Level truncation analysis of exact solutions in open string field theory
We evaluate vacuum energy density of Schnabl's solution using the level truncation calculation and the total action including interaction terms. The level truncated solution provides vacuum energy density expected both for tachyon vacuum and trivial pure gauge. We discuss the role of the phantom term to reproduce correct vacuum energy.

title: Unoriented open - closed string field theory
abstract: The string field theory for unoriented open-closed string mixed system is constructed up to quadratic order based on the joining-splitting type vertices. The gauge invariance with closed string transformation parameter is proved. The infinity cancellation mechanism between disk and projective plane amplitudes plays an essential role for the gauge invariance of the theory.

title: Marginal and Scalar Solutions in Cubic Open String Field Theory
abstract: We find marginal and scalar solutions in cubic open string field theory by using left-right splitting properties of a delta function. The marginal solution represents a marginal deformation generated by a U(1) current, and it is a generalized solution of the Wilson lines one given by the present authors. The scalar solution has a well-defined universal Fock space expression, and it is expressed as a singular gauge transform of the trivial vacuum. The expanded theory around it is unable to be connected with the original theory by the string field redefinition.

title: Tachyon condensation and universal solutions in string field theory
abstract: We investigate a non-perturbative vacuum in open string field theory expanded around the analytic classical solution which has been found in the universal Fock space generated by matter Virasoro generators and ghost oscillators. We carry out level-truncation analyses up to level (6,18) in the theory around one-parameter families of the solution. We observe that the value of the vacuum energy cancels the D-brane tension as the approximation level is increased, but this non-perturbative vacuum disappears at the boundary of the parameter space. These results provide strong evidence for the conjecture that, although the universal solutions are pure gauge in almost all the parameter space, they are regarded as the tachyon vacuum solution at the boundary.

title: Closed string amplitudes in open string field theory
abstract: We investigate gauge invariant operators corresponding to on-shell closed string states in open string field theory. Using both oscillator representation and conformal mapping techniques, we calculate a two closed string tachyon amplitude that connects two gauge invariant operators by an open string propagator. We find that this amplitude is in a complete agreement with the usual disc amplitude.

title: On the Generalized Gluing and Resmoothing Theorem
abstract: The generalized gluing and resmoothing theorem originally proved by LeClair, Peskin and Preitschopf, gives a powerful formula for the fused vertex obtained by contracting any two vertices in string field theories. Although the theorem is naturally expected to hold for the vertices at any loop level, the original proof was restricted to the vertices at tree level. Here we present a simplified proof for the tree level theorem and then prove explicitly the extended version at one-loop level. We also find that a non-trivial sign factor, which depends on the string states to be contracted, appears in the theorem. This sign factor turns out to be essential for reproducing correctly the conformal field theory correlation function on the torus.

title: Cosmic degeneracy with dark energy equation of state
abstract: We discuss a degeneracy between the geometry of the universe and the dark energy equation of state wX which exists in the power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background. In particular, for the case with wX<−1, this degeneracy has interesting implications to a lower bound on wX from observations. It is also discussed how this degeneracy can be removed using current observations of type Ia supernovae.

title: Dark energy evolution and the curvature of the universe from recent observations
abstract: We discuss the constraints on the time-varying equation of state for dark energy and the curvature of the universe using observations of type Ia supernovae from Riess et al. and the most recent Supernova Legacy Survey (SNLS), the baryon acoustic oscillation peak detected in the SDSS luminous red galaxy survey and cosmic microwave background. Because of the degeneracy among the parameters which describe the time dependence of the equation of state and the curvature of the universe, the constraints on them can be weakened when we try to constrain them simultaneously, in particular, when we use a single observational data. However, we show that we can obtain relatively severe constraints when we use all data sets from observations above even if we consider the time-varying equation of state and do not assume a flat universe. We also found that the combined data set favors a flat universe even if we consider the time variation of the dark energy equation of state.

title: Isocurvature perturbations and tensor mode in light of Planck and BICEP2
abstract: We investigate the degeneracy of the isocurvature perturbations and the primordial gravitational waves, by using recent observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) reported by Planck and BICEP2 collaborations. We show that the tension in the bound on the tensor-to-scalar ratio r between Planck and BICEP2 can be resolved by introducing the anti-correlated isocurvature perturbations. Quantitatively, we find that with the anti-correlated isocurvature perturbations the constraints on r from Planck alone and BICEP2 results can be consistent at 68 % C.L.

title: Constraints on Generalized Dark Energy from Recent Observations
abstract: Effects of a generalized dark energy fluid are investigated on cosmic density fluctuations such as a cosmic microwave background. As a general dark energy fluid, we take into consideration the possibility of the anisotropic stress for dark energy, which has not been discussed much in the literature. We comprehensively study its effects on the evolution of density fluctuations along with that of the nonadiabatic pressure fluctuation of dark energy, then give constraints on such a generalized dark energy from current observations. We show that, though we cannot find any stringent limits on the anisotropic stress or the nonadiabatic pressure fluctuation themselves, the constraints on the equation of state of dark energy can be affected in some cases by the nature of dark energy fluctuation characterized by these properties. This may have important implications in the strategy to study the nature of dark energy.

title: Density fluctuations in thermal inflation and non-Gaussianity
abstract: We consider primordial fluctuations in thermal inflation scenario. Since the thermal inflation drives about 10 e-folds after the standard inflation, the time of horizon-exit during inflation corresponding to the present observational scale shifts toward the end of inflation. It generally makes the primordial power spectrum more deviated from a scale-invariant one and hence renders some models inconsistent with observations. We present a mechanism of generating the primordial curvature perturbation at the end of thermal inflation utilizing a fluctuating coupling of a flaton field with the fields in thermal bath. We show that, by adopting the mechanism, some inflation models can be liberated even in the presence of the thermal inflation. We also discuss non-Gaussianity in the mechanism and show that large non-Gaussianity can be generated in this scenario.