Towards the properties of long gamma-ray burst progenitors with Swift data
We investigate the properties of both the prompt and X-ray afterglows of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in the burst frame with a sample of 33 Swift GRBs. Assuming that the steep decay segment in the canonical X-ray afterglow light curves is due to the curvature effect, we fit the light curves with a broken power law to derive the zero time of the last emission epoch of the prompt emission (t 1 ) and the beginning as well as the end time of the shallow decay segment (t 2 and t 3 ). We show that both the isotropic peak gamma-ray luminosity (L peak,γ ) and gamma-ray energy (E iso,γ ) are correlated with the isotropic X-ray energy (E iso,γ ) of the shallow decay phase and the isotropic X-ray luminosity at t 2 (L x ,t 2 ). We infer the properties of the progenitor stars based on a model proposed by Kumar et al. who suggested that both the prompt gamma-rays and the X-ray afterglows are due to the accretions of different layers of materials of the GRB progenitor star by a central black hole (BH). We find that most of the derived masses of the core layers are M c = 0.1 ~ 5 M ☉ , and their average accretion rates in the prompt gamma-ray phase are M c = 0.01~ 1 M ☉ s -1 , with a radius of r c = 10 8 ~ 10 10 cm. The rotation parameter is correlated with the burst duration, being consistent with the expectation of collapsar models. The estimated radii and the masses of the fall-back materials for the envelope layers are r e = 10 10 ~ 10 12 cm and M e = 10 -3 ~ 1 M ☉ , respectively. The average accretion rates in the shallow decay phase are correlated with those in the prompt gamma-ray phase, but they are much lower, i.e. M e = 10 -8 ~ 10 -4 M ☉ s -1 . The r e values are smaller than the photospheric radii of Wolf-Rayet stars. In our calculation, we assume a uniform mass of the central BH (M BH = 10M ☉ ). Therefore, we may compare our results with simulation results. It is interesting that the assembled mass density profile for the bursts in our sample is well consistent with the simulation for a pre-supernova star with mass M = 25M ☉ .

title: The Extremely Long-period X-Ray Source in a Young Supernova Remnant: A Thorne-Żytkow Object Descendant?
abstract: The origin of the 6.67 hr period X-ray source, 1E161348-5055, in the young supernova remnant RCW 103 is puzzling. We propose that it may be the descendant of a Thorne-Żytkow Object (TŻO). A TŻO may at its formation have a rapidly spinning neutron star as a core and a slowly rotating envelope. We found that the core could be braked quickly to an extremely long spin period by the coupling between its magnetic field and the envelope, and that the envelope could be disrupted by some powerful bursts or exhausted via stellar wind. If the envelope is disrupted after the core has spun down, the core will become an extremely long-period compact object, with a slow proper motion speed, surrounded by a supernova-remnant-like shell. These features all agree with the observations of 1E161348-5055. TŻOs are expected to have produced extraordinarily high abundances of lithium and rapid proton process elements that would remain in the remnants and could be used to test this scenario.

title: PSR B1257+12: a quark star with planets?
abstract: A recent observation has shown that PSR B1257+12 could have quite small X‐ray emitting area, only about 2000 m2, which is more than three orders smaller than the canonical polar cap size. We suggest here that PSR B1257+12 could be a low‐mass quark star with radius of R≃0.6 km and mass of M≃3×10−4 M⊙. Such a low‐mass quark star system may form in an accretion induced collapse process or a collision process of two quark stars.

title: H-cluster stars
abstract: The study of dense matter at ultra-high density has a very long history, which is meaningful for us to understand not only cosmic events in extreme circumstances but also fundamental laws of physics. It is well known that the state of cold matter at supra-nuclear density depends on the non-perturbative nature of quantum chromo-dynamics (QCD) and is essential for modeling pulsars. A so-called H-cluster matter is proposed in this paper as the nature of dense matter in reality. 
In compact stars at only a few nuclear densities but low temperature, quarks could be interacting strongly with each other there. That might render quarks grouped in clusters, although the hypothetical quark-clusters in cold dense matter has not been confirmed due to the lack of both theoretical and experimental evidence. Motivated by recent lattice QCD simulations of the H-dibaryons (with structure uuddss), we are therefore considering here a possible kind of quark-clusters, H-clusters, that could emerge inside compact stars during their initial cooling, as the dominant components inside (the degree of freedom could then be H-clusters there).Taking into account the in-medium stiffening effect, we find that at baryon densities of compact stars $H$-cluster matter could be more stable than nuclear matter. We also find that for the H-cluster matter with lattice structure, the equation of state could be so stiff that it would seem to be "superluminal" in most dense region. However, the real sound speed for H-cluster matter is in fact hard to calculate, so at this stage we do not put constraints on our model from the usual requirment of causality.

title: The state of cold quark matter: a model-independent view
abstract: From a model-independent point of view, we address the possibility that quark clustering could occur in cold quark matter at realistic baryon densities because of the likely strong coupling between quarks in compact stars.

title: Are AXPs/SGRs magnetars?
abstract: Anomalous X-ray Pulsars and Soft Gamma-Ray Repeaters have been generally recognized as neutron stars with super strong magnetic fields, namely "magnetars". The "magnetars" manifest that the luminosity in X-ray band are larger than the rotational energy loss rate, i.e. $L_{X}>\dot {E}_{\rm rot}$, and then the radiation energy is coming from the energy of magnetic field. Here it is argued that magnetars may not really exist. Some X-ray and radio observational results are contradicted with the magnetar model. 
(1) The X-ray luminosity of PSR J1852+0040 is much larger than the rotational energy loss rate ($L_{X}/\dot {E}_{\rm rot}\simeq 18)$, but the magnetic field is just $3.1\times 10^{11}$ G. Does this X-ray radiation energy come from the magnetic field? 
(2) In contrast to the above, the magnetic fields of radio pulsars J1847-0130 and PSR J1718-3718 are higher than that of AXP 1E 2259+586, why is the radiation energy of those two radio pulsars still coming from rotational energy? Furthermore, the magnetic field of the newly discovered SGR 0418+5729 with the lowest magnetic field is 3.0 e13 G, lower than the critical magnetic field $B_{\rm C}=4.414$ e13 G) (Esposito et al. 2010). 
(3) Some "magnetars" also emit normal transient radio pulses, what is the essential difference between radio pulsars and the "magnetars"? 
The observational fact arguments will be presented at first, then we discuss in what situation the conventional method to obtain magnetic field could not be correct.

title: Quark and gluon jet properties in symmetric three jet events
abstract: Quark and gluon jets with the same energy, 24 GeV, are compared in symmetric three-jet configurations from hadronic Z decays observed by the ALEPH detector. Jets are defined using the Durham algorithm. Gluon jets are identified using an anti-tag on b jets, based on a track impact parameter method. The comparison of gluon and mixed flavour quark jets shows that gluon jets have a softer fragmentation function, a larger angular width and a higher particle multiplicity, Evidence is presented which shows that the corresponding differences between gluon and b jets are significantly smaller. In a statistically limited comparison the multiplicity in c jets was found to be comparable with that observed for the jets of mixed quark flavour.

title: Measurement of the tau lepton lifetime with the three-dimensional impact parameter method
abstract: A new method is presented for the measurement of the mean $\tau$ lepton lifetime using events in which $\tau$'s are pair-produced and both $\tau$'s decay to hadrons and $\nu_\tau$. Based on the correlation between the two $\tau$'s produced at a symmetric $e^+ e^-$ collider, the 3DIP method relies on the three-dimensional information from a double-sided vertex detector and on kinematic constraints for the precise measurement of the $\tau$ decay angles. Using the data collected from 1992 to 1994 with the ALEPH detector at LEP, a $\tau$ lifetime of $288.0 \pm 3.1 \pm 1.3 $\fs is obtained from the sample in which both $\tau$'s decay to one charged track, and $292.8 \pm 5.6 \pm 3.0 $\fs from the sample in which one $\tau$ decays to one prong and the other to three prongs. The results show small statistical correlations with those derived from other methods. When combined with the previously published ALEPH measurements, the resulting $\tau$ lifetime is $291.2 \pm 2.0 \pm 1.2 $\fs .

title: Measurements of the charged particle multiplicity distribution in restricted rapidity intervals
abstract: Charged particle multiplicity distributions have been measured with the ALEPH detector in restricted rapidity intervals |Y| ≤0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 along the thrust axis and also without restriction on rapidity. The distribution for the full range can be parametrized by a log-normal distribution. For smaller windows one finds a more complicated structure, which is understood to arise from perturbative effects. The negative-binomial distribution fails to describe the data both with and without the restriction on rapidity. The JETSET model is found to describe all aspects of the data while the width predicted by HERWIG is in significant disagreement.

title: Production of excited beauty states inZ decays
abstract: AbstractA data sample of about 3.0 million hadronicZ decays collected by the ALEPH experiment at LEP in the years 1991 through 1994 is used to make an inclusive selection of B hadron events. In this event sample 4227±140±252B* mesons in the decayB*→Bγ and 1944±108±161B**u,d mesons decaying into a B meson and a charged pion are reconstructed. Here and in the followingB**u,d denotes the eightL=1(bū) and (bd) states and their charge conjugate.For the well establishedB* meson the following quantities are obtained:ΔM=MB*−MB=(45.30±0.35±0.87) MeV/c2 andNB*/(NB+NB*)=(77.1±2.6±7.0)%. The angular distribution of the photons in theB* rest frame is used to measure the relative contribution of longitudinalB* polarization states to beσL/(σL+σT)=(33±6±5)%.In theM(Bπ)−M(B) mass difference resonance structure is observed at (424±4±10) MeV/c2, for which the shape and position is consistent with the expectation forB**u,d states decaying intoB(*)π±. The relative production rate is determined to be
$$\begin{gathered} \frac{{BR(Z \to b \to B_{u,d}^{ * * } )}}{{BR(Z \to b \to B_{u,d} )}} \hfill \\ = [27.9 \pm 1.6(stat) \pm 5.9(syst) {}_{ - 5.6}^{ + 3.9} (model)]\% \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$
 where the third error reflects the uncertainty due to different production and decay models for the broadB**u,d states.

title: Search for gamma gamma ---> eta(b) in e+ e- collisions at LEP-2
abstract: A search for the pseudoscalar meson ηb is performed in two-photon interactions at LEP 2 with an integrated luminosity of 699 pb−1 collected at e+e− centre-of-mass energies from 181 GeV to 209 GeV. One candidate event is found in the six-charged-particle final state and none in the four-charged-particle final state, in agreement with the total expected background of about one event. Upper limits of eV, eV are obtained at 95% confidence level, which correspond to upper limits of 9.0% and 25% on these branching ratios.