title:
Particle identification with the AMS-02 RICH detector: D/p and
  anti-D/anti-p separation

abstract:
  The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), whose final version AMS-02 is to be
installed on the International Space Station (ISS) for at least 3 years, is a
detector designed to measure charged cosmic ray spectra with energies up to the
TeV region and with high energy photon detection capability up to a few hundred
GeV, using state-of-the art particle identification techniques. Among several
detector subsystems, AMS includes a proximity focusing RICH enabling precise
measurements of particle electric charge and velocity. The combination of both
these measurements together with the particle rigidity measured on the silicon
tracker endows a reliable measurement of the particle mass. The main topics of
the AMS-02 physics program include detailed measurements of the nuclear
component of the cosmic-ray spectrum and the search for indirect signatures of
dark matter. Mass separation of singly charged particles, and in particular the
separation of deuterons and antideuterons from massive backgrounds of protons
and antiprotons respectively, is essential in this context. Detailed Monte
Carlo simulations of AMS-02 have been used to evaluate the detector's
performance for mass separation at different energies. The obtained results and
physics prospects are presented.


title:
Nonuniversal routes to universality: Critical phenomena in colloidal
  dispersions

abstract:
  We investigate critical phenomena in colloids by means of the
renormalization-group based hierarchical reference theory of fluids (HRT). We
focus on three experimentally relevant model systems: namely, the
Asakura-Oosawa model of a colloidal dispersion under the influence of
polymer-induced attractive depletion forces; fluids with competing short-range
attractive and longer-range repulsive interactions; solutions of star-polymers
whose pair potential presents both an attractive well and an ultrasoft
repulsion at shorter distance. Our results show that the ability to tune the
effective interactions between colloidal particles allows one to generate a
variety of crossovers to the asymptotic critical behavior, which are not
observed in atomic fluids.


title: Seshadri constants on surfaces of general type

abstract:
  We study Seshadri constants of the canonical bundle on minimal surfaces of
general type. First, we prove that if the Seshadri constant $\eps(K_X,x)$ is
between 0 and 1, then it is of the form $(m-1)/m$ for some integer $m\ge 2$.
Secondly, we study values of $\eps(K_X,x)$ for a very general point $x$ and
show that small values of the Seshadri constant are accounted for by the
geometry of $X$.


title:
Propagator of a Charged Particle with a Spin in Uniform Magnetic and
  Perpendicular Electric Fields

abstract:
  We construct an explicit solution of the Cauchy initial value problem for the
time-dependent Schroedinger equation for a charged particle with a spin moving
in a uniform magnetic field and a perpendicular electric field varying with
time. The corresponding Green function (propagator) is given in terms of
elementary functions and certain integrals of the fields with a characteristic
function, which should be found as an analytic or numerical solution of the
equation of motion for the classical oscillator with a time-dependent
frequency. We discuss a particular solution of a related nonlinear Schroedinger
equation and some special and limiting cases are outlined.


title: Discovery of X-ray Pulsations from the HMXB Source AXJ1749.1-2733

abstract:
  We are reporting a discovery of X-ray pulsations from the source AX
J1749.1-2733 with the period of ~132 s based on the XMM-Newton data obtained in
March 2007. The observed pulse profile has a double-peaked structure with the
pulse fraction of about 25-30 % in the 3-10 keV energy band. We have also found
that a periodicity with practically the same period has been detected from the
source by the IBIS telescope onboard the INTEGRAL observatory during an
outburst on Sept. 9, 2003 in the 20-50 keV energy band. Due to the
double-peaked pulse profile, there is an additional peak on both periodograms
of nearly ~66 s, therefore we have also investigated the possibility that the
last value is the true pulse period. The source spectrum obtained by the
XMM-Newton observatory in the soft energy band is being heavily absorbed
($N_H\simeq2\times10^{23}$ cm$^{-2}$) due to a strong intrinsic absorption in
the binary system that leads to the conclusion that AX J1749.1-2733 is a new
transient X-ray pulsar in the high mass X-ray binary system.


title:
Scalar Curvature Bound for K\"ahler-Ricci Flows over Minimal Manifolds
  of General Type

abstract:
  In this short note, we use classic computations for K\"ahler-Ricci flow to
achieve scalar curvature bound for minimal manifold of general type.


title: Complex Eigenvalues for Binary Subdivision Schemes

abstract:
  Convergence properties of binary stationary subdivision schemes for curves
have been analyzed using the techniques of z-transforms and eigenanalysis.
Eigenanalysis provides a way to determine derivative continuity at specific
points based on the eigenvalues of a finite matrix. None of the well-known
subdivision schemes for curves have complex eigenvalues. We prove when a
convergent scheme with palindromic mask can have complex eigenvalues and that a
lower limit for the size of the mask exists in this case. We find a scheme with
complex eigenvalues achieving this lower bound. Furthermore we investigate this
scheme numerically and explain from a geometric viewpoint why such a scheme has
not yet been used in computer-aided geometric design.


title: The RICH detector of the AMS-02 experiment: status and physics prospects

abstract:
  The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), whose final version AMS-02 is to be
installed on the International Space Station (ISS) for at least 3 years, is a
detector designed to measure charged cosmic ray spectra with energies up to the
TeV region and with high energy photon detection capability up to a few hundred
GeV. It is equipped with several subsystems, one of which is a proximity
focusing RICH detector with a dual radiator (aerogel+NaF) that provides
reliable measurements for particle velocity and charge. The assembly and
testing of the AMS RICH is currently being finished and the full AMS detector
is expected to be ready by the end of 2008. The RICH detector of AMS-02 is
presented. Physics prospects are briefly discussed.


title: Tachyon-Chaplygin inflationary universe model

abstract:
  Tachyonic inflationary universe model in the context of a Chaplygin gas
equation of state is studied. General conditions for this model to be
realizable are discussed. By using an effective exponential potential we
describe in great details the characteristic of the inflationary universe
model. The parameters of the model are restricted by using recent astronomical
observations.


title: Adiabatic melting of two-component Mott-insulator states

abstract:
  We analyze the outcome of a Mott insulator to superfluid transition for a
two-component Bose gas with two atoms per site in an optical lattice in the
limit of slow ramping down the lattice potential. This manipulation of the
initial Mott insulating state transforms local correlations between hyperfine
states of atom pairs into multiparticle correlations extending over the whole
system. We show how to create macroscopic twin Fock states in this way an that,
in general, the obtained superfluid states are highly depleted even for initial
ground Mott insulator states.


title: On a Basis for the Framed Link Vector Space Spanned by Chord Diagrams

abstract:
  In view of the result of Kontsevich, now often called ``the fundamental
theorem of Vassiliev theory'', identifying the graded dual of the associated
graded vector space to the space of Vassiliev invariants filtered by degree
with the linear span of chord diagrams modulo the ``4T-relation'' (and in the
unframed case, the ``1T-'' or ``isolated chord relation''), it is a problem of
some interest to provide a basis for the space of chord diagrams modulo the
4T-relation.
  We construct the basis for the vector space spanned by chord diagrams with n
chords and m distinguishable link components, modulo 4T relations for n less
than or equal to 5.


title:
Discovery of the radio and X-ray counterpart of TeV Gamma-ray source
  HESS J1731-347

abstract:
  We discover a faint shell-type radio and X-ray source, G353.6-0.7, associated
with HESS J1731-347. G353.6-0.7 is likely an old supernova remnant (SNR), based
on radio (0.8 GHz, 1.4 GHz and 5 GHz), infrared (8 $\mu$m from the GLIMPSE
Legacy Project and 21 $\mu$m from the Midcourse Space Experiment), and X-ray
(0.1 keV - 2.4 keV from the ROSAT survey and 5 - 20 keV from the INTEGRAL
survey) data. The SNR, centered at ({\sl l}, {\sl b})=(353.55, -0.65) with a
radius of $\sim$ 0.25$^{\circ}$, closely matches the outline of the recently
discovered extended TeV source HESS J1731-347, which has no previously
identified counterpart. A diffuse X-ray enhancement detected in the ROSAT
all-sky survey is coincident with lower half shell of the SNR. Therefore the
SNR is the best radio counterpart of both the HESS source and the diffuse X-ray
enhancement. G353.6-0.7 has an age of $\sim$ 27000 yrs. Altogether, the new
discovery provides the best case that an old SNR emits TeV $\gamma$-rays.


title: A simple integrated single-atom detector

abstract:
  We present a reliable and robust integrated fluorescence detector capable of
detecting single atoms. The detector consists of a tapered lensed single-mode
fiber for precise delivery of excitation light and a multimode fiber to collect
the fluorescence. Both are mounted in lithographically defined SU-8 holding
structures on an atom chip. Rb87 atoms propagating freely in a magnetic guide
are detected with an efficiency of up to 66%, and a signal-to-noise ratio in
excess of 100 is obtained for short integration times.


title: The Averaging Problem in Cosmology and Macroscopic Gravity

abstract:
  The averaging problem in cosmology and the approach of macroscopic gravity to
resolve the problem is discussed. The averaged Einstein equations of
macroscopic gravity are modified on cosmological scales by the macroscopic
gravitational correlation tensor terms as compared with the Einstein equations
of general relativity. This correlation tensor satisfies a system of structure
and field equations. An exact cosmological solution to the macroscopic gravity
equations for a constant macroscopic gravitational connection correlation
tensor for a flat spatially homogeneous, isotropic macroscopic space-time is
presented. The correlation tensor term in the macroscopic Einstein equations
has been found to take the form of either a negative or positive spatial
curvature term. Thus, macroscopic gravity provides a cosmological model for a
flat spatially homogeneous, isotropic Universe which obeys the dynamical law
for either an open or closed Universe.


title:
Degenerate stochastic differential equations arising from catalytic
  branching networks

abstract:
  We establish existence and uniqueness for the martingale problem associated
with a system of degenerate SDE's representing a catalytic branching network.
For example, in the hypercyclic case:
$$dX_{t}^{(i)}=b_i(X_t)dt+\sqrt{2\gamma_{i}(X_{t})
X_{t}^{(i+1)}X_{t}^{(i)}}dB_{t}^{i}, X_t^{(i)}\ge 0, i=1,..., d,$$ where
$X^{(d+1)}\equiv X^{(1)}$, existence and uniqueness is proved when $\gamma$ and
$b$ are continuous on the positive orthant, $\gamma$ is strictly positive, and
$b_i>0$ on $\{x_i=0\}$. The special case $d=2$, $b_i=\theta_i-x_i$ is required
in work of Dawson-Greven-den Hollander-Sun-Swart on mean fields limits of block
averages for 2-type branching models on a hierarchical group. The proofs make
use of some new methods, including Cotlar's lemma to establish asymptotic
orthogonality of the derivatives of an associated semigroup at different
times,and a refined integration by parts technique from Dawson-Perkins]. As a
by-product of the proof we obtain the strong Feller property of the associated
resolvent.


title: Boxy/Peanut bulges and stellar bars

abstract:
  Boxy/peanut bulges in disc galaxies have been associated to stellar bars. We
analyse their properties in a large sample of $N$-body simulations, using
different methods to measure their strength, shape and possible asymmetry, and
then inter-compare the results. Some of these methods can be applied to both
simulations and observations. In particular, we seek correlations between bar
and peanut properties, which, when applied to real galaxies, will give
information on bars in edge-on galaxies, and on peanuts in face-on galaxies.


title:
Efficient light coupling into a photonic crystal waveguide with flatband
  slow mode

abstract:
  We design an efficient coupler to transmit light from a strip waveguide into
the flatband slow mode of a photonic crystal waveguide with ring-shaped holes.
The coupler is a section of a photonic crystal waveguide with a higher group
velocity, obtained by different ring dimensions. We demonstrate coupling
efficiency in excess of 95% over the 8 nm wavelength range where the photonic
crystal waveguide exhibits a quasi constant group velocity vg = c/37. An
analysis based on the small Fabry-P\'erot resonances in the simulated
transmission spectra is introduced and used for studying the effect of the
coupler length and for evaluating the coupling efficiency in different parts of
the coupler. The mode conversion efficiency within the coupler is more than
99.7% over the wavelength range of interest. The parasitic reflectance in the
coupler, which depends on the propagation constant mismatch between the slow
mode and the coupler mode, is lower than 0.6% within this wavelength range.


title: Vertex coalgebras, comodules, cocommutativity and coassociativity

abstract:
  We introduce the notion of vertex coalgebra, a generalization of vertex
operator coalgebras. Next we investigate forms of cocommutativity,
coassociativity, skew-symmetry, and an endomorphism, $D^*$, which hold on
vertex coalgebras. The former two properties require grading. We then discuss
comodule structure. We conclude by discussing instances where graded vertex
coalgebras appear, particularly as related to Primc's vertex Lie algebra and
(universal) enveloping vertex algebras.


title: A note about conditional Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes

abstract:
  In this short note, the identity in law, which was obtained by P. Salminen,
between on one hand, the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process with parameter gamma,
killed when it reaches 0, and on the other hand, the 3-dimensional radial
Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process killed exponentially at rate gamma and conditioned
to hit 0, is derived from a simple absolute continuity relationship.


title:
Kinematics and Quantum Field Theory of the Neutrino Oscillations
  Observed in the Time-modulated Orbital Electron Capture Decay in an Ion
  Storage Ring

abstract:
  According to the recent experimental data of a GSI--experiment, the rate of
the number of daughter ions $^{140}{\rm Ce}^{58+}$, produced by a nuclear
K--shell electron capture (EC) of the H--like ion ${^{140}}{\rm Pr}^{58+}$, is
modulated in time with a period $T_d=(7.06\pm 8) $seconds. We explain this
phenomenon by neutrino--flavour mixing and show that this can be understood
within standard quantum field theory and derive a value for the squared mass
difference $\Delta m^2_{21}=m^2_2-m^2_1=(0.763\pm 8) \cdot 10^{-4}
\mathrm{eV}^2$. This proves that such processes provide a precise method to
investigate neutrino--flavour mixing.


title: From short to fat tails in financial markets: A unified description

abstract:
  In complex systems such as turbulent flows and financial markets, the
dynamics in long and short time-lags, signaled by Gaussian and fat-tailed
statistics, respectively, calls for a unified description. To address this
issue we analyze a real dataset, namely, price fluctuations, in a wide range of
temporal scales to embrace both regimes. By means of Kramers-Moyal (KM)
coefficients evaluated from empirical time series, we obtain the evolution
equation for the probability density function (PDF) of price returns. We also
present consistent asymptotic solutions for the timescale dependent equation
that emerges from the empirical analysis. From these solutions, new
relationships connecting PDF characteristics, such as tail exponents, to
parameters of KM coefficients arise. The results reveal a dynamical path that
leads from Gaussian to fat-tailed statistics, furnishing insights on other
complex systems where akin crossover is observed.


title:
Clues to the Metallicity Distribution in the Galactic Bulge: Abundances
  in OGLE-2007_BLG-349S

abstract:
  We present an abundance analysis based on high dispersion and high
signal-to-noise ratio Keck spectra of a very highly microlensed Galactic bulge
dwarf, OGLE-2007-BLG-349S, with Teff ~ 5400 K. The amplification at the time
the spectra were taken ranged from 350 to 450. This bulge star is highly
enhanced in metallicity with [Fe/H] = +0.51 \pm 0.09 dex. The abundance ratios
for the 28 species of 26 elements for which features could be detected in the
spectra are solar. In particular, there is no evidence for enhancement of any
of the alpha-elements including O and Mg. We conclude that the high [Fe/H] seen
in this star, when combined with the equally high [Fe/H] derived in previous
detailed abundance analysis of two other Galactic bulge dwarfs, both also
microlensed, implies that the median metallicity in the Galactic bulge is very
high. We thus infer that many previous estimates of the metallicity
distribution in the Galactic bulge have substantially underestimated the mean
Fe-metallicity there due to sample bias, and suggest a candidate mechanism for
such. If our conjecture proves valid, it may be necessary to update the
calibrations for the algorithms used by many groups to interpret spectra and
broad band photometry of the integrated light of very metal-rich old stellar
populations, including luminous elliptical galaxies.


title: CO-induced lifting of Au (001) surface reconstruction

abstract:
  We report CO-induced lifting of the hexagonal surface reconstruction on Au
(001). Using in-situ surface x-ray scattering, we determined a
pressure-temperature phase diagram for the reconstruction and measured the
dynamical evolution of the surface structure in real time. Our observations
provide evidence that, under certain conditions, even macroscopic Au surfaces,
much larger than catalytic Au nanoparticles [M. Haruta, Catal. Today 36, 153
(1997)], can exhibit some of the reactive properties and surface transitions
observed in systems known to be catalytically active such as Pt (001).


title: A Note on Spontaneously Broken Lorentz Invariance

abstract:
  We consider a relativistic effective field theory of vector boson whose
vacuum exhibits spontaneous breaking of Lorentz invariance. We argue that a
simple model of this type, considered recently by Kraus and Tomboulis, is
obstructed from having a consistent ultraviolet completion according to the
diagnostic recently suggested by Adams, Arkani-Hamed, Dubovsky, Nicolis, and
Rattazzi.


title: Structure of the interstellar medium around Cas A

abstract:
  We present a three-year series of observations at 24 microns with the Spitzer
Space Telescope of the interstellar material in a 200 x 200 arcmin square area
centered on Cassiopeia A. Interstellar dust heated by the outward light pulse
from the supernova explosion emits in the form of compact, moving features.
Their sequential outward movements allow us to study the complicated
three-dimensional structure of the interstellar medium (ISM) behind and near
Cassiopeia A. The ISM consists of sheets and filaments, with many structures on
a scale of a parsec or less. The spatial power spectrum of the ISM appears to
be similar to that of fractals with a spectral index of 3.5. The filling factor
for the small structures above the spatial wavenumber k ~ 0.5 cycles/pc is only
~ 0.4%.


title:
On the masses and evolutionary status of the black hole binary GX 339-4.
  A twin system of XTE J1550-564?

abstract:
  We apply the K-correction to the black hole LMXB GX 339-4 which implies Mx >
6 Msun by only assuming that the companion is more massive than ~0.17 Msun, the
lower limit allowed by applying a 'stripped-giant' model. This evolutionary
model successfully reproduces the observed properties of the system. We obtain
a maximum mass for the companion of M2 < 1.1 Msun and an upper limit to the
mass ratio of q(=M2/Mx)< 0.125. The high X-ray activity displayed by the source
suggests a relatively large mass transfer rate which, according to the model,
results in M2 > 0.3 Msun and Mx > 7 Msun. We have also applied this scenario to
the black hole binary XTE J1550-564, which has a similar orbital period but the
donor is detected spectroscopically. The model successfully reproduces the
observed stellar parameters.


title: Galactic Substructure and Direct Detection of Dark Matter

abstract:
  We study the effects of substructure in the Galactic halo on direct detection
of dark matter, on searches for energetic neutrinos from WIMP annihilation in
the Sun and Earth, and on the enhancement in the WIMP annihilation rate in the
halo. Our central result is a probability distribution function (PDF) P(\rho)
for the local dark-matter density. This distribution must be taken into account
when using null dark-matter searches to constrain the properties of dark-matter
candidates. We take two approaches to calculating the PDF. The first is an
analytic model that capitalizes on the scale-invariant nature of the
structure--formation hierarchy in order to address early stages in the
hierarchy (very small scales; high densities). Our second approach uses
simulation-inspired results to describe the PDF that arises from lower-density
larger-scale substructures which formed in more recent stages in the merger
hierarchy. The distributions are skew positive, and they peak at densities
lower than the mean density. The local dark-matter density may be as small as
1/10th the canonical value of ~ 0.4 GeV/cm^3, but it is probably no less than
0.2 GeV/cm^3.


title: Systematic effects on dark energy from 3D weak shear

abstract:
  We present an investigation into the potential effect of systematics inherent
in multi-band wide field surveys on the dark energy equation of state
determination for two 3D weak lensing methods. The weak lensing methods are a
geometric shear-ratio method and 3D cosmic shear. The analysis here uses an
extension of the Fisher matrix framework to jointly include photometric
redshift systematics, shear distortion systematics and intrinsic alignments. We
present results for DUNE and Pan-STARRS surveys. We show that assuming
systematic parameters are fixed, but possibly biased, results in potentially
large biases in dark energy parameters. We quantify any potential bias by
defining a Bias Figure of Merit. We also show the effect on the dark energy
Figure of Merit of marginalising over each systematic parameter individually.
We find that the largest effect on the Figure of Merit comes from uncertainty
in the photometric redshift systematic parameters. These can reduce the Figure
of Merit by up to a factor of 2 to 4 in both 3D weak lensing methods, if no
informative prior on the systematic parameters is applied. Shear distortion
systematics have a smaller overall effect. Intrinsic alignment effects can
reduce the Figure of Merit by up to a further factor of 2. This, however, is a
worst case scenario. By including prior information on systematic parameters
the Figure of Merit can be recovered to a large extent. We conclude that, as a
rule of thumb, given a realistic current understanding of intrinsic alignments
and photometric redshifts, then including all three primary systematic effects
reduces the Figure of Merit by at most a factor of 2, but that in reality this
factor should be much less. [abridged]


title: The Cosmic Ray Signature of Dark Matter Caustics

abstract:
  Gravitational collapse of dark matter, merger of dark matter haloes and tidal
disruption of satellites are among processes which lead to the formation of
fine and dense dark matter shells, also known as dark matter caustics. The
putative weakly interacting species which may form the dark matter are expected
to strongly annihilate in these dense regions of the Milky Way halo and
generate in particular antiprotons and positrons. We derive the flux of these
rare antimatter particles at the Earth and show that it depends significantly
on the cut-off radius of the dark matter distribution at the galactic centre.
Boost factors of ~30 are found with respect to a smooth NFW profile for
high-energy antiprotons and low-energy positrons if this cut-off radius is
taken to be 300 pc -- a somewhat extreme value though. This yields a detectable
antiproton signal around hundreds of Gev in models where the annihilation cross
section today is enhanced by non--perturbative effects as in the generic case
of a heavy Wino. However, dark matter caustics cannot provide a better
explanation for the HEAT excess reported above ~10 GeV than a smooth NFW or
isothermal cored distribution.


title: Nonregenerative MIMO Relaying with Optimal Transmit Antenna Selection

abstract:
  We derive optimal SNR-based transmit antenna selection rules at the source
and relay for the nonregenerative half duplex MIMO relay channel. While antenna
selection is a suboptimal form of beamforming, it has the advantage that the
optimization is tractable and can be implemented with only a few bits of
feedback from the destination to the source and relay. We compare the bit error
rate of optimal antenna selection at both the source and relay to other
proposed beamforming techniques and propose methods for performing the
necessary limited feedback.


title:
Reconciling the Metallicity Distributions of Gamma-ray Burst, Damped
  Lyman-alpha, and Lyman-break Galaxies at z=3

abstract:
  We test the hypothesis that the host galaxies of long-duration gamma-ray
bursts (GRBs) as well as quasar-selected damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) systems are
drawn from the population of UV-selected star-forming, high-z galaxies
(generally referred to as Lyman-break galaxies). Specifically, we compare the
metallicity distributions of the GRB and DLA populations to simple models where
these galaxies are drawn randomly from the distribution of star-forming
galaxies according to their star-formation rate and HI cross-section
respectively. We find that it is possible to match both observational
distributions assuming very simple and constrained relations between
luminosity, metallicity and HI sizes. The simple model can be tested by
observing the luminosity distribution of GRB host galaxies and by measuring the
luminosity and impact parameters of DLA selected galaxies as a function of
metallicity. Our results support the expectation that GRB and DLA samples, in
contrast to magnitude limited surveys, provide an almost complete census of z=3
star-forming galaxies that are not heavily dust-obscured.


title: On collinear factorization of Wilson loops and MHV amplitudes in N=4 SYM

abstract:
  We consider the (multi) Splitting function of Wilson loops and MHV gluon
scattering S matrix elements in N=4 SYM. At strong coupling, one can utilize
the methods of Alday and Maldacena and at weak coupling (one loop) the
correspondence to light like Wilson loops is used. In both cases, the (multi)
Splitting function corresponds to flattened cusps in the light like polygon,
allowing for a clean disentanglement from the other gluons. We compute it in
some cases and estimate some terms in other cases. We also prove the anomalous
Ward identity of Drummond et al. in the strong coupling regime. Lastly, we
briefly comment on a possible strategy for a proof of collinear factorization
of Wilson loops at higher orders of perturbation theory.


title:
The Zurich Extragalactic Bayesian Redshift Analyzer (ZEBRA), version 1.0
  -- User manual

abstract:
  ZEBRA, the Zurich Extragalactic Bayesian Redshift Analyzer, is a tool for
estimating redshifts and template types of galaxies using medium- and
broad-band photometric data. ZEBRA employs novel techniques within the
template-fitting approach to produce high-quality Maximum-Likelihood and
Bayesian redshift estimates.
  This manuscript serves as a user guide to ZEBRA. It explains how to use
ZEBRA, specifies input and output formats, and gives a short account of the
available options. ZEBRA is a free and open-source software distributed under
the GNU Public License 3 and available at
http://www.exp-astro.phys.ethz.ch/ZEBRA .
  Several upgrades are currently being implemented in ZEBRA. An updated
documentation will be provided at each new release. Any problems, comments and
suggestions on the code and the manual should be sent via e-mail to
zebra@phys.ethz.ch.


title:
Impact of Secondary non-Gaussianities on the Search for Primordial
  Non-Gaussianity with CMB Maps

abstract:
  When constraining the primordial non-Gaussianity parameter f_NL with cosmic
microwave background anisotropy maps, the bias resulting from the covariance
between primordial non-Gaussianity and secondary non-Gaussianities to the
estimator of f_NL is generally assumed to be negligible. We show that this
assumption may not hold when attempting to measure the primordial
non-Gaussianity out to angular scales below a few tens arcminutes with an
experiment like Planck, especially if the primordial non-Gaussianity parameter
is around the minimum detectability level with f_NL between 5 and 10. In
future, it will be necessary to jointly estimate the combined primordial and
secondary contributions to the CMB bispectrum and establish f_NL by properly
accounting for the confusion from secondary non-Gaussianities.


title: Homogeneous Poisson Structures on Loop Spaces of Symmetric Spaces

abstract:
  This paper is a sequel to [Caine A., Pickrell D., arXiv:0710.4484], where we
studied the Hamiltonian systems which arise from the Evens-Lu construction of
homogeneous Poisson structures on both compact and noncompact type symmetric
spaces. In this paper we consider loop space analogues. Many of the results
extend in a relatively routine way to the loop space setting, but new issues
emerge. The main point of this paper is to spell out the meaning of the
results, especially in the SU(2) case. Applications include integral formulas
and factorizations for Toeplitz determinants.


title: General Gauge Mediation

abstract:
  We give a general definition of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking which
encompasses all the known gauge mediation models. In particular, it includes
both models with messengers as well as direct mediation models. A formalism for
computing the soft terms in the generic model is presented. Such a formalism is
necessary in strongly-coupled direct mediation models where perturbation theory
cannot be used. It allows us to identify features of the entire class of gauge
mediation models and to distinguish them from specific signatures of various
subclasses.


title:
Comment on "Scattering Theory Derivation of a 3D Acoustic Cloaking
  Shell"

abstract:
  In a recent Letter, Cummer et al. give a description of material parameters
for acoustic wave propagation giving rise to a 3D spherical cloak, and verify
the cloaking phenomenon on the level of scattering coefficients. A similar
configuration has been given by Chen and Chan. In this Comment, we show that
these theoretical constructions follow directly from our earlier work
http://arxiv.org/abs/math/0611185 on full wave analysis of cloaking for the
Helmholtz equation with respect to Riemannian metrics. Furthermore, the
analysis there covers the case of acoustically radiating objects being enclosed
in the cloaked region.


title: Nanomaterials and nanoparticles: Sources and toxicity

abstract:
  This review is written with the goal of informing public health concerns
related to nanoscience, while raising awareness of nanomaterials toxicity among
scientists and manufacturers handling them. We show that humans have always
been exposed to nanoparticles and dust from natural sources and human
activities, the recent development of industry and combustion-based engine
transportation profoundly increasing anthropogenic nanoparticulate pollution.
The key to understanding the toxicity of nanoparticles is that their minute
size, smaller than cells and cellular organelles, allows them to penetrate
these basic biological structures, disrupting their normal function. Among
diseases associated with nanoparticles are asthma, bronchitis, lung cancer,
neurodegenerative diseases (such as Parkinson`s and Alzheimer`s diseases),
Crohn`s disease, colon cancer. Nanoparticles that enter the circulatory system
are related to occurrence of arteriosclerosis, and blood clots, arrhythmia,
heart diseases, and ultimately cardiac death. We show that possible adverse
effects of nanoparticles on human health depend on individual factors such as
genetics and existing disease, as well as exposure, and nanoparticle chemistry,
size, shape, and agglomeration state. The faster we will understand their
causes and mechanisms, the more likely we are to find cures for diseases
associated with nanoparticle exposure. We foresee a future with
better-informed, and hopefully more cautious manipulation of engineered
nanomaterials, as well as the development of laws and policies for safely
managing all aspects of nanomaterial manufacturing, industrial and commercial
use, and recycling.


title:
Discriminating Supersymmetry and Black Holes at the Large Hadron
  Collider

abstract:
  We show how to differentiate the minimal supersymmetric extension of the
standard model from black hole events at the Large Hadron Collider. Black holes
are simulated with the CATFISH generator. Supersymmetry simulations use a
combination of PYTHIA and ISAJET. Our study, based on event shape variables,
visible and missing momenta, and analysis of dilepton events, demonstrates that
supersymmetry and black hole events at the LHC can be easily discriminated.


title: The scale dependence of mass assembly in galaxies

abstract:
  We compare the results of the mark correlation analysis of galaxies in a
sample from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and from two galaxy catalogs obtained
by semi-analytical galaxy formation models implemented on the Millennium
Simulation. We use the MOPED method to retrieve the star formation history of
observed galaxies and use star formation parameters as weights to the mark
correlations. We find an excellent match between models and observations when
the mark correlations use stellar mass and luminosity as weights. The most
remarkable result is related to the mark correlations associated to the
evolution of mass assembly through star formation in galaxies, where we find
that semi-analytical models are able to reproduce the main trends seen in the
observational data. In addition, we find a good agreement between the redshift
evolution of the mean total mass formed by star formation predicted by the
models and that measured by MOPED. Our results show that close galaxy pairs
today formed more stellar mass ~10 Gyr ago than the average, while more
recently this trend is the opposite, with close pairs showing low levels of
star formation activity. We also show a strong correlation in simulations
between the shape and time evolution of the star formation marks and the number
of major mergers experienced by galaxies, which drive the environmental
dependence in galaxy formation by regulating the star formation process.


title: Inverse Spectral Problem for Schr\"odinger Operators

abstract:
  In this article we improve some of the inverse spectral results proved by
Guillemin and Uribe in \cite{GU}. They proved that under some symmetry
assumptions on the potential $V(x)$, the Taylor expansion of $V(x)$ near a
non-degenerate global minimum can be recovered from the knowledge of the
low-lying eigenvalues of the associated Schr\"odinger operator in $\mathbb
R^n$. We prove some similar inverse spectral results using fewer symmetry
assumptions. We also show that in dimension 1, no symmetry assumption is needed
to recover the Taylor coefficients of $V(x)$. We establish our results by
finding some explicit formulas for wave invariants at the bottom of the well.


title: Non-Abelian Vortices without Dynamical Abelianization

abstract:
  Vortices carrying truly non-Abelian flux moduli, which do not dynamically
reduce to Abelian vortices, are found in the context of softly-broken ${\cal
N}=2$ supersymmetric chromodynamics (SQCD). By tuning the bare quark masses
appropriately we identify the vacuum in which the underlying SU(N) gauge group
is partially broken to $SU(n) \times SU(r) \times U(1)/{\mathbbm Z}_{K}$, where
$K$ is the least common multiple of $(n, r)$, and with $N_{f}^{su(n)}=n$ and
$N_{f}^{su(r)}=r$ flavors of light quark multiplets. At much lower energies the
gauge group is broken completely by the squark VEVs, and vortices develop which
carry non-Abelian flux moduli $CP^{n-1}\times CP^{r-1}$. For $n>r$ we argue
that the SU(n) fluctuations become strongly coupled and Abelianize, while
leaving weakly fluctuating $SU(r)$ flux moduli. This allows us to recognize the
semi-classical origin of the light non-Abelian monopoles found earlier in the
fully quantum-mechanical treatment of 4D SQCD.


title: Simulations of cosmic ray feedback by AGN in galaxy clusters

abstract:
  We investigate a numerical model for AGN feedback where for the first time a
relativistic particle population in AGN-inflated bubbles is followed within a
full cosmological context. In our high-resolution simulations of galaxy cluster
formation, we assume that BH accretion is accompanied by energy feedback that
occurs in two different modes, depending on the accretion rate itself. Unlike
in previous work, we inject a non-thermal particle population of relativistic
protons into the AGN bubbles, instead of adopting a purely thermal heating. We
then follow the subsequent evolution of the cosmic ray (CR) plasma inside the
bubbles, considering both its hydrodynamical interactions and dissipation
processes relevant for the CR population. Due to the different buoyancy of
relativistic plasma and the comparatively long CR dissipation timescale we find
substantial changes in the evolution of clusters as a result of CR feedback. In
particular, the non-thermal population can provide significant pressure support
in central cluster regions at low thermal temperatures, providing a natural
explanation for the decreasing temperature profiles found in cool core
clusters. At the same time, the morphologies of the bubbles and of the induced
X-ray cavities show a striking similarity to observational findings. AGN
feedback with CRs also proves efficient in regulating cluster cooling flows so
that the total baryon fraction in stars becomes limited to realistic values of
the order of 10%. We find that the partial CR support of the intracluster gas
also affects the expected signal of the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect, with
typical modifications of the integrated Compton-y parameter within the virial
radius of the order of 10%. [Abridged]


title: The Intrinsic Properties of SDSS Galaxies

abstract:
  The observed properties of galaxies vary with inclination; for most
applications we would rather have properties that are independent of
inclination, intrinsic properties. One way to determine inclination corrections
is to consider a large sample of galaxies, study how the observed properties of
these galaxies depend on inclination and then remove this dependence to recover
the intrinsic properties. We perform such an analysis for galaxies selected
from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey which have been matched to galaxies from the
Two-Micron All Sky Survey. We determine inclination corrections for these
galaxies as a function of galaxy luminosity and Sersic index. In the g-band
these corrections reach as as high as 1.2 mag and have a median value of 0.3
mag for all galaxies in our sample. We find that the corrections show little
dependence on galaxy luminosity, except in the $u$ band, but are strongly
dependent on galaxy Sersic index.
  We find that the ratio of red-to-blue galaxies changes from 1:1 to 1:2 when
going from observed to intrinsic colors for galaxies in the range -22.75 < M_K
< -17.75. We also discuss how survey completeness and photometric redshifts
should be determined when taking into account that observed and intrinsic
properties differ. Finally, we examine whether previous determinations of
stellar mass give an intrinsic quantity or one that depends on galaxy
inclination.


title:
Background Independence and Asymptotic Safety in Conformally Reduced
  Gravity

abstract:
  We analyze the conceptual role of background independence in the application
of the effective average action to quantum gravity. Insisting on a background
independent renormalization group (RG) flow the coarse graining operation must
be defined in terms of an unspecified variable metric since no rigid metric of
a fixed background spacetime is available. This leads to an extra field
dependence in the functional RG equation and a significantly different RG flow
in comparison to the standard flow equation with a rigid metric in the mode
cutoff. The background independent RG flow can possess a non-Gaussian fixed
point, for instance, even though the corresponding standard one does not. We
demonstrate the importance of this universal, essentially kinematical effect by
computing the RG flow of Quantum Einstein Gravity in the ``conformally
reduced'' Einstein--Hilbert approximation which discards all degrees of freedom
contained in the metric except the conformal one. Without the extra field
dependence the resulting RG flow is that of a simple $\phi^4$-theory. Including
it one obtains a flow with exactly the same qualitative properties as in the
full Einstein--Hilbert truncation. In particular it possesses the non-Gaussian
fixed point which is necessary for asymptotic safety.


title:
V723 Cassiopeia still on in X-rays: A bright Super Soft Source 12 years
  after outburst

abstract:
  We find that the classical nova V723 Cas (1995) is still an active X-ray
source more than 12 years after outburst and analyze seven X-ray observations
carried out with Swift between 2006 January 31 and 2007 December 3. The average
count rate is 0.022+/-0.01 cts s^-1 but the source is variable within a factor
of two of the mean and does not show any signs of turning off. We present
supporting optical observations which show that between 2001 and 2006 an
underlying hot source was present with steadily increasing temperature. In
order to confirm that the X-ray emission is from V723 Cas, we extract a ROSAT
observation taken in 1990 and find that there was no X-ray source at the
position of the nova. The Swift XRT spectra resemble those of the Super Soft
X-ray binary Sources (SSS) which is confirmed by RXTE survey data which show no
X-ray emission above 2 keV between 1996 and 2007. Using blackbody fits we
constrain the effective temperature to between T_eff=(2.8-3.8)x10^5 K and a
bolometric luminosity >5x10^36 erg s^-1 and caution that luminosities from
blackbodies are generally overestimated and temperatures underestimated. We
discuss a number of possible explanations for the continuing X-ray activity,
including the intriguing possibility of steady hydrogen burning due to renewed
accretion.


title:
Optimal Medium Access Control in Cognitive Radios: A Sequential Design
  Approach

abstract:
  The design of medium access control protocols for a cognitive user wishing to
opportunistically exploit frequency bands within parts of the radio spectrum
having multiple bands is considered. In the scenario under consideration, the
availability probability of each channel is unknown a priori to the cognitive
user. Hence efficient medium access strategies must strike a balance between
exploring the availability of channels and exploiting the opportunities
identified thus far. Using a sequential design approach, an optimal medium
access strategy is derived. To avoid the prohibitive computational complexity
of this optimal strategy, a low complexity asymptotically optimal strategy is
also developed. The proposed strategy does not require any prior statistical
knowledge about the traffic pattern on the different channels.


title: A dual assortative measure of community structure

abstract:
  Current community detection algorithms operate by optimizing a statistic
called modularity, which analyzes the distribution of positively weighted edges
in a network. Modularity does not account for negatively weighted edges. This
paper introduces a dual assortative modularity measure (DAMM) that incorporates
both positively and negatively weighted edges. We describe the the DAMM
statistic and illustrate its utility in a community detection algorithm. We
evaluate the efficacy of the algorithm on both computer generated and
real-world networks, showing that DAMM broadens the domain of networks that can
be analyzed by community detection algorithms.


title:
A classification of symmetric polynomials of infinite variables -- a
  construction of Abelian and non-Abelian quantum Hall states

abstract:
  Classification of complex wave functions of infinite variables is an
important problem since it is related to the classification of possible quantum
states of matter. In this paper, we propose a way to classify symmetric
polynomials of infinite variables using the pattern of zeros of the
polynomials. Such a classification leads to a construction of a class of simple
non-Abelian quantum Hall states which are closely related to parafermion
conformal field theories.

categories: cond-mat.str-el cond-mat.mes-hall math-ph math.MP


title:
Supersymmetric version of a hydrodynamic system in Riemann invariants
  and its solutions

abstract:
  In this paper, a supersymmetric extension of a system of hydrodynamic type
equations involving Riemann invariants is formulated in terms of a superspace
and superfield formalism. The symmetry properties of both the classical and
supersymmetric versions of this hydrodynamical model are analyzed through the
use of group-theoretical methods applied to partial differential equations
involving both bosonic and fermionic variables. More specifically, we compute
the Lie superalgebras of both models and perform classifications of their
respective subalgebras. A systematic use of the subalgebra structures allow us
to construct several classes of invariant solutions, including travelling
waves, centered waves and solutions involving monomials, exponentials and
radicals.


title: The effect of magnetic fields on star cluster formation

abstract:
  We examine the effect of magnetic fields on star cluster formation by
performing simulations following the self-gravitating collapse of a turbulent
molecular cloud to form stars in ideal MHD. The collapse of the cloud is
computed for global mass-to-flux ratios of infinity, 20, 10, 5 and 3, that is
using both weak and strong magnetic fields. Whilst even at very low strengths
the magnetic field is able to significantly influence the star formation
process, for magnetic fields with plasma beta < 1 the results are substantially
different to the hydrodynamic case. In these cases we find large-scale
magnetically-supported voids imprinted in the cloud structure; anisotropic
turbulent motions and column density structure aligned with the magnetic field
lines, both of which have recently been observed in the Taurus molecular cloud.
We also find strongly suppressed accretion in the magnetised runs, leading to
up to a 75% reduction in the amount of mass converted into stars over the
course of the calculations and a more quiescent mode of star formation. There
is also some indication that the relative formation efficiency of brown dwarfs
is lower in the strongly magnetised runs due to the reduction in the importance
of protostellar ejections.


title: A homology theory for Smale spaces: a summary

abstract:
  We consider Smale spaces, a particular class of hyperbolic topological
dynamical systems, which include the basic sets for Smale's Axiom A systems. We
present a homology theory for such systems which is based on the dimension
group in the special case of shifts of finite type. This theory provides a
Lefschetz formula relating trace data with the number of periodic points of the
system.


title:
Generation and Characterization of Large Non-Gaussianities in Single
  Field Inflation

abstract:
  Inflation driven by a single, minimally coupled, slowly rolling field
generically yields a negligible primordial non-Gaussianity. We discuss two
distinct mechanisms by which a non-trivial potential can generate large
non-Gaussianities. Firstly, if the inflaton traverses a feature in the
potential, or if the inflationary phase is short enough so that initial
transient contributions to the background dynamics have not been erased, modes
near horizon-crossing can acquire significant non-Gaussianities. Secondly,
potentials with small-scale structure may induce significant non-Gaussianities
while the relevant modes are deep inside the horizon. The first case includes
the "step" potential we previously analyzed while the second "resonance" case
is novel. We derive analytic approximations for the 3-point terms generated by
both mechanisms written as products of functions of the three individual
momenta, permitting the use of efficient analysis algorithms. Finally, we
present a significantly improved approach to regularizing and numerically
evaluating the integrals that contribute to the 3-point function.


title:
Universal moduli spaces of surfaces with flat connections and cobordism
  theory

abstract:
  Given a semisimple, compact, connected Lie group G with complexification G^c,
we show there is a stable range in the homotopy type of the universal moduli
space of flat connections on a principal G-bundle on a closed Riemann surface,
and equivalently, the universal moduli space of semistable holomorphic
G^c-bundles. The stable range depends on the genus of the surface. We then
identify the homology of this moduli space in the stable range in terms of the
homology of an explicit infinite loop space. Rationally this says that the
stable cohomology of this moduli space is generated by the
Mumford-Morita-Miller kappa-classes, and the ring of characteristic classes of
principal G-bundles, H^*(BG). We then identify the homotopy type of the
category of one-manifolds and surface cobordisms, each equipped with a flat
G-bundle. We also explain how these results may be generalized to arbitrary
compact connected Lie groups. Our methods combine the classical techniques of
Atiyah and Bott, with the new techniques coming out of Madsen and Weiss's proof
of Mumford's conjecture on the stable cohomology of the moduli space of Riemann
surfaces.


title:
A Measurement of the Rate of type-Ia Supernovae at Redshift $z\approx$
  0.1 from the First Season of the SDSS-II Supernova Survey

abstract:
  We present a measurement of the rate of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) from the
first of three seasons of data from the SDSS-II Supernova Survey. For this
measurement, we include 17 SNe Ia at redshift $z\le0.12$. Assuming a flat
cosmology with $\Omega_m = 0.3=1-\Omega_\Lambda$, we find a volumetric SN Ia
rate of $[2.93^{+0.17}_{-0.04}({\rm systematic})^{+0.90}_{-0.71}({\rm
statistical})] \times 10^{-5} {\rm SNe} {\rm Mpc}^{-3} h_{70}^3 {\rm
year}^{-1}$, at a volume-weighted mean redshift of 0.09. This result is
consistent with previous measurements of the SN Ia rate in a similar redshift
range. The systematic errors are well controlled, resulting in the most precise
measurement of the SN Ia rate in this redshift range. We use a maximum
likelihood method to fit SN rate models to the SDSS-II Supernova Survey data in
combination with other rate measurements, thereby constraining models for the
redshift-evolution of the SN Ia rate. Fitting the combined data to a simple
power-law evolution of the volumetric SN Ia rate, $r_V \propto (1+z)^{\beta}$,
we obtain a value of $\beta = 1.5 \pm 0.6$, i.e. the SN Ia rate is determined
to be an increasing function of redshift at the $\sim 2.5 \sigma$ level.
Fitting the results to a model in which the volumetric SN rate,
$r_V=A\rho(t)+B\dot \rho(t)$, where $\rho(t)$ is the stellar mass density and
$\dot \rho(t)$ is the star formation rate, we find $A = (2.8 \pm 1.2) \times
10^{-14} \mathrm{SNe} \mathrm{M}_{\sun}^{-1} \mathrm{year}^{-1}$, $B =
(9.3^{+3.4}_{-3.1})\times 10^{-4} \mathrm{SNe} \mathrm{M}_{\sun}^{-1}$.


title:
Electronic Conductivity Upturn of HOPG Contrast to Transport Properties
  of Polycrystal Graphite

abstract:
  The transport properties of highly oriented pyrolitic graphite (HOPG) and
polycrystal graphite have been studied. The electric conductivity of HOPG is
several times larger than that of the polycrystal graphite. Along with the
large magnetoresistances (MR), the polycrystal graphite show the accordant
semiconductor-like character in a wide temperature (roughly range from 20K to
120K) under 0, 4, 8, 12 T applied magnetic field, while the
magnetic-field-induced metal-semiconductor-like transition was only found in
HOPG. The difference of transport properties originates from the Coulomb
interaction quasipartical in HOPG graphite layers in contrast with the grain
boundary scattering in the polycrystal graphite.


title: A method for computing general automorphic forms on general groups

abstract:
  This article describes a general method for computing automorphic forms using
Voronoi-type summation formulas. It gives a numerical example where the
technique is successful in quickly finding a cusp form on GL(3,Z)\GL(3,R),
albeit one whose existence was already known as a Langlands lift.


title: Strong Scalar QED in Inhomogeneous Electromagnetic Fields

abstract:
  Strong QED has attracted attention recently partly because many astrophysical
phenomena have been observed to involve electromagnetic fields beyond the
critical strength for electron-positron pair production and partly because
terrestrial experiments will generate electromagnetic fields above or near the
critical strength in the near future. In this talk we critically review QED
phenomena involving strong external electromagnetic fields. Strong QED is
characterized by vacuum polarization due to quantum fluctuations and pair
production due to the vacuum instability. A canonical method is elaborated for
pair production at zero or finite temperature by inhomogeneous electric fields.
An algorithm is advanced to calculate pair production rate for electric fields
acting for finite periods of time or localized in space or oscillating electric
fields. Finally, strong QED is discussed in astrophysics, in particular,
strange stars.


title: F-term Induced Flavor Mass Spectrum

abstract:
  New mechanism of generating flavor mass spectrum is proposed by using an
O'Raifeartaigh-type supersymmetry breaking model. A desired bilinear form of
fermion mass spectrum is naturally realized through F-components of
gauge-singlet (nonet of SU(3) flavor symmetry) superfields, and the suitable
charged-lepton mass relation is reproduced. The charged-slepton mass spectrum
is non-degenerate in general, and can be even hierarchical (proportional to the
charged-lepton masses in the specific case). Flavor changing neutral processes
are suppressed since the charged-lepton and slepton (except for right-handed
sneutrino) mass matrices are diagonalized simultaneously in the flavor space.
The right-handed sneutrinos are light with the similar ratio to the lepton
sector ($\tilde{m}_{\nu_R}$/$\tilde{m}_e \sim m_\nu$/$m_e$).


title:
Measurement of the Optical Absorption Spectra of Epitaxial Graphene from
  Terahertz to Visible

abstract:
  We present experimental results on the optical absorption spectra of
epitaxial graphene from the visible to the terahertz (THz) frequency range. In
the THz range, the absorption is dominated by intraband processes with a
frequency dependence similar to the Drude model. In the near IR range, the
absorption is due to interband processes and the measured optical conductivity
is close to the theoretical value of $e^{2}/4\hbar$. We extract values for the
carrier densities, the number of carbon atom layers, and the intraband
scattering times from the measurements.


title: Self-Similar Shocks and Winds in Galaxy Clusters

abstract:
  A theoretical model framework of spherical symmetry is presented for a
composite astrophysical system of two polytropic fluids coupled together by
gravity to explore large-scale shocks and flow dynamics in clusters of galaxies
or in globular clusters. The existence of such large-scale shocks in clusters
of galaxies as inferred by high-resolution X-ray and radio imaging observations
implies large-scale systematic flows that are beyond usual static models for
clusters of galaxies. Here, we explore self-similar two-fluid flow solutions
with shocks for a hot polytropic gas flow in a cluster of galaxies in the
presence of a massive dark matter (DM) flow after the initiation of a
gravitational core collapse or a central AGN activity or a large-scale merging
process. In particular, the possibility of DM shocks or sharp jumps of mass
density and of velocity dispersion in dark matter halo is discussed and such DM
shocks might be detectable through gravitational lensing effects. To examine
various plausible scenarios for clusters of galaxies, we describe three
possible classes of shock flows within our model framework for different types
of temperature, density and flow speed profiles. Depending upon sensible model
parameters and shock locations, the hot ICM and DM halo may have various
combinations of asymptotic behaviours of outflow, breeze, inflow, contraction
or static envelopes at large radii at a given time. We refer to asymptotic
outflows of hot ICM at large radii as the galaxy cluster wind. As a result of
such galaxy cluster winds and simultaneous contractions of DM halo during the
course of galaxy cluster evolution, there would be less hot ICM within clusters
of galaxies as compared to the average baryon fraction in the Universe.


title: Developments in Nanosecond Pulse Detection Methods and Technology

abstract:
  A promising method for the detection of UHE neutrinos is the Lunar Cherenkov
technique, which utilises Earth-based radio telescopes to detect the coherent
Cherenkov radiation emitted when a UHE neutrino interacts in the outer layers
of the Moon. The LUNASKA project aims to overcome the technological limitations
of past experiments to utilise the next generation of radio telescopes in the
search for these elusive particles. To take advantage of broad-bandwidth data
from potentially thousands of antennas requires advances in signal processing
technology. Here we describe recent developments in this field and their
application in the search for UHE neutrinos, from a preliminary experiment
using the first stage of an upgrade to the Australia Telescope Compact Array,
to possibilities for fully utilising the completed Square Kilometre Array. We
also explore a new real time technique for characterising ionospheric pulse
dispersion which specifically measures ionospheric electron content that is
line of sight to the moon.


title: Angular Momentum Accretion onto a Gas Giant Planet

abstract:
  We investigate the accretion of angular momentum onto a protoplanet system
using three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations. We consider a local region
around a protoplanet in a protoplanetary disk with sufficient spatial
resolution. We describe the structure of the gas flow onto and around the
protoplanet in detail. We find that the gas flows onto the protoplanet system
in the vertical direction crossing the shock front near the Hill radius of the
protoplanet, which is qualitatively different from the picture established by
two-dimensional simulations. The specific angular momentum of the gas accreted
by the protoplanet system increases with the protoplanet mass. At Jovian orbit,
when the protoplanet mass M_p is M_p < 1 M_J, where M_J is Jovian mass, the
specific angular momentum increases as j \propto M_p. On the other hand, it
increases as j \propto M_p^2/3 when the protoplanet mass is M_p > 1 M_J. The
stronger dependence of the specific angular momentum on the protoplanet mass
for M_p < 1 M_J is due to thermal pressure of the gas. The estimated total
angular momentum of a system of a gas giant planet and a circumplanetary disk
is two-orders of magnitude larger than those of the present gas giant planets
in the solar system. A large fraction of the total angular momentum contributes
to the formation of the circumplanetary disk. We also discuss the satellite
formation from the circumplanetary disk.


title: Chip-Firing and Rotor-Routing on Directed Graphs

abstract:
  We give a rigorous and self-contained survey of the abelian sandpile model
and rotor-router model on finite directed graphs, highlighting the connections
between them. We present several intriguing open problems.


title: Solitons in two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates

abstract:
  The excitations of a two-dimensional (2D) Bose-Einstein condensate in the
presence of a soliton are studied by solving the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili
equation which is valid when the velocity of the soliton approaches the speed
of sound. The excitation spectrum is found to contain states which are
localized near the soliton and have a dispersion law similar to the one of the
stable branch of transverse oscillations of a 1D gray soliton in a 2D
condensate. By using the stabilization method we show that these localized
excitations behave as resonant states coupled to the continuum of free
excitations of the condensate.


title:
Ab initio Wannier-function-based correlated calculations of Born
  effective charges of crystalline Li$_{2}$O and LiCl

abstract:
  In this paper we have used our recently developed ab initio
Wannier-function-based methodology to perform extensive Hartree-Fock and
correlated calculations on Li$_{2}$O and LiCl to compute their Born effective
charges. Results thus obtained are in very good agreement with the experiments.
In particular, for the case of Li$_{2}$O, we resolve a controversy originating
in the experiment of Osaka and Shindo {[}Solid State Commun. 51 (1984) 421] who
had predicted the effective charge of Li ions to be in the range 0.58--0.61, a
value much smaller compared to its nominal value of unity, thereby, suggesting
that the bonding in the material could be partially covalent. We demonstrate
that effective charge computed by Osaka and Shindo is the Szigeti charge, and
once the Born charge is computed, it is in excellent agreement with our
computed value. Mulliken population analysis of Li$_{2}$O also confirms ionic
nature of the bonding in the substance.


title: Surgery on links with unknotted components and three-manifolds

abstract:
  It is shown that any closed three-manifold M obtained by integral surgery on
a knot in the three-sphere can always be constructed from integral surgeries on
a 3-component link L with each component being an unknot in the three-sphere.
It is also interesting to notice that infinitely many different integral
surgeries on the same link L could give the same three-manifold M.


title: Simultaneous generation for zeta values by the Markov-WZ method

abstract:
  By application of the Markov-WZ method, we prove a more general form of a
bivariate generating function identity containing, as particular cases,
Koecher's and Almkvist-Granville's Ap\'ery-like formulae for odd zeta values.
As a consequence, we get a new identity producing Ap\'ery-like series for all
$\zeta(2n+4m+3),$ $n,m\ge 0,$ convergent at the geometric rate with ratio
$2^{-10}.$


title:
Straightforward Derivation of the Schr{\"o}dinger Equation from
  Classical Mechanics and the Planck Postulate

abstract:
  According to the widely accepted notion, the Schr{\"o}dinger equation (SE) is
not derivable in principle. Contrary to this belief, we present here a
straightforward derivation of SE. It is based on only two fundamentals of
mechanics: the classical Hamilton-Jacobi equation(HJE) and the Planck postulate
about the discrete transfer of energy at micro-scales. Our approach is
drastically different from the other published derivations of SE which either
employ an ad hoc underlying assumption about the probabilistic or the
statistical nature of the micro-scale phenomena, or rely on the prior knowledge
of SE and arrive at it by introducing a new postulate - neither present in
classical mechanics nor following from experiments - with a suitable but
physically unjustifiable choice of a key arbitrary constant.


title: Intrinsic Gap of the nu=5/2 Fractional Quantum Hall State

abstract:
  The fractional quantum Hall effect is observed at low field, in a regime
where the cyclotron energy is smaller than the Coulomb interaction. The nu=5/2
excitation gap is measured to be 262+/-15 mK at ~2.6 T, in good agreement with
previous measurements performed on samples with similar mobility, but with
electronic density larger by a factor of two. The role of disorder on the
nu=5/2 gap is examined. Comparison between experiment and theory indicates that
a large discrepancy remains for the intrinsic gap extrapolated from the
infinite mobility (zero disorder) limit. In contrast, no such large discrepancy
is found for the nu=1/3 Laughlin state. The observation of the nu=5/2 state in
the low-field regime implies that inclusion of non-perturbative Landau level
mixing may be necessary to better understand the energetics of half-filled
fractional quantum hall liquids.


title:
Parton rescattering effect on the charged hadron forward-backward
  multiplicity correlation in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt s$=200 GeV

abstract:
  The parton rescattering effect on the charged hadron forward-backward
multiplicity correlation in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt s$=200 GeV is studied by
a parton and hadron cascade model, PACIAE, based on the PYTHIA model. The
calculated multiplicity and pseudorapidity distribution of the final state
charged hadron are well compared with experimental data. It turned out that the
final state charged hadron pseudorapidity distribution are different from the
initial state charged partons. The parton rescattering effect on the charged
hadron forward-backward multiplicity correlation increases with increasing
parton rescattering strength in the center pseudorapidity region ($|\eta| <1$).
However, this effect becomes weaker in the outer pseudorapidity region
($|\eta|> 1$).


title:
Occupation densities for certain processes related to fractional
  Brownian motion

abstract:
  In this paper we establish the existence of a square integrable occupation
density for two classes of stochastic processes. First we consider a Gaussian
process with an absolutely continuous random drift, and secondly we handle the
case of a (Skorohod) integral with respect to the fractional Brownian motion
with Hurst parameter $H>\frac 12$. The proof of these results uses a general
criterion for the existence of a square integrable local time, which is based
on the techniques of Malliavin calculus.


title: Suzaku Results on Cygnus X-1 in the Low/Hard State

abstract:
  The black-hole binary Cygnus X-1 was observed for 17 ks with the Suzaku X-ray
observatory in 2005 October, while it was in a low/hard state with a 0.7-300
keV luminosity of 4.6 x 10^37 erg/s. The XIS and HXD spectra, spanning 0.7-400
keV, were reproduced successfully incorporating a cool accretion disk and a hot
Comptonizing corona. The corona is characterized by an electron temperature of
~100 keV, and two optical depths of ~0.4 and ~1.5 which account for the harder
and softer continua, respectively. The disk has the innermost temperature of
~0.2 keV, and is thought to protrude half way into the corona. The disk not
only provides seed photons to the Compton cloud, but also produces a soft
spectral excess, a mild reflection hump, and a weakly broadened iron line. A
comparison with the Suzaku data on GRO J1655-40 reveals several interesting
spectral differences, which can mostly be attributed to inclination effects
assuming that the disk has a flat geometry while the corona is grossly
spherical. An intensity-sorted spectroscopy indicates that the continuum
becomes less Comptonized when the source flares up on times scales of 1-200 s,
while the underlying disk remains unchanged.


title: Tortuosity-porosity relation in the porous media flow

abstract:
  We study numerically the tortuosity--porosity relation in a microscopic model
of a porous medium arranged as a collectin of freely overlapping squares. It is
demonstrated that the finite-size effects and the discretization errors, which
were ignored in previous studies, may cause significant underestimation of
tortuosity. The simple tortuosity calculation method proposed here eliminates
the need for using complicated, weighted averages. The numerical results
presented here are in good agreement with an empirical relation between
tortuosity ($T$) and porosity ($\phi$) given by $T-1\propto \ln\phi$, that was
found by others experimentally in granule packings and sediments. This relation
can be also written as $T-1\propto R S/\phi$ with $R$ and $S$ denoting the
hydraulic radius of granules and the specific surface area, respectively.


title: On the Crystallization of Terbium Aluminium Garnet

abstract:
  Attempts to grow terbium aluminium garnet (Tb3Al5O12, TAG) by the Czochralski
method lead to crystals of millimeter scale. Larger crystals could not be
obtained. DTA measurements within the binary system showed that TAG melts
incongruently at 1840 deg. C. The perovskite (TbAlO3, TAP) with a congruent
melting point of 1930 deg. C is the most stable phase in this system. The
region for primary crystallization of TAP covers the chemical composition of
TAG and suppresses the primary crystallization of the terbium aluminium garnet.


title: Interfacial Instability of Charged End-Group Polymer Brushes

abstract:
  We consider a polymer brush grafted to a surface (acting as an electrode) and
bearing a charged group at its free end. Using a second distant electrode, the
brush is subject to a constant electric field. Based on a coarse-grained
continuum model, we calculate the average brush height and find that the brush
can stretch or compress depending on the applied field and charge end-group. We
further look at an undulation mode of the flat polymer brush and find that the
electrostatic energy scales linearly with the undulation wavenumber, $q$.
Competition with surface tension, scaling as $q^2$, tends to stabilize a
lateral $q$-mode of the polymer brush with a well-defined wavelength. This
wavelength depends on the brush height, surface separation, and several system
parameters.


title: Warped Wavelet and Vertical Thresholding

abstract:
  Let $\{(X_i,Y_i)\}_{i\in \{1,..., n\}}$ be an i.i.d. sample from the random
design regression model $Y=f(X)+\epsilon$ with $(X,Y)\in [0,1]\times [-M,M]$.
In dealing with such a model, adaptation is naturally to be intended in terms
of $L^2([0,1],G_X)$ norm where $G_X(\cdot)$ denotes the (known) marginal
distribution of the design variable $X$. Recently much work has been devoted to
the construction of estimators that adapts in this setting (see, for example,
[5,24,25,32]), but only a few of them come along with a easy--to--implement
computational scheme. Here we propose a family of estimators based on the
warped wavelet basis recently introduced by Picard and Kerkyacharian [36] and a
tree-like thresholding rule that takes into account the hierarchical
(across-scale) structure of the wavelet coefficients. We show that, if the
regression function belongs to a certain class of approximation spaces defined
in terms of $G_X(\cdot)$, then our procedure is adaptive and converge to the
true regression function with an optimal rate. The results are stated in terms
of excess probabilities as in [19].


title: Noise induced current in a double-well trap

abstract:
  We study the behavior of cold atoms trapped in optical double well potentials
in presence of noise, either generated by an external environment or by the
trap itself. We show that quite in general the noise can induce a current
between the two wells even when tunneling between the two wells is highly
suppressed (Mott insulator phase). An engineered environment could provide a
test ground for the behavior of such a current.


title:
Ferromagnetism and magneto-dielectric effect in insulating
  LaBiMn4/3Co2/3O6 thin films

abstract:
  High quality epitaxial thin films of LaBiMn4/3Co2/3O6 perovskite were
fabricated on (001)-oriented SrTiO3 and LaAlO3 substrates by the pulsed laser
deposition technique. Magnetization measurements reveal a strong magnetic
anisotropy and a ferromagnetic behavior that is in agreement with a
super-exchange interaction between Mn4+ and Co2+ ions, which are randomly
distributed in the B-site. A distinct anomaly is observed in the dielectric
measurements at 130K corresponding to the onset of the magnetic ordering,
suggesting a coupling. Above this temperature, the extrinsic Maxwell-Wagner
effect is dominating. Theses results are explained using the Raman
spectroscopic studies indicating a weak spin-lattice interaction around this
magnetic transition.


title:
Boundary Shape Control of Navier-Stokes Equations and Geometrical Design
  Method for Blade's Surface in the Impeller

abstract:
  In this paper A Geometrical Design Method for Blade's surface $\Im$ in the
impeller is provided here $\Im$ is a solution to a coupling system consisting
of the well-known Navier-Stokes equations and a four order elliptic boundary
value problem . The coupling system is used to describe the relations between
solutions of Navier-Stokes equations and the geometry of the domain occupied by
fluids, and also provides new theory and methods for optimal geometric design
of the boundary of domain mentioned above. This coupling system is the
Eular-Lagrange equations of the optimal control problem which is describing a
new principle of the geometric design for the blade's surface of an impeller.
The control variable is the surface of the blade and the state equations are
Navier-Stokes equations with mixed boundary conditions in the channel between
two blades. The objective functional depending on the geometry shape of blade's
surface describes the dissipation energy of the flow and the power of the
impeller. First we prove the existence of a solution of the optimal control
problem. Then we use a special coordinate system of the Navier-Stokes equations
to derive the objective functional which depends on the surface $\Theta$
explicitly. We also show the weakly continuity of the solution of the
Navier-Stokes equations with respect to the geometry shape of the blade's
surface.


title:
Abnormal Resistance Switching Behaviors of NiO Thin Films: Possible
  Occurrence of Simultaneous Formation and Rupture of Conducting Channels

abstract:
  We report the detailed current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of resistance
switching in NiO thin films. In unipolar resistance switching, it is commonly
believed that conducting filaments will rupture when NiO changes from a low
resistance to a high resistance state. However, we found that this resistance
switching can sometimes show abnormal behavior during voltage- and
current-driven I-V measurements. We used the random circuit breaker network
model to explain how abnormal switching behaviors could occur. We found that
this resistance change can occur via a series of avalanche processes, where
conducting filaments could be formed as well as ruptured.


title:
Quasi-local variables in spherical symmetry: numerical applications to
  dark matter and dark energy sources

abstract:
  A numerical approach is considered for spherically symmetric spacetimes that
generalize Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi dust solutions to nonzero pressure ("LTB
spacetimes"). We introduce quasi-local (QL) variables that are covariant LTB
objects satisfying evolution equations of Friedman-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker
(FLRW) cosmologies. We prove rigorously that relative deviations of the local
covariant scalars from the QL scalars are non-linear, gauge invariant and
covariant perturbations on a FLRW formal "background" given by the QL scalars.
The dynamics of LTB spacetimes is completely determined by the QL scalars and
these exact perturbations. Since LTB spacetimes are compatible with a wide
variety of "equations of state", either single fluids or mixtures, a large
number of known solutions with dark matter and dark energy sources in a FLRW
framework (or with linear perturbations) can be readily examined under
idealized but non-trivial inhomogeneous conditions. Coordinate choices and
initial conditions are derived for a numerical treatment of the perturbation
equations, allowing us to study non-linear effects in a variety of phenomena,
such as gravitational collapse, non-local effects, void formation, dark matter
and dark energy couplings and particle creation. In particular, the embedding
of inhomogeneous regions can be performed by a smooth matching with a suitable
FLRW solution, thus generalizing the Newtonian "top hat" models that are widely
used in astrophysical literature. As examples of the application of the
formalism, we examine numerically the formation of a black hole in an expanding
Chaplygin gas FLRW universe, as well as the evolution of density clumps and
voids in an interactive mixture of cold dark matter and dark energy.


title: Directed flow and rotation of transient matter

abstract:
  Directed flow $v_1$ treated as an effect of the transient matter rotation in
hadronic and nuclei reactions.


title:
On the Conformal Field Theory Duals of type IIA AdS_4 Flux
  Compactifications

abstract:
  We study the conformal field theory dual of the type IIA flux
compactification model of DeWolfe, Giryavets, Kachru and Taylor, with all
moduli stabilized. We find its central charge and properties of its operator
spectrum. We concentrate on the moduli space of the conformal field theory,
which we investigate through domain walls in the type IIA string theory. The
moduli space turns out to consist of many different branches. We use Bezout's
theorem and Bernstein's theorem to enumerate the different branches of the
moduli space and estimate their dimension.


title:
The Evolution of NGC 7027 at Radio Frequencies: A New Determination of
  the Distance and Core Mass

abstract:
  We present the results of a 25-year program to monitor the radio flux
evolution of the planetary nebula NGC7027. We find significant evolution of the
spectral flux densities. The flux density at 1465 MHz, where the nebula is
optically thick, is increasing at a rate of 0.251+-0.015 % per year, caused by
the expansion of the ionized nebula. At frequencies where the emission is
optically thin, the spectral flux density is changing at a rate of
-0.145+-0.005 % per year, caused by a decrease in the number of ionizing
photons coming from the central star. A distance of 980+-100 pc is derived. By
fitting interpolated models of post-AGB evolution to the observed changes, we
find that over the 25-yr monitoring period, the stellar temperature has
increased by 3900+-900 K and the stellar bolometric luminosity has decreased by
1.75+-0.38 %. We derive a distance-independent stellar mass of 0.655+-0.01
solar masses adopting the Bloecker stellar evolution models, or about 0.04
solar masses higher when using models of Vassiliadis & Wood which may provide a
better fit. A Cloudy photoionization model is used to fit all epochs at all
frequencies simultaneously. The differences between the radio flux density
predictions and the observed values show some time-independent residuals of
typically 1 %. A possible explanation is inaccuracies in the radio flux scale
of Baars et al. We propose an adjustment to the flux density scale of the
primary radio flux calibrator 3C286, based on the Cloudy model of NGC7027. We
also calculate precise flux densities for NGC7027 for all standard continuum
bands used at the VLA, as well as for some new 30GHz experiments.


title: Real map germs and higher open books

abstract:
  We present a general criterion for the existence of open book structures
defined by real map germs $(\bR^m, 0) \to (\bR^p, 0)$, where $m> p \ge 2$, with
isolated critical point. We show that this is satisfied by weighted-homogeneous
maps. We also derive sufficient conditions in case of map germs with isolated
critical value.


title:
Evolution of cross-correlation and time lag of Cyg X-2 along the
  branches

abstract:
  We report the detections of the anti-correlated soft and hard X-rays, and the
time lags of $\sim$ hecto-second from the neutron star low-mass X-ray binary
Cyg X-2, a well-known Z-type luminous source. Both the anti-correlation and the
positive correlation were detected during the low-intensity states, while only
the latter showed up during high-intensity states. Comparing with the lower
part of normal branch and flaring branch, more observations located on the
horizontal and the upper normal branches are accompanied with the
anti-correlation, implying the occurrence of the anti-correlation under
circumstance of a low mass accretion rate. So far the anti-correlated hard lag
of thousand-second timescale are only reported from the Galactic black hole
candidates in their hard states. Here we provide the first evidence that a
similar feature can also establish in a neutron-star system like Cyg X-2.
Finally, the possible origins of the observed time lags are discussed under the
current LMXB models.


title:
The lineage process in Galton--Watson trees and globally centered
  discrete snakes

abstract:
  We consider branching random walks built on Galton--Watson trees with
offspring distribution having a bounded support, conditioned to have $n$ nodes,
and their rescaled convergences to the Brownian snake. We exhibit a notion of
``globally centered discrete snake'' that extends the usual settings in which
the displacements are supposed centered. We show that under some additional
moment conditions, when $n$ goes to $+\infty$, ``globally centered discrete
snakes'' converge to the Brownian snake. The proof relies on a precise study of
the lineage of the nodes in a Galton--Watson tree conditioned by the size, and
their links with a multinomial process [the lineage of a node $u$ is the vector
indexed by $(k,j)$ giving the number of ancestors of $u$ having $k$ children
and for which $u$ is a descendant of the $j$th one]. Some consequences
concerning Galton--Watson trees conditioned by the size are also derived.


title: Worst-Case Hermite-Korkine-Zolotarev Reduced Lattice Bases

abstract:
  The Hermite-Korkine-Zolotarev reduction plays a central role in strong
lattice reduction algorithms. By building upon a technique introduced by Ajtai,
we show the existence of Hermite-Korkine-Zolotarev reduced bases that are
arguably least reduced. We prove that for such bases, Kannan's algorithm
solving the shortest lattice vector problem requires
$d^{\frac{d}{2\e}(1+o(1))}$ bit operations in dimension $d$. This matches the
best complexity upper bound known for this algorithm. These bases also provide
lower bounds on Schnorr's constants $\alpha_d$ and $\beta_d$ that are
essentially equal to the best upper bounds. Finally, we also show the existence
of particularly bad bases for Schnorr's hierarchy of reductions.


title: Empirical Functionals for Reduced Density Matrix Functional Theory

abstract:
  We present fully empirical exchange-correlation functionals to be used within
reduced density matrix functional theory (RDMFT). These are of the popular J-K
form, where the function of the occupation numbers that multiplies the Fock
orbital term is written as a Pade approximant. The coefficients of the Pade are
optimized for a testset of eight molecules, and then refined for a larger set
of 35 molecules. Two different approaches were tried, either keeping the
self-interaction terms, or by removing them explicitly from the functional. The
functionals thus obtained involve very few parameters, but are able to
outperform other RDMFT functionals, yielding correlation energies that are, on
average, even slightly better than Moeller-Plesset MP2 theory.


title:
Structures, Electronic Properties, Spectroscopies and Hexagonal
  Monolayer Phase of a Family of Unconventional Fullerenes C64X4 (X = H;
  F;Cl;Br)

abstract:
  A systematic first-principles study within density functional theory on the
geometrical structures and electronic properties of unconventional fullerene
C64 and its derivatives C64X4 (X = H; F;Cl;Br) has been performed. By searching
through all 3465 isomers of C64, the ground state of C64 is found to be
spherical shape with D2 symmetry, which differs from the parent cage of the
recently synthesized C64H4 that is pear-shaped with C3v symmetry. We found that
the addition of the halogen atoms like F;Cl;Br to the pentagon-pentagon fusion
vertex of C64 cage could enhance the stability, forming the unconventional
fullerenes C64X4. The Mulliken charge populations, LUMO-HOMO gap energies and
density of states are calculated, showing that different halogen atoms added to
C64 will cause remarkably different charge populations of the C64X4 molecule;
the chemical deriving could enlarge the energy gaps and affect the electronic
structures distinctly. It is unveiled that C64F4 is even more stable than
C64H4, as the C-X bond energy of the former is higher than that of the latter.
The computed spectra of C64H4 molecules agree well with the experimental data;
the IR, Raman, NMR spectra of C64X4 (X = F;Cl;Br) are also calculated to
stimulate further experimental investigations. Finally, it is uncovered by
total energy calculations that C64X4 could form a stable hexagonal monolayer.


title:
Light neutralinos at LHC in cosmologically-inspired scenarios: new
  benchmarks in the search for supersymmetry

abstract:
  We study how the properties of the four neutralino states, chi_i (i = 1, 2,
3, 4), can be investigated at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), in the case when
the lightest one, chi_1, has a mass m_chi < 50 GeV and is stable. This
situation arises naturally in supersymmetric models where gaugino masses are
not unified at a Grand Unified (GUT) scale and R-parity is conserved. The main
features of these neutralino states are established by analytical and numerical
analyses, and two scenarios are singled out on the basis of the cosmological
properties required for the relic neutralinos. Signals expected at LHC are
discussed through the main chain processes started by a squark, produced in the
initial proton-proton scattering. We motivate the selection of some convenient
benchmarks, in the light of the spectroscopical properties (mass spectrum and
transitions) of the four neutralino states. Branching ratios and the expected
total number of events are derived in the various benchmarks, and their
relevance for experimental determination of neutralino properties is finally
discussed.


title: Multi-$\bar{K}$ nuclei and kaon condensation

abstract:
  We extend previous relativistic mean-field (RMF) calculations of multi-$\bar
K$ nuclei, using vector boson fields with SU(3) PPV coupling constants and
scalar boson fields constrained phenomenologically. For a given core nucleus,
the resulting $\bar K$ separation energy $B_{\bar K}$, as well as the
associated nuclear and $\bar K$-meson densities, saturate with the number
$\kappa$ of $\bar K$ mesons for $\kappa > \kappa_{\rm sat} \sim 10$. Saturation
appears robust against a wide range of variations, including the RMF nuclear
model used and the type of boson fields mediating the strong interactions.
Because $B_{\bar K}$ generally does not exceed 200 MeV, it is argued that
multi-$\bar K$ nuclei do not compete with multihyperonic nuclei in providing
the ground state of strange hadronic configurations and that kaon condensation
is unlikely to occur in strong-interaction self-bound strange hadronic matter.
Last, we explore possibly self-bound strange systems made of neutrons and
${\bar K}^0$ mesons, or protons and $K^-$ mesons, and study their properties.


title: Testing planet formation theories with Giant stars

abstract:
  Planet searches around evolved giant stars are bringing new insights to
planet formation theories by virtue of the broader stellar mass range of the
host stars compared to the solar-type stars that have been the subject of most
current planet searches programs. These searches among giant stars are
producing extremely interesting results. Contrary to main sequence stars
planet-hosting giants do not show a tendency of being more metal rich. Even if
limited, the statistics also suggest a higher frequency of giant planets (at
least 10 %) that are more massive compared to solar-type main sequence stars.
The interpretation of these results is not straightforward. We propose that the
lack of a metallicity-planet connection among giant stars is due to pollution
of the star while on the main sequence, followed by dilution during the giant
phase. We also suggest that the higher mass and frequency of the planets are
due to the higher stellar mass. Even if these results do not favor a specific
formation scenario, they suggest that planetary formation might be more complex
than what has been proposed so far, perhaps with two mechanisms at work and one
or the other dominating according to the stellar mass. We finally stress as the
detailed study of the host stars and of the parent sample is essential to
derive firm conclusions.


title: Banana skin: a novel material for a low-cost production of laccase

abstract:
  Laccases (benzenodiol: oxygen oxidoreductases; EC 1.10.3.2) are multicopper
oxidases of wide substrate specificity mainly found in white-rot fungi, which
are the only microorganisms able to degrade the whole wood components, but they
are also expressed in bacteria and higher plants. Laccases are used currently
in biotechnological processes because this enzyme oxidizes both phenolic and
non-phenolic lignin-related compounds as well as highly recalcitrant
environmental pollutants. In this work banana skin has been selected as a
supporting material for laccase produntion because of its high content in
carbohydrates, which due to their organic nature are easily metabolized by the
fungus. In addition, its content in ascorbic acid exerts an inhibitory effect
against bacteria. The activity of the produced laccase is tested in
decoloration studies.


title:
Critical parameters for the disorder-induced metal-insulator transition
  in FCC and BCC lattices

abstract:
  We use a transfer-matrix method to study the disorder-induced metal-insulator
transition. We take isotropic nearest- neighbor hopping and an onsite potential
with uniformly distributed disorder. Following previous work done on the simple
cubic lattice, we perform numerical calculations for the body centered cubic
and face centered cubic lattices, which are more common in nature. We obtain
the localization length from calculated Lyapunov exponents for different system
sizes. This data is analyzed using finite-size scaling to find the critical
parameters. We create an energy-disorder phase diagram for both lattice types,
noting that it is symmetric about the band center for the body centered cubic
lattice, but not for the face centered cubic lattice. We find a critical
exponent of approximately 1.5-1.6 for both lattice types for transitions
occurring either at fixed energy or at fixed disorder, agreeing with results
previously obtained for other systems belonging to the same orthogonal
universality class. We notice an increase in critical disorder with the number
of nearest neighbors, which agrees with intuition.


title:
Holomorphie des op\'erateurs d'entrelacement normalis\'es \`a l'aide des
  param\`etres d'Arthur

abstract:
  In this paper we prove holomorphy for certain intertwining operators arising
from the theory of Eisenstein series.


title:
Convexity, translation invariance and subadditivity for $g$-expectations
  and related risk measures

abstract:
  Under the continuous assumption on the generator $g$, Briand et al.
[Electron. Comm. Probab. 5 (2000) 101--117] showed some connections between $g$
and the conditional $g$-expectation
$({\mathcal{E}}_g[\cdot|{\mathcal{F}}_t])_{t\in[0,T]}$ and Rosazza Gianin
[Insurance: Math. Econ. 39 (2006) 19--34] showed some connections between $g$
and the corresponding dynamic risk measure $(\rho^g_t)_{t\in[0,T]}$. In this
paper we prove that, without the additional continuous assumption on $g$, a
$g$-expectation ${\mathcal{E}}_g$ satisfies translation invariance if and only
if $g$ is independent of $y$, and ${\mathcal{E}}_g$ satisfies convexity (resp.
subadditivity) if and only if $g$ is independent of $y$ and $g$ is convex
(resp. subadditive) with respect to $z$. By these conclusions we deduce that
the static risk measure $\rho^g$ induced by a $g$-expectation ${\mathcal{E}}_g$
is a convex (resp. coherent) risk measure if and only if $g$ is independent of
$y$ and $g$ is convex (resp. sublinear) with respect to $z$. Our results extend
the results in Briand et al. [Electron. Comm. Probab. 5 (2000) 101--117] and
Rosazza Gianin [Insurance: Math. Econ. 39 (2006) 19--34] on these subjects.


title:
The Compton-thick quasar at the heart of the high-redshift giant radio
  galaxy 6C 0905+39

abstract:
  Our XMM-Newton spectrum of the giant, high-redshift (z=1.88) radio galaxy 6C
0905+39 shows that it contains one of the most powerful, high-redshift,
Compton-thick quasars known. Its spectrum is very hard above 2 keV. The steep
XMM spectrum below that energy is shown to be due to extended emission from the
radio bridge using Chandra data. The nucleus of 6C 0905+39 has a column density
of 3.5 (+1.4,-0.4) X 10^24 cm^-2 and absorption-corrected X-ray luminosity of
1.7 (+0.9,-0.1) X 10^45 erg/s in the 2-10 keV band. A lower redshift active
galaxy in the same field, SDSS J090808.36+394313.6, may also be Compton-thick.


title: Determining neutrino absorption spectra at Ultra-High Energies

abstract:
  A very efficient method to measure the flux of Ultra-high energy (UHE)
neutrinos is through the detection of radio waves which are emitted by the
particle shower in the lunar regolith. The highest acceptance is reached for
radio waves in the frequency band of 100-200 MHz which can be measured with
modern radio telescopes. In this work we investigate the sensitivity of this
detection method to structures in the UHE neutrino spectrum caused by their
absorption on the low-energy relic anti-neutrino background through the Z-boson
resonance. The position of the absorption peak is sensitive to the neutrino
mass and the redshift of the source. A new generation of low-frequency digital
radio telescopes will provide excellent detection capabilities for measuring
these radio pulses, thus making our consideration here very timely.


title: Purely radiative perfect fluids with degenerate shear tensor

abstract:
  We consider non-rotating geodesic perfect fluid spacetimes which are purely
radiative in the sense that the gravitational field satisfies the covariant
transverse conditions div H = div E = 0. We show that when the shear tensor S
is degenerate, H, E and S necessarily commute and hence the resulting
spacetimes are hypersurface homogeneous of Bianchi class A (modulo some purely
electric exceptions).


title: Mechanical response of plectonemic DNA: an analytical solution

abstract:
  We consider an elastic rod model for twisted DNA in the plectonemic regime.
The molecule is treated as an impenetrable tube with an effective, adjustable
radius. The model is solved analytically and we derive formulas for the contact
pressure, twisting moment and geometrical parameters of the supercoiled region.
We apply our model to magnetic tweezer experiments of a DNA molecule subjected
to a tensile force and a torque, and extract mechanical and geometrical
quantities from the linear part of the experimental response curve. These
reconstructed values are derived in a self-contained manner, and are found to
be consistent with those available in the literature.


title:
The Hopf algebra structure of the Z$_3$-graded quantum supergroup
  GL$_{q,j}(1|1)$

abstract: In this work, we give some features of the Z$_3$-graded quantum supergroup.


title: Hipparcos distances of Ophiuchus and Lupus cloud complexes

abstract:
  We combine extinction maps from the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) with
Hipparcos and Tycho parallaxes to obtain reliable and high-precision estimates
of the distance to the Ophiuchus and Lupus dark complexes. Our analysis, based
on a rigorous maximum-likelihood approach, shows that the rho-Ophiuchi cloud is
located at (119 +/- 6) pc and the Lupus complex is located at (155 +/- 8) pc;
in addition, we are able to put constraints on the thickness of the clouds and
on their orientation on the sky (both these effects are not included in the
error estimate quoted above). For Ophiuchus, we find some evidence that the
streamers are closer to us than the core. The method applied in this paper is
currently limited to nearby molecular clouds, but it will find many natural
applications in the GAIA-era, when it will be possible to pin down the distance
and three-dimensional structure of virtually every molecular cloud in the
Galaxy.


title:
Dynamics of Primordial Hydrogen Recombination with Allowance for a
  Recoil for Scattering in the Ly-alpha Line

abstract:
  It is shown that taking into account a recoil for radiation scattering in the
Ly-alpha line can lead to a noticable acceleration of primordial hydrogen
recombination. Thus for LambdaCDM model a decrease of ionization degree exceeds
1% for redshifts z in a range 800 - 1050 achieving approximately 1.3% at z=900.
Corresponding corrections to the cosmic microwave background power spectra can
achieve 1.1% for TT spectra and 1.7% for EE ones. Radiative transfer in these
calculations was treated in a quasistationary approximation. Numerical
solutions are also obtained in diffusion approximation for a nonstationary
problem of Ly-alpha line radiative transfer under partial frequency
redistribution with a recoil. An evolution of a local line profile is traced to
as well as an evolution of a relative number of uncompensated transitions from
2p state down to 1s one. It is shown that taking into account nonstationarity
of Ly-alpha line radiative transfer can lead to an additional acceleration of
primordial hydrogen recombination.