UNIQUE SIGNATURE OF DARK MATTER IN ANCIENT MICA
Mica can store (for >1 Gy) etchable tracks caused by atoms recoiling from WIMPs. Because a background from fission neutrons will eventually limit this technique, a unique signature for WIMPs in ancient mica is needed. Our motion around the center of the Galaxy causes WIMPs, unlike neutrons, to enter the mica from a preferred direction on the sky. Mica is a directional detector and despite the complex rotations that natural mica crystals make with respect to this WIMP ``wind,'' there is a substantial dependence of etch pit density on present day mica orientation.

title: Formation of GEMS from shock-accelerated crystalline dust in superbubbles
abstract: Interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) contain enigmatic sub-micron components called GEMS (Glass with Embedded Metal and Sulfides). The compositions and structures of GEMS indicate that they have been processed by exposure to ion- izing radiation but details of the actual irradiation environment(s) have remained elusive. Here we propose a mechanism and astrophysical site for GEMS formation that explains for the first time the following key properties of GEMS; they are stoichiometrically enriched in oxygen and systematically deple- ted in S, Mg, Ca and Fe (relative to solar abundances), most have normal (solar) oxygen isotopic compositions, they exhibit a strikingly narrow size distribution (0.1-0.5 $\mu$m diameter), and some of them contain ``relict'' crystals within their glass matrices. We show that these properties are incon- sistent with amorphization by particles accelerated by diffusive shock accel- eration. Instead, we propose that GEMS are formed from crystalline grains that condense in outflows from massive stars in OB associations, are accelerated in encounters with frequent supernova shocks inside the associated superbubble, and are implanted with atoms from the hot gas in the SB interior. We thus rev- erse the usual roles of target and projectile. Rather than being bombarded at rest by energetic ions, grains are accelerated and bombarded by a nearly mono- velocity beam of atoms as viewed in their rest frame. Meyer, Drury and Ellison have proposed that galactic cosmic rays originate from ions sputtered from such accelerated dust grains. We suggest that GEMS are surviving members of a pop- ulation of fast grains that constitute the long-sought source material for gal- actic cosmic rays. Thus, representatives of the GCR source material may have been awaiting discovery in cosmic dust labs for the last thirty years.

title: Amanda South Pole neutrino detector
abstract: High energy neutrino radiation provides us with a tomographic tool to scan the Universe. Sites shielded by a few hundred grams of matter are not revealed by light, whatever its wavelength. High energy neutrinos are decay products of pions and therefore are a signature of the most energetic cosmic processes. It is proposed to instrument the polar ice cap as a low‐noise particle detector sensing the Cherenkov light from neutrino‐induced muons. This paper describes the successful operation of a prototype string of optical modules that were deployed on January 17, 1992 at the South Pole. The advantages of the method are intriguing. The ice has good optical transmission and provides a mechanical structure to support the instrument. Ice is a quiet, sterile medium where photomultiplier tubes experience low background counting rates. The low background allows us to develop electronics and triggering schemes that are simple and can be installed at the surface and thus remain accessible after deployment of the PMTs...

title: Ultrahigh-energy neutrino astrophysics with AMANDA

title: The AMANDA neutrino astronomy project

title: AMANDA: Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector Array
abstract: Enormous detectors with unprecedented sensitivity will be required to search for astrophysical sources of neutrinos. If the transparency of deep polar ice is similar to that measured in the laboratory, then AMANDA (Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector Array) may be the most cost-effective way to reach the detector volumes required to search for astrophysical sources of high energy neutrinos or WIMP annihilation within the sun.

title: Chaotic Inflation in Supergravity after Planck and BICEP2
abstract: We discuss the general structure and observational consequences of some of the simplest versions of chaotic inflation in supergravity in relation to the data by Planck 2013 and BICEP2. We show that minimal modifications to the simplest quadratic potential are sufficient to provide a controllable tensor mode signal and a suppression of CMB power at large angular scales.

title: Just enough inflation: power spectrum modifications at large scales
abstract: We show that models of `just enough' inflation, where the slow-roll evolution lasted only 50- 60 e-foldings, feature modifications of the CMB power spectrum at large angular scales. We perform a systematic analytic analysis in the limit of a sudden transition between any possible non-slow-roll background evolution and the final stage of slow-roll inflation. We find a high degree of universality since most common backgrounds like fast-roll evolution, matter or radiation-dominance give rise to a power loss at large angular scales and a peak together with an oscillatory behaviour at scales around the value of the Hubble parameter at the beginning of slow-roll inflation. Depending on the value of the equation of state parameter, different pre-inflationary epochs lead instead to an enhancement of power at low l, and so seem disfavoured by recent observational hints for a lack of CMB power at l 40. We also comment on the importance of initial conditions and the possibility to have multiple pre-inflationary stages.

title: Relations between canonical and non-canonical inflation
abstract: We look for potential observational degeneracies between canonical and non-canonical models of ination of a single eld . Non-canonical inationary mod- els are characterized by higher than linear powers of the standard kinetic term X in the eective Lagrangian p(X; ) and arise for instance in the context of the Dirac- Born-Infeld (DBI) action in string theory. An on-shell transformation is introduced that transforms non-canonical inationary theories to theories with a canonical ki- netic term. The 2-point function observables of the original non-canonical theory and its canonical transform are found to match in the case of DBI ination.

title: A sufficient condition for de Sitter vacua in type IIB string theory
abstract: A bstractWe derive a sufficient condition for realizing meta-stable de Sitter vacua with small positive cosmological constant within type IIB string theory flux compactifications with spontaneously broken supersymmetry. There are a number of ‘lamp post’ construc-tions of de Sitter vacua in type IIB string theory and supergravity. We show that one of them — the method of ‘Kähler uplifting’ by F-terms from an interplay between non-perturbative effects and the leading α′-correction — allows for a more general parametric understanding of the existence of de Sitter vacua. The result is a condition on the values of the flux induced superpotential and the topological data of the Calabi-Yau compactification, which guarantees the existence of a meta-stable de Sitter vacuum if met. Our analysis explicitly includes the stabilization of all moduli, i.e. the Kähler, dilaton and complex structure moduli, by the interplay of the leading perturbative and non-perturbative effects at parametrically large volume.

title: Gravitationally bound quantum states of neutrons: applications and perspectives
abstract: Gravitationally bound quantum states of matter were observed recently due to unique properties of ultracold neutrons. We discuss here the actual status and possible improvements in this experiment. This phenomenon could be useful for various domains ranging from the physics of elementary particles and fields, to surface studies, or to foundations of quantum mechanics.