Measurements of H(z) and DA(z) from the two-dimensional two-point correlation function of Sloan Digital Sky Survey luminous red galaxies
We present a method for measuring the Hubble parameter, H(z), and angular diameter distance, DA(z), from the two-dimensional two-point correlation function and validate it using LasDamas mock galaxy catalogues. Applying our method to the sample of luminous red galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7, we measure and Mpc without assuming a dark energy model or a flat universe. We find that the derived measurements of H(0.35) rs(zd)/c and DA(0.35)/rs(zd) [where rs(zd) is the sound horizon at the drag epoch] are nearly uncorrelated, have tighter constraints and are more robust with respect to possible systematic effects. Our galaxy clustering measurements of (with the correlation coefficient r = 0.0604) can be used to combine with cosmic microwave background and any other cosmological data sets to constrain dark energy. Our results represent the first measurements of H(z) and DA(z) (or H(z) rs(zd)/c and DA(0.35)/rs(zd)) from galaxy clustering data. Our work has significant implications for future surveys in establishing the feasibility of measuring both H(z) and DA(z) from galaxy clustering data.

title: Dark Energy Constraints from Baryon Acoustic Oscillations
abstract: Baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs) in the galaxy power spectrum allow us to extract the scale of the comoving sound horizon at recombination, a cosmological standard ruler accurately determined by the cosmic microwave background anisotropy data. We examine various issues important in the use of BAOs to probe dark energy. We find that if we assume a flat universe and priors on ?m, ?mh2, and ?bh2 as expected from the Planck mission, the constraints on dark energy parameters (w0, w') scale much less steeply with survey area than (area)-1/2 for a given redshift range. The constraints on the dark energy density ?X(z), however, do scale roughly with (area)-1/2 due to the strong correlation between H(z) and ?m (which reduces the effect of priors on ?m). Dark energy constraints from BAOs are very sensitive to the assumed linear scale of matter clustering and the redshift accuracy of the survey. For a BAO survey with 0.5 ? z ? 2, ? (R) = 0.4 [corresponding to kmax (z = 0) = 0.086 h Mpc-1], and ?z/ (1 + z) = 0.001, we find = (0.115,0.183) and (0.069, 0.104) for survey areas of 1000 and 10,000 deg2, respectively. We find that it is critical to minimize the bias in the scale estimates in order to derive reliable dark energy constraints. For a 1000 (10,000) deg2 BAO survey, a 1 ? bias in ln H (z) leads to a 2 ? (3 ?) bias in w'. The bias in w' due to the same scale bias from ln DA (z) is slightly smaller and opposite in sign. The results from this paper will be useful in assessing different proposed BAO surveys and guiding the design of optimal dark energy detection strategies.

title: Constraints on generalized extended inflationary models.
abstract: We study the physical constraints on generalized extended inflationary theories, in which the Brans-Dicke field {Phi} couples to the inflaton sector in the form of two arbitrary power-law functions of {Phi}. We find that the most stringent constraints arise from the need to suppress large bubbles and from considerations of the density perturbations generated during extended inflation. We find that there are sizable portions of the parameter spaces in which all the constraints are satisfied.

title: Wavelets and WMAP non-Gaussianity
abstract: We study the statistical properties of the first-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data on different scales using the spherical Mexican hat wavelet transform. Consistent with the 2004 results of Vielva et al., we find a deviation from Gaussianity in the form of kurtosis of wavelet coefficients on 3-4 scales in the southern Galactic hemisphere. This paper extends the work of Vielva et al. as follows: We find that the non-Gaussian signal shows up more strongly in the form of a larger than expected number of cold pixels and also in the form of scale-scale correlations among wavelet coefficients. We establish the robustness of the non-Gaussian signal under more wide-ranging assumptions regarding the Galactic mask applied to the data and the noise statistics. This signal is unlikely to be due to the usual quadratic term parameterized by the nonlinearity parameter fNL. We use the skewness of the spherical Mexican hat wavelet coefficients to constrain fNL with the first-year WMAP data. Our results constrain fNL to be 50+/-80 at 68% confidence and less than 280 at 99% confidence.

title: Dark Energy Search with Supernovae
abstract: To determine the nature of dark energy from observational data, it is important that we use model-independent and optimal methods. We should probe dark energy using its density (allowed to be a free function of cosmic time) instead of its equation of state. We should minimize gravitational lensing effect on supernovae by flux-averaging. We need to include complementary data (for example, from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and large scale structure (LSS)) in a consistent manner to help break the degeneracy between the dark energy density and the matter density fraction. We should push for ambitious future supernova surveys that can observe a large number of supernovae at the highest possible redshifts. I discuss these and other issues that will be important in our quest to unravel the mystery of the nature of dark energy. Current supernova, CMB, and LSS data already rule out dark energy models with dark energy densities that vary greatly with time; with the cosmological constant model providing an excellent fit to the data. A precise measurement of dark energy density as a free function of cosmic time will have a fundamental impact on particle physics and cosmology.

title: A robust distance measurement and dark energy constraints from the spherically averaged correlation function of Sloan Digital Sky Survey luminous red Galaxies
abstract: We measure the effective distance to z = 0.26, DV (0.26), and mh 2 from the overall shape of the spherically-averaged two-point correlati on function of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 (DR7) volume-limited luminous red galaxy (LRG) sample, without assuming a dark energy model or a flat Universe. We giv e the mean and covariance matrix of DV (0.26), mh 2 , bh 2 , and ns. We show that these provide an efficient and accurate summary of the volume-limited LRG data. With flat priors on bh 2 and ns (7σWMAP7), we find mh 2 = 0.131 ± 0.020, and rs/DV (0.26) = 0.1466 +0.0068 0.0073 (the ratio of the sound horizon at the drag epoch to the effective distance to z = 0.26). We find that measurements of mh 2 or m are biased low if flux-limited (instead of volume-limited) L RG sample is used. By scaling the spherically-averaged correlation fun ction, we find the Hubble parameter H(0.26) = 79 +12 13 km s 1 Mpc 1 and the angular diameter distance DA(0.26) = 848 +86 88 Mpc. Combining our results with the cosmic microwave background and supernova data, we obtain k = 0.0059 +0.0092 0.0093 andw = 1.023 +0.054 0.053 (assuming a constant dark energy equation of state). We use LasDamas SDSS mock catalogs to compute the covariance matrix of the correlation function, and investigate the use of lognormal catal ogs as an alternative. We find that the input correlation function can be accurately recovered from lognormal catalogs, although they give larger errors on all scales (especially on small sc ales) compared to the mock catalogs derived from cosmological N-body simulations.

title: The three-point correlation function of galaxies: comparing halo occupation models with observations
abstract: We present models for the three-point correlation function (3PCF) of both dark matter and galaxies. We show that models based on the halo model can reasonably match the dark-matter 3PCF obtained from high-resolution N-body simulations. On small scales (r ≤ 0.5 h -1 Mpc) the 3PCF is sensitive to details regarding the density distributions of dark-matter haloes. On larger scales (r ≥ 2.0 h -1 Mpc) the results are very sensitive to the abundance of the few most prominent haloes. Using the conditional luminosity function, we also construct models for the 3PCF of galaxies, which we test against large mock galaxy samples. The bias of the galaxy distribution with respect to the dark matter, and the finite number of galaxies that can be hosted by individual haloes, significantly reduce the normalized three-point correlation function with respect to that of dark matter. Contrary to the 3PCF of the dark matter, the galaxy 3PCF is much less sensitive to details regarding the spatial number density distribution of galaxies in individual haloes or to the abundance of the few most massive systems. Finally, we show that our model based on the conditional luminosity function is in good agreement with results obtained from the 2-degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey. In particular, the model nicely reproduces the observational finding that the 3PCF for early-type galaxies is slightly higher than that of late-type galaxies, and that there is no significant dependence of the 3PCF on galaxy luminosity.

title: Backward emission of protons in Au+Au collisions at 11.7 A.GeV/c
abstract: We present preliminary results for the emission of target rapidity protons in minimum bias and central 11.7 A.GeV/c Au+Au collisions. The data span the pseudo-rapidity range {vert_bar}{eta}{vert_bar} {le} 0.76 and proton kinetic energy range of 50 {le} E {le} 200 MeV. The slopes of the kinetic energy spectra and dN/d{eta} values for central and minimum bias collisions are strikingly similar. Comparison of the results to results for Si+Au and p+A shows that the shape of the dN/d{eta} distribution is independent of the reaction system or centrality suggesting that the spectator matter does not play a decisive role in determining the shape of the proton distributions at back angles for these systems at AGS energies.

title: Cosmic constraint to DGP brane model: Geometrical and dynamical perspectives
abstract: In this paper, the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati (DGP) brane model is confronted by current cosmic observational data sets from geometrical and dynamical perspectives. On the geometrical side, the recently released Union2 557 of type Ia supernovae (SN Ia), the baryon acoustic oscillation from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Two Degree Galaxy Redshift Survey (transverse and radial to line-of-sight data points), the cosmic microwave background measurement given by the seven-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe observations [shift parameters R, l{sub a}(z{sub *}) and redshift at the last scatter surface z{sub *}], ages of high redshifts galaxies, i.e., the lookback time and the high redshift gamma ray bursts are used. On the dynamical side, data points about the growth function of matter linear perturbations are used. Using the same data set combination, we also constrain the flat {Lambda}CDM model as a comparison. The results show that current geometrical and dynamical observational data sets much favor the flat {Lambda}CDM model and the departure from it is above 4{sigma}(6{sigma}) for the spatially flat DGP model with (without) SN systematic errors. The consistence of growth function data points is checked in terms of a relative departure of redshift-distance relation.

title: Measurements of $\psi^\prime \to \bar{p} K^+ \Sigma^0$ and $\chi_{cj} \to \bar{p} K^+ \Lambda$
abstract: Using a sample of 1.06 x 10(8) psi' mesons collectedwith the BESIII detector at the BEPCII e(+)e(-) collider and chi(cJ) mesons produced via radiative transitions from the psi', we report the first observation for psi' -> (p) over barK(+)Sigma(0) + c.c. (charge conjugate), as well as improved measurements for the chi(cJ) hyperon decays chi(cJ) -> (p) over barK(+) Lambda + c.c. The branching fractions are measured to be B(psi' -> (p) over barK(+) Sigma(0) + c.c) = (1.67 +/- 0.13 +/- 0.12) x 10(-5), B(chi(c0) -> (p) over barK(+) Lambda + c.c) = (13.2 +/- 0.3 +/- 1.0) x 10(-4), B(chi(c1) -> (p) over barK(+) Lambda + c.c) = (4.5 +/- 0.2 +/- 0.4) x 10(-4), and B(chi(c2) -> (p) over barK(+) Lambda + c.c) = (8.4 +/- 0.3 +/- 0.6) x 10(-4), where the first error is statistical, and the second is systematic. In the decay of chi(c0) -> (p) over barK(+) Lambda + c.c:, an anomalous enhancement near threshold is observed in the invariant mass distribution of (p) over bar Lambda + c.c:, which cannot be explained by phase space.

title: A New Design for ILC 3.2 km Damping Ring Based on FODO Cell
abstract: In this paper, we made a new design for ILC 3.2 km damping ring with 2 arcs based on FODO cell and 2 straight sections which are nearly the same as the new version of the 6.4 km ring DCO4 . This new lattice uses less magnets than DCO4 and less quadrupoles than the present SuperB like lattice , and has a freely tunable momentum compaction factor. The work of lattice design and dynamic aperture study will be presented in detail.  After ILC enter the Technical Design Phase 1 by the end of 2008, the Minimum Machine study  based on RDR baseline was launched as the essential strategy of cost-reduction. The term “minimum machine” which try to redesign the machine does not refer to any definable true minimum, but instead is a euphemism for higher level alternative design concepts which promise significant cost-reduction while maintaining the machine performance. With the new machine parameter, a reduction in the number of bunches by a factor of two allows a reduction by the same factor in the circumference of the damping ring, while keeping the current (bunch spacing) in the rings constant. To first order, this could result in a reduction of the damping rings’ cost by almost a factor of two. However, the actual cost savings will depend on the exact lattice design. The design study of ILC 6 km damping ring has started very early and gone through intense competition. The 6.4 km DCO4 based on FODO arc cell is the final version adopted by RDR baseline in 2008. But for the 3.2 km ring, the study which was started by the end of 2008 seems to be immature. The only existent design for the smaller ring is DSB3 based on SuperB lattice. Considering the advantage of FODO lattice such as smaller number of quadrupoles and sextupoles per cell, freely tuable momentum compaction, and better dynamic aperture, we try to make a new design for the smaller ring using FODO arc cell which can also provide a reference for DSB3 design. We named our new design as DMC1 for convenience. GLOBAL CONSIDERATION AND PARAMETER CALCULATION In our design, we adopted the racetrack structure as the 6.4 km baseline design (DCO4). The layout of our 3.2 km damping ring is shown in Figure 1 with the electron and positron beams counter-rotating in the two rings. The advantage of this kind of structure is that the ————————————— injection and extraction beam lines for e+ and erings can be in the same tunnel. Also, the rf section and wigglers are located near each other in order to minimize cryogenic transfer lines, while the rf section must be upstream to avoid the radiation damage.  Layout of the 3.2 km ILC damping ring. The first parameter should be considered before lattice design is the damping time. ILC damping ring has a very fast damping time (about 25 ms) which is decided by the 5 Hz machine repetition rate. The damping time for a damping ring is given by