title: Integral group ring of the McLaughlin simple group

abstract:
  We consider the Zassenhaus conjecture for the normalized unit group of the
integral group ring of the McLaughlin sporadic group McL. As a consequence, we
confirm for this group the Kimmerle's conjecture on prime graphs.


title: Negative Energy in Superposition and Entangled States

abstract:
  We examine the maximum negative energy density which can be attained in
various quantum states of a massless scalar field. We consider states in which
either one or two modes are excited, and show that the energy density can be
given in terms of a small number of parameters. We calculate these parameters
for several examples of superposition states for one mode, and entangled states
for two modes, and find the maximum magnitude of the negative energy density in
these states. We consider several states which have been, or potentially will
be, generated in quantum optics experiments.


title: Measurements of B Rare Decays at the Tevatron

abstract:
  A summary of recent results on B rare decays from the CDF and D0 experiments
operating in Run II of the Fermilab Tevatron is given; analyzed decay modes are
B_{d,s}--> hh, B_{d,s}--> mu^{+}mu^{-}, and B--> mu^{+} mu^{-}h. Data samples
are relative to 1 fb^{-1} or more integrated luminosity of p-pbar collisions at
sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV. All reported results are in agreement with Standard Model
predictions and consistent with B-Factories analyzes.


title: Discrete Tomography of Icosahedral Model Sets

abstract:
  The discrete tomography of B-type and F-type icosahedral model sets is
investigated, with an emphasis on reconstruction and uniqueness problems. These
are motivated by the request of materials science for the unique reconstruction
of quasicrystalline structures from a small number of images produced by
quantitative high resolution transmission electron microscopy.


title: Integral group ring of Rudvalis simple group

abstract:
  Using the Luthar-Passi method, we investigate the classical Zassenhaus
conjecture for the normalized unit group of the integral group ring of the
Rudvalis sporadic simple group Ru. As a consequence, for this group we confirm
Kimmerle's conjecture on prime graphs.


title: A Generalization of Slavnov-Extended Non-Commutative Gauge Theories

abstract:
  We consider a non-commutative U(1) gauge theory in 4 dimensions with a
modified Slavnov term which looks similar to the 3-dimensional BF model. In
choosing a space-like axial gauge fixing we find a new vector supersymmetry
which is used to show that the model is free of UV/IR mixing problems, just as
in the previously discussed model in arXiv:hep-th/0604154. Finally, we present
generalizations of our proposed model to higher dimensions.


title:
Signal amplification and control in optical cavities with off-axis
  feedback

abstract:
  We consider a large class of optical cavities and gain media with an off-axis
external feedback which introduces a two-point nonlocality. This nonlocality
moves the lasing threshold and opens large windows of control parameters where
weak light spots can be strongly amplified while the background radiation
remains very low. Furthermore, transverse phase and group velocities of a
signal can be independently tuned and this enables to steer it non
mechanically, to control its spatial chirping and to split it into two
counter-propagating ones.


title: Asteroseismic Signatures of Small Convective Cores

abstract:
  We present an analytical study of the effect of small convective cores on the
oscillations of solar-like pulsators. Based on an asymptotic analysis of the
wave equation near the center of the star, we derive an expression for the
perturbations to the frequencies of radial modes generated by a convective core
and discuss how these perturbations depend on the properties of the core.
Moreover, we propose a diagnostic tool to isolate the predicted signature of
the core, constructed from a particular combination of the oscillation
frequencies, and we validate this tool with simulated data. We also show that
the proposed tool can be applied to the pulsation data soon expected from
satellite missions such as CoRoT and Kepler to constrain the amplitude of the
discontinuity in the sound speed at the edge of the convective core, the ratio
between the sound speed and the radius at this same location, and the stellar
age.


title: Revisiting Boole Equation in the Quantum Context

abstract:
  In this work we try to clarify the fundamental relationship between bits and
qubits, starting from very simple George Boole equation. We derive a generic
and compact expression for basis vectors of qubit which can be useful in
further applications. We also derive a generic form for the projection operator
in the quantum information space. The results are also extended to higher
d-level cases of qutrits and qudits.


title:
Searching for galactic cosmic ray pevatrons with multi-TeV gamma rays
  and neutrinos

abstract:
  The recent HESS detections of supernova remnant shells in TeV gamma-rays
confirm the theoretical predictions that supernova remnants can operate as
powerful cosmic ray accelerators. If these objects are responsible for the bulk
of galactic cosmic rays, then they should accelerate protons and nuclei to
10^15 eV and beyond, i.e. act as cosmic PeVatrons. The model of diffusive shock
acceleration allows, under certain conditions, acceleration of particles to
such high energies and their gradual injection into the interstellar medium,
mainly during the Sedov phase of the remnant evolution. The most energetic
particles are released first, while particles of lower energies are more
effectively confined in the shell, and are released at later epochs. Thus the
spectrum of nonthermal paticles inside the shell extends to PeV energies only
during a relatively short period of the evolution of the remnant. For this
reason one may expect spectra of secondary gamma-rays and neutrinos extending
to energies beyond 10 TeV only from T \lesssim 1000 yr old supernova remnants.
On the other hand, if by a chance a massive gas cloud appears in the \lesssim
100 pc vicinity of the supernova remnant, ``delayed'' multi-TeV signals of
gamma-rays and neutrinos arise when the most energetic partices emerged from
the supernova shell reach the cloud. The detection of such delayed emission of
multi-TeV gamma-rays and neutrinos allows indirect identification of the
supernova remnant as a particle PeVatron.


title: Curve shortening and the topology of closed geodesics on surfaces

abstract:
  We study "flat knot types" of geodesics on compact surfaces M^2. For every
flat knot type and any Riemannian metric g we introduce a Conley index
associated with the curve shortening flow on the space of immersed curves on
M^2. We conclude existence of closed geodesics with prescribed flat knot types,
provided the associated Conley index is nontrivial.


title:
A stochastic non-cooperative game for energy efficiency in wireless data
  networks

abstract:
  In this paper the issue of energy efficiency in CDMA wireless data networks
is addressed through a game theoretic approach. Building on a recent paper by
the first two authors, wherein a non-cooperative game for spreading-code
optimization, power control, and receiver design has been proposed to maximize
the ratio of data throughput to transmit power for each active user, a
stochastic algorithm is here described to perform adaptive implementation of
the said non-cooperative game. The proposed solution is based on a combination
of RLS-type and LMS-type adaptations, and makes use of readily available
measurements. Simulation results show that its performance approaches with
satisfactory accuracy that of the non-adaptive game, which requires a much
larger amount of prior information.


title:
Necessary and sufficient conditions for solvability of the
  Hartman-Wintner problem for difference equations

abstract:
  For homogeneous difference equation of the second order we study the analogy
of Hartman-Wintner problem on asymptotic integration of fundamental system of
solutions as argument tends to infinity.


title:
An Extensible Timing Infrastructure for Adaptive Large-scale
  Applications

abstract:
  Real-time access to accurate and reliable timing information is necessary to
profile scientific applications, and crucial as simulations become increasingly
complex, adaptive, and large-scale. The Cactus Framework provides flexible and
extensible capabilities for timing information through a well designed
infrastructure and timing API. Applications built with Cactus automatically
gain access to built-in timers, such as gettimeofday and getrusage,
system-specific hardware clocks, and high-level interfaces such as PAPI. We
describe the Cactus timer interface, its motivation, and its implementation. We
then demonstrate how this timing information can be used by an example
scientific application to profile itself, and to dynamically adapt itself to a
changing environment at run time.


title: Extended OH(1720 MHz) Maser Emission from Supernova Remnants

abstract:
  Compact OH(1720 MHz) masers have proven to be excellent signposts for the
interaction of supernova remnants with adjacent molecular clouds. Less
appreciated has been the weak, extended OH(1720 MHz) emission which accompanies
strong compact maser sources. Recent single-dish and interferometric
observations reveal the majority of maser-emitting supernova remnants have
accompanying regions of extended maser emission. Enhanced OH abundance created
by the passing shock is observed both as maser emission and absorption against
the strong background of the remnant. Modeling the observed OH profiles gives
an estimate of the physical conditions in which weak, extended maser emission
arises. I will discuss how we can realize the utility of this extended maser
emission, particularly the potential to measure the strength of the post-shock
magnetic field via Zeeman splitting over these large-scales.


title: Vortex in axion condensate as a dark matter halo

abstract:
  We study the possibility of the vortices formation in axion condensate on the
galactic scale. Such vortices can occur as a result of global rotation of the
early universe. We study analytical models of vortices and calculate exemplary
galaxy rotation curves. Depending on the setup it is possible to obtain a
variety of shapes which give a good qualitative agreement with observational
results. However, as we show, the extremely low velocity dispersions of the
axions velocity are required to form the single vortex on the galactic scales.
We find that the required velocity dispersion is of the order of $\sigma
\approx 10^{-12} \frac{m}{s}$. This is much smaller that predicted within the
present understanding of the axion physics. The vortices in axion condensate
can be however formed on the much smaller scales and give seeds to the galaxy
formation and to their angular momenta. On the other hand, the vortices can be
formed on the galactic scales, but only if the mass of the axion-like particles
is of the order of $10^{-30}$eV. In this case, the particle de Broglie
wavelength is comparable with the galactic diameter. This condition must be
fulfilled in order to keep the coherence of the quantum condensate on the
galactic scales.


title:
The VIMOS VLT Deep Survey: Tracing the galaxy stellar mass assembly
  history over the last 8Gyr

abstract:
  We selected a mass-limited sample of 4048 objects from the VIMOS VLT Deep
Survey in the redshift interval 0.5<z<1.3. We used the amplitude of the 4000
Balmer break (Dn4000) to separate the galaxy population and the EW[OII]3727
line as proxy for the star formation activity. We discuss to what extent
stellar mass drives galaxy evolution, showing for the first time the interplay
between stellar ages and stellar masses over the past 8Gyr. Low-mass galaxies
have small Dn4000 and at increasing stellar mass, the galaxy distribution moves
to higher Dn4000 values as observed in the local Universe. As cosmic time goes
by, we witness an increasing abundance of massive spectroscopically ET systems
at the expense of the LT systems. This spectral transformation is a process
started at early epochs and continuing efficiently down to the local Universe.
This is confirmed by the evolution of our type-dependent stellar mass function.
The underlying stellar ages of LT galaxies apparently do not show evolution,
likely as a result of a continuous formation of new stars. All star formation
activity indicators consistently point towards a star formation history peaked
in the past for massive galaxies, with little or no residual star formation
taking place in the most recent epochs. The activity and efficiency of forming
stars are mechanisms that depend on stellar mass, and the mass assembly becomes
progressively less efficient in massive systems as time elapses. The concepts
of star formation downsizing and mass assembly downsizing describe a single
scenario that has a top-down evolutionary pattern. The role of (dry) merging
events seems to be only marginal at z<1.3, as our estimated efficiency in
stellar mass assembly can possibly account for the progressive accumulation of
passively evolving galaxies.


title:
Probing the microscopic structure of bound states in quantum point
  contacts

abstract:
  Using an approach that allows us to probe the electronic structure of
strongly pinched-off quantum point contacts (QPCs), we provide evidence for the
formation of self-consistently realized bound states (BSs) in these structures.
Our approach exploits the resonant interaction between closely-coupled QPCs,
and demonstrates that the BSs may give rise to a robust confinement of single
spins, which show clear Zeeman splitting in a magnetic field.


title: Aggregates of two-dimensional vesicles: Rouleaux and sheets

abstract:
  Using both numerical and variational minimization of the bending and adhesion
energy of two-dimensional lipid vesicles, we study their aggregation, and we
find that the stable aggregates include an infinite number of vesicles and that
they arrange either in a columnar or in a sheet-like structure. We calculate
the stability diagram and we discuss the modes of transformation between the
two types of aggregates, showing that they include disintegration as well as
intercalation.


title: Early physics with top quarks at the LHC

abstract:
  The ATLAS and CMS experiments are now in their final installation phase and
will be soon ready to study the physics of proton-proton collisions at the
Large Hadron Collider. The LHC, by producing 2 $t\bar{t}$ events per second,
will provide more than 8 million top events a year at start-up. In this paper,
particular emphasis is given to the $t\bar{t}$ physics studies that can be
performed at the beginning of the LHC running, with a limited amount of
integrated luminosity ($\le$10 fb$^{-1}$).


title: Plasma and cavitation dynamics during pulsed laser microsurgery in vivo

abstract:
  We compare the plasma and cavitation dynamics underlying pulsed laser
microsurgery in water and in fruit fly embryos (in vivo) - specifically for
nanosecond pulses at 355 and 532 nm. We find two key differences. First, the
plasma-formation thresholds are lower in vivo - especially at 355 nm - due to
the presence of endogenous chromophores that serve as additional sources for
plasma seed electrons. Second, the biological matrix constrains the growth of
laser-induced cavitation bubbles. Both effects reduce the disrupted region in
vivo when compared to extrapolations from measurements in water.


title: The Dust and Gas Around beta Pictoris

abstract:
  We have obtained Spitzer IRS 5.5 - 35 micron spectroscopy of the debris disk
around beta Pictoris. In addition to the 10 micron silicate emission feature
originally observed from the ground, we also detect the crystalline silicate
emission bands at 28 micron and 33.5 micron. This is the first time that the
silicate bands at wavelengths longer than 10 micron have ever been seen in the
beta Pictoris disk. The observed dust emission is well reproduced by a dust
model consisting of fluffy cometary and crystalline olivine aggregates. We
searched for line emission from molecular hydrogen and atomic [S I], Fe II, and
Si II gas but detected none. We place a 3 sigma upper limit of <17 Earth masses
on the H2 S(1) gas mass, assuming an excitation temperature of Tex = 100 K.
This suggests that there is less gas in this system than is required to form
the envelope of Jupiter. We hypothesize that some of the atomic Na I gas
observed in Keplerian rotation around beta Pictoris may be produced by
photon-stimulated desorption from circumstellar dust grains.


title: Symmetries, Horizons, and Black Hole Entropy

abstract:
  Black holes behave as thermodynamic systems, and a central task of any
quantum theory of gravity is to explain these thermal properties. A statistical
mechanical description of black hole entropy once seemed remote, but today we
suffer an embarrassment of riches: despite counting very different states, many
inequivalent approaches to quantum gravity obtain identical results. Such
``universality'' may reflect an underlying two-dimensional conformal symmetry
near the horizon, which can be powerful enough to control the thermal
characteristics independent of other details of the theory. This picture
suggests an elegant description of the relevant degrees of freedom as
Goldstone-boson-like excitations arising from symmetry breaking by the
conformal anomaly.


title: Spectral Efficiency of Spectrum Pooling Systems

abstract:
  In this contribution, we investigate the idea of using cognitive radio to
reuse locally unused spectrum to increase the total system capacity. We
consider a multiband/wideband system in which the primary and cognitive users
wish to communicate to different receivers, subject to mutual interference and
assume that each user knows only his channel and the unused spectrum through
adequate sensing. The basic idea under the proposed scheme is based on the
notion of spectrum pooling. The idea is quite simple: a cognitive radio will
listen to the channel and, if sensed idle, will transmit during the voids. It
turns out that, although its simplicity, the proposed scheme showed very
interesting features with respect to the spectral efficiency and the maximum
number of possible pairwise cognitive communications. We impose the constraint
that users successively transmit over available bands through selfish water
filling. For the first time, our study has quantified the asymptotic (with
respect to the band) achievable gain of using spectrum pooling in terms of
spectral efficiency compared to classical radio systems. We then derive the
total spectral efficiency as well as the maximum number of possible pairwise
communications of such a spectrum pooling system.


title:
Entanglement and separability of quantum harmonic oscillator systems at
  finite temperature

abstract:
  In the present paper we study the entanglement properties of thermal (a.k.a.
Gibbs) states of quantum harmonic oscillator systems as functions of the
Hamiltonian and the temperature. We prove the physical intuition that at
sufficiently high temperatures the thermal state becomes fully separable and we
deduce bounds on the critical temperature at which this happens. We show that
the bound becomes tight for a wide class of Hamiltonians with sufficient
translation symmetry. We find, that at the crossover the thermal energy is of
the order of the energy of the strongest normal mode of the system and quantify
the degree of entanglement below the critical temperature. Finally, we discuss
the example of a ring topology in detail and compare our results with previous
work in an entanglement-phase diagram.


title: The s-wave pion-nucleus optical potential

abstract:
  We calculate the s-wave part of the pion-nucleus optical potential using a
unitarized chiral approach that has been previously used to simultaneously
describe pionic hydrogen and deuterium data as well as low energy pi N
scattering in the vacuum. This energy dependent model allows for additional
isoscalar parts in the potential from multiple rescattering. We consider Pauli
blocking and pion polarization in an asymmetric nuclear matter environment.
Also, higher order corrections of the pi N amplitude are included. The model
can accommodate the repulsion required by phenomenological fits, though the
theoretical uncertainties are bigger than previously thought. At the same time,
we also find an enhancement of the isovector part compatible with empirical
determinations.


title: A conditional 0-1 law for the symmetric sigma-field

abstract:
  Let (\Omega,\mathcal{B},P) be a probability space, \mathcal{A} a
sub-sigma-field of \mathcal{B}, and \mu a regular conditional distribution for
P given \mathcal{A}. For various, classically interesting, choices of
\mathcal{A} (including tail and symmetric) the following 0-1 law is proved:
There is a set A_0 in \mathcal{A} such that P(A_0)=1 and \mu(\omega)(A) is 0 or
1 for all A in \mathcal{A} and \omega in A_0. Provided \mathcal{B} is countably
generated (and certain regular conditional distributions exist), the result
applies whatever P is.


title: Stretching Homopolymers

abstract:
  Force induced stretching of polymers is important in a variety of contexts.
We have used theory and simulations to describe the response of homopolymers,
with $N$ monomers, to force ($f$) in good and poor solvents. In good solvents
and for {{sufficiently large}} $N$ we show, in accord with scaling predictions,
that the mean extension along the $f$ axis $<Z>\sim f$ for small $f$, and
$<Z>\sim f^{{2/3}}$ (the Pincus regime) for intermediate values of $f$. The
theoretical predictions for $\la Z\ra$ as a function of $f$ are in excellent
agreement with simulations for N=100 and 1600. However, even with N=1600, the
expected Pincus regime is not observed due to the the breakdown of the
assumptions in the blob picture for finite $N$. {{We predict the Pincus scaling
in a good solvent will be observed for $N\gtrsim 10^5$}}. The force-dependent
structure factors for a polymer in a poor solvent show that there are a
hierarchy of structures, depending on the nature of the solvent. For a weakly
hydrophobic polymer, various structures (ideal conformations, self-avoiding
chains, globules, and rods) emerge on distinct length scales as $f$ is varied.
A strongly hydrophobic polymer remains globular as long as $f$ is less than a
critical value $f_c$. Above $f_c$, an abrupt first order transition to a
rod-like structure occurs. Our predictions can be tested using single molecule
experiments.


title: Review of the FoPL paper [1] The Evans Lemma of Differential Geometry

abstract:
  The Evans Lemma is basic for Myron W. Evans' GCUFT or ECE Theory. Evans has
given two proofs of his Lemma. Both proofs are shown here to be in error and
beyond repair.


title: Extended Fractal Fits to Riemann Zeros

abstract:
  We extend to the first 300 Riemann zeros, the form of analysis reported by us
in arXiv:math-ph/0606005, in which the largest study had involved the first 75
zeros. Again, we model the nonsmooth fluctuating part of the Wu-Sprung
potential, which reproduces the Riemann zeros, by the alternating-sign sine
series fractal of Berry and Lewis A(x,g). Setting the fractal dimension equal
to 3/2. we estimate the frequency parameter (g), plus an overall scaling
parameter (s) introduced. We search for that pair of parameters (g,s) which
minimizes the least-squares fit of the lowest 300 eigenvalues -- obtained by
solving the one-dimensional stationary (non-fractal) Schrodinger equation with
the trial potential (smooth plus nonsmooth parts) -- to the first 300 Riemann
zeros. We randomly sample values within the rectangle 0 < s < 3, 0 < g < 25.
The fits obtained are compared to those gotten by using simply the smooth part
of the Wu-Sprung potential without any fractal supplementation. Some limited
improvement is again found. There are two (primary and secondary) quite
distinct subdomains, in which the values giving improvements in fit are
concentrated.


title: Diffusive Radiation in One-dimensional Langmuir Turbulence

abstract:
  We calculate spectra of radiation produced by a relativistic particle in the
presence of one-dimensional Langmuir turbulence which might be generated by a
streaming instability in the plasma, in particular, in the shock front or at
the shock-shock interactions. The shape of the radiation spectra is shown to
depend sensitively on the angle between the particle velocity and electric
field direction. The radiation spectrum in the case of exactly transverse
particle motion is degenerate and similar to that of spatially uniform Langmuir
oscillations. In case of oblique propagation, the spectrum is more complex, it
consists of a number of power-law regions and may contain a distinct
high-frequency spectral peak. %at $\omega=2\omega\pe \gamma^2$. The emission
process considered is relevant to various laboratory plasma settings and for
astrophysical objects as gamma-ray bursts and collimated jets.


title: Two-photon transitions in hydrogen and cosmological recombination

abstract:
  We study the two-photon process for the transitions ns --> 1s and nd --> 1s
in hydrogen up to large n. For n<=20 we provide simple analytic fitting
formulae to describe the non-resonant part of the two-photon emission profiles.
Combining these with the analytic form of the cascade-term yields a simple and
accurate description of the full two-photon decay spectrum, which only involves
a sum over a few intermediate states. We demonstrate that the cascade term
naturally leads to a nearly Lorentzian shape of the two-photon profiles in the
vicinity of the resonances. However, due to quantum-electrodynamical
corrections, the two-photon emission spectra deviate significantly from the
Lorentzian shape in the very distant wings of the resonances. We investigate up
to which distance the two-photon profiles are close to a Lorentzian and discuss
the role of the interference term. We then analyze how the deviation of the
two-photon profiles from the Lorentzian shape affects the dynamics of
cosmological hydrogen recombination. Since in this context the escape of
photons from the Lyman-alpha resonance plays a crucial role, we concentrate on
the two-photon corrections in the vicinity of the Lyman-alpha line. Our
computations show that the changes in the ionization history due to the
additional two-photon process from high shell (n>2) likely do not reach the
percent-level. For conservative assumptions we find a correction DN_e/N_e~-0.4%
at redshift z~1160. This is numerically similar to the result of another recent
study; however, the physics leading to this conclusion is rather different. In
particular, our calculations of the effective two-photon decay rates yield
significantly different values, where the destructive interference of the
resonant and non-resonant terms plays a crucial role in this context (abridged)


title: Lattice structures of Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde - Ferrell (LOFF) state

abstract:
  Starting from the Ginzburg-Landau free energy describing the normal state to
Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell (LOFF) state transition, we evaluate the free
energy of seven most common lattice structures such as stripe, square,
triangular,Simple Cubic (SC), Face centered Cubic (FCC),Body centered Cubic
(BCC) and Quasi-crystal (QC). We find that the stripe phase which is the
original LO state, is the most stable phase. This result maybe relevant to the
detection of LOFF state in some heavy fermion compounds and the pairing lattice
structure of fermions with unequal populations in the BCS side of Feshbach
resonance in ultra-cold atoms.


title: Higgs Boson Mass From Gauge-Higgs Unification

abstract:
  In certain five dimensional gauge theories the Standard Model Higgs doublet
is identified, after compactification on the orbifold S^1/Z_2, with the zero
mode of the fifth component of the gauge field. An effective potential for the
Higgs field is generated via quantum corrections, triggered by the breaking of
the underlying gauge symmetry through boundary conditions. The quartic Higgs
coupling can be estimated at low energies by employing the boundary condition
that it vanishes at the compactification scale \Lambda, as required by five
dimensional gauge invariance. For \Lambda \gtrsim 10^{13}-10^{14} GeV, the
Standard Model Higgs boson mass is found to be m_H = 125 \pm 4 GeV
corresponding to a top quark pole mass M_t = 170.9 \pm 1.8 GeV. A more complete
(gauge-Higgs-Yukawa) unification can be realized for \Lambda ~ 10^8 GeV, which
happens to be the scale at which the SU(2) weak coupling and the top quark
Yukawa coupling have the same value. For this case, m_H = 117\pm 4 GeV.


title: Feshbach resonances in ultracold K(39)

abstract:
  We discover several magnetic Feshbach resonances in collisions of ultracold
K(39) atoms, by studying atom losses and molecule formation. Accurate
determination of the magnetic-field resonance locations allows us to optimize a
quantum collision model for potassium isotopes. We employ the model to predict
the magnetic-field dependence of scattering lengths and of near-threshold
molecular levels. Our findings will be useful to plan future experiments on
ultracold potassium atoms and molecules.


title:
Ultra-high Energy Predictions of proton-air Cross Sections from
  Accelerator Data

abstract:
  We predict $\sigma_{p{-}\rm air}^{\rm prod}$, the proton--air inelastic
production cross section, at $pp$ center-of-mass energies $2\le\sqrt s \le
100000$ TeV, using high energy predictions from a saturated Froissart bound
parameterization of accelerator data on forward $\bar pp$ and $pp$ scattering
amplitudes, together with Glauber theory. The parameterization of the $\bar pp$
and $pp$ cross sections incorporates analyticity constraints and unitarity,
allowing accurate extrapolations to ultra-high energies. Our predictions are in
excellent agreement with cosmic ray extensive air shower measurements, both in
magnitude and in energy dependence


title: On the possible void decay in free-electron laser sase-fel experiment

abstract:
  In this paper the motion of ultrahigh energy particles produced in sasefel is
investigated. The critical field which opose the acceleration of the ultra high
energy particles is calculated


title:
Massive planet migration: Theoretical predictions and comparison with
  observations

abstract:
  We quantify the utility of large radial velocity surveys for constraining
theoretical models of Type II migration and protoplanetary disk physics. We
describe a theoretical model for the expected radial distribution of extrasolar
planets that combines an analytic description of migration with an empirically
calibrated disk model. The disk model includes viscous evolution and mass loss
via photoevaporation. Comparing the predicted distribution to a uniformly
selected subsample of planets from the Lick / Keck / AAT planet search
programs, we find that a simple model in which planets form in the outer disk
at a uniform rate, migrate inward according to a standard Type II prescription,
and become stranded when the gas disk is dispersed, is consistent with the
radial distribution of planets for orbital radii 0.1 AU < a < 2.5 AU and planet
masses greater than 1.65 Jupiter masses. Some variant models are disfavored by
existing data, but the significance is limited (~95%) due to the small sample
of planets suitable for statistical analysis. We show that the favored model
predicts that the planetary mass function should be almost independent of
orbital radius at distances where migration dominates the massive planet
population. We also study how the radial distribution of planets depends upon
the adopted disk model. We find that the distribution can constrain not only
changes in the power-law index of the disk viscosity, but also sharp jumps in
the efficiency of angular momentum transport that might occur at small radii.


title: Electron waves in chemically substituted graphene

abstract:
  We present exact analytical and numerical results for the electronic spectra
and the Friedel oscillations around a substitutional impurity atom in a
graphene lattice. A chemical dopant in graphene introduces changes in the
on-site potential as well as in the hopping amplitude. We employ a T-matrix
formalism and find that disorder in the hopping introduces additional
interference terms around the impurity that can be understood in terms of
bound, semi-bound, and unbound processes for the Dirac electrons. These
interference effects can be detected by scanning tunneling microscopy.


title: ATLAS sensitivity to Wtb anomalous couplings in top quark decays

abstract:
  We study the sensitivity of the ATLAS experiment to Wtb anomalous couplings
in top pair production with semileptonic decay, pp -> t tbar -> W+ b W- bbar,
with one of the W bosons decaying leptonically and the other hadronically.
Several observables are examined, including the W helicity fractions and new
quantities recently introduced, such as the ratios of helicity fractions and
some angular asymmetries defined in the W rest frame. The dependence on
anomalous couplings of all these observables has been previously obtained. In
this work we show that some of the new observables also have smaller systematic
uncertainties than the helicity fractions, with a dependence on anomalous
couplings similar or stronger than for helicity fractions. Consequently, their
measurement can significantly improve the limits on anomalous couplings.
Moreover, the most sensitive measurements can be combined. In this case, the
precision achieved in the determination of Wtb anomalous couplings can be of a
few percent in the semileptonic channel alone.


title:
How robust are the constraints on cosmology and galaxy evolution from
  the lens-redshift test?

abstract:
  The redshift distribution of galaxy lenses in known gravitational lens
systems provides a powerful test that can potentially discriminate amongst
cosmological models. However, applications of this elegant test have been
curtailed by two factors: our ignorance of how galaxies evolve with redshift,
and the absence of methods to deal with the effect of incomplete information in
lensing systems. In this paper, we investigate both issues in detail. We
explore how to extract the properties of evolving galaxies, assuming that the
cosmology is well determined by other techniques. We propose a new nested Monte
Carlo method to quantify the effects of incomplete data. We apply the
lens-redshift test to an improved sample of seventy lens systems derived from
recent observations, primarily from the SDSS, SLACS and the CLASS surveys. We
find that the limiting factor in applying the lens-redshift test derives from
poor statistics, including incomplete information samples, and biased sampling.
Many lenses that uniformly sample the underlying true image separation
distribution will be needed to use this test as a complementary method to
measure the value of the cosmological constant or the properties of evolving
galaxies. Planned future surveys by missions like the SNAP satellite or LSST
are likely to usher in a new era for strong lensing studies that utilize this
test. With expected catalogues of thousands of new strong lenses, the
lens-redshift test could offer a powerful tool to probe cosmology as well as
galaxy evolution.


title: Route to nonlocal cosmology

abstract:
  An analytic approach to phenomenological models inspired by cubic string
field theory is introduced and applied to some examples. We study a class of
actions for a minimally coupled, homogeneous scalar field whose energy density
contains infinitely many time derivatives. These nonlocal systems are
systematically localized and an algorithm to find cosmological solutions of the
dynamical equations is provided. Our formalism is able to define the nonlocal
field in regions of the parameter space which are inaccessible by standard
methods. Also, problems related to nonlocality are reinterpreted under a novel
perspective and naturally overcome. We consider phenomenological models living
on a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker background with power-law scale factor, both in
four dimensions and on a high-energy braneworld. The quest for solutions
unravels general features of nonlocal dynamics indicating several future
directions of investigation.


title:
Electronic transport and quantum Hall effect in bipolar graphene p-n-p
  junction

abstract:
  We have developed a device fabrication process to pattern graphene into
nanostructures of arbitrary shape and control their electronic properties using
local electrostatic gates. Electronic transport measurements have been used to
characterize locally gated bipolar graphene $p$-$n$-$p$ junctions. We observe a
series of fractional quantum Hall conductance plateaus at high magnetic fields
as the local charge density is varied in the $p$ and $n$ regions. These
fractional plateaus, originating from chiral edge states equilibration at the
$p$-$n$ interfaces, exhibit sensitivity to inter-edge backscattering which is
found to be strong for some of the plateuas and much weaker for other plateaus.
We use this effect to explore the role of backscattering and estimate disorder
strength in our graphene devices.


title: Singularly perturbed periodic and semiperiodic differential operators

abstract:
  Qualitative and spectral properties of the form-sums
  S_{\pm}(V):=D_{\pm}^{2m}\dotplus V(x),\quad m\in \mathbb{N}, in the Hilbert
space $L_{2}(0,1)$ are studied. Here the periodic $(D_{+})$ and the
semiperiodic $(D_{-})$ differential operators are $D_{\pm}: u\mapsto -i u'$,
and $V(x)$ is a 1-periodic complex-valued distribution in the Sobolev spaces
$H_{per}^{-m\alpha}$, $\alpha\in [0,1]$.


title: On the Photometric Redshift Estimates for FR II Radio Galaxies

abstract:
  Using the photometric data on FR II radio galaxies obtained in the Big Trio
Program and data from other sources, we confirmed the stable correlation
between the spectroscopic and photometric redshifts up to z~4 determined from
the evolutionary synthetic spectra of elliptical galaxies. This is a
confirmation for the theoretical predictions of the existence of a stellar
population at high redshifts and its subsequent evolution corresponding to the
population of giant elliptical galaxies.


title: Nuclear enhancement of universal dynamics of high parton densities

abstract:
  We show that the enhancement of the saturation scale in large nuclei relative
to the proton is significantly influenced by the effects of quantum evolution
and the impact parameter dependence of dipole cross sections in high energy
QCD. We demonstrate that there is a strong A dependence in diffractive deeply
inelastic scattering and discuss its sensitivity to the measurement of the
recoil nucleus.


title:
The First Supernova Explosions: Energetics, Feedback, and Chemical
  Enrichment

abstract:
  We perform three-dimensional smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations in a
realistic cosmological setting to investigate the expansion, feedback, and
chemical enrichment properties of a 200 M_sun pair-instability supernova in the
high-redshift universe. We find that the SN remnant propagates for a Hubble
time at z = 20 to a final mass-weighted mean shock radius of 2.5 kpc (proper),
roughly half the size of the HII region, and in this process sweeps up a total
gas mass of 2.5*10^5 M_sun. The morphology of the shock becomes highly
anisotropic once it leaves the host halo and encounters filaments and
neighboring minihalos, while the bulk of the shock propagates into the voids of
the intergalactic medium. The SN entirely disrupts the host halo and terminates
further star formation for at least 200 Myr, while in our specific case it
exerts positive mechanical feedback on neighboring minihalos by
shock-compressing their cores. In contrast, we do not observe secondary star
formation in the dense shell via gravitational fragmentation, due to the
previous photoheating by the progenitor star. We find that cooling by metal
lines is unimportant for the entire evolution of the SN remnant, while the
metal-enriched, interior bubble expands adiabatically into the cavities created
by the shock, and ultimately into the voids with a maximum extent similar to
the final mass-weighted mean shock radius. Finally, we conclude that dark
matter halos of at least M_vir > 10^8 M_sun must be assembled to recollect all
components of the swept-up gas.


title: Deconstruction of Unparticles

abstract:
  We discuss properties of hypothetical scale invariant (unparticle) matter by
viewing it as a tower of massive particles. We show how peculiar properties of
unparticles emerge in the limit when the mass spacing parameter Delta vanishes.
We explain why unparticle cannot decay in this limit and how, for finite Delta,
the decays manifest themselves in a relation between the reconstructed
invariant mass and vertex displacement. We describe a model field theory in
AdS5 which explicitly implements the deconstruction procedure by truncating the
extra dimension to size of order 1/Delta.


title: A competitive multi-agent model of interbank payment systems

abstract:
  We develop a dynamic multi-agent model of an interbank payment system where
banks choose their level of available funds on the basis of private payoff
maximisation. The model consists of the repetition of a simultaneous move stage
game with incomplete information, incomplete monitoring, and stochastic
payoffs. Adaptation takes place with bayesian updating, with banks maximizing
immediate payoffs. We carry out numerical simulations to solve the model and
investigate two special scenarios: an operational incident and exogenous
throughput guidelines for payment submission. We find that the demand for
intraday credit is an S-shaped function of the cost ratio between intraday
credit costs and the costs associated with delaying payments. We also find that
the demand for liquidity is increased both under operational incidents and in
the presence of effective throughput guidelines.


title:
Strong q-convexity in uniform neighborhoods of subvarieties in coverings
  of complex spaces

abstract:
  The main result is that, for any projective compact analytic subset A of
dimension q>0 in a reduced complex space X, there is a neighborhood U of A such
that, for any covering space Z of X in which the lifting B of A has no
noncompact connected analytic subsets of pure dimension q with only compact
irreducible components, there exists a smooth exhaustion function on Z which is
strongly q-convex on the lifting of U outside a uniform neighborhood of the
q-dimensional compact irreducible components B.


title:
The Structure of the Homunculus. III. Forming a Disk and Bipolar Lobes
  in a Rotating Surface Explosion

abstract:
  We present a semi-analytic model for shaping the nebula around eta Carinae
that accounts for the simultaneous production of bipolar lobes and an
equatorial disk through a rotating surface explosion. Material is launched
normal to the surface of an oblate rotating star with an initial kick velocity
that scales approximately with the local escape speed. Thereafter, ejecta
follow ballistic orbital trajectories, feeling only a central force
corresponding to a radiatively reduced gravity. Our model is conceptually
similar to the wind-compressed disk model of Bjorkman & Cassinelli, but we
modify it to an explosion instead of a steady line-driven wind, we include a
rotationally-distorted star, and we treat the dynamics somewhat differently.
Continuum-driving avoids the disk inhibition that normally operates in
line-driven winds. Our model provides a simple method by which rotating hot
stars can simultaneously produce intrinsically bipolar and equatorial mass
ejections, without an aspherical environment or magnetic fields. Although
motivated by eta Carinae, the model may have generic application to other LBVs,
B[e] stars, or SN1987A's nebula. When near-Eddington radiative driving is less
influential, our model generalizes to produce bipolar morphologies without
disks, as seen in many PNe.


title:
A Census of the Carina Nebula -- II. Energy Budget and Global Properties
  of the Nebulosity

abstract:
  The first paper in this series took a direct census of energy input from the
known OB stars in the Carina Nebula, and in this paper we study the global
properties of the surrounding nebulosity. We find that the total IR luminosity
of Carina is about 1.2E7 Lsun, accounting for only about 50-60% of the known
stellar luminosity from Paper I. Similarly, the ionizing photon luminosity --
(abridged; many important details omitted). Synchronized star formation around
the periphery of Carina provides a strong case that star formation here was
indeed triggered by stellar winds and UV radiation. This second generation
appears to involve a cascade toward preferentially intermediate- and low-mass
stars, but this may soon change when eta Car and its siblings explode. If the
current reservoir of atomic and molecular gas can be tapped at that time,
massive star formation may be rejuvinated around the periphery of Carina much
as if it were a young version of Gould's Belt. Also, when these multiple SNe
occur, the triggered second generation will be pelted repeatedly with SN ejecta
bearing short-lived radioactive nuclides. Carina may therefore represent the
most observable analog to the cradle of our own Solar System.


title:
And in the Darkness Bind Them: Equatorial Rings, B[e] Supergiants, and
  the Waists of Bipolar Nebulae

abstract:
  We report the discovery of two new circumstellar ring nebulae in the western
Carina Nebula. The brighter object, SBW1, resembles a lidless staring eye and
encircles a B1.5 Iab supergiant. Its size is identical to the inner ring around
SN1987A, but SBW1's low N abundance indicates that the star didn't pass through
a RSG phase. The fainter object, SBW2, is a more distorted ring, is N-rich, and
has a central star that seems to be invisible. We discuss these two new nebulae
in context with rings around SN1987A, Sher25, HD168625, RY Scuti, WeBo1, SuWt2,
and others. The ring bearers fall into two groups: Five rings surround hot
supergiants, and all except for the one known binary are carbon copies of the
ring around SN1987A. We propose a link between these rings and B[e]
supergiants, where the rings derive from the same material in an earlier B[e]
phase. The remaining four rings surround evolved intermediate-mass stars; all
members of this ring fellowship are close binaries, hinting that binary
interactions govern the forging of such rings. We estimate that there may be
several thousand more dark rings in the Galaxy, but we are scarcely aware of
their existence due to selection effects. The lower-mass objects might be the
equatorial density enhancements often invoked to bind the waists of bipolar
PNe.


title: Baryon Regge Trajectories in the Light of the $1/N_c$ Expansion

abstract:
  We analyze Regge trajectories in terms of the $1/N_c$ expansion of QCD.
Neglecting spin-orbit contributions to the large $N_c$ baryon mass operator, we
consider the evolution of the spin-flavor singlet component of the masses with
respect to the angular momentum. We find two distinct and remarkably linear
Regge trajectories for symmetric and for mixed symmetric spin-flavor
multiplets.


title:
Experimental Realization of an Exact Solution to the Vlasov Equations
  for an Expanding Plasma

abstract:
  We study the expansion of ultracold neutral plasmas in the regime in which
inelastic collisions are negligible. The plasma expands due to the thermal
pressure of the electrons, and for an initial spherically symmetric Gaussian
density profle, the expansion is self-similar. Measurements of the plasma size
and ion kinetic energy using fluorescence imaging and spectroscopy show that
the expansion follows an analytic solution of the Vlasov equations for an
adiabatically expanding plasma.


title:
SN 1996cr: Confirmation of a Luminous Type IIn Supernova in the Circinus
  Galaxy

abstract:
  We have recently confirmed SN 1996cr as a late-time type IIn supernova (SN)
via VLT spectroscopy and isolated its explosion date to ~1 yr using archival
optical imaging. We briefly touch upon here the wealth of optical, X-ray, and
radio archival observations available for this enigmatic source. Due to its
relative proximity (3.8 +/-0.6 Mpc), SN 1996cr ranks among the brightest X-ray
and radio SNe ever detected and, as such, may offer powerful insights into the
structure and composition of type IIn SNe. We also find that SN 1996cr is
matched to GRB 4B 960202 at a 2-3 sigma confidence level, making it perhaps the
third GRB to be significantly associated with a type II SN. We speculate on
whether SN 1996cr could be an off-axis or ``failed'' GRB.


title:
On the Shannon capacity and queueing stability of random access
  multicast

abstract:
  We study and compare the Shannon capacity region and the stable throughput
region for a random access system in which source nodes multicast their
messages to multiple destination nodes. Under an erasure channel model which
accounts for interference and allows for multipacket reception, we first
characterize the Shannon capacity region. We then consider a queueing-theoretic
formulation and characterize the stable throughput region for two different
transmission policies: a retransmission policy and random linear coding. Our
results indicate that for large blocklengths, the random linear coding policy
provides a higher stable throughput than the retransmission policy.
Furthermore, our results provide an example of a transmission policy for which
the Shannon capacity region strictly outer bounds the stable throughput region,
which contradicts an unproven conjecture that the Shannon capacity and stable
throughput coincide for random access systems.


title:
The X-ray Properties of the Most-Luminous Quasars from the Sloan Digital
  Sky Survey

abstract:
  Utilizing 21 new Chandra observations as well as archival Chandra, ROSAT, and
XMM-Newton data, we study the X-ray properties of a representative sample of 59
of the most optically luminous quasars in the Universe (M_i~~-29.3 to -30.2)
spanning a redshift range of z~~1.5-4.5. Our full sample consists of 32 quasars
from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 3 (DR3) quasar catalog,
two additional objects in the DR3 area that were missed by the SDSS selection
criteria, and 25 comparably luminous quasars at z>~4. This is the largest X-ray
study of such luminous quasars to date. By jointly fitting the X-ray spectra of
our sample quasars, excluding radio-loud and broad absorption line (BAL)
objects, we find a mean X-ray power-law photon index of
Gamma=1.92^{+0.09}_{-0.08} and constrain any neutral intrinsic absorbing
material to have a mean column density of N_H<~2x10^{21} cm^{-2}. We find,
consistent with other studies, that Gamma does not change with redshift, and we
constrain the amount of allowed Gamma evolution for the most-luminous quasars.
Our sample, excluding radio-loud and BAL quasars, has a mean X-ray-to-optical
spectral slope of a_ox=-1.80+/-0.02, as well as no significant evolution of
a_ox with redshift. We also comment upon the X-ray properties of a number of
notable quasars, including an X-ray weak quasar with several strong narrow
absorption-line systems, a mildly radio-loud BAL quasar, and a well-studied
gravitationally lensed quasar.


title:
Mapping out the Jet correlation landscape: Jet quenching and Medium
  response

abstract:
  A selected set of di-hadron correlation results from PHENIX are discussed.
These results provide evidences for four distinct contributions concentrated at
various $\Delta\phi$ ranges. The $p_T$, particle species and energy dependence
of these contributions reflect detailed interplay between jet quenching and
response of the partonic matter to the lost energy.


title: Measuring and Localing Homology Classes

abstract:
  We develop a method for measuring and localizing homology classes. This
involves two problems. First, we define relevant notions of size for both a
homology class and a homology group basis, using ideas from relative homology.
Second, we propose an algorithm to compute the optimal homology basis, using
techniques from persistent homology and finite field algebra. Classes of the
computed optimal basis are localized with cycles conveying their sizes. The
algorithm runs in $O(\beta^4 n^3 \log^2 n)$ time, where $n$ is the size of the
simplicial complex and $\beta$ is the Betti number of the homology group.


title:
Boutroux curves with external field: equilibrium measures without a
  minimization problem

abstract:
  The nonlinear steepest descent method for rank-two systems relies on the
notion of g-function. The applicability of the method ranges from orthogonal
polynomials (and generalizations) to Painleve transcendents, and integrable
wave equations (KdV, NonLinear Schroedinger, etc.).
  For the case of asymptotics of generalized orthogonal polynomials with
respect to varying complex weights we can recast the requirements for the
Cauchy-transform of the equilibrium measure into a problem of algebraic
geometry and harmonic analysis and completely solve the existence and
uniqueness issue without relying on the minimization of a functional. This
addresses and solves also the issue of the ``free boundary problem'',
determining implicitly the curves where the zeroes of the orthogonal
polynomials accumulate in the limit of large degrees and the support of the
measure. The relevance to the quasi--linear Stokes phenomenon for Painleve
equations is indicated. A numerical algorithm to find these curves in some
cases is also explained.
  Technical note: the animations included in the file can be viewed using
Acrobat Reader 7 or higher. Mac users should also install a QuickTime plugin
called Flip4Mac. Linux users can extract the embedded animations and play them
with an external program like VLC or MPlayer. All trademarks are owned by the
respective companies.


title:
The Evolution of Protoplanetary Disks Around Millisecond Pulsars: The
  PSR 1257 +12 System

abstract:
  We model the evolution of protoplanetary disks surrounding millisecond
pulsars, using PSR 1257+12 as a test case. Initial conditions were chosen to
correspond to initial angular momenta expected for supernova-fallback disks and
disks formed from the tidal disruption of a companion star. Models were run
under two models for the viscous evolution of disks: fully viscous and layered
accretion disk models. Supernova-fallback disks result in a distribution of
solids confined to within 1-2 AU and produce the requisite material to form the
three known planets surrounding PSR 1257+12. Tidal disruption disks tend to
slightly underproduce solids interior to 1 AU, required for forming the pulsar
planets, while overproducing the amount of solids where no body, lunar mass or
greater, exists. Disks evolving under 'layered' accretion spread somewhat less
and deposit a higher column density of solids into the disk. In all cases,
circumpulsar gas dissipates on $\lesssim 10^{5}$ year timescales, making
formation of gas giant planets highly unlikely.


title: Hierarchy of N=8 Mechanics Models

abstract:
  Using the N=4 superspace approach in one dimension (time), we construct
general N=8 supersymmetric mechanics actions for the multiplets (b,8,8-b)
classified in hep-th/0406015, with the main focus on the previously unexplored
cases of (8,8,0), (7,8,1) and (6,8,2), as well as on (5,8,3) for completeness.
N=8 supersymmetry of the action amounts to a harmonicity condition for the
Lagrangian with respect to its superfield arguments. We derive the generic
off-shell component action for the ``root'' multiplet (8,8,0), prove that the
actions for all other multiplets follow from it through automorphic dualities
and argue that this hierarchical structure is universal. The bosonic target
geometry in all cases is conformally flat, with a unique scalar potential
(except for the root multiplet). We show that the N=4 superfield constraints
respect the full R-symmetry and find the explicit realization of its quotient
over the manifest R-symmetry on superfields and component fields. Several
R-symmetric N=4 superfield Lagrangians with N=8 supersymmetry are either newly
found or reproduced by a simple universal method.


title: Euler Coefficients and Restricted Dyck Paths

abstract:
  We consider the problem of enumerating Dyck paths staying weakly above the
x-axis with a limit to the number of consecutive up steps, or a limit to the
number of consecutive down steps. We use Finite Operator Calculus to obtain
formulas for the number of all such paths reaching a given point in the first
quadrant. All our results are based on the Eulerian coefficients.


title:
Galactic Twins of the Nebula Around SN 1987A: Hints that LBVs may be
  supernova progenitors

abstract:
  I discuss outstanding questions about the formation of the ring nebula around
SN1987A and some implications of similar ring nebulae around Galactic B
supergiants. There are notable obstacles for the formation of SN1987A's bipolar
nebula through interacting winds in a transition from a red supergiant to a
blue supergiant. Instead, several clues hint that the nebula may have been
ejected in an LBV-like event. In addition to the previously known example of
Sher25, there are two newly-discovered Galactic analogs of SN1987A's ringed
nebula. Of these three Galactic analogs around blue supergiants, two (Sher25
and SBW1) have chemical abundances indicating that they have not been through a
red supergiant phase, and the remaining ringed bipolar nebula surrounds a
luminous blue variable (HD168625). Although SK-69 202's initial mass of 20 Msun
is lower than those atributed to most LBVs, it is not far off, and the
low-luminosity end of the LBV phenomenon is not well defined. Furthermore,
HD168625's luminosity indicates an initial mass of only 25 Msun, that of SBW1
is consistent with 20 Msun, and there is a B[e] star in the SMC with an initial
mass of 20 Msun that experienced an LBV outburst in the 1990s. These
similarities may be giving us important clues about Sk-69 202's pre-SN
evolution and the formation mechanism of its nebula.


title:
High Resolution Spectroscopy of SN1987A's Rings: He I 10830 and H-alpha
  from the Hotspots

abstract:
  We present the first high-dispersion spectroscopy of He I 10830 from the
hotspots in the ring around SN1987A, obtained at Gemini South, spatially
resolving the near and far sides of the ring. We compare these line profiles to
similar echelle spectra of H$\alpha$ and [N II] 6583 obtained at the Magellan
Observatory. We find that the He I profiles are much broader than H-alpha or [N
II], but the He I profiles also have different shapes -- they have enhanced
emission at high speeds, with extra blueshifted emission on the north side of
the ring, and extra redshifted emission on the south side. To explain this, we
invoke a simple geometric picture where the extra He I emission traces hotter
gas from faster shocks that strike the apex of the hotspots directly, while the
H-alpha preferentially traces cooler lower-ionization gas from slower
transverse shocks that penetrate into the sides of the ring.


title: Gate Electrostatics and Quantum Capacitance of Graphene Nanoribbons

abstract:
  Capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics are important for understanding
fundamental electronic structures and device applications of nanomaterials. The
C-V characteristics of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) are examined using
self-consistent atomistic simulations. The results indicate strong dependence
of the GNR C-V characteristics on the edge shape. For zigzag edge GNRs, highly
non-uniform charge distribution in the transverse direction due to edge states
lowers the gate capacitance considerably, and the self-consistent electrostatic
potential significantly alters the band structure and carrier velocity. For an
armchair edge GNR, the quantum capacitance is a factor of 2 smaller than its
corresponding zigzag carbon nanotube, and a multiple gate geometry is less
beneficial for transistor applications. Magnetic field results in pronounced
oscillations on C-V characteristics.


title:
Galactic Twins of the Ring Nebula Around SN1987A and a Possible LBV-like
  Phase for Sk-69 202

abstract:
  Some core-collapse supernovae show clear signs of interaction with dense
circumstellar material that often appears to be non-spherical. Circumstellar
nebulae around supernova progenitors provide clues to the origin of that
asymmetry in immediate pre-supernova evolution. Here I discuss outstanding
questions about the formation of the ring nebula around SN1987A and some
implications of similar ring nebulae around Galactic B supergiants. Several
clues hint that SN1987A's nebula may have been ejected in an LBV-like event,
rather than through interacting winds in a transition from a red supergiant to
a blue supergiant.


title: The Constant Mean Curvature Einstein flow and the Bel-Robinson energy

abstract:
  We give an extensive treatment of the Constant Mean Curvature (CMC) Einstein
flow from the point of view of the Bel-Robinson energies. The article, in
particular, stresses on estimates showing how the Bel-Robinson energies and the
volume of the evolving states control intrinsically the flow along evolution.
The treatment is for flows over compact three-manifolds of arbitrary
topological type, although the form of the estimates may vary depending on the
Yamabe invariant of the manifold. We end up showing well posedness of the CMC
Einstein flow with H^{3} x H^{2} regularity, and proving a criteria for a flow
to be a long-time flow on manifolds with non-positive Yamabe invariant in terms
only of the first order Bel-Robinson energy.


title: Dijet production in generic contact interaction at linear colliders

abstract:
  We consider dijet production at a $e^+ e^-$ collider in a class of effective
theories with the relevant operators being four-fermion contact interaction.
Despite the nonrenormalizable nature of the interaction, we explicitly
demonstrate that calculating QCD corrections is both possible and meaningful.
Calculating the corrections for various differential distributions, we show
that these can be substantial and significantly different from those within the
SM. Furthermore, the corrections have a very distinctive flavor dependence.


title: Observational Techniques for Detecting Planets in Binary Systems

abstract:
  Searches for planets in close binary systems explore the degree to which
stellar multiplicity inhibits or promotes planet formation. There is a
degeneracy between planet formation models when only systems with single stars
are studied--several mechanisms appear to be able to produce such a final
result. This degeneracy is lifted by searching for planets in binary systems;
the resulting detections (or evidence of non-existence) of planets in binaries
isolates which models may contribute to how planets form in nature. In this
chapter, we consider observational efforts to detect planetary companions to
binary stars in two types of hierarchical planet-binary configurations: first
``S-type'' planets which orbit just one of the stars, with the binary period
being much longer than the planet's; second, ``P-type'' or circumbinary
planets, where the planet simultaneously orbits both stars, and the planetary
orbital period is much longer than that of the binary. The S-type planet
finding techniques are different for binaries that can or cannot be spatially
resolved. For wider systems, techniques reviewed include dualstar
interferometric differential astrometry and precision radial velocities.
Alternatively, unresolved binaries can be studied using modified dualstar
"PHASES-style" differential astrometry or a modification of the radial velocity
technique for composite spectra. Should a fortunately aligned--but still long
period--binary be found, eclipse timing can also reveal the presence of S-type
planets. Methods for detecting P-type planets include the composite-spectra
variant of the radial velocity technique and eclipse timing.


title:
A Parton-Based Description of Forward-Backward Correlation in pp
  Collisions

abstract:
  Forward-backward correlation in pp collisions is studied in an approach that
emphasizes the partonic scattering angles and circumvents the intractable
problem related to the transverse momenta that are low. Assuming the
back-to-back scattering of partons to be the origin of hadronic correlation,
the properties of forward-backward multiplicity covariance can be derived
essentially independent of details of hadronization. The range of correlation
in pseudo-rapidity emerges from the study without any dynamical input, thus
dispelling the notion that correlation length has any fundamental significance.
An attempt is made to relate the results to the two-component structure seen in
autocorrelation.


title: Covariant Hamiltonian Dynamics with Negative Energy States

abstract:
  A relativistic quantum mechanics is studied for bound hadronic systems in the
framework of the Point Form Relativistic Hamiltonian Dynamics. Negative energy
states are introduced taking into account the restrictions imposed by a correct
definition of the Poincar\'e group generators. We obtain nonpathological,
manifestly covariant wave equations that dynamically contain the contributions
of the negative energy states. Auxiliary negative energy states are also
introduced, specially for studying the interactions of the hadronic systems
with external probes.


title: Discrete R-symmetry anomalies in heterotic orbifold models

abstract:
  Anomalies of discrete R-symmetries appearing in heterotic orbifold models are
studied. We find that the mixed anomalies for different gauge groups satisfy
the universal Green-Schwarz (GS) condition, indicating that these anomalies are
canceled by the GS mechanism. An exact relation between the anomaly
coefficients of the discrete R-symmetries and one-loop beta-function
coefficients is obtained. We also find that the discrete R-symmetries have a
good chance to be unbroken down to the supersymmetry breaking scale. Even below
this scale a $Z_2$ subgroup is unbroken, which may be an origin of the R-parity
of the minimal supersymmetric standard model. Relations between the R-symmetry
anomalies and T-duality anomalies are also investigated.


title: Posets of annular non-crossing partitions of types B and D

abstract:
  We study the set $\sncb (p,q)$ of annular non-crossing permutations of type
B, and we introduce a corresponding set $\ncb (p,q)$ of annular non-crossing
partitions of type B, where $p$ and $q$ are two positive integers. We prove
that the natural bijection between $\sncb (p,q)$ and $\ncb (p,q)$ is a poset
isomorphism, where the partial order on $\sncb (p,q)$ is induced from the
hyperoctahedral group $B_{p+q}$, while $\ncb (p,q)$ is partially ordered by
reverse refinement. In the case when $q=1$, we prove that $\ncb (p,1)$ is a
lattice with respect to reverse refinement order.
  We point out that an analogous development can be pursued in type D, where
one gets a canonical isomorphism between $\sncd (p,q)$ and $\ncd (p,q)$. For
$q=1$, the poset $\ncd (p,1)$ coincides with a poset ``$NC^{(D)} (p+1)$''
constructed in a paper by Athanasiadis and Reiner in 2004, and is a lattice by
the results of that paper.


title: Halting in quantum Turing computation

abstract:
  The paper considers the halting scheme for quantum Turing machines. The
scheme originally proposed by Deutsch appears to be correct, but not exactly as
originally intended. We discuss the result of Ozawa as well as the objections
raised by Myers, Kieu and Danos and others. Finally, the relationship of the
halting scheme to the quest for a universal quantum Turing machine is
considered.


title:
Pixels simultaneous detection probabilities and spatial resolution
  determination of pixelized detectors by means of correlation measurements

abstract:
  A novel method to estimate the pixels simultaneous detection probability and
the spatial resolution of pixelized detectors is proposed, which is based on
the determination of the statistical correlations between detector neighbor
pixels. The correlations are determined by means of noise variance measurement
for a isolated pixels and the difference between neighbor pixels. The method is
validated using images from the two different GE Senographe 2000D mammographic
units. The pixelized detector has been irradiated using x-rays along its entire
surface. It is shown that the pixel simultaneous detection probabilities can be
estimated within accuracy 0.001 - 0.003, where the systematic error is
estimated to be smaller than 0.005. The presampled two-dimensional point-spread
function (PSF0) is determined using a single Gaussian and a sum of two Gaussian
approximations. The obtained results for the presampled PSF0 show that the
single Gaussian approximation is not appropriate, and the sum of two Gaussian
approximations providing the best fit predicts the existence of a large (~50%)
narrow component. Another proof of this fact is the latest simulation study of
columnar indirect digital detectors by A. Badano et al. The sampled
two-dimensional PSF is determined using Monte Carlo simulation for the L-shape
uniform distributed acceptance function for different values of fill factors.
The detector spatial resolution is estimated using sampled PSF and has values
54 and 58 mkm for two different units. The calculation of the presampled
modulation transfer function based on the PSF0 estimation shows that the
existing data can only be reproduced using a single Gaussian approximation and
the usage of the sum of two Gaussian show significantly larger values in the
higher frequency region for both units.


title: Charmless B decays to a scalar meson and a vector meson

abstract:
  The hadronic charmless B decays into a scalar meson and a vector meson are
studied within the framework of QCD factorization. The main results are: (i)
The decay rates for the $f_0(980)K^{*-}$ and $f_0(980)\ov K^{*0}$ modes depend
on the $f_0-\sigma$ mixing angle $\theta$. The experimental measurements can be
accommodated for $\theta\approx 20^\circ$. (ii) If the $a_0(980)$ is a $q\bar
q$ bound state, the predicted branching ratios for the channels $a_0^+\rho^-$
and $a_0^0\rho^-$ will be very large, of order $30\times 10^{-6}$ and $23\times
10^{-6}$, respectively. If the observation of or the experimental limit on
theses two modes is much smaller than the expectation of $\sim 25\times
10^{-6}$, this could hint at a four-quark nature for the $a_0(980)$. (iii) For
the $a_0(1450)$ channels, $a_0^+(1450)\rho^-$ and $a_0^0(1450)\rho^-$ are found
to have branching ratios of order $16\times 10^{-6}$ and $22\times 10^{-6}$,
respectively. A measurement of them at the predicted level will favor the
$q\bar q$ structure for the $a_0(1450)$. (iv) Contrary to the naive expectation
that $\Gamma(B^-\to a_0^0\rho^-)\sim {1\over 2}\Gamma(\bar B^0\to
a_0^+\rho^-)$, we found that they have comparable rates due to additional
contributions to the $a_0\rho^-$ mode from the $a_0^0$ emission. (v) The
predicted central value of $Br(\bar B^0\to\ov K^{*0}_0(1430)\phi)$ is larger
than experiment, though it can be accommodated within theoretical errors. The
decays $B\to K^{*}_0(1430)\rho$ are expected to have rates substantially larger
than that of $B\to K^{*}_0(1430)\pi$ owing to the constructive (destructive)
interference between the $a_4$ and $a_6$ penguin terms in the former (latter).
Experimentally, it is thus important to check if the $B\to K^{*}_0\rho$ modes
are enhanced relative to the corresponding $K_0^*\pi$ channels.


title:
Effect of Mo doping for the Mn site in the ferromagnetic manganite
  La0.7Ca0.3MnO3

abstract:
  The structure, electronic, and magnetic properties of the Mo-doped perovskite
La0.7Ca0.3Mn1-xMoxO3 (x < 0.1) have been studied. A significant increase in
resistivity and lattice parameters were observed with Mo doping. A marginal
decrease in the Curie temperature Tc and the associated metal-insulator
transition Tp were observed. Magnetization data reveal that long-range
ferromagnetic ordering persists in all samples studied and the saturation
moment decreases linearly as x increases. Enhancement in magnetoresistance at
near Tc in the Mo-doped compounds with an optimum doping value x = 0.05 was
observed. The overall experimental results can be explained by considering the
induced Mn2+ ions with Mo6+ in the Mo-doped systems, with the strong FM
coupling between Mn4+/2+- O - Mn3+.


title:
Experimental Decoy State Quantum Key Distribution with Unconditional
  Security Incorporating Finite Statistics

abstract:
  We propose the improved decoy state quantum key distribution incorporating
finite statistics due to the finite code length and report on its
demonstration. In our experiment, four different intensities including the
vacuum state for optimal pulses are used and the key generation rate of 200 bps
is achieved in the 20 km telecom optical fiber transmission keeping the
eavesdropper's mutual information with the final key less than 2^{-9}.


title: The dispersive contribution of $\rho(1450,1700)$ decays and X(1576)

abstract:
  We study whether the broad enhancement X(1576) arises from the final state
interaction (FSI) of $\rho(1450,1700)\to \rho^+\rho^-\to K^{+}K^{-}$ decays. We
consider both the absorptive and dispersive contribution of the above
amplitudes since the intermediate states are very close to $\rho(1450,1700)$.
The same mechanism leads to a similar enhancement around 1580 MeV in the
$\pi^{+}\pi^-$ spectrum in the $J/\psi\to \pi^{0}\pi^{+}\pi^{-}$ channel, which
can be used to test whether X(1576) can be ascribed to the FSI effect of
$\rho(1450,1700)\to \rho^+\rho^-$.


title: Spectral estimation on a sphere in geophysics and cosmology

abstract:
  We address the problem of estimating the spherical-harmonic power spectrum of
a statistically isotropic scalar signal from noise-contaminated data on a
region of the unit sphere. Three different methods of spectral estimation are
considered: (i) the spherical analogue of the one-dimensional (1-D)
periodogram, (ii) the maximum likelihood method, and (iii) a spherical analogue
of the 1-D multitaper method. The periodogram exhibits strong spectral leakage,
especially for small regions of area $A\ll 4\pi$, and is generally unsuitable
for spherical spectral analysis applications, just as it is in 1-D. The maximum
likelihood method is particularly useful in the case of nearly-whole-sphere
coverage, $A\approx 4\pi$, and has been widely used in cosmology to estimate
the spectrum of the cosmic microwave background radiation from spacecraft
observations. The spherical multitaper method affords easy control over the
fundamental trade-off between spectral resolution and variance, and is easily
implemented regardless of the region size, requiring neither non-linear
iteration nor large-scale matrix inversion. As a result, the method is ideally
suited for most applications in geophysics, geodesy or planetary science, where
the objective is to obtain a spatially localized estimate of the spectrum of a
signal from noisy data within a pre-selected and typically small region.


title: U-Invariants for forms of higher degree

abstract:
  Both a general and a diagonal u-invariant for forms of higher degree are
defined, generalizing the u-invariant of quadratic forms. Both old and new
results on these invariants are collected.


title: All automorphisms of the Calkin algebra are inner

abstract:
  We prove that it is relatively consistent with the usual axioms of
mathematics that all automorphisms of the Calkin algebra are inner. Together
with a 2006 Phillips--Weaver construction of an outer automorphism using the
Continuum Hypothesis, this gives a complete solution to a 1977 problem of
Brown-Douglas-Fillmore. We also give a simpler and self-contained proof of the
Phillips--Weaver result.


title: Testing the Anomaly Mediation at the LHC

abstract:
  We consider a supersymmetric model in which gaugino masses are generated by
the anomaly-mediation mechanism while scalar masses are from tree-level
supergravity interaction. In such a model, scalar fermions as well as Higgsinos
become as heavy as O(10-100TeV) and hence only the gauginos are superparticles
kinematically accessible to the LHC. We study how and how well the properties
of gauginos can be studied. We also discuss the strategy to test the
anomaly-mediation model at the LHC.


title: Some classes of multiplicative forms of higher degree

abstract:
  Several notions of multiplicativity are introduced for forms of degree $d\geq
3$ over a field of characteristic 0 or greater than d. Examples of
multiplicative and strongly multiplicative forms of higher degree are given.
Conditions restricting the structure of a strongly multiplicative form are
found.


title: "Pudding mold" band drives large thermopower in Na$_x$CoO$_2$

abstract:
  In the present study, we pin down the origin of the coexistence of the large
thermopower and the large conductivity in Na$_x$CoO$_2$. It is revealed that
not just the density of states (DOS), the effective mass, nor the band width,
but the peculiar {\it shape} of the $a_{1g}$ band referred to as the "pudding
mold" type, which consists of a dispersive portion and a somewhat flat portion,
is playing an important role in this phenomenon. The present study provides a
new guiding principle for designing good thermoelectric materials.


title: Minimal Surfaces in $S^3$ with Constant Contact Angle

abstract:
  We provide a characterization of the Clifford Torus in S3 via moving frames
and contact structure equations. More precisely, we prove that minimal surfaces
in S3 with constant contact angle must be the Clifford Torus. Some applications
of this result are then given, and some examples are discussed.


title: Distribution of the resistance of nanowires with strong impurities

abstract:
  Motivated by recent experiments on nanowires and carbon nanotubes, we study
theoretically the effect of strong, point-like impurities on the linear
electrical resistance R of finite length quantum wires. Charge transport is
limited by Coulomb blockade and cotunneling. ln R is slowly self-averaging and
non Gaussian. Its distribution is Gumbel with finite-size corrections which we
compute. At low temperature, the distribution is similar to the variable range
hopping (VRH) behaviour found long ago in doped semiconductors. We show that a
result by Raikh and Ruzin does not apply. The finite-size corrections decay
with the length L like 1/ln L. At higher temperatures, this regime is replaced
by new laws and the shape of the finite-size corrections changes strongly: if
the electrons interact weakly, the corrections vanish already for wires with a
few tens impurities.


title: Cosmic structures via Bose Einstein condensation and its collapse

abstract:
  We develop our novel model of cosmology based on the Bose-Einstein
condensation. This model unifies the Dark Energy and the Dark Matter, and
predicts multiple collapse of condensation, followed by the final acceleration
regime of cosmic expansion. We first explore the generality of this model,
especially the constraints on the boson mass and condensation conditions. We
further argue the robustness of this model over the wide range of parameters of
mass, self coupling constant and the condensation rate. Then the dynamics of
BEC collapse and the preferred scale of the collapse are studied. Finally, we
describe possible observational tests of our model, especially, the periodicity
of the collapses and the gravitational wave associated with them.


title: Bounds on Unparticles from the Higgs Sector

abstract:
  We study supersymmetric QCD in the conformal window as a laboratory for
unparticle physics, and analyze couplings between the unparticle sector and the
Higgs sector. These couplings can lead to the unparticle sector being pushed
away from its scale invariant fixed point. We show that this implies that low
energy experiments will not be able to see unparticle physics, and the best
hope of seeing unparticles is in high energy collider experiments such as the
Tevatron and the LHC. We also demonstrate how the breaking of scale invariance
could be observed at these experiments.


title:
The Quantum de Laval Nozzle: stability and quantum dynamics of sonic
  horizons in a toroidally trapped Bose gas containing a superflow

abstract:
  We study an experimentally realizable system containing stable black
hole-white hole acoustic horizons in toroidally trapped Bose-Einstein
condensates - the quantum de Laval nozzle. We numerically obtain stationary
flow configurations and assess their stability using Bogoliubov theory, finding
both in hydrodynamic and non-hydrodynamic regimes there exist dynamically
unstable regions associated with the creation of positive and negative energy
quasiparticle pairs in analogy with the gravitational Hawking effect. The
dynamical instability takes the form of a two mode squeezing interaction
between resonant pairs of Bogoliubov modes. We study the evolution of
dynamically unstable flows using the truncated Wigner method, which confirms
the two mode squeezed state picture of the analogue Hawking effect for low
winding number.


title: Magnetocaloric effect in the frustrated square lattice J1-J2 model

abstract:
  We investigate the magnetocaloric properties of the two-dimensional
frustrated J1-J2 model on a square lattice. This model describes well the
magnetic behavior of two classes of quasi-two-dimensional S = 1/2 vanadates,
namely the Li2VOXO4 (X = Si, Ge) and AA'VO(PO4)2 (A, A' = Pb, Zn, Sr, Ba)
compounds. The magnetocaloric effect (MCE) consists in the adiabatic
temperature change upon changing the external magnetic field. In frustrated
systems, the MCE can be enhanced close to the saturation field because of
massive degeneracies among low lying excitations. We discuss results for the
MCE in the two distinct antiferromagnetic regimes of the phase diagram.
Numerical finite temperature Lanczos as well as analytical methods based on the
spin wave expansion are employed and results are compared. We give explicit
values for the saturation fields of the vanadium compounds. We predict that at
subcritical fields there is first a (positive) maximum followed by sign change
of the MCE, characteristic of all magnetically ordered phases.


title:
Decay of massive scalar hair in the background of a dilaton gravity
  black hole

abstract:
  We invesigate analytically both the intermediate and late-time behaviour of
the massive scalar field in the background of static spherically symmetric
black hole solution in dilaton gravity with arbitrary coupling constant. The
intermediate asymptotic behaviour of scalar field depends on the field's
parameter mass as well as the multiple number l. On its turn, the late-time
behaviour has the power law decay rate independent on coupling constant in the
theory under consideration.


title: Non-Positive Semigroup Dynamics in Continuous Variable Models

abstract:
  Non-positive, Markovian semigroups are sometimes used to describe the time
evolution of subsystems immersed in an external environment. A widely adopted
prescription to avoid the appearance of negative probabilities is to eliminate
from the admissible initial conditions those density matrices that would not
remain positive by the action of the semigroup dynamics. Using a continuous
variable model, we show that this procedure leads to physical inconsistencies
when two subsystems are considered and their initial state is entangled.


title:
Extending the redshift-distance relation in Cosmological General
  Relativity to higher redshifts

abstract:
  The redshift-distance modulus relation, the Hubble Diagram, derived from
Cosmological General Relativity has been extended to arbitrarily large
redshifts. Numerical methods were employed and a density function was found
that results in a valid solution of the field equations at all redshifts. The
extension has been compared to 302 type Ia supernova data as well as to 69
Gamma-ray burst data. The latter however do not not truly represent a `standard
candle' as the derived distance modulii are not independent of the cosmology
used. Nevertheless the analysis shows a good fit can be achieved without the
need to assume the existence of dark matter.
  The Carmelian theory is also shown to describe a universe that is always
spatially flat. This results from the underlying assumption of the energy
density of a cosmological constant $\Omega_{\Lambda} = 1$, the result of vacuum
energy. The curvature of the universe is described by a \textit{spacevelocity}
metric where the energy content of the curvature at any epoch is $\Omega_K =
\Omega_{\Lambda} - \Omega = 1-\Omega$, where $\Omega$ is the matter density of
the universe. Hence the total density is always $\Omega_K + \Omega = 1$


title: Chaotic motion in Kundt spacetimes

abstract:
  We demonstrate that geodesics in exact vacuum Kundt gravitational waves may
exhibit a highly complicated behaviour. In fact, as in the previously studied
case of non-homogeneous pp-waves, for specific choices of the structural
function the motion appears to be genuinely chaotic. This fact is demonstrated
by the fractal method.


title:
Distortion Minimization in Gaussian Layered Broadcast Coding with
  Successive Refinement

abstract:
  A transmitter without channel state information (CSI) wishes to send a
delay-limited Gaussian source over a slowly fading channel. The source is coded
in superimposed layers, with each layer successively refining the description
in the previous one. The receiver decodes the layers that are supported by the
channel realization and reconstructs the source up to a distortion. The
expected distortion is minimized by optimally allocating the transmit power
among the source layers. For two source layers, the allocation is optimal when
power is first assigned to the higher layer up to a power ceiling that depends
only on the channel fading distribution; all remaining power, if any, is
allocated to the lower layer. For convex distortion cost functions with convex
constraints, the minimization is formulated as a convex optimization problem.
In the limit of a continuum of infinite layers, the minimum expected distortion
is given by the solution to a set of linear differential equations in terms of
the density of the fading distribution. As the bandwidth ratio b (channel uses
per source symbol) tends to zero, the power distribution that minimizes
expected distortion converges to the one that maximizes expected capacity.
While expected distortion can be improved by acquiring CSI at the transmitter
(CSIT) or by increasing diversity from the realization of independent fading
paths, at high SNR the performance benefit from diversity exceeds that from
CSIT, especially when b is large.


title:
Prospects for Constraining Neutrino Mass Using Planck and Lyman-Alpha
  Forest Data

abstract:
  In this paper we investigate how well Planck and Lyman-Alpha forest data will
be able to constrain the sum of the neutrino masses, and thus, in conjunction
with flavour oscillation experiments, be able to determine the absolute masses
of the neutrinos. It seems possible that Planck, together with a Lyman-Alpha
survey, will be able to put pressure on an inverted hierarchial model for the
neutrino masses. However, even for optimistic assumptions of the precision of
future Lyman-Alpha datasets, it will not be possible to confirm a minimal-mass
normal hierarchy.


title:
A complete one-loop description of associated tW production at LHC and
  an estimate of possible genuine supersymmetric effects

abstract:
  We compute, in the MSSM framework, the sum of the one-loop electroweak and of
the total QED radiation effects for the process $pp \to t W+X$, initiated by
the parton process $bg\to tW$. Combining these terms with the existing NLO
calculations of SM and SUSY QCD corrections, we analyze the overall one-loop
supersymmetric effects on the partial rates of the process, obtained by
integrating the differential cross section up to a final variable invariant
mass. We conclude that, for some choices of the SUSY parameters and for
relatively small final invariant masses, they could reach the relative ten
percent level, possibly relevant for a dedicated experimental effort at LHC.


title:
Track reconstruction in the emulsion-lead target of the OPERA experiment
  using the ESS microscope

abstract:
  The OPERA experiment, designed to conclusively prove the existence of $\rm
\nu_\mu \to \nu_\tau$ oscillations in the atmospheric sector, makes use of a
massive lead-nuclear emulsion target to observe the appearance of $\rm
\nu_\tau$'s in the CNGS $\rm \nu_\mu$ beam. The location and analysis of the
neutrino interactions in quasi real-time required the development of fast
computer-controlled microscopes able to reconstruct particle tracks with
sub-micron precision and high efficiency at a speed of 20 cm^2 / h. This paper
describes the performance in particle track reconstruction of the European
Scanning System, a novel automatic microscope for the measurement of emulsion
films developed for OPERA.


title:
Extra-dimensional relaxation of the upper limit of the lightest
  supersymmetric neutral Higgs mass

abstract:
  The upper limit on the mass of the lightest CP-even neutral Higgs in the
minimal supersymmetric standard model is around 135 GeV for soft supersymmetry
breaking masses in the 1 TeV range. We demonstrate that this upper limit may be
sizably relaxed if supersymmetry is embedded in extra dimensions. We calculate,
using the effective potential technique, the radiative corrections to the
lightest Higgs mass induced by the Kaluza-Klein towers of quarks and squarks
with one and two compactified directions. We observe that the lightest Higgs
may comfortably weigh around 200 GeV (300 GeV) with one (two) extra
dimension(s).


title:
The Dynamical Properties Derived from the More Generalized Lagrangian
  Density for A Gravitational System

abstract:
  The studies of the generalized Einstein Lagrangian densities without torsion
are extended to those of the more generalized Lagrangian densities with
torsion. The properties of the more generalized Lagrangian densities are
studied systematically and thoroughly. The dynamical laws of a gravitational
system such as the gravitational field equations, the conservation laws of the
energy-momentum tensor densities, the conservation laws of the spin densities
and the equations of motion for test particle are all derived from the
Lagrangian densities. The differences between the more generalized Lagrangian
densities and the generalized Einstein Lagrangian densities are discussed.


title: Planetesimal Accretion onto Growing Proto-Gas-Giant Planets

abstract:
  The solar and extra solar gas giants appear to have diverse internal
structure and metallicities. We examine a potential cause for these dispersions
in the context of the conventional sequential accretion formation scenario. In
principle, gas accretion onto cores with masses below several times that of the
Earth is suppressed by the energy released from the bombardment of residual
planetesimals. We show that these planetesimals generally cannot pass through
the mean motion resonances of the cores, and the suppression of planetesimal
bombardment rate enables the cores to accrete gas with little interruption.
During growth from the cores to protoplanets, as the resonances overlap with
each other, the trapped planetesimals become dynamically unstable and their
eccentricity excitation is strongly enhanced. Subsequent gas drag induces the
planetesimals to migrate and collide with the protoplanet. This process leads
to the resumption and a surge of planetesimal bombardment during the advanced
stage of the protoplanet growth. This mechanism may account for the diversity
of the core-envelope structure between Jupiter, Saturn and the metallicity
dispersion inferred from the transiting extra solar planets.


title: Antisymmetric elements in group rings with an orientation morphism

abstract:
  Let $R$ be a commutative ring, $G$ a group and $RG$ its group ring. Let
$\phi_{\sigma} : RG\to RG$ denote the involution defined by $\phi_{\sigma}
(\sum r_{g}g) = \sum r_{g} \sigma (g) g^{-1}$, where $\sigma:G\to \{\pm 1\}$ is
a group homomorphism (called an orientation morphism). An element $x$ in $RG$
is said to be antisymmetric if $\phi_{\sigma} (x) =-x$. We give a full
characterization of the groups $G$ and its orientations for which the
antisymmetric elements of $RG$ commute.


title:
Shelling-type orderings of regular CW-complexes and acyclic matchings of
  the Salvetti complex

abstract:
  Motivated by the work of Salvetti and Settepanella we introduce certain total
orderings of the faces of any shellable regular CW-complex (called
`shelling-type orderings') that can be used to explicitly construct maximum
acyclic matchings of the poset of cells of the given complex. Building on an
application of this method to the classical zonotope shellings we describe a
class of maximum acyclic matchings for the Salvetti complex of a linear
complexified arrangement. To do this, we introduce and study a new
combinatorial stratification of the Salvetti complex. For the obtained acyclic
matchings we give an explicit description of the critical cells that depends
only on the chosen linear extension of the poset of regions. It is always
possible to choose the linear extension so that the critical cells can be
explicitly constructed from the chambers of the arrangement via the bijection
to no-broken-circuit sets defined by Jewell and Orlik. Our method can be
generalized to arbitraty oriented matroids.


title: First observation of KL -> pi+- e-+ nu e+ e-

abstract:
  This letter is the first report of the KL -> pi+- e-+ nu e+ e- decay. Based
on 19208+-144 events, we determine the branching fraction, B(KL -> pi+- e-+ nu
e+ e-; Mee > 5 MeV/c^2, E*ee > 30 MeV) = (1.285+-0.041)x10^-5, and Gamma(Ke3ee;
Mee >5 MeV/c^2) / Gamma(Ke3) = [4.57+-0.04(stat)+-0.14(syst)]x10^-5. This ratio
agrees with a theoretical prediction based on chiral perturbation theory (ChPT)
calculated to O(p^4). The measured kinematical distributions agree with those
predicted by just ChPT O(p^4), but show significant disagreement with ones
predicted by leading order ChPT.


title: Black Hole and Neutron Star Binaries: Theoretical Challenges

abstract:
  Some of the theoretical challenges posed by the general relativistic
description of binary systems of compact objects (neutron stars or black holes)
are reviewed. We recall the various ways one can use the theory of the motion,
and of the timing, of binary pulsars to test the strong-field and/or radiative
aspects of General Relativity. Recent advances in the theory of the motion and
radiation of binary black holes are discussed. One emphasizes the usefulness of
the Effective One Body approach in providing a quasi-analytical description of
the waveform emitted by coalescing binary black holes.


title: Aspects of open strings in Rindler Space

abstract:
  We study open string configurations in Rindler space suspended from D-branes
at finite distance from the Rindler horizon. This is a toy model for strings in
the near horizon region of a black hole and has applications for the study of
strings configurations of heavy quarks in the AdS/CFT duals of hot field
theories, as well as other applications to the study of open strings ending on
giant gravitons. We find that this setup produces very similar results to those
that have been found in the AdS black hole setup, but it is much more tractable
analytically. We also comment on some quantum applications of our studies to
the understanding of the spectrum of strings ending on giant gravitons.


title: Kepler Problem in the Constant Curvature Space

abstract:
  We present algebraic derivation of the result of Schr\"{o}dinger [1] for the
spectrum of hydrogen atom in the space with constant curvature.


title: Topological Amplitudes in Heterotic Strings with Wilson Lines

abstract:
  We consider d=4, N=2 compactifications of heterotic strings with an arbitrary
number of Wilson lines. In particular, we focus on known chains of candidate
heterotic/type II duals. We give closed expressions for the topological
amplitudes F^g in terms of automorphic forms of SO(2+k,2,Z), and find agreement
with the geometric data of the dual K3 fibrations wherever those are known.


title: Dynamics and planet formation in/around binaries

abstract:
  We study to which extent planetesimal accretion is affected by the perturbing
presence of a compagnon star. We concentrate on one crucial parameter: the
distribution of encounter velocities within the planetesimal swarm. We
numerically explore the evolution of this parameter taking into account the
secular perturbations of the binary and friction due to the very likely
presence of gas in the disk. $<\Delta v>$ maps are derived, for planetesimals
of different sizes, for a total of 120 binary configurations (eccentricity eb
and separation ab). We identify for each case 3 different accreting behaviours.
1) In regions where no significant dV increase is observed, ``classical''
(i.e., single-star) accretion is possible. 2) In regions where $dV>v_{ero}$,
the threshold velocity above which all impacts are eroding, no accretion is
possible and planet growth is stopped. 3) In between these 2 limiting
behaviours, a large fraction of binary configurations leads to significant dV
increase, but still below the erosion threshold. In this intermediate case,
planetesimal growth can occur, but proceeds slower than in the single-star
case, possibly following the so-called type II runaway groth mode.


title: Symplectic Group Actions and Covering Spaces

abstract:
  For symplectic group actions which are not Hamiltonian there are two ways to
define reduction. Firstly using the cylinder-valued momentum map and secondly
lifting the action to any Hamiltonian cover (such as the universal cover), and
then performing symplectic reduction in the usual way. We show that provided
the action is free and proper, and the Hamiltonian holonomy associated to the
action is closed, the natural projection from the latter to the former is a
symplectic cover. At the same time we give a classification of all Hamiltonian
covers of a given symplectic group action. The main properties of the lifting
of a group action to a cover are studied.