ of the world-sheet and Aa,a=1,…,dimG is a set of M×M Chan-Paton matrices. Adding a perturbation of this form will give the gauge fields and transverse scalars on the brane a constant vacuum expectation value Aa.
The rules of perturbative string theory relate the effective action for the fields Aa to the correlation functions of the boundary currents Ja(x). But the latter are completely determined by the usual Ward identities and hence they are entirely independent of the boundary condition Ξ we have selected. This observation implies that the associated terms in the brane's effective action are universal, i.e. they can be computed once and for all without reference to the boundary condition we are looking at. The results of these computations can be copied from [16] ,
SMΞ(A) = tr (−14[Aa,Ab] [Aa,Ab]+i3kfabcAa[Ab,Ac]+%const) . (8)
Here, fabc are the structure constants of the Lie algebra G and tr is the trace on the space of M×M-matrices. From eq. (8) we obtain the following equations of motion
[Aa,[Aa,Ab]−ikfabcAc] = 0 . (9)
As we remarked before, neither the effective action nor the equations of motion depend on the brane Ξ. But they certainly depend on the number M of branes that we stack together through the size of the matrices Aa.
Now we have to study solutions of the equations (9). It turns out that there are basically two types of solutions. The first one is given by a set of dimG pairwise commuting M×M matrices Aa. It comes as a M⋅dimG parameter family of solutions corresponding to the number of eigenvalues appearing in {Aa}. The same kind of solutions appears also for branes in flat backgrounds and the interpretation is known from [40] . They describe individual rigid translations of the M branes on the group manifold. Since each brane's position is specified by dimG coordinates, the number of parameters matches nicely with the interpretation. Moving branes around in the background is a rather trivial operation so that we need not consider this type of solutions any further.
There exists a second type of solutions to eqs. (9) which is a lot more interesting. In fact, any M-dimensional representation of the Lie algebra G can be used to solve the equations of motion. At least for untwisted branes, i.e. for ω=id, the interpretation of these solutions was found in [16] . Let us describe the answer for general Ξ=(α,id) and an irreducible M-dimensional representation σ of G. In this case, the stack of branes α decays into a superposition of branes wrapping various different conjugacy classes. Which branes appear in the final configuration is determined by the Clebsch-Gordan multiplicities ~N of the finite dimensional Lie algebra G. More precisely, one finds
M (α,id) ⟶ ∑γ ~N γσα (γ,id) (10)
where M=dim(σ). The support for this statement comes from both the open string sector and the coupling to closed strings (see [16] ).
A simple check of the rule (10) can be performed, if we extend the effective action for a stack of branes α by including non-constant gauge fields Aa. The extended action ^S has been derived in [16] and it is given by
^SM(α,id)(Aa) = SMdim(α)(0,id)(Ya+Aa) .
Here Aa∈Mat(Mdim(α)) and Ya∼1M⊗ya involves the dim(α)-dimensional irreducible representation ya of the Lie algebra G. The construction of ^S is obviously consistent with the decay (10) which implies that Mdim(α) branes of the type (0,id) can decay into M branes of type (α,id). Moreover, the formula for ^S has been derived within string perturbation theory in [16] . There ^S was identified as a special linear combination of Yang-Mills and Chern-Simons theory on a fuzzy sphere depending on α. Yang-Mills theories on fuzzy spheres are discussed in [41, 42, 43] . The Chern-Simons term is considered in [44] . For branes on S3, the action ^S appears instead of the non-commutative Yang-Mills theory which was derived in [45] to describe the dynamics of branes in flat space with a non-vanishing B-field.
Irreducible M dimensional representations σ of G are still stationary points of this extended action ^S. To test the rule (10) we study arbitrary fluctuations δAa of the gauge field Aa=Λa+δAa∈Mat(Mdim(α)) around a stationary point Λa∼Λa⊗1dim(α). Here Λa are the representation matrices of the M=dim(σ)-dimensional irreducible representation σ of G. By construction, Λa and Ya commute so that their sum Λa+Ya gives the tensor product representation σ×α which decomposes into a sum of irreducibles γ with multiplicities ~N γσα. Comparison with the construction of ^S shows that
^SM(α,id)(Λa+δAa) = ∑γ^S~N γσα(γ,id)(δAa) + …
where we omitted terms involving massive fields that come with open strings stretching between different branes. The resulting action for the fluctuation field δAa contains all the terms that are predicted by the rule (10).
Let us finally remark that the final configuration on the right hand side of (10) is only metastable. Whenever a superposition of branes appears in the final state one can find a renormalization group flow into another configuration of branes with lower mass. These flows, however, are generated by non-constant gauge fields Aa. For detailed explanations and computations the reader is referred to [16] .
3.2 Condensation in the stringy regime
Now we would like to understand the dynamics of branes in the stringy regime. Proceeding along the lines of the previous subsection would force us to include all the higher order corrections to the effective action. Unfortunately, this problem is even more complicated than finding the non-abelian Born-Infeld action. Hence, we cannot hope to get a complete picture of the brane dynamics in the stringy regime.
But we could be somewhat less ambitious and ask whether the solutions we found in the large volume limit possess a deformation into the small volume theory and if so, which fixed points they correspond to. In this way we may overlook new stationary points of the stringy effective action that have no well behaved large k limit. On the other hand, the reduced program has a positive and very beautiful solution that is known from the work on the Kondo effect.
The Kondo model is designed to understand the effect of magnetic impurities on the low temperature conductance properties of a conductor. The latter may have electrons in several conduction bands. Let us say that there are k such bands. Now we can build several currents from the basic fermionic fields. Among them is the spin current →J(y) which gives rise to a ˆGk current algebra. The coordinate y measures the radial distance from a spin s impurity at y=0 to which the spin current couples. This coupling involves a 2s+1-dimensional irreducible representation →Λ=(Λa,a=1,2,3) of su(2) and it is of the form
Hpert = λΛaJa(0) . (11)
The operator Hpert acts on the tensor product Vσ⊗H of the Hilbert space H for the unperturbed theory with the 2s+1 -dimensional quantum mechanical state space of our impurity. The formula (11) is simply the Hamiltonian formulation of the perturbations we would like to study, as one can see by comparison with formula (7) above.
Fortunately, a lot of techniques have been developed to deal with perturbations of the form (11). In fact, this problem is what Wilson's renormalization group techniques were designed for. From the old analysis we know that there are two different cases to be distinguished. When 2s>k ('under-screening') the low temperature fixed point of the Kondo model appears only at infinite values of λ. On the other hand, the fixed point is reached at a finite value λ=λ∗ of the renormalized coupling constant λ if 2s≤k (exact- or over-screening resp.). In the latter case, the fixed points are described by non-trivial (interacting) conformal field theories. We can summarize the results on the spectrum of the fixed points by the formula [46]
tr Vσ⊗Hj(qH0+Hpert)renλ=λ∗:=∑lN lσjχl(q) . (12)
Here, H0=L0+c/24 is the unperturbed Hamiltonian, the superscript ren stands for 'renormalized' and Vσ denotes the representation space of the representation σ of su(2) or, more generally, of an arbitrary simple Lie algebra G. The space Hj can be any of the ˆGk-irreducible subspaces in the physical state space H of the theory. Formula (12) means that our perturbation with some irreducible representation σ interpolates continuously between a building block dim(σ)χj(q) of the partition function of the UV-fixed point (i.e. λ=0) and the sum of characters on the right hand side of the previous formula,
Mχj(q) ⟶ ∑lN lσjχl(q) , (13)
where M=dim(σ). We will now use this rule to find the spectra for the decay product of a stack of M branes Ξ. To this end, we need to start from the partition function describing open strings stretching between a stack of M branes of the type (α,ω) and a single brane (β,ω). This is given by M times the partition function (4), i.e. by a sum of characters with coefficients being integer multiples of M. We can now employ our rule (13) to determine the partition function of the system after perturbation with some irreducible M-dimensional representation σ of G. The result is
ZωMαβ(q) := MZωαβ(q) ⟶ ∑j∈Jknω;βjα∑lN lσjχl(q)
= ∑γ∈Jωk nω;γσα Zωγβ(q) .
Here we used the property (5) of the coefficients n to express the right hand side as a linear combination of known partition functions. Since the coefficients on the right hand side are independent of β, we can summarize the result of our simple computation by the rule
M(α,ω) ⟶ ∑γ∈Jωk nω;γσα(γ,ω) (14)
without any reference to the spectator brane (β,ω). Here, M denotes the dimension of the representation σ of the finite dimensional Lie algebra G and α∈Jωk. This is the kind of result that we were looking for. Let us note that this reproduces the picture that we sketched at the end of the previous subsection when ω=id. In this case, the numbers n specialize to the fusion rules of ˆGk and they approach the fusion rules of the Lie algebra G when we send k to infinity so that we recover the formula (10). The formula (12) is the content of the 'absorption of the boundary spin'-principle [46] and it was previously applied to investigations of brane dynamics in [18, 47] .
4 Conserved charges and twisted K-theory
We would like to see whether the described brane dynamics obey some conservation laws, i. e. if we can assign charges to the branes that are conserved in physical processes. So we are looking for some discrete abelian group C(X), where X denotes the physical background, and a map from arbitrary brane configurations to C(X) such that the map is invariant under renormalization group flows.
Let us denote the charge of a brane (α,ω) by q(α,ω)∈C(X). From the process (14) where a stack of dim(σ) branes of type (α,ω) condenses we get
dim(σ)q(α,ω) = ∑γ∈Jωk nω;γσαq(γ,ω) . (15)
These equations express the condition for charge conservation under all the processes we have identified in the previous section. The requirement that eqs. (15) possess solutions places strong constraints on the group C(SU(N),K) of charges. We shall evaluate them completely for untwisted branes in the first subsection. Then we turn to the twisted branes which are more difficult to control. Nevertheless, we will obtain detailed information on C(SU(N),K). This is then summarized in the last subsection and compared to what is known on the twisted K-groups K∗H(SU(N)).
4.1 The charge of untwisted branes on SU(N)
For branes wrapping ordinary conjugacy classes, i.e. ω=id, the integers n are given by the fusion rules N. The evaluation of eqs. (15) for α=0 leads to
qβ = dim(β)q0 (16)
for all branes β=(β,id) and with q0=q(0,id) being the charge of the point-like brane at the group unit e. Hence, all the brane charges of untwisted branes are integer multiples of q0. If we normalize the charge of the point-like brane by q0=1 we arrive at
qβ = dim(β) . (17)
These equations form a subset of the equations (15). But we can see that the charges qβ=dim(β) solve the full set of eqs. (15) in the limit k→∞ where the N are just the Clebsch-Gordan multiplicities of the simple Lie algebra su(N). In this limit, the equations express that the dimension of a tensor product of su(N) representations is a sum of dimensions of its irreducible subrepresentations. For finite k, however, the fusion rules N differ from the Clebsch-Gordan multiplicities of su(N) so that typically the right hand side of eqs. (15) with qβ=dimβ is smaller than the left hand side. Hence, the equations can only hold, if they are evaluated modulo some integer x that we need to determine. Charges then take values in the group Zx.
Let us first look at a simple example, X=SU(2). For level k the labels α lie in the range 0,…,k. We have a geometrical understanding of what the possible D-branes are. They are given by conjugacy classes which form 2-spheres embedded in SU(2)≅S3. Their radius depends on α and for α=0,k they degenerate to a point. α=0 describes a D0-brane at the origin e, α=k a D0-brane at −e.
Now consider a stack of D0-branes at e. This stack is expected to decay into a D2-brane on a 3-sphere with finite volume. If we put more and more D0-branes together the radius of the resulting D2-brane will first grow, then decrease, and finally a stack of k+1 D0-branes will decay to a D0-brane at −e (see fig. 1). If we assign charge 1 to the D0-brane at e and want the charge to be conserved, the D0-brane at −e must have charge k+1. On the other hand we could just translate the D0-brane from e to −e, and by taking orientation into account, this would lead to charge −1. Thus we have to identify k+1 and −1 which means that charge is only well-defined modulo k+2.
Figure 1: Brane dynamics on S3: A stack of D0-branes at e can decay to a D2-brane. Putting more and more D0-branes at e the resulting brane will be localized further and further away from the group unit and eventually the decay product will be a single D0-brane at −e.
We can obtain the same result in a more algebraic way. To this end, we evaluate (15) for the simple current σ=J=k and the fundamental 2-dimensional representation α=1. This gives
(k+1)⋅2 = dim(k)⋅2 = qk−1 = k , (18)
where we used that the product of the simple current with the fundamental representation of ˆGk gives the unique representation with label β=k−1 and dim(β)=k. The equation (18) can only hold modulo x=k+2. One can show that this choice of x is consistent with all processes, i.e. that
dim(σ)dim(α) = ∑β N βσαdim(β) mod (k+2) .
As we shall see later, it is always sufficient to evaluate the charge conservation condition only for simple currents and fundamental representations. The resulting restrictions are strong enough to guarantee charge conservation for all processes.
We are now turning to the more general case of X=SU(N). The task is to find the largest number x such that (15) is fulfilled modulo x. As we can generate all representations out of the fundamental ones, ωi, i=1,…,N−1, we can reduce our problem to processes involving stacks of ωi-branes. In other words, the general charge conservation condition is fulfilled if
dim(σ)qωi = ∑β N βσωiqβ mod x (19)
for all i=1,…,N−1 and σ∈Jk. A rigorous prove of this statement can be found in Appendix B.
Denote by J=kω1 the generator of the simple current group ZN of ˆsu(N)k. It can be shown that it suffices to evaluate the equations (15) for stacks of dim(J) fundamental branes (see appendix B). Thus, the charge conservation condition reduces to
dim(J)qωi = ∑β N βJωiqβ mod x (20)
for all i=1,…,N−1. Taking the difference between both sides with qα=dim(α) inserted, gives the following N−1 numbers ai, (see (34))
ai= dim(J)dim(ωi) − ∑β N βJωidim(β) = (k+1)…(ˆk+i)…(k+N)(i−1)!(N−i)! (21)
where the hat over a factor indicates that this factor is omitted. These numbers have to vanish modulo x. This means that x is given by the greatest common divisor of these numbers. It can be shown (see appendix C) that x=gcd(ai) is given by
x = k+Ngcd(k+N,lcm(1,…,N−1)) . (22)
Hence, the charge group of the untwisted branes for X=SU(N) is Zx with x as in formula (22).
4.2 Charges of twisted branes on SU(N)
Let us now take a look at branes that wrap twisted conjugacy classes. As gluing automorphism we choose the reflection ω of the Dynkin diagram. Their action on the vertices of the Dynkin diagram induces the following map on the weight space,
ϖ(λ1,…,λN−1) = (λN−1,…,λ1), (23)
where the λi are (finite) Dynkin labels. Details on our notations and some fundamental results on the representation theory of su(N) can be found in Appendix A.
As in the untwisted case we get a charge conservation condition,
dim(σ)qα = ∑β∈Jωk nω;βσαqβ for all α∈Jωk . (24)
We would like to perform a similar analysis as in the untwisted case but we are faced with the problem that the integers n=nω are a lot more difficult to handle than the fusion rules N. But even though we are not able to fully exploit these conditions, we can get some severe constraints on the charge group by symmetry considerations.
We will see that the numbers n are invariant under the action of some simple currents I,
n βIσα = n βσα . (25)
To derive this result we look at the explicit expressions (6) for the numbers n and investigate what happens under the action of a simple current I:
n βIσα= ∑λ∈Jωk Sω∗λβSωλαSλIσSλ0= ∑λ∈Jωk e2πiQI(λ) Sω∗λβSωλαSλσSλ0 .
Here QI(λ) is the monodromy charge of λ with respect to the simple current I. If it is zero, we infer that the coefficients n are invariant under the action of the simple current.
For a symmetric weight λ=ϖλ∈Jωk we know that
ϖ(Jiλ) = JN−iλ . (26)
This implies immediately that QJ(λ)=QJN−1(λ). If N is odd, it follows that QJi(λ)=0 for all i=1,…,N−1. If N is even, we can only deduce that QJi(λ)=0 for i even. We thus arrive at the result that
n βJiσα = n βσα (27)
for arbitrary i if N is odd and for even i if N is even which is the precise formulation of the invariance properties of n we anticipated in eq. (25).
Assuming that there is at least one twisted brane which can be assigned a charge with value 1 we immediately deduce the following condition on the unknown integer xω
dim(Jiσ) = dim(σ) mod xω , (28)
where the values for i depend on whether N is even or odd, as formulated before.
Let us first concentrate on the case that N is odd. Using (28) with σ=0,ωi we obtain
dim(J) = 1 mod xω (29)
dim(Jωi) = dim(ωi) mod xω . (30)
The two relations combine into the following statement for the numbers ai that were defined in eqs. (21) above,
ai = dim(J)dim(ωi)−dim(Jωi) = 0 mod xω . (31)
By definition, the greatest common divisor of these numbers ai is x and hence we deduce that xω is a divisor of x, i.e. that the order of an element in the charge group for twisted branes cannot exceed the order of the charge subgroup from untwisted branes. It can be shown that xω=x does imply eqs. (28) but we cannot exclude that the eqs. (24) force xω to be smaller than x.
If N is even, we find xω not so strongly restricted by the eqs. (28). Introducing the integers b0=dim(J2)−1 and bi=dim(J2ωi)−dim(ωi) for i=1,…,N−1, one can show that xω must divide gcd(bi). Note that gcd(bi) is a possibly non-trivial integer multiple of x. For SU(4) we still get the result that xω divides x but already for SU(6) one finds situations where (28) can be fulfilled modulo xω>x. There is some evidence that eqs. (28) provide enough restrictions for N=0mod4 to guarantee that xω divides x.
4.3 Comparison with twisted K-theory
Before we explain what is known about the twisted K-groups K∗H(SU(N)), let us briefly summarize the results for C(SU(N),K) that we obtained in the previous two subsections. The charge group that governs the dynamics of branes in a ˆsu(N)k WZW-model is
C(SU(N),K) = Zx⊕s⨁ν=1Zxν (32)
where x is given by (22) and xν,ν=1,…,s divide xω. In case N≤5 we know that xω must divide x and this remains true for N>5 as long as N is odd. For even N≥6 we can only show that xω divides gcd(bi) with the integers bi being introduced in the last paragraph of the previous subsection. In general, gcd(bi) could be some possibly non-trivial integer multiple of x but it is very likely that gcd(bi)=x when N=0mod4. Furthermore, we have some hints that x and xω are equal for N=3 from direct calculations of the numbers n with small values of k.
As we have seen above, branes wrapping ordinary conjugacy classes can all be obtained from stacks of point-like branes. This guarantees that there is a unique way to assign charges to such branes as we have seen in our discussion leading to eqs. (17). Hence, untwisted branes contribute a single cyclic subgroup to the group of charges C(SU(N),K). For branes wrapping twisted conjugacy classes, similar arguments do not exist. As a consequence, we cannot exclude the existence of several independent charge assignments for twisted branes. The summation over ν=1,…,s in eq. (32) reflects this fact. Actually, it seems to be rather likely that s>1 for N>3.
According to the proposal of Bouwknegt and Mathai, our results on C(SU(N),K) should be compared to the twisted K-groups K∗H(SU(N)). Unfortunately, the latter have not been computed yet.
The definition of K∗H(X) uses the space of sections in a bundle over X with fiber being the algebra of compact operators on a separable Hilbert space. This space of sections can be turned into an algebra and it is known that algebras of this form are classified by elements of H3(X,Z). In other words, there exists some way of assigning an algebra AH to any choice of H∈H3(X,Z). The K-groups of this algebra is denoted by K∗H(X). If H vanishes the algebra AH factorizes globally into functions on X and compact operators. Hence, by Morita invariance of K-theory, K∗H=0(X) coincide with ordinary K-groups.
One way to calculate such K-groups makes use of Atiyah-Hirzebruch spectral sequences. These start from the de Rham cohomology groups and then proceed through a sequence of complexes whose cohomology stabilizes after a finite number of steps. The resulting cohomology provides some information on the desired K-group, though there is still some extension problem to solve. Generically, the latter may have several solutions. In any case, the problem of these computations for K∗H(G) starts earlier because almost nothing is known about the differentials that appear in the sequence of complexes. Only for the first non-trivial step, the required differential was obtained by Rosenberg in [48] . This suffices to compute the twisted K-group for G=SU(2). The result is
K∗H(SU(2)) = ZK .
Here H=KΩ3 and Ω3 is the normalized volume form of the unit sphere. For G=SU(3), Rosenberg's results still allow to show that
K∗H(SU(3)) = Zr+Zr ,
where r is known to divide K. If all the higher differentials that are not determined by the result of Rosenberg would vanish, then one would get r=K. Hence, the comparison with our CFT results suggests that the higher differentials do not vanish, at least for even K=k+3.
It would be highly desirable to get more results on the twisted K-groups. At the moment, the restrictions on C(SU(N),K) that we obtained by studying renormalization group flows in WZW-models provide highly non-trivial predictions for K∗H(SU(N)). It was suggested to us by Wassermann that the techniques in [49, 50] could lead to a computation of K∗H(SU(N)) which would employ the results of [51] on equivariant twisted K-theory.
5 Conclusions and open problems
In this work we studied brane dynamics on SU(N) and formulated conservation laws for these dynamics. The conserved charges take values in some finite abelian group C(SU(N),K). While we were not able to determine C(SU(N),K) completely, we obtained a number of strong restrictions on its structure. These are reflected in our formula (32). Our results are consistent with the proposal C(SU(N),K)=K∗H(SU(N)) of [10] , but since so little is known about K∗H the comparison was restricted to N=2,3.
The main difficulties in our analysis of C(SU(N),K) were related with branes wrapping twisted conjugacy classes. A better understanding of the numbers nω that determine the partition functions for such theories would certainly lead to more detailed information on the group of charges. This applies, in particular, to the study of SU(N) with N even and to the question whether twisted branes can support several independent charge assignments. It would be interesting to re-interprete the numbers nω,βσα for finite α,β within the framework of non-commutative geometry. This is possible for ω=id and in this case it leads to fuzzy geometries. A similar interpretation for branes wrapping twisted conjugacy classes does not exist.
An extension of our discussion to other groups G is possible. Most of the basic ideas we have used do not depend on the specific choice G=SU(N). Only in our evaluation of the charge conservation condition (15) in Section 4 we exploited some simplifying features that hold for G=SU(N).
It would also be interesting to go beyond these examples and to understand the importance of twisted K-theory for branes in curved backgrounds more generally from the nature of the fields that condense upon bound state formation. Such arguments would be analogous to the relation between ordinary K-theory and tachyon condensation (see e.g. [3, 52] and references therein). Note, however, that in the cases we studied above the dynamics is driven by massless fields rather than conventional tachyons. Let us also stress that all the processes we have considered involve finite stacks of branes. This is is some contrast to the construction of twisted K-theory for non-torsion H-fields which involves taking some limit M→∞ [10] . This has motivated the authors of [10] to speculate about some relation with processes on an infinite stack of branes.
Finally, we would like to mention that many of the results on branes in WZW-models descend to other models of conformal field theory through orbifold and coset constructions. Thereby, our results could be used to extend the investigations in [53] and they should bear some relevance even for the behavior of branes in Gepner models which describe strings and branes on certain Calabi-Yau spaces deep in the stringy regime. We plan to return to these issues in a forthcoming publication.
Acknowledgements: We would like to thank A.Yu. Alekseev, V. Braun, I. Brunner, A. Carey, C.S. Chu, D. Freed, R. Helling, V. Mathai, G. Moore, A. Recknagel, T. Quella and A. Wassermann for stimulating and very useful discussions. This research was carried out in part for the Clay Mathematics Institute.
Appendix A Some representation theory
In this appendix we will briefly review some facts in ˆsu(N)-representation theory. Details can be found e. g. in [54] .
An affine weight λ can be expanded in fundamental weights,
λ=λ0ω0+λ1ω1+⋯+λN−1ωN−1.
The expansion coefficients are the Dynkin labels. When we consider representations at level k, the zeroth Dynkin label is fixed by the others,
λ0=k−N−1∑i=1λi,
therefore λ is determined by its finite Dynkin labels (λ1,…,λN−1).
The fundamental weights are then given by
ωi=(0,…,0,1i,0,…,0),
the vacuum representation is (0,…,0).
We are interested in integrable highest-weight representations. We find that their highest weight λ has to be dominant, i. e. the Dynkin labels of λ have to be non negative integers. For a given level k there are only finitely many dominant weights restricted by
N−1∑i=1λi≤k.
Instead of using Dynkin labels we can specify a weight λ in terms of its partition
λ={ℓ1;ℓ2;⋯;ℓN−1}
ℓi=λi+⋯+λN−1.
The dimension of the representation of the finite simple Lie algebra su(N) belonging to the highest weight λ can be easily given by the partition,
dim(λ)=∏1≤i<j≤Nℓi−ℓj+j−ij−i, (33)
where ℓN=0.
Partitions are also useful in calculating Clebsch-Gordan coefficients via the Littlewood-Richardson rule (see e. g. [54] ). The fusion rules of the affine Lie algebra can be obtained from the Clebsch-Gordan coefficients by a suitable truncation.
Let us consider an example that we will need for our discussion. We consider the fusion of the simple current generator J=(k,0,…,0) with a fundamental weight ωi. In the tensor product decomposition we find two representations, J+ωi and J−ω1+ωi+1 (setting


text:
Kogan Vladimir Igorevich
Vladimir Kogan was born on April 27, 1963 in Leningrad. In 1980-1983 he studied at the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute.
1983-1985 – served in Soviet Army.
In 1985 entered at full-time course of Leningrad construction institute and in 1989 graduated from the institute as an aeromechanical engineer. He worked in All-Union Joint Stock Company "Intourist as mechanical engineer of Quality Department.
Since 1990 he held a post of the deputy to the general director of association of enterprises and societies "Invert".
In 90's he created and leaded several trading organizations. According to the messages of mass-media, that time Kogan was close with an informal circle of Leningrad economists which included Anatoly Chubays, Alexey Kudrin, Ilya Juzhanov and others.
In 1992 Kogan created and headed joint venture Joint-Stock Company «Petrovsky trade house» holding accounts in Industrial Construction Bank (ICB) and supplying Petersburg's branch of Industrial Construction Bank with office equipment.
1995-1996: Joint-Stock Commercial Bank "MENATEP St.-Petersburg", councilor of directors;
1996-Vitabank, councilor of directors;
1996 - Councilor on the bank policy at the Government of Russian Federation,
1996: Industrial Construction Bank, assistant, chairman of the Supervisory board
1997: FIG "Northwest food association "Vita", president; Association of commercial banks of St.-Petersburg, councilor;
1997: bank "Petrovsky", member of the Board of Directors;
1998-2005: President of Joint-Stock Company "Bank house "St.-Petersburg", St.-Petersburg.
1999-2003: joint-stock company "Petersburg timber industry bank", councilor of board of directors;
2000: Board of Russian union of industrialists and entrepreneurs (employers) (RSPP), member of bureau.
2002: Open Society "Arkhangelsk Pulp and paper plant", boar member;
2004: councilor of Business Committee at the Government of Russian Federation;
In 2005 – general director Federal Fiscal Enterprise «Northwest department of State Committee of Construction, Architectural and Housing Policy of Russia – Management of a complex of flooding protection constructions of St.-Petersburg».
On December 30, 2005 he was appointed to a post of a deputy head of Federal agency on building and housing and communal services, Moscow.
2006-2008: Federal agency on building and housing and communal services (Rosstroy), deputy of the general manager;
On July 2, 2008 he was appointed to the post of Director of department of capital investments.
Sources: web-page of the Ministry of regional development http://archive.minregion.ru, web-pages http://www.rb.ru, http://www.peoples.ru
On November 16, 2000 the Industrial Construction Bank supervised by Vladimir Kogan was sought by the Special Police Force. Approximately at the same time police searched the Baltic bank. The reason was interest to Vyacheslav Strugov's accounts who was occupying then a post of the vice-president of committee on an accomplishment and road economy; he was suspected of plunder of budgetary funds and bribery. The investigation showed that Vyacheslav Strugov had received a credit in ICB in amount of 100 thousand dollars, and even though the repayment term had expired, it had repeatedly been continued. The Office of Public Prosecutor had bases to assume that the credit ostensibly was a gratitude to Strugov from the management of ICB and Kogan personally for opening accounts of structural committee divisions in the bank. Later it was found out that the Office of Public Prosecutor requested also the information regarding accounts of 30 more persons including vice-governor of St.Petersburg Valery Malyshev, vice-governor Victor Krotov and a number of other city officials.
Source: «the Independent newspaper», 11/28/2000, «New newspaper», 12/4/2000
Criminal case on this fact was put on hold because of «absence of corpus delicti» in 2001.
In mass-media it is considered that succeeding banker Kogan got help from Vladimir Putin. Probably that was why they rumored about his possible relations with special services. There was a phrase referred to Kogan which he ostensibly said to the foreign partners when adjusting business relations with them - «the best backing is KGB».
Source: "Company" of 5/9/2000
On September 27, 2001 the director of security of ICB Nikolay Shatilo was killed; he was appointed to the post by Vladimir Kogan in 1999. It was considered that Nikolay Shatilo was «a double agent»: being the field investigator was closely connected with activity of so-called Kolesnikov's organized criminal group. Despite such ambiguous reputation, Vladimir Kogan appointed Shatilo to this post, probably he wished to make secure and in the name of Nikolay Shatilo searched for second "backing" besides special services.
Nikolay Shatilo was included into Board of directors of Vitabank which was under Vladimir Kogan's control till the summer 2001. Later the head of IFG "Lenstrojmaterials" Alexander Aladushkin became the main proprietor of "Vitabank". With the help of "Lenstrojmaterials" Vladimir Kogan carried out the bank "St.-Petersburg" absorption. Nikolay Shatilo and Vladimir Kogan were the only representatives of ICB in the Board of directors of "Vitabank" after the confirmed absorption of the bank by Aladushkin companies at the meeting of shareholders in June, 2000. In mass-media the assumption was that the murder was "ordered" by management of ICB, there were hints to Kogan.
The matter was that during his work Nikolay Shatilo made a number of serious mistakes like missing the search at the head office of ICB.
Source: "Company", 9/8/2001
In 2001 «New newspaper» connected appointment of Kiselev A.N to a post of deputy minister of Russia on communication and information with Kogan's name who could be interested in using that post for the bank business expansion. Such a person in the Ministry of communication and information was necessary to Vladimir Igorevich, and the owner of «Joint-Stock Company Neva-press» approached for this role very well. People were transferring money to their relatives, while officials used it by putting on bank accounts and drawing interest at the same time, thus the transfers came very late. For this purpose Kiselev signed the document which resolved to managements of a federal mail service and the central office of automatic account of operations in a network of a mail service to carry out operations with the centralized transferable account. It allowed withdrawing money temporarily. Initially for those purposes the basic clearing bank of post branch SvyazBank was used. After Kiselev's appointment the head of SvyazBank was changed: the first deputy to general director of ICB Shanina M. became the head of Svyazbank; she transferred all state money from Svyazbank to Industrial Construction Bank.
Source: «New newspaper». 25.10.01
At this time it was written in press that Vladimir Kogan received the control over other banks which entered in «Bank house St.-Petersburg» by means of an administrative resource and "black" PR methods: Kogan's press-service actually discredited bank "Petrovsky" in the opinion of private investors.
There was an attempt to ruin this bank and to transfer pension funds to their accounts . Then on behalf of Fund on protection of investors rights and Leningrad Council of war and labor veterans someone put leaflets to pensioners' post boxes with appeals to transfer the accounts to Sberbank. After that it was found out that the fund signed nothing and Council had not been registered.
In 1998 bank "Petrovsky" broke off relations with "Industrial Construction Bank" and «Bank St.-Petersburg» and after this declared merge to the Baltonekismbank.
Source: "Version" of 10/3/2000
In the summer of 2002 36% of actions Kotlas Pulp Paper Company (which was a part of holding Ilim Pulp Enterprises) were seized by minority shareholder Sergey Melkinom. Two days after the court those actions were purchased by the Baltic financial agency. Mass-media considered that BFA made it on Vladimir Kogan's request. In 1994 he was one of co-owners and principal shareholders of IPE; the holding and the bank were closely connected. But in 2001 Vladimir Kogan sold actions to IPE.
Source: «Expert the Northwest», 6/24/2002
Vladimir Kogan's environment had also relation to a meeting organization at the office of the company Ilim Pulp Enterprises which was officially carried out by the nationalist organization «Freedom Party», some organizations - Greenskins and Green Peace. In general mass-media reflected it sharply except for the only newspaper «Neva time» supervised by bank house St.-Petersburg.
Source: «New newspaper», 26.09.02
On November 6, 2002 the head of operating company "Open Society ICB" Leonid Davidenko was killed; one of versions about the reason of the murder was professional work of the victim. Open Company «Operating Company ICB» was founded in the end of July, 2002; Davidenko should have been engaged in management of investment funds, share investment funds which was planned to create in the near future, and also not state pension funds of ICB. In mass-media an opinion was expressed that Davidenko' death reason should have been sought inside of the bank.
Source: «Version-spb, 11/18/2002
In the middle of 2005 economic mass media found out that Vladimir Kogan did not really own ICB. Journalists knew that equal partner of Kogan in this bank was his assistant in Bank house "St.-Petersburg" David Traktovenko — for June, 1st, 2005 each of them supervised on 23 % of actions of bank.
Besides, there was an investment memorandum of ICB for eurobonds release for the amount at $200 million published, in which it was said that by data on June, 1st Kogan was a beneficial owner of about 23 % of actions; approximately the same amount was supervised by Traktovenko. Vneshtorgbank which in the beginning of year of the bought 25 % + 1 action of bank and agreed about increase in the package to 76 % was the largest shareholder of ICB. "Severstal" possessed 8.7 % of actions of ICB.
Formally neither Kogan, nor Traktovenko were shareholders of ICB. In April, 2004 they issued on themselves 5 % of actions of bank each (Kogan — 5.47 %, Traktovenko — 5.17 %), and in April of this year a month after sale of a block package to Vneshtorgbank they did not have bank actions.
But bank actions were then in hands of vice-president of a BH "St.-Petersburg" and a member of supervisory board of ICB Tamara Stepashina, the spouse of the chairman of Audit Chamber Sergey Stepashin. Her package after the transaction with VTB was reduced from 5 % to 3.34 %.
Source: "Vedomosti", 7/19/2005
In spring of 2007 a serious scandal occurred in St.Petersburg with participation of Vladimir Kogan and the Finnish company Container Finance which owned Open Company «Mobi Dik», an operator of the largest container terminal in the Petersburg sea port. Actually the representatives of "Mobi Dik" accused Vladimir Kogan of trying to dispossess from the Finnish businessmen a plot of land where they planned to build an additional terminal turn for a well known criminal authority Vladimir Barsukov. During this period Kogan was one of the heads of Rosstroy RF and he motivated the actions with technological reasons: the given site prevented the building works of the protective constructions complex, supervised by Rosstroy.
"Mobi Dik" rented a plot of land on island Kotlin, in Petersburg since 2003. In autumn of 2006 under the pressure of City property management committee of St.-Petersburg (CPMC) the management of "Mobi Dik" signed an additional agreement to the rent contract under which the company transferred this territory to Rosstroy for two years after which it would occupy it again.
Under the official version the site was necessary to Rosstroy for dam building. Governor Valentine Matvienko guaranteed that Finns would be allowed to come back in 2 years on the territory. However, even having signed the agreement with the city, Finns doubted that in 2 years they would be allowed to come back.
In May, 2007 the government of Petersburg decided to transfer a disputable area on the dam to the Official body "Agency of strategic investments" (independent division of investments and strategic projects committee). The extract from the Uniform state register of the rights to the real estate and transactions proved that fact. The extract from the register was dated on May, 12. It was said there that "Agency of strategic investments" received enterprise territory of "Sea trading complex" (island Kotlin, area of Litke base) in constant and permanent using with real burden in advantage of "Mobi Dik".
Thus the disputable platform had already three owners: on one side it was a federal structure in the name of management of the protection constructions complex, on the other side – "Mobi Dik" which was asked by the city to leave the territory temporarily. And then there was a third party - "Agency".
Source: www.newsru.com 5/18/2007
Then deputies of State Duma stood up for "Mobi Dik". The group of 8 deputies led by Victor Ilyukhin, Jury Ivanov and Nikolay Kondratenko appealed to FSB and the State Office of Public Prosecutor of Russia with the statement for possible capture by criminal structures of one of key objects in St.-Petersburg – the Complex of protective constructions (CPC), so-called «Petersburg's dam».
In the statement it was specified that the ship-reloading complex (SRC) at the territory of CPC, which was providing over 10% of goods turnover of seaport in St.-Petersburg, could actually get under control of the Tambov organized criminal group and other structures close to "authoritative" businessman Vladimir Kumarin (Barsukov). According to the deputies, Kumarin (Barsukov) was patronized by the deputy head of Rosstroy RF Vladimir Kogan, a supervisor of CPC building.
Source: Compromat.ru, 5/18/2007
In the beginning of November Container Finance sold 50 % to the company "Multi-Link Terminals" which owned "Mobi Dik". After that participants of the transaction informed that incident was settled. A bit later Ministry of Transport of Russian Federation authorized building of the second point of boundary control in the terminal. It would help the company to catch up with competitors on a turnover of goods.
Source: www.dp.ru from 12/11/2007
In the beginning of 2010 the structures which were supervising dam construction in Ministry of regional development, headed by Vladimir Kogan lost a judicial suit with engineering company of Oleg Deripaska "Transstroy". The court recognized that the ministry which had been accusing the contractor of failure to meet the delivery of the second queue of object in fact broke contractual obligations itself. The customer was forced to prolong the contract for more than a year. However Mr.Kogan promised to Vladimir Putin to hand over protective constructions ahead the schedule by the middle of 2011 and thus he would need to double accelerate the long-term construction.
A loud scandal burst on the customer claims to Alpha bank. The bank acted as a guarantor of contract execution with large contractor of the dam building – engineering corporation "Transstroy" ("Inzhtransstroy") by Oleg Deripaska. After reporting about the building schedule advancing to Vladimir Putin on his birthday on October 7, 2008 the customers unexpectedly declared in January, 2009 that "Inzhtransstroy" did not complete the navigation pass С-2 and a drawbridge that it was obliged to construct before March 18, 2008 under the $192 million contract. As a result, Ministry of regional development demanded from Alpha bank to stop guarantee for the sum of $19 million because of the contractor's failure to fulfill the contract conditions.
In reply to this "Inzhtransstroy" filed to the customer three counterclaims in which it insisted that the customer had broken its contractual obligations. As soon as the case became known, Minregion hastened to accept work from the opponent and to conclude the agreement of lawsuit with Alpha bank. However customer strictly refused to pay the rest of $8 million to the companies of Mr. Deripaska, the motive was that those were penal sanctions for the works having been handed over with a year delay. Besides, under the version of Mr. Kogan's subordinates the work had been accepted with defects and not in full. "Inzhtransstroy" disagreed with that and continued struggling in court. The contractor reproached the customer for discrepancy of confirmed design documentation with the contract and real geological conditions, and also for delays of the executed works payments, and also for suspension of building for inventory carrying out which was started by mister Kogan at the height of building.
Source: "Kommersant-SpB" № 7 (4307), 1/19/2010

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


As an AWS Enterprise Strategist I travel the globe talking to some of the largest enterprise customers on the planet about how they can truly innovate faster and deliver a much better customer experience by migrating their systems to AWS while in the process removing massive amounts of un-differentiated heavy lifting and freeing up their precious human resources to focus on things that really matter to their business and customers.
So many of the conversations I have start with executives rightly wanting to understand what lessons have been learnt from those who have undertaken the AWS journey before them. Historically we talk keenly about the importance of creating a Cloud Centre of Excellence (CCoE) and having this team establish the curated guardrails around security, availability, reliability, and compliance for the customer's part of the AWS Shared Responsibility model.
As a customer, when I was at Capital One and my CCoE was building out our AWS Cloud, it was a thoughtful process of learning which features were appropriate for us to use and how we wanted to implement them. I do hear from customers that this process typically takes them a significant amount of time, as their teams are both learning to use AWS and learning which features to use. While AWS Solutions Architects, AWS ProServe, and AWS Accredited Partners can drastically reduce the time to build a Landing Zone and establish these guardrails, customers are greatly attracted to automating offerings.
On June 14th, 2018, we iterated on our Landing Zone solution to help customers more quickly set up a secure, multi-account AWS environment based on AWS best practices. This infrastructure as code solution, which rapidly helps establish an initial security baseline and creates core accounts and resources, allows teams to move much more quickly. However, there was even more we could do make it even easier, and it was an exciting moment when Andy Jassy launched AWS Control Tower on Wednesday at re:Invent.
Configuring AWS organizations to create a multi-account environment.
• Providing for identity management using AWS SSO users and groups.
• Federating access using AWS Single Sign-On.
• Centralizing logging using AWS CloudTrail and AWS Config.
• Enabling cross-account security audits using AWS IAM.
• Implementing network design using Amazon VPC.
• Defining workflows for provisioning accounts using AWS Service Catalog.
In addition, it will put in place mandatory, curated guardrails, such as blocking accounts from being able to create an Internet gateway or ensuring only encrypted S3 objects can be created. This will incredibly shorten the amount of time it takes to get going with all the curated best practice from millions of customers who use AWS every day.
With AWS Control Tower, you pay only for AWS services enabled by Control Tower, which include the set-up of your AWS Landing Zone, mandatory guardrails, or customized options. You will incur costs for AWS services configured in the set-up of your Landing Zone, mandatory guardrails, and strongly recommended guardrails. No costs are incurred for strongly recommended guardrails that are preventative. The cost of each service will vary based on the number of regions, accounts, hours used, and guardrails enabled. You can find out more about AWS Control Tower here.
This then leads to one of the most perennial problems that has existed in enterprise IT for a long time—that of having a comprehensive view of your high-priority security alerts and compliance status across AWS accounts. This is where Security Hub comes in.
AWS Security Hub: The typical enterprise security landscape has a number of powerful security tools deployed. From firewalls and endpoint protection to vulnerability and compliance scanners. But oftentimes this leaves your team switching back and forth between these tools to deal with hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of security alerts every day. With Security Hub you now have a single place that aggregates, organizes, and prioritizes your security alerts, or findings, from multiple AWS services, such as Amazon GuardDuty, Amazon Inspector, and Amazon Macie, as well as from AWS Partner Solutions. Your findings are visually summarized on integrated dashboards with actionable graphs and tables. You can also continuously monitor your environment using automated compliance checks based on the AWS best practices and industry standards your organization follows. This allows you to save time with aggerated findings, improve compliance with automated checks, and quickly take action on findings. AWS Security Hub is offered at no cost during the preview period and is available as a region service in 15 of the current AWS regions. Pricing will be finalized when the service becomes generally available.
These two new powerful offerings will enable enterprises to move even faster to build new innovations for their customers and migrate their IT systems even faster. I look forward to seeing and hearing how customers use this to keep their momentum moving forward for their journey to AWS Cloud.


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A Plea From a Sony Fanboy for Cross-play
It's no secret that Sony has taken some heat for their refusal to allow cross-platform play on games such as Rocket League and, more recently, Fortnite. When players began to realize their Fortnite accounts were completely locked once they signed in on the PS4, Sony's response was less than stellar to say the least. You can read their full response by clicking here but to sum it up they basically said "Why do you need to play anywhere other than PS4?" This type of tone deaf response sends shivers down my spine. All I can think of is flashbacks to the utter debacle that was the PS3 at launch. Sony has made tremendous strides throughout the life cycle of PS4. The thought of regressing to their stubborn ways is worrisome for many longtime fans and supporters. Over the past couple days we have been given a small glimpse of hope that Sony is smartening up. CEO Shawn Layden was recently asked about the Fortnite issue and responded with a much better statement than Sony's original response, though it still leaves a lot to be desired.
"We're hearing it," Shawn Layden, president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment America, told a Eurogamer reporter whose question indicated the company hadn't been listening to players on this issue. "We're looking at a lot of the possibilities. You can imagine that the circumstances around that affect a lot more than just one game. I'm confident we'll get to a solution which will be understood and accepted by our gaming community, while at the same time supporting our business."
While this response certainly will not satisfy the player base, it does provide the smallest, and only, glimpse of cross-platform play hope that Sony supporters have been clamoring for. What stuck out to me most was the phrase "We're hearing it." With that in mind, I have some words that I'd like you to hear Mr. Layden.
Fortnite's launch on Switch rekindled the displeasure of Sony's lack of cross-platform ability.
Dear Shawn,
I've been a Sony Fanboy since the first day I booted up a disc on the original Sony Playstation. Whether it was hours sneaking around as Solid Snake, bouncing off boxes as Crash Bandicoot, or raiding all types of tombs as Lara Croft, I've loved my time with all of Sony's systems. There were certainly some dark times such as the woeful launch of the PS3... I mean seriously man, all we had to play was Warhawk for the longest time and that sucked. But alas, I stuck by your wonderful team even after the outrageous 22 day PSN outage. I never jumped ship. My loyalty never wavered. I knew that deep down you all were capable of producing some of the best experiences in gaming.
My loyalty has been rewarded with the outstanding PS4. I've learned about the harsh lessons of parenthood with Kratos. I've seen Nathan Drake grow from a fearless treasure hunter to a grounded family man. I've walked side by side with Aloy as we battled giant, robot dinosaurs. All of it has been excellent and experiences I literally couldn't have had anywhere else. All of these experiences are exactly why you should all feel confident in allowing cross-platform play.
I promise you that your player base will not decrease. As long as your studios keep pumping out these instant classics there will always be a demand for Sony consoles. All you would be doing is allowing your loyal supporters the opportunity to enjoy multiplayer games with our friends who have decided those classic experiences aren't for them. Maybe, just maybe, the cross-play will actually attract more people into the Sony camp. Now I know I might sound a little crazy here, but there is a chance that people will look at this and say, "Well now I can play all these awesome exclusives AND I can still play with my friends on Xbox, PC, and Switch." Then bing, bang, boom you just got yourself a new customer. I know, I know, it's a genius idea but don't worry, I won't charge you for this one.
In closing, Shawn, I love what you all do. You've provided countless hours, days, weeks, months, and years of enjoyment for myself and millions of other people. Give us this one, buddy. Give us this small little gesture to not only say "we're hearing it," but also "we're doing something about it."
Steve Bastek
Playstation Fanboy circa 1997
OpinionSteve Bastek June 29, 2018 Sony, Playstation, Fortnite, Rocket League, Cross play, Shawn Layden, PS3, Xbox, nintendo switch, PS4, PSNComment
A Short-Lived Rally: Mario Tennis Aces Review
Game ReviewManny Perez July 5, 2018 Game Review, Mario Tennis Aces, Nintendo Switch
Waluigi Leaves Nintendo over Smash Exclusion
HumorMatt O'Neil June 26, 2018 Nintendo, waluigi, e3, super, smash, bros, ultimate, Fumihide, Aoki, Tatsumi, Kimishima, Activision, Call, call of duty, of, duty, Eric, Hirshberg, Japan, wahhhh, wahluigi review, wahluigi humor, memes, wahluigi meme, wahrriors, WAHrriors, wahluigiforsmash, justiceforwahluigi


text:
On Hypocrisy And Other Things (August 30, 2010)
Posted in Abortion, On [Traits/Characteristics], Perjury/Dishonesty on August 30, 2010 by e-commentary.org
? "There was probably a little alcohol involved. Remember the observation: 'In whiskey veritas'."
! "We were young."
? "Seems we were all young when we were young. That is all part of being young."
! "I was too young. And so was she. . . . God knows what I said."
? "Someone shared a not atypical anecdote about two desperate young kids."
! "Who was there?"
? "Everyone. Hard to contend that the disclosure was in confidence."
! "I didn't know if I would be killed by my dad or by her dad."
? "Where is she?"
! "No idea."
? "Most political contributions are a matter of public record. Our friend the Internet is revealing. Your contributions do not reflect your convictions, at least not your actions."
! "I think about it occasionally, but I have never had a second thought about our decision. I have sent money. They know how to play me."
? "And it's not living a lie?"
Bumper sticker of the week:
Keep your laws off my body
Balls and Strikes and Perjury: America's Pastimes (August 23, 2010)
Posted in Perjury, Perjury/Dishonesty, Society, Supreme Court on August 23, 2010 by e-commentary.org
K "Hear about the perjury charges against the retired baseball pitcher Roger Clemens for lying before Congress?"
J "Is that an offense or a sport?"
K "His sport was throwing balls and strikes and pitching and batting. As far back as 1998, I suspected that some if not most of the home run leaders were juiced on steroids."
J "Seems so. A player who was not juiced may not have gotten off the bench."
K "Do you recall when John Roberts testified under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2005? He swore to three duties – to tell the truth, to tell the whole truth, and to tell nothing but the truth."
J "When he was trying to get on the bench."
K "Right. He told the Committee that his job is to call balls and strikes and not to pitch or bat. He knew all along that he would be a tendentious ideological technician for the reactionary right and misled the Committee."
J "Sounds like perjury on steroids."
K "To say nothing of the tobacco company executives who lied before Congress. Seems that everyone in power gets in power and stays in power by fibbing a little."
J "Roberts should be aware enough to realize that his decision to close the front doors of the Supreme Court says more about him that any of his written decisions to close the doors of the Supreme Court."
Roger lied, but no one died
Clemens? What about the tobacco company executives? What about Rumsfeld, Gonzalez, Cheney, Bush et al.?
U.S.A. 1945 – 2005 R.I.P. (August 16, 2010)
Posted in Economics, Military, Peak Oil, Society on August 16, 2010 by e-commentary.org
K "The last three score years have been a remarkable run in the history of mankind. Sixty years of unprecedented growth and prosperity in America. The Great Expansion was unique because the bounty was spread widely among the American populace. The Middle Class was created in a young country built by indentured servants, former serfs and slaves. Yet things have been declining particularly during the Decadent Decade."
J "Look at the score. There are too many strip malls, too many strip mines and too many strip joints."
K "During that period of time, the America Experiment transitioned from a Republic to an Empire and is now transitioning to a post-Empire nation in a world of other rising powers and the emerging megamonopower in China."
J "America transitioned from a country to a market and from a search for the public weal to the aggregation of private wealth. More affluence has only lead to more effluence. A new pill that supplants natural processes and possibly saves a few hundred lives is produced in a factory that maims, cripples and kills thousands downstream from the outflow. Prosperity came at a great cost."
K "We went to the Moon in '69. Geopolitics aside, that was quite a feat with many ancillary benefits."
J "And back on Earth the next year we challenged the assumptions and consequences on Earth Day."
K "Thinking progressed."
J "We conquered consumption, yet consumption conquered us. We as a society need an antibiotic to protect us against our consuming consumption. Those who say that small is beautiful today are not proclaiming a goal but rather are predicting the future. But we as a country will not voluntarily downsize, we will be downsized."
K "Americans have not had to deal with any privation and are not emotionally prepared to deal with declining economic opportunity. When we were prosperous, we were generous; as America's fortunes decline, we are becoming hard-fisted and mean spirited. The next decade will be ugly."
J "America's military mission will need to downsize significantly to follow America's changing role and options. The real battle continues today on the battlefield of global climate change."
Question consumption
On Settling (August 9, 2010)
Posted in On [Traits/Characteristics], Society on August 9, 2010 by e-commentary.org
M "Not the West or a building foundation. Settling. In life."
S "I hear you."
M "Nine out of ten."
S "Really. A quick guess or a settled belief?"
M "Ten out of ten, really. I am rounding down to factor in a margin of error."
S "Another buddy with some perspective said that he suspects the figure is around seventy percent, although the percentage is dependent on age, income and geography."
M "For most people, it's a matter of time. It's time to do it. The music is stopping. Who is available? That's about it. Okay, the process is subconscious and more complex. Think about it. Did you get into the college of your choice? Are you working at the job of your choice? Every day and every decision in life is a series of compromises."
S "You must go to college. You must work. And you appeared smitten, you didn't settle."
M "Curly blond hair and straight ivory teeth. Tolerated my sense of humor. It was the right time. And she said yes. An uncle passed up his college sweetheart and never found another person. There are ups and downs. Your take?"
S "I've collected data and generated a few hypotheses. Market forces are at play. In today's market society, the decision to marry and the decision to stray are primarily a function of options and/or perceived options. Costs and benefits shape character and drive behavior. Hard to generate interdependent utility curves in a pop market of individuals ruthlessly maximizing their own utility. Character, commitment and integrity are secondary. Raw yet realistic. Public Choice theory underpins the ultimate private choice."
M "At some point, you look at your options and go for it. That's life."
S "Say someone shares seven of eleven essential tenets, convictions and interests?"
M "Bingo. Eureka. Game over. That's life. That's as good as it gets."
S "Or the game just changes. Seems that it could lead to the 'Original Resentment.' Can't do it. Still not enough. I understand the logic, sort of, yet it does not seem to be the healthiest approach in the long run."
M "You compromise and settle every day."
S "Every day brings another dose of disappointments."
Was the West unsettled?
Why not build the foundation slightly lower?
Boycott Facebook? (August 2, 2010)
Posted in Boycott Series, Civil Rights/Civil Liberties, Facebook, Google, Internet, Privacy, Society, Technology on August 2, 2010 by e-commentary.org
X "There is something troubling about all that information available to a small group without restraint or oversight."
Y "I want absolutely nothing to do with Facebook. I concede that we really cannot elect not to use Google because it has a monopoly on a necessary and now fundamental service somewhat akin to a public utility. However, Facebook is a luxury and participation should be voluntary."
X "Look at the growth. Each year, Facebook captures another decade. Three years ago, everyone under 30 was a Facebooker; two years ago, everyone under 40; a year ago, everyone under 50. Now everyone under 60 is a Facebooker."
Y "I question whether some individuals participate voluntarily. I received a request to be a friend on Facebook and, without opening it, was able to view it in a quarantined screen. The e-mail from the Facebooker was able to access the names of individuals in my Contacts file that also are in the Facebooker's Contacts file. The offer to befriend him included a list of mutual e-mail contacts who are also on Facebook with an offer to befriend them. Facebook is able to invade one's computer without notice or permission or recourse."
X "A Republican Party official observed with an envious smirk that Facebook may have amassed more information on individuals than even the Republican Party. He noted that the Republicans collect massive amounts of detailed information on individuals and households and target each person and household with a specific campaign message. The Republicans may have more information than the NSA and the hundreds of public and private sector entities free to collect private information about us."
Y "A few days later, although I never activated a Facebook account, I received a message: 'You have deactivated your Facebook account.' I did not activate an account and do not believe that it was ever deactivated."
X "Facebook is able to collect lots of partial information on many friends and then use the information to sketch a complete picture of a person. Snippets provide a complete portrait."
Y "More and more organizations are using Facebook as the vehicle to connect with members. That leaves me more disconnected from others."
X "And by next year, everyone under 70 will be a Facebooker."
Y "A class action lawsuit should only take a few weeks to resolve and could provide both injunctive relief and damages. Developing the privacy protection implicit in the Third Amendment in the contemporary setting has potential, although the greatest threat to us may not be from agents of the state. However, the legal game would permit the lawsuit to be delayed and drawn out for over a decade."
X "Face it, in the end, the lawyers would take everything."
Facebook: Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide
Driver doesn't have a tattoo, an i-phone or a Facebook page
You are currently browsing the e-commentary blog archives for August, 2010.


text:
Hans Friedrich & Naylo
1. Concerto for Flute, Harp and Orchestra in C Major, K. 299: III. Rondo Allegro
Hans Friedrich, Angelica Berger, Vienna Mozart Ensemble & Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
2. Concerto for Flute, Harp and Orchestra in C Major, K. 299: II. Andantino
Hans Friedrich, Angelica Berger & Vienna Mozart Ensemble
3. Bohemian (Original Mix)
4. Concerto for Flute, Harp & Orchestra in C Major, K. 299: II. Andantino
Wiener Mozart Ensemble, Herbert Kraus, Hans Friedrich & Angelica Berger
5. Concerto for Flute and Harp: Andantino
6. Concerto for Flute and Harp in C Major, K. 299: II. Andantino
7. Der Rosenkavalier, Op. 59, TrV 227, Act II: Ein ernster Tag, ein großer Tag!
8. Der Rosenkavalier, Op. 59, TrV 227, Act II: Ich präsentiere Euer Gnaden Dero Zukünftige
9. Chillout Beach Waves & Concerto for Flute, Harp and Orchestra in C Major, K. 299: II. Andantino
Echoes Of Nature, Hans Friedrich, Angelica Berger, Vienna Mozart Ensemble & Herbert Kraus
10. Concerto for Flute, Harp and Orchestra in C Major, K. 299: I. Allegro
Hans Friedrich, Angelica Berger, Vienna Mozart Ensemble & Herbert Kraus
11. Concerto for Flute, Harp and Orchestra in C Major, K. 299: III. Rondo - Allegro
12. Concerto for Flute & Harp in C Major, K. 299: I. Allegro


The REMBRANDT study, a large collection of genomic data from brain cancer patients.
Gusev Y, Bhuvaneshwar K, Song L, Zenklusen JC, Fine H, Madhavan S.
Sci Data. 2018 Aug 14;5:180158. doi: 10.1038/sdata.2018.158.
The Making of a PreCancer Atlas: Promises, Challenges, and Opportunities.
Srivastava S, Ghosh S, Kagan J, Mazurchuk R; National Cancer Institute's HTAN Implementation.
Trends Cancer. 2018 Aug;4(8):523-536. doi: 10.1016/j.trecan.2018.06.007. Epub 2018 Jul 21. Review.
Blum A, Wang P, Zenklusen JC.
Cell. 2018 Apr 5;173(2):530. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.03.059. Review.


I know we're only 2 weeks into the New Year but I just wanted to check in to see if you're on track and enthusiastically checking off actions towards completion of your goals. After all, our mindsets don't take a break for the holidays and would like to keep us in the status quo. So, be on the alert if your mindset needs a little adjusting to keep you moving towards success.