title:
Reduced fidelity approach for quantum phase transitions in spin-1/2
  dimerized Heisenberg chains

abstract:
  We use reduced fidelity approach to characterize quantum phase transitions in
the one-dimensional spin-1/2 dimerized Heisenberg chain in the
antiferromagnetic case. The reduced fidelity susceptibilities between two
nearest-neighboring spin pairs are considered. We find that they are directly
related to the square of the second derivative of the ground-state energy. This
enables us to conclude that the former might be a more effective indicator of
the second-order quantum phase transitions than the latter. Two further
exemplifications are given to confirm the conclusion is available for a broad
class of systems with SU(2) and translation symmetries. Moreover, a general
connection between reduced fidelity susceptibility and quantum phase
transitions is illustrated.


title: Spherical conjugacy classes and Bruhat decomposition

abstract:
  Let G be a connected, reductive algebraic group over an algebraically closed
field of characteristic zero or good and odd. We characterize the spherical
conjugacy classes of G as those intersecting only Bruhat cells corresponding to
involutions in the Weyl group of G.


title: Electric Dipole Moments in the MSSM Reloaded

abstract:
  We present a detailed study of the Thallium, neutron, Mercury and deuteron
electric dipole moments (EDMs) in the CP-violating Minimal Supersymmetric
extension of the Standard Model (MSSM). We take into account the complete set
of one-loop graphs, the dominant Higgs-mediated two-loop diagrams, the complete
CP-odd dimension-six Weinberg operator and the Higgs-mediated four-fermion
operators. We improve upon earlier calculations by including the resummation
effects due to CP-violating Higgs-boson mixing and to threshold corrections to
the Yukawa couplings of all up- and down-type quarks and charged leptons. As an
application of our study, we analyse the EDM constraints on the CPX, trimixing
and Maximally CP- and Minimally Flavour-Violating (MCPMFV) scenarios.
Cancellations may occur among the CP-violating contributions to the three
measured EDMs arising from the 6 CP-violating phases in the MCPMFV scenario,
leaving open the possibility of relatively large contributions to other
CP-violating observables. The analytic expressions for the EDMs are implemented
in an updated version of the code CPsuperH2.0.


title: Sheaves of ordered spaces and interval theories

abstract:
  We study the homotopy theory of locally ordered spaces, that is manifolds
with boundary whose charts are partially ordered in a compatible way. Their
category is not particularly well-behaved with respect to colimits. However,
this category turns out to be a certain full subcategory of a topos of sheaves
over a simpler site. A precise characterisation of this subcategory is
provided. The ambient topos makes available some general homotopical machinery.


title: Relations between the leading terms of a polynomial automorphism

abstract:
  Let $I$ be the ideal of relations between the leading terms of the
polynomials defining an automorphism of $K^n$. In this paper, we prove the
existence of a locally nilpotent derivation which preserves $I$. Moreover, if
$I$ is principal, i.e. $I=(R)$, we compute an upper bound for $\deg_2(R)$ for
some degree function $\deg_2$ defined by the automorphism. As applications, we
determine all the principal ideals of relations for automorphisms of $K^3$ and
deduce two elementary proofs of the Jung-van der Kulk Theorem about the
tameness of automorphisms of $K^{2}$.


title:
Fourier analysis, linear programming, and densities of distance avoiding
  sets in R^n

abstract:
  In this paper we derive new upper bounds for the densities of measurable sets
in R^n which avoid a finite set of prescribed distances. The new bounds come
from the solution of a linear programming problem. We apply this method to
obtain new upper bounds for measurable sets which avoid the unit distance in
dimensions 2,..., 24. This gives new lower bounds for the measurable chromatic
number in dimensions 3,..., 24. We apply it to get a new, short proof of a
variant of a recent result of Bukh which in turn generalizes theorems of
Furstenberg, Katznelson, Weiss and Bourgain and Falconer about sets avoiding
many distances.


title: Optimal Time Evolution for Hermitian and Non-Hermitian Hamiltonians

abstract:
  Consider the set of all Hamiltonians whose largest and smallest energy
eigenvalues, E_max and E_min, differ by a fixed energy \omega. Given two
quantum states, an initial state |\psi_I> and a final state |\psi_F>, there
exist many Hamiltonians H belonging to this set under which |\psi_I> evolves in
time into |\psi_F>. Which Hamiltonian transforms the initial state to the final
state in the least possible time \tau? For Hermitian Hamiltonians, $\tau$ has a
nonzero lower bound. However, among complex non-Hermitian PT-symmetric
Hamiltonians satisfying the same energy constraint, \tau can be made
arbitrarily small without violating the time-energy uncertainty principle. The
minimum value of \tau can be made arbitrarily small because for PT-symmetric
Hamiltonians the evolution path from the vector |\psi_I> to the vector
|\psi_F>, as measured using the Hilbert-space metric appropriate for this
theory, can be made arbitrarily short. The mechanism described here resembles
the effect in general relativity in which two space-time points can be made
arbitrarily close if they are connected by a wormhole. This result may have
applications in quantum computing.


title: Constraining Lorentz violation with cosmology

abstract:
  The Einstein-Aether theory provides a simple, dynamical mechanism for
breaking Lorentz invariance. It does so within a generally covariant context
and may emerge from quantum effects in more fundamental theories. The theory
leads to a preferred frame and can have distinct experimental signatures. In
this letter, we perform a comprehensive study of the cosmological effects of
the Einstein-Aether theory and use observational data to constrain it. Allied
to previously determined consistency and experimental constraints, we find that
an Einstein-Aether universe can fit experimental data over a wide range of its
parameter space, but requires a specific rescaling of the other cosmological
densities.


title: Electroweak Physics with ATLAS

abstract:
  The precision measurements of electroweak parameters of the Standard Model
with the ATLAS detector at LHC are reviewed. An emphasis is put on the bridge
connecting the ATLAS measurements with the SM analysis at LEP/SLC and the
Tevatron.


title:
Precision measurement of light shifts at two off-resonant wavelengths in
  a single trapped Ba+ ion and determination of atomic dipole matrix elements

abstract:
  We define and measure the ratio (R) of the vector ac-Stark effect (or light
shift) in the 6S_1/2 and 5D_3/2 states of a single trapped barium ion to 0.2%
accuracy at two different off-resonant wavelengths. We earlier found R =
-11.494(13) at 514.531nm and now report the value at 1111.68nm, R = +0.4176(8).
These observations together yield a value of the <5D||er||4F> matrix element,
previously unknown in the literature. Also, comparison of our results with an
ab initio calculation of dynamic polarizability would yield a new test of
atomic theory and improve the understanding of atomic structure needed to
interpret a proposed atomic parity violation experiment.


title: Subgroups of free idempotent generated semigroups need not be free

abstract:
  We use topological methods to study the maximal subgroups of the free
idempotent generated semigroup on a biordered set. We use these to give an
example of a free idempotent generated semigroup with maximal subgroup
isomorphic to the free abelian group of rank 2. This is the first example of a
non-free subgroup of a free idempotent generated semigroup.


title:
Theory of Zipf's Law and of General Power Law Distributions with
  Gibrat's law of Proportional Growth

abstract:
  We summarize a book under publication with his title written by the three
present authors, on the theory of Zipf's law, and more generally of power laws,
driven by the mechanism of proportional growth. The preprint is available upon
request from the authors.
  For clarity, consistence of language and conciseness, we discuss the origin
and conditions of the validity of Zipf's law using the terminology of firms'
asset values. We use firms at the entities whose size distributions are to be
explained. It should be noted, however, that most of the relations discussed in
this book, especially the intimate connection between Zipf's and Gilbrat's
laws, underlie Zipf's law in diverse scientific areas. The same models and
variations thereof can be straightforwardly applied to any of the other domains
of application.


title: Note on the Euler Numbers and Polynomials

abstract:
  In this paper we investigate the properties of the Euler functions. By using
the Fourier transform for the Euler function, we derive the interesting formula
related to the infinite series. Finally we give some interesting identities
between the Euler numbers and the second kind stirling numbers.


title: Convective dust clouds in a complex plasma

abstract:
  The plasma is generated in a low frequency glow discharge within an elongated
glass tube oriented vertically. The dust particles added to the plasma are
confined above the heater and form counter-rotating clouds close to the tube
centre. The shape of the clouds and the velocity field of the conveying dust
particles are determined. The forces acting on the particles are calculated. It
is shown that convection of the dust is affected by the convective gas motion
which is triggered, in turn, by thermal creep of the gas along the
inhomogeneously heated walls of the tube.


title: Geometry of effective Hamiltonians

abstract:
  We give a complete geometrical description of the effective Hamiltonians
common in nuclear shell model calculations. By recasting the theory in a
manifestly geometric form, we reinterpret and clarify several points. Some of
these results are hitherto unknown or unpublished. In particular, commuting
observables and symmetries are discussed in detail. Simple and explicit proofs
are given, and numerical algorithms are proposed, that improve and stabilize
common methods used today.


title:
First bounds on the high-energy emission from isolated Wolf-Rayet binary
  systems

abstract:
  High-energy gamma-ray emission is theoretically expected to arise in tight
binary star systems (with high mass loss and high velocity winds), although the
evidence of this relationship has proven to be elusive so far. Here we present
the first bounds on this putative emission from isolated Wolf-Rayet (WR) star
binaries, WR 147 and WR 146, obtained from observations with the MAGIC
telescope.


title: Energy Gaps and Stark Effect in Boron Nitride Nanoribbons

abstract:
  A first-principles investigation of the electronic properties of boron
nitride nanoribbons (BNNRs) having either armchair or zigzag shaped edges
passivated by hydrogen with widths up to 10 nm is presented. Band gaps of
armchair BNNRs exhibit family-dependent oscillations as the width increases
and, for ribbons wider than 3 nm, converge to a constant value that is 0.02 eV
smaller than the bulk band gap of a boron nitride sheet owing to the existence
of very weak edge states. The band gap of zigzag BNNRs monotonically decreases
and converges to a gap that is 0.7 eV smaller than the bulk gap due to the
presence of strong edge states. When a transverse electric field is applied,
the band gaps of armchair BNNRs decrease monotonically with the field strength.
For the zigzag BNNRs, however, the band gaps and the carrier effective masses
either increase or decrease depending on the direction and the strength of the
field.


title:
Diffusion of cosmic-rays and the Gamma-ray Large Area Telescope:
  Phenomenology at the 1-100 GeV regime

abstract:
  This paper analyzes astrophysical scenarios that may be detected at the upper
end of the energy range of the Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), as
a result of cosmic-ray (CR) diffusion in the interstellar medium (ISM).
Hadronic processes are considered as the source of $\gamma$-ray photons from
localized molecular enhancements nearby accelerators. Two particular cases are
presented: a) the possibility of detecting spectral energy distributions (SEDs)
with maxima above 1 GeV, which may be constrained by detection or non-detection
at very-high energies (VHE) with observations by ground-based Cerenkov
telescopes, and b) the possibility of detecting V-shaped, inverted spectra, due
to confusion of a nearby (to the line of sight) arrangement of
accelerator/target scenarios with different characteristic properties. We show
that the finding of these signatures (in particular, a peak at the 1--100 GeV
energy region) is indicative for an identification of the underlying mechanism
producing the $\gamma$-rays that is realized by nature: which accelerator (age
and relative position to the target cloud) and under which diffusion properties
CR propagate.


title: Fibered nonlinearities for $p(x)$-Laplace equations

abstract:
  In $\R^m\times\R^{n-m}$, endowed with coordinates $X=(x,y)$, we consider the
PDE $$ -{\rm div} \big(\alpha(\x) |\nabla u(\X)|^{p(x)-2}\nabla
u(\X)\big)=f(x,u(\X)).$$ We prove a geometric inequality and a symmetry result.


title: Primitive Collections and Toric Varieties

abstract:
  This paper studies Batyrev's notion of primitive collection. We use primitive
collections to characterize the nef cone of a quasi-projective toric variety
whose fan has convex support, a result stated without proof by Batyrev in the
smooth projective case. When the fan is non-simplicial, we modify the
definition of primitive collection and explain how our definition relates to
primitive collections of simplicial subdivisons. The paper ends with some open
problems.


title: Universal holographic hydrodynamics at finite coupling

abstract:
  We consider thermal plasmas in a large class of superconformal gauge theories
described by a holographic dual geometry of the form $AdS_5\times M_5$. In
particular, we demonstrate that all of the thermodynamic properties and
hydrodynamic transport parameters for a large class of superconformal gauge
theories exhibit a certain universality to leading order in the inverse 't
Hooft coupling and $1/N_c$. In particular, we show that independent of the
compactification geometry, the leading corrections are derived from the same
five-dimensional effective supergravity action supplemented by a term quartic
in the five-dimensional Weyl tensor.


title:
Measurement of the Branching Fractions of the Radiative Charm Decays
  $D^{0} \to {\bar K}^{*0} \gamma$ and $D^{0} \to \phi \gamma$

abstract:
  We present a measurement of the branching fractions for the Cabibbo-favored
radiative decay, $D^{0} \to {\bar K}^{*0} \gamma$, and the Cabibbo-suppressed
radiative decay, $D^{0} \to \phi \gamma$. These measurements are based on a
data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $387.1 fb^{-1}$,
recorded with the BaBar detector at the PEP-II $e^+e^-$ asymmetric-energy
collider operating at center-of-mass energies 10.58 and 10.54 GeV. We measure
the branching fractions relative to the well-studied decay $D^{0} \to K^{-}
\pi^{+}$ and find ${\cal B}(D^{0} \to {\bar K}^{*0} \gamma)/{\cal B}(D^{0} \to
K^{-} \pi^{+}) = (8.43 \pm 0.51 \pm 0.70) \times 10^{-3}$ and ${\cal B}(D^{0}
\to \phi \gamma)/{\cal B}(D^{0} \to K^{-} \pi^{+}) = (7.15 \pm 0.78 \pm 0.69)
\times 10^{-4}$, where the first error is statistical and the second is
systematic. This is the first measurement of ${\cal B}(D^{0} \to {\bar K}^{*0}
\gamma)$.


title:
Velocity Curve Analysis of the Spectroscopic Binary Stars NSV 223, AB
  And, V2082 Cyg, HS Her, V918 Her, BV Dra, BW Dra, V2357 Oph, and YZ Cas by
  the Non-linear Least Squares

abstract:
  Using measured radial velocity data of nine double lined spectroscopic binary
systems NSV 223, AB And, V2082 Cyg, HS Her, V918 Her, BV Dra, BW Dra, V2357
Oph, and YZ Cas, we find corresponding orbital and spectroscopic elements via
the method introduced by Karami & Mohebi (2007a) and Karami & Teimoorinia
(2007). Our numerical results are in good agreement with those obtained by
others using more traditional methods.


title: Beyond bilinear controllability : applications to quantum control

abstract:
  Quantum control is traditionally expressed through bilinear models and their
associated Lie algebra controllability criteria. But, the first order
approximation are not always sufficient and higher order developpements are
used in recent works. Motivated by these applications, we give in this paper a
criterion that applies to situations where the evolution operator is expressed
as sum of possibly non-linear real functionals of the control that multiplies
some time independent (coupling) operators.


title: The Morphology of Collisionless Galactic Rings Exterior to Evolving Bars

abstract:
  The morphology of the outer rings of early-type spiral galaxies is compared
to integrations of massless collisionless particles initially in nearly
circular orbits. Particles are perturbed by a quadrupolar gravitational
potential corresponding to a growing and secularly evolving bar. We find that
outer rings with R1R2 morphology and pseudorings are exhibited by the
simulations even though they lack gaseous dissipation. Simulations with
stronger bars form pseudorings earlier and more quickly than those with weaker
bars. We find that the R1 ring, perpendicular to the bar, is fragile and
dissolves after a few bar rotation periods if the bar pattern speed increases
by more than ~ 8%, bar strength increases (by >~ 140%) after bar growth, or the
bar is too strong (Q_T>0.3). If the bar slows down after formation, pseudoring
morphology persists and the R2 ring perpendicular to the bar is populated due
to resonance capture. The R2 ring remains misaligned with the bar and increases
in ellipticity as the bar slows down. The R2 ring becomes scalloped and does
not resemble any ringed galaxies if the bar slows down more than 3.5%
suggesting that bars decrease in strength before they slow down this much. We
compare the morphology of our simulations to B-band images of 9 ringed galaxies
from the Ohio State University Bright Spiral Galaxy Survey, and we find a
reasonable match in morphologies to R1R2' pseudorings seen within a few bar
rotation periods of bar formation. Some of the features previously interpreted
in terms of dissipative models may be due to transient structure associated
with recent bar growth and evolution.


title: Quantum fields as gravitational sources

abstract:
  The practice of setting quantum fields as sources for classical general
relativity is examined. Several conceptual problems are identified which
invalidate apparently innocuous equations. Alternative ways to links classical
general relativity with quantum theory using Bohm's theory are proposed.


title: Intrinsic geometry of oriented congruences in three dimensions

abstract:
  Starting from the classical notion of an oriented congruence (i.e. a
foliation by oriented curves) in $R^3$, we abstract the notion of an oriented
congruence structure. This is a 3-dimensional CR manifold $(M,H, J)$ with a
preferred splitting of the tangent space $TM=V\oplus H$. We find all local
invariants of such structures using Cartan's equivalence method refining
Cartan's classification of 3-dimensional CR structures. We use these invariants
and perform Fefferman like constructions, to obtain interesting Lorentzian
metrics in four dimensions, which include explicit Ricci-flat and Einstein
metrics, as well as not conformally Einstein Bach-flat metrics.


title:
A test suite for quantitative comparison of hydrodynamics codes in
  astrophysics

abstract:
  We test four commonly used astrophysical simulation codes; Enzo, Flash,
Gadget and Hydra, using a suite of numerical problems with analytic initial and
final states. Situations similar to the conditions of these tests, a Sod shock,
a Sedov blast and both a static and translating King sphere occur commonly in
astrophysics, where the accurate treatment of shocks, sound waves, supernovae
explosions and collapsed haloes is a key condition for obtaining reliable
validated simulations. We demonstrate that comparable results can be obtained
for Lagrangian and Eulerian codes by requiring that approximately one particle
exists per grid cell in the region of interest. We conclude that adaptive
Eulerian codes, with their ability to place refinements in regions of rapidly
changing density, are well suited to problems where physical processes are
related to such changes. Lagrangian methods, on the other hand, are well suited
to problems where large density contrasts occur and the physics is related to
the local density itself rather than the local density gradient.


title: The Longitudinal Structure Function at HERA

abstract:
  I investigate the theoretical uncertainties on the predictions for the
longitudinal structure function. I compare the predictions using fixed-order
perturbative QCD, higher twist corrections, small-x resummations and the dipole
picture. I compare the various predictions to the recent HERA measurements and
examine how the data still to be analysed may discriminate between the
approaches.


title: Theory of edge radiation

abstract:
  We formulate a complete theory of Edge Radiation based on a novel method
relying on Fourier Optics techniques. Similar types of radiation like
Transition Undulator Radiation are addressed in the framework of the same
formalism. Special attention is payed in discussing the validity of
approximations upon which the theory is built. Our study makes consistent use
of both similarity techniques and comparisons with numerical results from
simulation. We discuss both near and far zone. Physical understanding of many
asymptotes is discussed. Based on the solution of the field equation with a
tensor Green's function technique, we also discuss an analytical model to
describe the presence of a vacuum chamber. In particular, explicit calculations
for a circular vacuum chamber are reported. Finally, we consider the use of
Edge Radiation as a tool for electron beam diagnostics. We discuss Coherent
Edge Radiation, Extraction of Edge Radiation by a mirror, and other issues
becoming important at high electron energy and long radiation wavelength. Based
on this work we also study the impact of Edge Radiation on XFEL setups and we
discuss recent results.


title: Parton Distributions and QCD at LHCb

abstract:
  We consider the impact that can be made on our understanding of parton
distributions (PDFs) and QCD from early measurements at the LHCb experiment.
The high rapidity values make the experiment uniquely suited to a detailed
study of small-x parton distributions and hence will make a significant
contribution towards the clarification of both experimental and theoretical
uncertainties on PDFs and their applications.


title: Luminosity-Colours relations for thin disc main-sequence stars

abstract:
  In this study we present the absolute magnitude calibrations of thin disc
main-sequence stars in the optical ($M_{V}$), and in the near-infrared
($M_{J}$). Thin disc stars are identified by means of Padova isochrones, and
absolute magnitudes for the sample are evaluated via the newly reduced
Hipparcos data. The obtained calibrations cover a large range of spectral
types: from A0 to M4 in the optical and from A0 to M0 in the near-infrared.
Also, we discuss the of effects binary stars and evolved stars on the absolute
magnitude calibrations. The usage of these calibrations can be extended to the
estimation of galactic model parameters for the thin disc individually, in
order to compare these parameters with the corresponding ones estimated by
$\chi{^2}_{min}$ statistics (which provides galactic model parameters for thin
and thick discs, and halo simultaneously) to test any degeneracy between them.
The calibrations can also be used in other astrophysical researches where
distance plays an important role in that study.


title:
A general method of estimating stellar astrophysical parameters from
  photometry

abstract:
  Applying photometric catalogs to the study of the population of the Galaxy is
obscured by the impossibility to map directly photometric colors into
astrophysical parameters. Most of all-sky catalogs like ASCC or 2MASS are based
upon broad-band photometric systems, and the use of broad photometric bands
complicates the determination of the astrophysical parameters for individual
stars. This paper presents an algorithm for determining stellar astrophysical
parameters (effective temperature, gravity and metallicity) from broad-band
photometry even in the presence of interstellar reddening. This method suits
the combination of narrow bands as well. We applied the method of
interval-cluster analysis to finding stellar astrophysical parameters based on
the newest Kurucz models calibrated with the use of a compiled catalog of
stellar parameters. Our new method of determining astrophysical parameters
allows all possible solutions to be located in the effective
temperature-gravity-metallicity space for the star and selection of the most
probable solution.


title: Questions about determinants and polynomials

abstract:
  We discuss several conjectures about the real-rootedness of polynomials whose
coefficients are determinants of coefficients of a real-rooted polynomial. We
also consider some questions about matrices generalizing totally positive
matrices, namely totally stable matrices and totally upper matrices.


title: Inverse Nodal Problems

abstract:
  It is shown that nodal sequences determine the underlying manifold up to
scaling within classes of rectangles with Dirichlet boundary conditions,
separable two dimensional tori, two-dimensional flat Klein bottles and flat
tori in two and three dimensions.


title: The Meccano of life

abstract:
  This article is interested in the origin of the genetic code, it puts forward
a scenario of a simultaneous selection of the bases and amino acids and setting
up of a correlation between them. Each amino acid is associated with a pair of
its own kind, called the binding pair and each binding pair is associated with
the codon(s) corresponding to the same amino acid. An explanation is also
proposed about the origin of the start and stop codons.


title:
Unit cell of graphene on Ru(0001): a 25 x 25 supercell with 1250 carbon
  atoms

abstract:
  The structure of a single layer of graphene on Ru(0001) has been studied
using surface x-ray diffraction. A surprising superstructure has been
determined, whereby 25 x 25 graphene unit cells lie on 23 x 23 unit cells of
Ru. Each supercell contains 2 x 2 crystallographically inequivalent subcells
caused by corrugation. Strong intensity oscillations in the superstructure rods
demonstrate that the Ru substrate is also significantly corrugated down to
several monolayers, and that the bonding between graphene and Ru is strong and
cannot be caused by van der Waals bonds. Charge transfer from the Ru substrate
to the graphene expands and weakens the C-C bonds, which helps accommodate the
in-plane tensile stress. The elucidation of this superstructure provides
important information in the potential application of graphene as a template
for nanocluster arrays.


title:
Extraction of the proton parton density functions using a NLO-QCD fit of
  the combined H1 and ZEUS inclusive DIS cross sections

abstract:
  The combined HERA-I data set, of neutral and charged current inclusive
cross-sections for $e^+p$ and $e^-p$ scattering, is used as the sole input for
a next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD parton distribution function (PDF) fit. The
consistent treatment of systematic uncertainties in the joint data set ensures
that experimental uncertainties on the PDFs can be calculated without need for
an increased $\chi^2$ tolerance. This results in PDFs with greatly reduced
experimental uncertainties compared to the separate analyses of the ZEUS and H1
experiments. Model uncertainties, including those arising from parametrization
dependence, are also carefully considered. The resulting HERAPDFs have
impressive precision compared to the global fits.


title: Warm Inflation and its Microphysical Basis

abstract:
  The microscopic quantum field theory origins of warm inflation dynamics are
reviewed. The warm inflation scenario is first described along with its
results, predictions and comparison with the standard cold inflation scenario.
The basics of thermal field theory required in the study of warm inflation are
discussed. Quantum field theory real time calculations at finite temperature
are then presented and the derivation of dissipation and stochastic
fluctuations are shown from a general perspective. Specific results are given
of dissipation coefficients for a variety of quantum field theory interaction
structures relevant to warm inflation, in a form that can readily be used by
model builders. Different particle physics models realising warm inflation are
presented along with their observational predictions.


title: Including heavy quark production in ZEUS-PDF fits

abstract:
  At HERA heavy quarks may contribute up to 30% of the structure function
$F_2$. The potential of including heavy-quark data in the ZEUS PDF fits is
explored, using $D^*$ double differential cross-sections as well as the
inclusive quantities $F_2^{c\bar{c}}$, $F_2^{c\bar{c}}$. The introduction of
heavy quarks requires an extension of the DGLAP formalism. The effect of using
different heavy flavour number schemes, and different approaches to the running
of $\alpha_s$, are compared.


title: Characterisation of the VELO High Voltage System

abstract:
  The high voltage system supplies the bias voltage to the 88 silicon sensors
which comprise the LHCb Vertex Locator (VELO). This note describes the results
of the tests which have been performed on the hardware of the high voltage
system of the VELO. Each individual test detailed in this note corresponds to a
specific requirement of the system. These requirements arise primarily from
ensuring the safety of the silicon sensors and the quality of the data taken
from the VELO modules. The tests performed are in four categories: normal
operation of the high voltage system; verification of its stability under
operation; discussion of its behaviour in failure modes; and details of
operation at low voltage. Noteworthy issues, identified through the tests,
include the behaviour of the high voltage modules at voltages below 9V, the
current limit that can be applied during ramping of the voltage, and the speed
with which the voltage is cut during failures of the system. The results of
these tests provide high confidence that the high voltage system can be safely
used and demonstrate that low noise is produced by the power supplies.


title: Weak amenability of Fourier algebras on compact groups

abstract:
  We give for a compact group G, a full characterisation of when its Fourier
algebra A(G) is weakly amenable: when the connected component of the identity
G_e is abelian. This condition is also equivalent to the hyper-Tauberian
property for A(G), and to having the anti-diagonal D^v={(s,s^{-1}):s is in G}
being a set of spectral synthesis for A(GXG). We show the relationship between
amenability and weak amenability of A(G), and (operator) amenability and
(operator) weak amenability of A_D(G), an algebra defined by the authors in
arXiv:0705.4277. We close by extending our results to some classes of
non-compact, locally compact groups, including small invariant neighbourhood
groups and maximally weakly almost periodic groups.


title: Revisiting Critical Vortices in Three-Dimensional SQED

abstract:
  We consider renormalization of the central charge and the mass of the ${\cal
N}=2$ supersymmetric Abelian vortices in 2+1 dimensions. We obtain ${\cal N}=2$
supersymmetric theory in 2+1 dimensions by dimensionally reducing the ${\cal
N}=1$ SQED in 3+1 dimensions with two chiral fields carrying opposite charges.
Then we introduce a mass for one of the matter multiplets without breaking N=2
supersymmetry. This massive multiplet is viewed as a regulator in the large
mass limit. We show that the mass and the central charge of the vortex get the
same nonvanishing quantum corrections, which preserves BPS saturation at the
quantum level. Comparison with the operator form of the central extension
exhibits fractionalization of a global U(1) charge; it becomes 1/2 for the
minimal vortex. The very fact of the mass and charge renormalization is due to
a "reflection" of an unbalanced number of the fermion and boson zero modes on
the vortex in the regulator sector.


title: Varieties with Definable Factor Congruences

abstract:
  We study direct product representations of algebras in varieties. We collect
several conditions expressing that these representations are "definable" in a
first-order-logic sense, among them the concept of Definable Factor Congruences
(DFC). The main results are that DFC is a Mal'cev property and that it is
equivalent to all other conditions formulated; in particular we prove that V
has DFC if and only if V has 0&1 and Boolean Factor Congruences. We also obtain
an explicit first order definition of the kernel of the canonical projections
via the terms associated to the Mal'cev condition for DFC, in such a manner it
is preserved by taking direct products and direct factors. The main tool is the
use of "central elements," which are a generalization of both central
idempotent elements in rings with identity and neutral complemented elements in
a bounded lattice.


title:
The role of the stress trap in polariton quasiequilibrium condensation
  in GaAs microcavities

abstract:
  Recent experiments have shown several effects indicative of Bose-Einstein
condensation in polaritons in GaAs-based microcavity structures when a harmonic
potential trap for the two-dimensional polaritons is created by applied stress.
These effects include both real-space and momentum-space narrowing, first-order
coherence, and onset of linear polarization above a particle density threshold.
Similar effects have been seen in systems without traps, raising the question
of how important the role of the trap is in these experiments. In this paper we
present results for both trapped conditions and resonant, non-trapped
conditions in the same sample. We find that the results are qualitatively
different, with two distinct types of transitions. At low density in the trap,
the polaritons remain in the strong-coupling regime while going through the
threshold for onset of coherence; at higher density, there is a different
threshold behavior which occurs with weak coupling and can be identified with
lasing; this transition occurs both with and without a trap.


title:
Observation of half-integer quantum Hall effect in single-layer graphene
  using pulse magnet

abstract:
  We report magnetotransport measurements on a single-layer graphene in pulsed
magnetic fields up to $B$ = 53 T. With either electron- or hole-type charge
carriers, the Hall resistance $R_{H}$ is quantized into $R_{H}$ = $(h/e^2)\nu
^{-1}$ with $\nu$ = $\pm$2, $\pm$6, and $\pm$10, which demonstrates the
observation of half-integer quantum Hall effect (QHE). At $B$ = 50 T, the
half-integer QHE is even observed at room temperature in spite of a
conventional carrier mobility $\mu$ = 4000 cm$^2$/Vs.


title:
Comments on Accretion of Phantom Fields by Black Holes and the
  Generalized Second Law

abstract:
  The thermodynamic properties of a phantom fluid and accretion by a black hole
were recently revisited by Pereira (2008) and Lima et al. (2008). In order to
keep positive both the entropy and the temperature, those authors assumed that
the phantom fluid has a non null chemical potential. In this short not we will
show that there is a flaw in their derivation of the thermodynamic state
functions which invalidates their analysis and their conclusions concerning the
accretion of a phantom fluid by a black hole.


title:
Epitaxial growth and anisotropy of La(O,F)FeAs thin films deposited by
  Pulsed Laser Deposition

abstract:
  LaFeAsO1-xFx thin films were deposited successfully on (001)-oriented LaAlO3
and MgO substrates from stoichiometric LaFeAsO1-xFx polycrystalline targets
with fluorine concentrations up to x = 0.25 by PLD. Room temperature deposition
and post annealing of the films yield nearly phase pure films with a pronounced
c-axis texture and a strong biaxial in-plane orientation. Transport
measurements show metallic resistance and onset of superconductivity at 11 K.
Hc2(T) was determined by resistive measurements and yield Hc2 values of 3 T at
3.6 K for B||c and 6 T at 6.4 K for B||ab.


title: Heteroclinic connections in plane Couette flow

abstract:
  Plane Couette flow transitions to turbulence for Re~325 even though the
laminar solution with a linear profile is linearly stable for all Re (Reynolds
number). One starting point for understanding this subcritical transition is
the existence of invariant sets in the state space of the Navier Stokes
equation, such as upper and lower branch equilibria and periodic and relative
periodic solutions, that are quite distinct from the laminar solution. This
article reports several heteroclinic connections between such objects and
briefly describes a numerical method for locating heteroclinic connections.
Computing such connections is essential for understanding the global dynamics
of spatially localized structures that occur in transitional plane Couette
flow. We show that the nature of streaks and streamwise rolls can change
significantly along a heteroclinic connection.


title:
Measurements of time-dependent CP asymmetries in B0 --> D(*)+D(*)-
  decays

abstract:
  We present new measurements of time-dependent CP asymmetries for B0 -->
D(*)+D(*)- decays using (467 +/- 5) X 10^6 BB pairs collected with the BaBar
detector located at the PEP-II B Factory at the Stanford Linear Accelerator
Center. We determine the CP-odd fraction of the B0 --> D*+D*- decays to be
R_perp = 0.158 +/- 0.028 +/- 0.006 and find CP asymmetry parameters for the
CP-even component of the decay S_+ = -0.76 +/- 0.16 +/- 0.04 and C_+ = 0.00 +/-
0.12 +/- 0.02. We measure S = -0.63 +/- 0.36 +/- 0.05 and C = -0.07 +/- 0.23
+/- 0.03 for B0 --> D+D-, S = -0.62 +/- 0.21 +/- 0.03 and C = 0.08 +/- 0.17 +/-
0.04 for B0 --> D*+D-$, and S = -0.73 +/- 0.23 +/- 0.05 and C = 0.00 +/- 0.17
+/- 0.03 for B0 --> D+D*-. For the B0 --> D*+/-D-/+ decays, we also determine
the CP-violating asymmetry A = 0.008 +/- 0.048 +/- 0.013. In each case, the
first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The measured
values for the asymmetries are all consistent with the Standard Model.


title: Collider Searches for Extra Spatial Dimensions and Black Holes

abstract:
  Searches for extra spatial dimensions remain among the most popular new
directions in our quest for physics beyond the Standard Model. High-energy
collider experiments of the current decade should be able to find an ultimate
answer to the question of their existence in a variety of models. We review
these models and recent results from the Tevatron on searches for large,
inverse-TeV-size, and Randall-Sundrum extra spatial dimensions. The most
dramatic consequence of low-scale (~1 TeV) quantum gravity is copious
production of mini-black holes at the LHC. We discuss selected topics in the
mini-black-hole phenomenology.


title: Scaling exponents of Forced Polymer Translocation through a nano-pore

abstract:
  We investigate several scaling properties of a translocating homopolymer
through a thin pore driven by an external field present inside the pore only
using Langevin Dynamics (LD) simulation in three dimension (3D). Specifically
motivated by several recent theoretical and numerical studies that are
apparently at odds with each other, we determine the chain length dependence of
the scaling exponents of the average translocation time, the average velocity
of the center of mass, $<v_{CM}>$, the effective radius of gyration during the
translocation process, and the scaling exponent of the translocation coordinate
($s$-coordinate) as a function of the translocation time. We further discuss
the possibility that in the case of driven translocation the finite pore size
and its geometry could be responsible that the veclocity scaling exponent is
less than unity and discuss the dependence of the scaling exponents on the pore
geometry for the range of $N$ studied here.


title:
Modification of the aging dynamics of glassy polymers due to a
  temperature step

abstract:
  Molecular dynamics simulations are used to investigate the connection between
thermal history and physical aging in polymer glasses, in particular the
effects of a temperature square step. Measurements of two-time correlation
functions show that a negative temperature step causes "rejuvenation" of the
sample: the entire spectrum of relaxation times appears identical to a younger
specimen that did not experience a temperature step. A positive temperature
step, however, leads to significant changes in the relaxation times. At short
times, the dynamics are accelerated (rejuvenation), whereas at long times the
dynamics are slowed (over-aging). All findings are in excellent qualitative
agreement with recent experiments. The two regimes can be explained by the
competing contributions of dynamical heterogeneities and faster aging dynamics
at higher temperatures. As a result of this competition, the transition between
rejuvenation and over-aging depends on the length of the square step, with
shorter steps causing more rejuvenation and longer steps causing more
over-aging. Although the spectrum of relaxation times is greatly modified by a
temperature step, the van Hove functions, which measure the distribution of
particle displacements, exhibit complete superposition at times when the
mean-squared displacements are equal.


title:
Equilibrium order parameters of liquid crystals in the Landau-De Gennes
  theory

abstract:
  We study nematic liquid crystal configurations in confined geometries within
the continuum Landau--De Gennes theory. These nematic configurations are
mathematically described by symmetric, traceless two-tensor fields, known as
$\Qvec$-tensor order parameter fields. We obtain explicit upper bounds for the
order parameters of equilibrium liquid crystal configurations in terms of the
temperature, material constants, boundary conditions and the domain geometry.
These bounds are compared with the bounds predicted by the statistical
mechanics definition of the $\Qvec$-tensor order parameter. They give
quantitative information about the temperature regimes for which the Landau-De
Gennes definition and the statistical mechanics definition of the
$\Qvec$-tensor order parameter agree and the temperature regimes for which the
two definitions fail to agree. For the temperature regimes where the two
definitions do not agree, we discuss possible alternatives.


title:
Using radioactivities to improve the search for nearby radio-quiet
  neutron stars

abstract:
  Neutron stars (NS) and black holes (BH) are sources of gravitational waves
(GW) and the investigation of young isolated radio-quiet NS can in principle
lead to constraints of the equation of state (EoS). The GW signal of merging
NSs critically depends on the EoS. However, unlike radio pulsars young isolated
radio-quiet neutron stars are hard to detect and only seven of them are known
so far. Furthermore, for GW projects it is necessary to confine regions in the
sky where and of which quantity sources of GW can be expected. We suggest
strategies for the search for young isolated radio-quiet NSs. One of the
strategies is to look for radioactivities which are formed during a supernova
(SN) event and are detectable due to their decay. Radioactivities with half
lives of ~1 Myr can indicate such an event while other remnants like nebulae
only remain observable for a few kyrs. Here we give a brief overview of our
strategies and discuss advantages and disadvantages


title: Chemical evolution of the Magellanic Clouds based on planetary nebulae

abstract:
  Planetary nebulae (PN) are an essential tool in the study of the chemical
evolution of the Milky Way and galaxies of the Local Group, particularly the
Magellanic Clouds. In this work, we present some recent results on the
determination of chemical abundances from PN in the Large and Small Magellanic
clouds, and compare these results with data from our own Galaxy and other
galaxies in the Local Group. As a result of our continuing long term program,
we have a large database comprising about 300 objects for which reliable
abundances of several elements from He to Ar have been obtained. Such data can
be used to derive constraints to the nucleosynthesis processes in the
progenitor stars in galaxies of different metallicities. We also investigate
the time evolution of the oxygen abundances in the SMC by deriving the
properties of the PN progenitor stars, which include their masses and ages. We
have then obtained an age-metallicity relation taking into account both oxygen
and [Fe/H] abundances. We show that these results have an important consequence
on the star formation rate of the SMC, in particular by suggesting a star
formation burst in the last 2-3 Gyr.


title: Lower Bounds for Dimensions of Sums of Sets

abstract:
  We study lower bounds for the Minkowski and Hausdorff dimensions of the
algebraic sum E+K of two subsets E and K of d-dimensional Euclidean space.


title: Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov Theory of Polarized Fermi Systems

abstract:
  Condensed Fermi systems with an odd number of particles can be described by
means of polarizing external fields having a time-odd character. We illustrate
how this works for Fermi gases and atomic nuclei treated by density functional
theory or Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) theory. We discuss the method based on
introducing two chemical potentials for different superfluid components,
whereby one may change the particle-number parity of the underlying
quasiparticle vacuum. Formally, this method is a variant of non-collective
cranking, and the procedure is equivalent to the so-called blocking. We present
and exemplify relations between the two-chemical-potential method and the
cranking approximation for Fermi gases and nuclei.


title:
On the application of the variational iteration method to a prey and
  predator model with variable coefficients

abstract:
  We discuss an amazing prey--predator model with variable coefficients,
analyze its predictions and the accuracy of the variational iteration method
used to solve the nonlinear equations.


title: Homogeneous fractional embeddings

abstract:
  Fractional equations appear in the description of the dynamics of various
physical systems. For Lagrangian systems, the embedding theory developped by
Cresson ["Fractional embedding of differential operators and Lagrangian
systems", J. Math. Phys. 48, 033504 (2007)] provides a univocal way to obtain
such equations, stemming from a least action principle. However, no matter how
equations are obtained, the dimension of the fractional derivative differs from
the classical one and may induce problems of temporal homogeneity in fractional
objects. In this paper, we show that it is necessary to introduce an extrinsic
constant of time. Then, we use it to construct two equivalent fractional
embeddings which retain homogeneity. The notion of fractional constant is also
discussed through this formalism. Finally, an illustration is given with
natural Lagrangian systems, and the case of the harmonic oscillator is entirely
treated.


title: Pulsed extraction of ionization from helium buffer gas

abstract:
  The migration of intense ionization created in helium buffer gas under the
influence of applied electric fields is considered. First the chemical
evolution of the ionization created by fast heavy-ion beams is described.
Straight forward estimates of the lifetimes for charge exchange indicate a
clear suppression of charge exchange during ion migration in low pressure
helium. Then self-consistent calculations of the migration of the ions in the
electric field of a gas-filled cell at the National Superconducting Cyclotron
Laboratory (NSCL) using a Particle-In-Cell computer code are presented. The
results of the calculations are compared to measurements of the extracted ion
current caused by beam pulses injected into the NSCL gas cell.


title: The NuMoon experiment: first results

abstract:
  The NuMoon project uses the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope to search
for short radio pulses from the Moon. These pulses are created when an ultra
high energy cosmic ray or neutrino initiates a particle cascade inside the
Moon's regolith. The cascade has a negative charge excess and moves faster than
the local speed of light, which causes coherent Cherenkov radiation to be
emitted. With 100 hours of data, a limit on the neutrino flux can be set that
is an order of magnitude better than the current one (based on FORTE). We
present an analysis of the first 10 hours of data.


title: Recent Spin Results from the PHENIX Detector at RHIC

abstract:
  The PHENIX Experiment on the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) with its
use of beams of polarized protons, provides a unique environment of hard
scattering between gluons and quarks complementary to that provided by deep
inelastic scattering (DIS). Polarized proton proton collisions can directly
probe the polarized gluon and anti-quark distributions as the collisions couple
the color charges of the participants. We will give a brief overview of the
PHENIX Spin Program and we will report recent results of the many probes
accessible to the PHENIX experiment.


title: Phantom Dark Energy Models with a Nearly Flat Potential

abstract:
  We examine phantom dark energy models produced by a field with a negative
kinetic term and a potential that satisfies the slow roll conditions:
[(1/V)(dV/dphi)]^2 << 1 and (1/V)(d^2 V/dphi^2) << 1. Such models provide a
natural mechanism to produce an equation of state parameter, w, slightly less
than -1 at present. Using techniques previously applied to quintessence, we
show that in this limit, all such phantom models converge to a single
expression for w(a), which is a function only of the present-day values of
Omega_phi and w. This expression is identical to the corresponding behavior of
w(a) for quintessence models in the same limit. At redshifts z < 1, this
limiting behavior is well fit by the linear parametrization, w=w_0 + w_a(1-a),
with w_a \approx -1.5(1+w_0).


title:
B-Pol: Detecting Primordial Gravitational Waves Generated During
  Inflation

abstract:
  B-Pol is a medium-class space mission aimed at detecting the primordial
gravitational waves generated during inflation through high accuracy
measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization. We discuss
the scientific background, feasibility of the experiment, and implementation
developed in response to the ESA Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 Call for Proposals.


title:
Axions and Anomaly-Mediated Interactions: The Green-Schwarz and
  Wess-Zumino Vertices at Higher Orders and g-2 of the muon

abstract:
  We present a study of the mechanism of anomaly cancellation using only
transverse invariant amplitudes on anomaly diagrams at higher perturbative
orders. The method is the realization of the Green-Schwarz (GS) mechanism at
field theory level, which restores the Ward identities by a subtraction of the
anomaly pole. Some of the properties of the GS vertex are analyzed both in the
context of unitarity and of the organization of the related perturbative
expansion. We investigate the role played by the GS and the Wess-Zumino
vertices in the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon and in the hyperfine
splitting of muonium, which are processes that can be accompanied by the
exchange of a virtual anomalous extra Z-prime and an axion-like particle.


title:
High-order low-storage explicit Runge-Kutta schemes for equations with
  quadratic nonlinearities

abstract:
  We show in this paper that third- and fourth-order low storage Runge-Kutta
algorithms can be built specifically for quadratic nonlinear operators, at the
expense of roughly doubling the time needed for evaluating the temporal
derivatives. The resulting algorithms are especially well suited for
computational fluid dynamics. Examples are given for the H\'enon-Heiles
Hamiltonian system and, in one and two space dimensions, for the Burgers
equation using both a pseudo-spectral code and a spectral element code,
respectively. The scheme is also shown to be practical in three space solving
the incompressible Euler equation using a fully parallelized pseudo-spectral
code.


title: Squishing dimers on the hexagon lattice

abstract:
  We describe an operation on dimer configurations on the hexagon lattice,
called "squishing", and use this operation to explain some of the properties of
dimer generating functions.


title: Generating mixtures of spatial qubits

abstract:
  In a recent letter [Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 100501 (2005)], we presented a
scheme for generating pure entangled states of spatial qudits ($D$-dimensional
quantum systems) by using the momentum transverse correlation of the parametric
down-converted photons. In this work we discuss a generalization of this
process to enable the creation of mixed states. With the technique proposed we
experimentally generated a mixture of two spatial qubits.


title: The generalised scaling function: a systematic study

abstract:
  We describe a procedure for determining the generalised scaling functions
$f_n(g)$ at all the values of the coupling constant. These functions describe
the high spin contribution to the anomalous dimension of large twist operators
(in the $sl(2)$ sector) of ${\cal N}=4$ SYM. At fixed $n$, $f_n(g)$ can be
obtained by solving a linear integral equation (or, equivalently, a linear
system with an infinite number of equations), whose inhomogeneous term only
depends on the solutions at smaller $n$. In other words, the solution can be
written in a recursive form and then explicitly worked out in the strong
coupling regime. In this regime, we also emphasise the peculiar convergence of
different quantities ('masses', related to the $f_n(g)$) to the unique mass gap
of the $O(6)$ nonlinear sigma model and analyse the first next-to-leading order
corrections.


title: Using Warrants As a Window to Epistemic Framing

abstract:
  Mathematics can serve many functions in physics. It can provide a
computational system, reflect a physical idea, conveniently encode a rule, and
so forth. A physics student thus has many different options for using
mathematics in his physics problem solving. We present a short example from the
problem solving work of upper level physics students and use it to illustrate
the epistemic framing process: framing because these students are focusing on a
subset of their total math knowledge, epistemic because their choice of subset
relates to what they see (at that particular time) as the nature of the math
knowledge in play. We illustrate how looking for the warrants students use, the
often unspoken reasons they think their evidence supports their mathematical
claims, serves as a window to their epistemic framing. These warrants provide a
powerful, concise piece of evidence of their epistemic framing.


title: Weighted interlace polynomials

abstract:
  The interlace polynomials introduced by Arratia, Bollobas and Sorkin extend
to invariants of graphs with vertex weights, and these weighted interlace
polynomials have several novel properties. One novel property is a version of
the fundamental three-term formula
q(G)=q(G-a)+q(G^{ab}-b)+((x-1)^{2}-1)q(G^{ab}-a-b) that lacks the last term. It
follows that interlace polynomial computations can be represented by binary
trees rather than mixed binary-ternary trees. Binary computation trees provide
a description of $q(G)$ that is analogous to the activities description of the
Tutte polynomial. If $G$ is a tree or forest then these "algorithmic
activities" are associated with a certain kind of independent set in $G$. Three
other novel properties are weighted pendant-twin reductions, which involve
removing certain kinds of vertices from a graph and adjusting the weights of
the remaining vertices in such a way that the interlace polynomials are
unchanged. These reductions allow for smaller computation trees as they
eliminate some branches. If a graph can be completely analyzed using
pendant-twin reductions then its interlace polynomial can be calculated in
polynomial time. An intuitively pleasing property is that graphs which can be
constructed through graph substitutions have vertex-weighted interlace
polynomials which can be obtained through algebraic substitutions.


title: On The Origin of the Blue Tilt in Extragalactic Globular Cluster Systems

abstract:
  Some early-type galaxies show a correlation between color and integrated
magnitude among the brighter metal-poor globular clusters (GCs). This
phenomenon, known as the blue tilt, implies a mass-metallicity relationship
among these clusters. In this paper we show that self-enrichment in GCs can
explain several aspects of the blue tilt, and discuss predictions of this
scenario.


title: Constraining Orbital Parameters Through Planetary Transit Monitoring

abstract:
  The orbital parameters of extra-solar planets have a significant impact on
the probability that the planet will transit the host star. This was recently
demonstrated by the transit detection of HD 17156b whose favourable
eccentricity and argument of periastron dramatically increased its transit
likelihood. We present a study which provides a quantitative analysis of how
these two orbital parameters affect the geometric transit probability as a
function of period. Further, we apply these results to known radial velocity
planets and show that there are unexpectedly high transit probabilities for
planets at relatively long periods. For a photometric monitoring campaign which
aims to determine if the planet indeed transits, we calculate the expected
transiting planet yield and the significance of a potential null result, as
well as the subsequent constraints that may be applied to orbital parameters.


title: The Aharonov-Bohm effect for a knotted magnetic solenoid

abstract:
  We show that the linking of a semiclassical path of a charged particle with a
knotted magnetic solenoid results in the Aharonov-Bohm effect. The phase shift
in the wave function is proportional to the flux intersecting a certain
connected and orientable surface bounded by the knot (a Seifert surface of the
knot).


title: Higher order Josephson effects

abstract:
  Gaussian linking of superconducting loops containing Josephson junctions with
enclosed magnetic fields give rise to interference shifts in the phase that
modulates the current carried through the loop, proportional to the magnitude
of the enclosed flux. We generalize these results to higher order linking of a
superconducting loop with several magnetic solenoids, and show there may be
interference shifts proportional to the product of two or more fluxes.


title: Mid-infrared spectra of optically selected type 2 quasars

abstract:
  Type 2 quasars are luminous Active Galactic Nuclei whose central engines are
seen through large amounts of gas and dust. We present Spitzer spectra of
twelve type 2 quasars selected on the basis of their optical emission line
properties. Within this sample, we find a surprising diversity of spectra, from
those that are featureless to those showing strong PAH emission, deep silicate
absorption at 10 micron, hydrocarbon absorption, high-ionization emission lines
and H_2 rotational emission lines. About half of the objects in the sample are
likely Compton-thick, including the two with the deepest Si absorption. The
median star-formation luminosity of the objects in our sample measured from the
strength of the PAH features is 5x10^11 L_sun, much higher than for field
galaxies or for any other AGN sample, but similar to other samples of type 2
quasars. This suggests an evolutionary link between obscured quasars and peak
star formation activity in the host galaxy. Despite the high level of star
formation, the bolometric output is dominated by the quasar in all cases. For a
given strength of 10 micron Si absorption, ULIRGs are significantly colder than
are type 2 quasars (their F_nu[14.5 micron]/F_nu[27.5 micron] ratio is 0.5 dex
lower), perhaps reflecting different obscuration geometries in these sources.
We find that the appearance of the 10 micron feature (i.e., whether it shows in
emission or in absorption) is well-correlated with the optical classification
in type 1 and type 2 quasars, contrary to some models of clumpy obscuration.
Furthermore, this correlation is significantly stronger in quasars (L_bol>10^45
erg/s) than it is in Seyfert galaxies (L_bol<<10^45 erg/s).


title: Higgsonium in singlet extension of Standard Model

abstract:
  A possible formation of bound state is predicted in the Standard Model
extension with with additional scalar singlet. A suitable method of solution of
the Bethe-Salpeter equation for a Higgsonium bound state is proposed. With the
help of an integral representation the results are directly obtained in
Minkowski space. The appearance of Higgsonia is shown to be quite natural for
considered extension of Standard model and the calculations are presented for
the bound state composed from two scalars which result from the large mixture
of electroweak doublet and singlet eigenstate.


title:
Scaling properties in bulk and p$_{\rm T}$-dependent particle production
  near midrapidity in relativistic heavy ion collisions

abstract:
  The centrality dependence of the midrapidity charged-particle multiplicity
density ($|\eta|$$<$1) is presented for Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at RHIC over
a broad range of collision energies. The multiplicity measured in the Cu+Cu
system is found to be similar to that measured in the Au+Au system, for an
equivalent N$_{\rm part}$, with the observed factorization in energy and
centrality still persistent in the smaller Cu+Cu system. The extent of the
similarities observed for bulk particle production is tested by a comparative
analysis of the inclusive transverse momentum distributions for Au+Au and Cu+Cu
collisions near midrapidity. It is found that, within the uncertainties of the
data, the ratio of yields between the various energies for both Au+Au and Cu+Cu
systems are similar and constant with centrality, both in the bulk yields as
well as a function of p$_{\rm T}$, up to at least 4 GeV/$c$. The effects of
multiple nucleon collisions that strongly increase with centrality and energy
appear to only play a minor role in bulk and intermediate transverse momentum
particle production.


title:
Equilibrium and nonequilibrium thermodynamics of particle-stabilized
  thin liquid films

abstract:
  Our recent quasi-two-dimensional thermodynamic description of thin-liquid
films stabilized by colloidal particles is generalized to describe nonuniform
equilibrium states of films in external potentials and nonequilibrium transport
processes produced in the film by gradients of thermodynamic forces. Using a
Monte--Carlo simulation method, we have determined equilibrium equations of
state for a film stabilized by a suspension of hard spheres. Employing a
multipolar-expansion method combined with a flow-reflection technique, we have
also evaluated the short-time film-viscosity coefficients and collective
particle mobility.


title: Superconducting atom chips: advantages and challenges

abstract:
  Superconductors are considered in view of applications to atom chip devices.
The main features of magnetic traps based on superconducting wires in the
Meissner and mixed states are discussed. The former state may mainly be
interesting for improved atom optics, while in the latter, cold atoms may
provide a probe of superconductor phenomena. The properties of a magnetic side
guide based on a single superconducting strip wire placed in an external
magnetic field are calculated analytically and numerically. In the mixed state
of type II superconductors, inhomogeneous trapped magnetic flux, relaxation
processes and noise caused by vortex motion are posing specific challenges for
atom trapping.


title: Phonon-induced artificial magnetic fields

abstract:
  We investigate the effect of a rotating Bose-Einstein condensate on a system
of immersed impurity atoms trapped by an optical lattice. We analytically show
that for a one-dimensional, ring-shaped setup the coupling of the impurities to
the Bogoliubov phonons of the condensate leads to a non-trivial phase in the
impurity hopping. The presence of this phase can be tested by observing a drift
in the transport properties of the impurities. These results are quantitatively
confirmed by a numerically exact simulation of a two-mode Bose-Hubbard model.
We also give analytical expressions for the occurring phase terms for a
two-dimensional setup. The phase realises an artificial magnetic field and can
for instance be used for the simulation of the quantum Hall effect using atoms
in an optical lattice.


title: A Bursting Radio Transient in the Direction of the Galactic Center

abstract:
  The radio sky is poorly sampled for rapidly varying transients because of the
narrow field-of-view of most imaging radio telescopes at cm and shorter
wavelengths. The emergence of sensitive long wavelength observations with
intrinsically larger fields-of-view are changing this situation, as partly
illustrated by our ongoing meter-wavelength monitoring observations and
archival studies of the Galactic Center. In this search, we discovered a
transient, bursting, radio source in the direction of the Galactic Center, GCRT
J1745-3009, with extremely unusual properties. Its flux and rapid variability
imply a brightness temperature >10^12 K if it is at a distance >70 pc, implying
that it is a coherent emitter. I will discuss the discovery of the source and
the subsequent re-detections, as well as searches for counterparts at other
wavelengths, and several proposed models.


title:
Fermions with attractive interactions on optical lattices and
  implications for correlated systems

abstract:
  In this paper we address the behavior of the superfluid transition
temperature $T_c$ in the attractive Hubbard model. We study systematically the
effects of pairing fluctuations and address all filling fractions over the
entire range of attractive interaction strength. While the attractive Hubbard
model can be regarded as the generalization of BCS to Bose Einstein
condensation (BEC) crossover to a lattice, we find that the BEC limit of this
Hubbard model is very different from that of jellium, owing to the strong
inter-site repulsion between pairs, which becomes important near half filling
when the on-site attraction is strong. A central conclusion of our work is that
in a lattice, around half filling, the smooth evolution from the BCS to the BEC
limits is interrupted. For the attractive Hubbard model, $T_c$ vanishes when
the system approaches the bosonic regime with increasing interaction strength.
We suggest that the vanishing of $T_c$ at strong coupling strength may signal a
quantum critical transition to another form of superfluid not continuously
connected to a BCS-like phase. We present a simple variational ansatz for the
ground state in this more strongly coupled superfluid. We further generalize
the (s-wave) Hubbard model to d-wave pairing and address issues of potential
relevance to high temperature superconductors. For the d-wave case, we present
a phase diagram and show that here too, one observes a vanishing of $T_c$ when
the pairing onset temperature $T^*$ becomes sufficiently large. We suggest that
future experiments on ultracold fermions in optical lattices should not be
exclusively limited to the repulsive Hubbard model, but should address the
attractive model in order to elucidate features of high temperature
superconductivity.

categories: cond-mat.other cond-mat.quant-gas cond-mat.str-el cond-mat.supr-con


title:
Measurements of the Casimir-Lifshitz force in fluids: the effect of
  electrostatic forces and Debye screening

abstract:
  In this work, we present detailed measurements of the Casimir-Lifshitz force
between two gold surfaces (a sphere and a plate) immersed in ethanol and study
the effect of residual electrostatic forces, which are dominated by static
fields within the apparatus and can be reduced with proper shielding.
Electrostatic forces are further reduced by Debye screening through the
addition of salt ions to the liquid. Additionally, the salt leads to a
reduction of the Casimir-Lifshitz force by screening the zero-frequency
contribution to the force; however, the effect is small between gold surfaces
at the measured separations and within experimental error. An improved
calibration procedure is described and compared to previous methods. Finally,
the experimental results are compared to Lifshitz's theory and found to be
consistent for the materials used in the experiment.


title:
The Atmospheric Signatures of Super-Earths: How to Distinguish Between
  Hydrogen-Rich and Hydrogen-Poor Atmospheres

abstract:
  Extrasolar super-Earths (1-10 M$_{\earth}$) are likely to exist with a wide
range of atmospheres. Some super-Earths may be able to retain massive
hydrogen-rich atmospheres. Others might never accumulate hydrogen or experience
significant escape of lightweight elements, resulting in atmospheres more like
those of the terrestrial planets in our Solar System. We examine how an
observer could differentiate between hydrogen-rich and hydrogen-poor
atmospheres by modeling super-Earth emission and transmission spectra, and we
find that discrimination is possible by observing the transmission spectrum
alone. An Earth-like atmosphere, composed of mostly heavy elements and
molecules, will have a very weak transmission signal due to its small
atmospheric scale height (since the scale height is inversely proportional to
molecular weight). On the other hand, a large hydrogen-rich atmosphere reveals
a relatively large transmission signal. The super Earth emission spectrum can
additionally contrain the atmospheric composition and temperature structure.
Super-Earths with massive hydrogen atmospheres will reveal strong spectral
features due to water, whereas those that have lost most of their hydrogen (and
have no liquid ocean) will be marked by CO$_2$ features and a lack of H$_2$O.
We apply our study specifically to the low-mass planet orbiting an M star, Gl
581c ($M sin i$ = 5 M$_{\earth}$), although our conclusions are relevant for
super-Earths in general. The ability to distinguish hydrogen-rich atmospheres
might be essential for interpreting mass and radius observations of planets in
the transition between rocky super-Earths and Neptune-like planets.


title:
Update of Time-Dependent CP Asymmetry Measurements in $b$-->$c\bar{c}s$
  Decays

abstract:
  We present updated measurements of time-dependent CP asymmetries in fully
reconstructed neutral B decays containing a charmonium meson. The measurements
reported here use a data sample of $(465\pm 5)\times 10^6$ $\Upsilon(4S) \to B
\bar{B}$ decays collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II $B$ factory.
The time-dependent CP asymmetry parameters measured from $J/\psi K_S^0$,
$J/\psi K_L^0$, $\psi(2S) K_S^0$, $\chi_{c1} K_S^0$, $\eta_c K_S^0$, and
$J/\psi K^{*0}$ decays are \begin{eqnarray} C_f &=& 0.026 \pm 0.020(stat) \pm
0.016(syst), S_f &=& 0.691 \pm 0.029(stat) \pm 0.014(syst). \end{eqnarray}


title:
A Model With Dynamical R-parity Breaking and Unstable Gravitino Dark
  Matter

abstract:
  An unstable gravitino with lifetime longer than $10^{26}$ sec or so has been
proposed as a possible dark matter candidate in supergravity models with
R-parity breaking. We find a natural realization of this idea in the minimal
supersymmetric left-right models where left-right symmetry breaking scale in
the few TeV range. It is known that in these models, R-parity must break in
order to have parity breaking as required by low energy weak interactions. The
sub-eV neutrino masses imply that R-parity breaking effects in this model must
be highly suppressed. This in turn makes the gravitino LSP long lived enough,
so that it becomes the dark matter of the Universe. It also allows detectable
displaced vertices at the LHC from NLSP decays. We present a detailed analysis
of the model and some aspects of its rich phenomenology.


title:
Ways towards pure deuterium inertial confinement fusion through the
  attainment of gigavolt potentials

abstract:
  The attainment of ultrahigh electric potentials by suppressing the stepped
leader breakdown of a highly charged conductor levitated in a spiraling Taylor
flow opens up the possibility of order of magnitude larger driver energies for
the ignition of thermonuclear reactions by inertial confinement. In reaching
gigavolt potentials, intense 1016 Watt, GeV ion beams become possible. Together
with their large self-magnetic field, these beams should be powerful enough to
launch a thermonuclear micro-detonation into pure deuterium, compressed and
ignited by such beams. In high gain laser fusion the proton flash from the
micro-explosion is likely to destroy the optical laser ignition apparatus, and
it is not explained how to avoid this danger. The possible attainment of
gigavolt potentials could make laser fusion obsolete.


title: Z' Physics at the LHC and the LHeC

abstract:
  The methods which can be employed to determine the properties of new neutral
resonant states that may be observed in the Drell-Yan channel at the LHC are
reviewed. If these states are sufficiently light we discuss how polarized $ep$
scattering at the LHeC can assist in the determination of their couplings to
the Standard Model (SM) fermions.


title: Turbulence, representations, and trace-preserving actions

abstract:
  We establish criteria for turbulence in certain spaces of C*-algebra
representations and apply this to the problem of nonclassifiability by
countable structures for group actions on a standard atomless probability space
(X,\mu) and on the hyperfinite II_1 factor R. We also prove that the conjugacy
action on the space of free actions of a countably infinite amenable group on R
is turbulent, and that the conjugacy action on the space of ergodic
measure-preserving flows on (X,\mu) is generically turbulent.


title: Coreless Terrestrial Exoplanets

abstract:
  Differentiation in terrestrial planets is expected to include the formation
of a metallic iron core. We predict the existence of terrestrial planets that
have differentiated but have no metallic core--planets that are effectively a
giant silicate mantle. We discuss two paths to forming a coreless terrestrial
planet, whereby the oxidation state during planetary accretion and
solidification will determine the size or existence of any metallic core. Under
this hypothesis, any metallic iron in the bulk accreting material is oxidized
by water, binding the iron in the form of iron oxide into the silicate minerals
of the planetary mantle. The existence of such silicate planets has
consequences for interpreting the compositions and interior density structures
of exoplanets based on their mass and radius measurements.


title: Ranges of Atmospheric Mass and Composition of Super Earth Exoplanets

abstract:
  Terrestrial-like exoplanets may obtain atmospheres from three primary
sources: Capture of nebular gases, degassing during accretion, and degassing
from subsequent tectonic activity. Here we model degassing during accretion to
estimate the range of atmospheric mass and composition on exoplanets ranging
from 1 to 30 Earth masses. We use bulk compositions drawn from primitive and
differentiated meteorite compositions. Degassing alone can create a wide range
of masses of planetary atmospheres, ranging from less than a percent of the
planet's total mass up to ~6 mass% of hydrogen, ~20 mass% of water, and/or ~5
mass% of carbon compounds. Hydrogen-rich atmospheres can be outgassed as a
result of oxidizing metallic iron with water, and excess water and carbon can
produce atmospheres through simple degassing. As a byproduct of our atmospheric
outgassing models we find that modest initial water contents (10 mass% of the
planet and above) create planets with deep surface liquid water oceans soon
after accretion is complete.


title:
Averaging and large deviation principles for fully-coupled piecewise
  deterministic Markov processes and applications to molecular motors

abstract:
  We consider Piecewise Deterministic Markov Processes (PDMPs) with a finite
set of discrete states. In the regime of fast jumps between discrete states, we
prove a law of large number and a large deviation principle. In the regime of
fast and slow jumps, we analyze a coarse-grained process associated to the
original one and prove its convergence to a new PDMP with effective force
fields and jump rates. In all the above cases, the continuous variables evolve
slowly according to ODEs.
  Finally, we discuss some applications related to the mechanochemical cycle of
macromolecules, including strained--dependent power--stroke molecular motors.
Our analysis covers the case of fully--coupled slow and fast motions.


title: Semi-classical central charge in topologically massive gravity

abstract:
  It is shown that the warped black holes geometries discussed recently in
0807.3040 admit an algebra of asymptotic symmetries isomorphic to the
semi-direct product of a Virasoro algebra and an algebra of currents. The
realization of this asymptotic symmetry by canonical charges allows one to find
the central charge of the Virasoro algebra. The right-moving central charge
$c_R = \frac{(5\hat{\nu}^2+3)l}{G\hat{\nu} (\hat{\nu}^2+3)}$ is obtained when
the Virasoro generators are normalized in order to have a positive zero mode
spectrum for the warped black holes. The current algebra is also shown to be
centrally-extended.


title: Supersymmetric G\"odel and warped black holes in string theory

abstract:
  It is observed that three-dimensional G\"odel black holes can be promoted to
exact string theory backgrounds through an orbifold of an hyperbolic asymmetric
marginal deformation of the SL(2,R) WZW model. Tachyons are found in the
spectrum of long strings. Uplifting these solutions in type IIB supergravity,
extremal black holes are shown to preserve one supersymmetry in accordance with
the BTZ limit. We also make connections with some recently discussed warped
black hole solutions of topologically massive gravity, showing that they
actually correspond to quotients of spacelike squashed AdS_3.


title: Transiting Exoplanets with JWST

abstract:
  The era of exoplanet characterization is upon us. For a subset of exoplanets
-- the transiting planets -- physical properties can be measured, including
mass, radius, and atmosphere characteristics. Indeed, measuring the atmospheres
of a further subset of transiting planets, the hot Jupiters, is now routine
with the Spitzer Space Telescope. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will
continue Spitzer's legacy with its large mirror size and precise thermal
stability. JWST is poised for the significant achievement of identifying
habitable planets around bright M through G stars--rocky planets lacking
extensive gas envelopes, with water vapor and signs of chemical disequilibrium
in their atmospheres. Favorable transiting planet systems, are, however,
anticipated to be rare and their atmosphere observations will require tens to
hundreds of hours of JWST time per planet. We review what is known about the
physical characteristics of transiting planets, summarize lessons learned from
Spitzer high-contrast exoplanet measurements, and give several examples of
potential JWST observations.


title: Unusually strong space-charge-limited current in thin wires

abstract:
  The current-voltage characteristics of thin wires are often observed to be
nonlinear, and this behavior has been ascribed to Schottky barriers at the
contacts. We present electronic transport measurements on GaN nanorods and
demonstrate that the nonlinear behavior originates instead from
space-charge-limited current. A theory of space-charge-limited current in thin
wires corroborates the experiments, and shows that poor screening in high
aspect ratio materials leads to a dramatic enhancement of space-charge limited
current, resulting in new scaling in terms of the aspect ratio.


title:
Measurement of Branching Fractions and CP and Isospin Asymmetries in B
  -> K* gamma

abstract:
  We present a preliminary analysis of the decays B0 -> K*0 gamma and B+ -> K*+
gamma using a sample of 383 x 10^6 BBbar events collected with the BABAR dector
at the PEP-II asymmetric energy B factory. We measure the branching fractions
BF(B0 -> K*0 Gamma) = (4.58 +/- 0.11 +/- 0.16) x 10^-5 and BF(B+ -> K*+ Gamma)
= 4.73 +/- 0.15 +/- 0.17 x 10^-5. We measure the direct CP asymmetry to be
-0.043 < A(B -> K* gamma) < 0.025 and the isospin asymmetry to be -0.021 <
Delta0- < 0.079, where the limits are determined at the 90% confidence interval
and include both the statistical and systematic uncertainties.


title:
A Computational Tool to Interpret the Bulk Composition of Solid
  Exoplanets based on Mass and Radius Measurements

abstract:
  The prospects for finding transiting exoplanets in the range of a few to 20
Earth masses is growing rapidly with both ground-based and spaced-based
efforts. We describe a publicly available computer code to compute and quantify
the compositional ambiguities for differentiated solid exoplanets with a
measured mass and radius, including the mass and radius uncertainties.


title:
Isoscaling in statistical fragment emission in an extended compound
  nucleus model

abstract:
  Based on an extended compound nucleus model, isospin effects in statistical
fragment emission from excited nuclear systems are investigated. An
experimentally observed scaling behavior of the ratio of isotope yields
$Y_i(N,Z)$ from two similar emitting sources with different neutron-to-proton
ratios is predicted theoretically, i.e., the relationship of $Y_2/Y_1 \propto
exp(\alpha N + \beta Z)$ is demonstrated. The symmetry energy coefficient
$C_{sym}$ extracted from the simulation results is $\sim$ 27 MeV which is
consistent with realistic theoretical estimates and recent experimental data.
The influence of the surface entropy on the isoscaling behavior is discussed in
detail. It is found that although the surface entropy increases the numercial
values of isoscaling parameters $\alpha$ and $\beta$, it does not affect the
isoscaling behavior qualitatively and has only a minor effect on the extracted
symmetry energy coefficient.


title:
The Stellar Populations of M33's Outer Regions IV: Inflow History and
  Chemical Evolution

abstract:
  We have modelled the observed color-magnitude diagram (CMD) at one location
in M33's outskirts under the framework of a simple chemical evolution scenario
which adopts instantaneous and delayed recycling for the nucleosynthetic
products of Type II and Ia supernovae. In this scenario, interstellar gas forms
stars at a rate modulated by the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation and gas outflow
occurs at a rate proportional to the star formation rate (SFR). With this
approach, we put broad constraints on the role of gas flows during this
region's evolution and compare its [alpha/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] relation with that of
other Local Group systems. We find that models with gas inflow are
significantly better than the closed box model at reproducing the observed
distribution of stars in the CMD. The best models have a majority of gas inflow
taking place in the last 7 Gyr, and relatively little in the last 3 Gyr. These
models predict most stars in this region to have [alpha/Fe] ratios lower than
the bulk of the Milky Way's halo. The predictions for the present-day SFR, gas
mass, and oxygen abundance compare favorably to independent empirical
estimates. Our results paint a picture in which M33's outer disc formed from
the protracted inflow of gas over several Gyr with at least half of the total
inflow occurring since z ~ 1.


title: Entropy Bound and Causality Violation in Higher Curvature Gravity

abstract:
  In any quantum theory of gravity we do expect corrections to Einstein gravity
to occur. Yet, at fundamental level, it is not apparent what the most relevant
corrections are. We argue that the generic curvature square corrections present
in lower dimensional actions of various compactified string theories provide a
natural passage between the classical and quantum realms of gravity. The
Gauss-Bonnet and $({\rm Riemann})^2$ gravities, in particular, provide concrete
examples in which inconsistency of a theory, such as, a violation of
microcausality, and a classical limit on black hole entropy are correlated. In
such theories the ratio of the shear viscosity to the entropy density,
$\eta/s$, can be smaller than for a boundary conformal field theory with
Einstein gravity dual. This result is interesting from the viewpoint that the
nuclear matter or quark-gluon plasma produced (such as at RHIC) under extreme
densities and temperatures may violate the conjectured bound $\eta/s\ge
1/4\pi$, {\it albeit} marginally so.


title:
Ground state normalization in the nonmesonic weak decay of
  $^{12}_{\Lambda}C$ hypernucleus within a nuclear matter formalism

abstract:
  The nonmesonic weak decay width of $^{12}_{\Lambda}C$ hypernucleus has been
evaluated within a nuclear matter formalism, using the local density
approximation. In addition to the one-body induced decay $(\Lambda N \to n N)$,
it has been also considered the two-body induced decay $(\Lambda NN \to n N
N)$. This second decay is originated from ground state correlations, where a
renormalization procedure to ensure a ground state normalized to one has been
implemented. Our results show that the plain addition of the two-body induced
decay implies a lost in the ground state-norm, which adds $\sim 38%$ of
spurious intensity to the nonmesonic weak decay width. By an adequate selection
of the $\Lambda N$-transition potential, our result for the nonmesonic weak
decay width of $^{12}_{\Lambda}C$ is 0.956, in good agreement with the most
recent data.


title:
First Cosmological Constraints on Dark Energy from the Radial Baryon
  Acoustic Scale

abstract:
  We present cosmological constraints arising from the first measurement of the
radial (line-of-sight) baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) scale in the large
scale structure traced by the galaxy distribution. Here we use these radial BAO
measurements at z = 0.24 and z = 0.43 to derive new constraints on dark energy
and its equation of state for a flat universe, without any other assumptions on
the cosmological model: w = -1.14 +/- 0.39 (assumed constant), Omega_m =
0.24+0.06-0.05. If we drop the assumption of flatness and include previous
cosmic microwave background and supernova measurements, we find w = -0.974 +/-
0.058, Omega_m = 0.271 +/- 0.015, and Omega_k = -0.002 +/- 0.006, in good
agreement with a flat cold dark matter cosmology with a cosmological constant.
To our knowledge, these are the most stringent constraints on these parameters
to date under our stated assumptions.


title:
The number of 2x2 integer matrices having a prescribed integer
  eigenvalue

abstract:
  Random matrices arise in many mathematical contexts, and it is natural to ask
about the properties that such matrices satisfy. If we choose a matrix with
integer entries at random, for example, what is the probability that it will
have a particular integer as an eigenvalue, or an integer eigenvalue at all? If
we choose a matrix with real entries at random, what is the probability that it
will have a real eigenvalue in a particular interval? The purpose of this paper
is to resolve these questions, once they are made suitably precise, in the
setting of 2x2 matrices.


title: Connections on non-abelian Gerbes and their Holonomy

abstract:
  We introduce an axiomatic framework for the parallel transport of connections
on gerbes. It incorporates parallel transport along curves and along surfaces,
and is formulated in terms of gluing axioms and smoothness conditions. The
smoothness conditions are imposed with respect to a strict Lie 2-group, which
plays the role of a band, or structure 2-group. Upon choosing certain examples
of Lie 2-groups, our axiomatic framework reproduces in a systematical way
several known concepts of gerbes with connection: non-abelian differential
cocycles, Breen-Messing gerbes, abelian and non-abelian bundle gerbes. These
relationships convey a well-defined notion of surface holonomy from our
axiomatic framework to each of these concrete models. Till now, holonomy was
only known for abelian gerbes; our approach reproduces that known concept and
extends it to non-abelian gerbes. Several new features of surface holonomy are
exposed under its extension to non-abelian gerbes; for example, it carries an
action of the mapping class group of the surface.


title: Narrowband spectroscopy by all-optical correlation of broadband pulses

abstract:
  High peak power ultrafast lasers are widely used in nonlinear spectroscopy
but often limit its spectral resolution because of the broad frequency
bandwidth of ultrashort laser pulses. Improving the resolution by achieving
spectrally narrow excitation of, or emission from, the resonant medium by means
of multi-photon interferences has been the focus of many recent developments in
ultrafast spectroscopy. We demonstrate an alternative approach, in which high
resolution is exercised by detecting narrow spectral correlations between
broadband excitation and emission optical fields. All-optical correlation
analysis, easily incorporated into the traditional spectroscopic setup, enables
direct, robust and simultaneous detection of multiple narrow resonances with a
single femtosecond pulse.


title: Finite-size effects on a lattice calculation

abstract:
  We study in this paper the finite-size effects of a non-periodic lattice on a
lattice calculation. To this end we use a finite lattice equipped with a
central difference derivative with homogeneous boundary conditions to calculate
the bosonic mass associated to the Schwinger model. We found that the
homogeneous boundary conditions produce absence of fermion doubling and chiral
invariance, but we also found that in the continuum limit this lattice model
does not yield the correct value of the boson mass as other models do. We
discuss the reasons for this and, as a result, the matrix which cause the
fermion doubling problem is identified.


title: Maximal Success Probabilities of Linear-Optical Quantum Gates

abstract:
  Numerical optimization is used to design linear-optical devices that
implement a desired quantum gate with perfect fidelity, while maximizing the
success rate. For the 2-qubit CS (or CNOT) gate, we provide numerical evidence
that the maximum success rate is $S=2/27$ using two unentangled ancilla
resources; interestingly, additional ancilla resources do not increase the
success rate. For the 3-qubit Toffoli gate, we show that perfect fidelity is
obtained with only three unentangled ancilla photons -- less than in any
existing scheme -- with a maximum $S=0.00340$. This compares well with
$S=(2/27)^2/2 \approx 0.00274$, obtainable by combining two CNOT gates and a
passive quantum filter [PRA 68, 064303 (2003)]. The general optimization
approach can easily be applied to other areas of interest, such as quantum
error correction, cryptography, and metrology [arXiv:0807.4906, PRL 99 070801
(2007)].


title:
Blazing trails: Microquasars as head-tail sources and the seeding of
  magnetized plasma into the ISM

abstract:
  We discuss the dynamics of microquasar jets in the interstellar medium, with
specific focus on the effects of the X-ray binaries' space velocity with
respect to the local Galactic standard of rest. We argue that, during late
stages in the evolution of large scale radio nebulae around microquasars, the
ram pressure of the interstellar medium due to the microquasar's space velocity
becomes important and that microquasars with high velocities form the Galactic
equivalent of extragalactic head-tail sources, i.e., that they leave behind
trails of stripped radio plasma. Because of their higher space velocities,
low-mass X-ray binaries are more likely to leave trails than high-mass X-ray
binaries. We show that the volume of radio plasma released by microquasars over
the history of the Galaxy is comparable to the disk volume and argue that a
fraction of a few percent of the radio plasma left behind by the X-ray binary
is likely mixed with the neutral phases of the ISM before the plasma is removed
from the disk by buoyancy. Because the formation of microquasars is an
unavoidable by-product of star formation, and because they can travel far from
their birth places, their activity likely has important consequences for the
evolution of magnetic fields in forming galaxies. We show that radio emission
from the plasma inside the trail should be detectable at low frequencies. We
suggest that LMXBs with high detected proper motions like XTE J1118+480 will be
the best candidates for such a search.


title: Decision Problems For Convex Languages

abstract:
  In this paper we examine decision problems associated with various classes of
convex languages, studied by Ang and Brzozowski (under the name "continuous
languages"). We show that we can decide whether a given language L is prefix-,
suffix-, factor-, or subword-convex in polynomial time if L is represented by a
DFA, but that the problem is PSPACE-hard if L is represented by an NFA. In the
case that a regular language is not convex, we prove tight upper bounds on the
length of the shortest words demonstrating this fact, in terms of the number of
states of an accepting DFA. Similar results are proved for some subclasses of
convex languages: the prefix-, suffix-, factor-, and subword-closed languages,
and the prefix-, suffix-, factor-, and subword-free languages.


title: Existence of minimal models for varieties of log general type II

abstract: We prove the existence of pl-flips.


title: Geometry of density sates

abstract:
  We reconsider the geometry of pure and mixed states in a finite quantum
system. The rangesof eigenvalues of the density matrices delimit a regular
simplex (Hypertetrahedron TN) in any dimension N; the polytope isometry group
is the symmetric group SN+1, and splits TN in chambers, the orbits of the
states under the projective group PU(N + 1). The type of states correlates with
the vertices, edges, faces, etc. of the polytope, with the vertices making up a
base of orthogonal pure states. The entropy function as a measure of the purity
of these states is also easily calculable; we draw and consider some isentropic
surfaces. The Casimir invariants acquire then also a more transparent
interpretation.


title: Quantum Interest in (3+1) dimensional Minkowski space

abstract:
  The so-called "Quantum Inequalities", and the "Quantum Interest Conjecture",
use quantum field theory to impose significant restrictions on the temporal
distribution of the energy density measured by a time-like observer,
potentially preventing the existence of exotic phenomena such as "Alcubierre
warp-drives" or "traversable wormholes". Both the quantum inequalities and the
quantum interest conjecture can be reduced to statements concerning the
existence or non-existence of bound states for a certain one-dimensional
quantum mechanical pseudo-Hamiltonian. Using this approach, we shall provide a
simple proof of one version of the Quantum Interest Conjecture in (3+1)
dimensional Minkowski space.


title: Search for TeV Scale Physics in Heavy Flavour Decays

abstract:
  The subject of heavy flavour decays as probes for physics at and beyond the
TeV scale is covered from the experimental perspective. Emphasis is placed on
the more traditional Beyond the Standard Model topics that have potential for
impact in the early LHC era, and in anticipation of the B factory upgrade(s).
The aim is to explain the physics, without getting too involved in the details,
whether experimental or theoretical, to give the interested nonexpert a
perspective on the Flavour/TeV link. We cover the forefront topics of $CP$
violation in $b\to s$ transitions involving penguin and box diagrams, and
probes of charged Higgs, right-handed and scalar interactions. We touch briefly
on $\Upsilon$ decay, $D^0$ mixing, rare $K$ decays, and lepton flavor violating
probes in $\tau$ decay. Our own phemonenology work is often used for
illustration.


title:
Measurement-Only Topological Quantum Computation via Anyonic
  Interferometry

abstract:
  We describe measurement-only topological quantum computation using both
projective and interferometrical measurement of topological charge. We
demonstrate how anyonic teleportation can be achieved using "forced
measurement" protocols for both types of measurement. Using this, it is shown
how topological charge measurements can be used to generate the braiding
transformations used in topological quantum computation, and hence that the
physical transportation of computational anyons is unnecessary. We give a
detailed discussion of the anyonics for implementation of topological quantum
computation (particularly, using the measurement-only approach) in fractional
quantum Hall systems.


title:
Division of the two-qubit Hilbert space according to the entanglement
  sudden death under composite noise environment

abstract:
  We show theoretically that according to the disentanglement behavior under
composite noise environment, the Hilbert space of a two-qubit system can be
divided into two separate parts: a 3-dimensional subspace in which all states
disentangle asymptotically, and the rest in which all states disentangle
abruptly. The violation of additivity for entanglement decay rates under weak
noises [see, PRL 97, 140403 (2006)] therefore can be explained in terms of such
division of the Hilbert space.


title:
A Quantum Adiabatic Algorithm for Factorization and Its Experimental
  Implementation

abstract:
  We propose an adiabatic quantum algorithm capable of factorizing numbers,
using fewer qubits than Shor's algorithm. We implement the algorithm in an NMR
quantum information processor and experimentally factorize the number 21.
Numerical simulations indicate that the running time grows only quadratically
with the number of qubits.