Testing modified gravity models with recent cosmological observations
We explore the cosmological implications of five modified gravity (MG) models by using the recent cosmological observational data, including the recently released SNLS3 type Ia supernovae sample, the cosmic microwave background anisotropy data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 7-yr observations, the baryon acoustic oscillation results from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey data release 7, and the latest Hubble constant measurement utilizing the Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope. The MG models considered include the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati (DGP) model, two f (R) models, and two f (T) models. We find that compared with the ΛCDM model, MG models can not lead to an appreciable reduction of the χmin2. The analysis of AIC and BIC shows that the simplest cosmological constant model (ΛCDM) is still the most preferred by the current data, and the DGP model is strongly disfavored. In addition, from the observational constraints, we also reconstruct the evolutions of the growth factor in these models. We find that the current available growth factor data are not enough to distinguish these MG models from the ΛCDM model.

title: Revisit of Tension in Recent SNIa Datasets
abstract: Although today there are many observational methods, Type Ia supernovae (SNIa) is still one of the most powerful tools to probe the mysterious dark energy (DE). The most recent SNIa datasets are the 307 SNIa "Union" dataset \cite{kow08} and the 397 SNIa "Constitution" dataset \cite{hic09}. In a recent work \cite{wei10}, Wei pointed out that both Union and Constitution datasets are in tension with the observations of cosmic microwave background (CMB) and baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO), and suggested that two truncated versions of Union and Constitution datasets, namely "UnionT" and "", should be used to constrain various DE models. But in \cite{wei10}, only the $\Lambda$CDM model is used to select the outliers from the Union and the Constitution dataset. In principle, since different DE models may select different outliers, the truncation procedure should be performed for each different DE model. In the present work, by performing the truncation procedure of \cite{wei10} for 10 different models, we demonstrate that the impact of different models is negligible, and the approach adopted in \cite{wei10} is valid. Moreover, by using the 4 SNIa datasets mentioned above, as well as the observations of CMB and BAO, we perform best-fit analysis on the 10 models. It is found that: (1) For each DE model, the truncated SNIa datasets not only greatly reduce $\chi_{min}^{2}$ and $\chi_{min}^{2}/dof$, but also remove the tension between SNIa data and other cosmological observations. (2) The CMB data is very helpful to break the degeneracy among different parameters, and plays a very important role in distinguishing different DE models. (3) The current observational data are still too limited to distinguish all DE models.

title: Cosmic Age Test in Inhomogeneous Cosmological Models Mimicking $\Lambda$CDM on the Light-Cone
abstract: The possibility of reconstructing a spherically symmetric inhomogeneous Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi (LTB) model with Lambda CDM observations has drawn much attention. Recently, an inhomogeneous LTB model having the same luminosity-distance and light-cone mass density of the homogeneous Lambda CDM model was reconstructed. From the Wilkinson microwave anisotropy probe 7-year measurements together with other cosmological observations, we calculate the cosmic age at our position in this LTB model, and obtain a constraint t(LTB) < 11.7 Gyr at 1 sigma confidence level. We find that this result is, although 2 Gyr younger compared with the age of the homogeneous Lambda CDM model, still within 1 sigma agreement with the constraint of cosmic age given by current astronomical measurements. We expect that in the future, with the help of more advanced observations, we can distinguish the reconstructed inhomogeneous LTB model from the homogeneous Lambda CDM model.

title: Probing interaction and spatial curvature in the holographic dark energy model
abstract: In this paper we place observational constraints on the interaction and spatial curvature in the holographic dark energy model. We consider three kinds of phenomenological interactions between holographic dark energy and matter, i.e., the interaction term Q is proportional to the energy densities of dark energy (rho(A)), matter (p(m)), and matter plus dark energy (p(m) + p(A)). For probing the interaction and spatial curvature in the holographic dark energy model, we use the latest observational data including the type la supernovae (SNIa) Constitution data, the shift parameter of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) given by the five-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP5) observations, and the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurement, from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Our results show that, the interaction and spatial curvature in the holographic dark energy model are both rather small. Besides, it is interesting to find that there exists significant degeneracy between the phenomenological interaction and the spatial curvature in the holographic dark energy model.

title: Thermodynamics of Schwarzschild de Sitter spacetimes: variable cosmological constant

title: Dark energy: A brief review
abstract: The problem of dark energy is briefly reviewed in both theoretical and observational aspects. In the theoretical aspect, dark energy scenarios are classified into symmetry, anthropic principle, tuning mechanism, modified gravity, quantum cosmology, holographic principle, back-reaction and phenomenological types. In the observational aspect, we introduce cosmic probes, dark energy related projects, observational constraints on theoretical models and model independent reconstructions.

title: Model-independent and quasi-model-independent search for new physics at CDF
abstract: Data collected in run II of the Fermilab Tevatron are searched for indications of new electroweak scale physics. Rather than focusing on particular new physics scenarios, CDF data are analyzed for discrepancies with respect to the standard model prediction. A model-independent approach (Vista) considers the gross features of the data and is sensitive to new large cross section physics. A quasi-model-independent approach (Sleuth) searches for a significant excess of events with large summed transverse momentum and is particularly sensitive to new electroweak scale physics that appears predominantly in one final state. This global search for new physics in over 300 exclusive final states in 927pb-1 of pp collisions at s=1.96TeV reveals no such significant indication of physics beyond the standard model.

title: Sloan digital sky survey: early data release
abstract: The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is an imaging and spectroscopic survey that will eventually cover approximately one-quarter of the celestial sphere and collect spectra of ≈106 galaxies, 100,000 quasars, 30,000 stars, and 30,000 serendipity targets. In 2001 June, the SDSS released to the general astronomical community its early data release, roughly 462 deg2 of imaging data including almost 14 million detected objects and 54,008 follow-up spectra. The imaging data were collected in drift-scan mode in five bandpasses (u, g, r, i, and z); our 95% completeness limits for stars are 22.0, 22.2, 22.2, 21.3, and 20.5, respectively. The photometric calibration is reproducible to 5%, 3%, 3%, 3%, and 5%, respectively. The spectra are flux- and wavelength-calibrated, with 4096 pixels from 3800 to 9200 A at R ≈ 1800. We present the means by which these data are distributed to the astronomical community, descriptions of the hardware used to obtain the data, the software used for processing the data, the measured quantities for each observed object, and an overview of the properties of this data set.

title: Challenges to the DGP model from horizon-scale growth and geometry
abstract: We conduct a Markov Chain Monte Carlo study of the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati (DGP) selfaccelerating braneworld scenario given the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy, supernovae and Hubble constant data by implementing an effective dark energy prescription for modified gravity into a standard Einstein-Boltzmann code. We find no way to alleviate the tension between distance measures and horizon scale growth in this model. Growth alterations due to perturbations propagating into the bulk appear as excess CMB anisotropy at the lowest multipoles. In a flat

title: Direct photon cross section with conversions at CDF
abstract: We present a measurement of the isolated direct photon cross section in pp collisions at {radical}(s)=1.8 TeV and |{eta}|<0.9 using data collected between 1994 and 1995 by the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF). The measurement is based on events where the photon converts into an electron-positron pair in the material of the inner detector, resulting in a two track event signature. To remove {pi}{sup 0}{yields}{gamma}{gamma} and {eta}{yields}{gamma}{gamma} events from the data we use a new background subtraction technique which takes advantage of the tracking information available in a photon conversion event. We find that the shape of the cross section as a function of photon p{sub T} is poorly described by next-to-leading-order QCD predictions, but agrees with previous CDF measurements.

title: Young Stellar Groups around Herbig Ae/Be Stars: A Low-Mass YSO Census
abstract: We present near-IR and mid-IR observations of eight embedded young stellar groups around Herbig Ae/Be stars (HAEBEs) using archived Spitzer IRAC data and 2MASS data. These young stellar groups are nearby (≤1 kpc) and still embedded within their molecular clouds. In order to identify the young stellar objects in our sample, we use the color-color diagram of J - [3.6] versus Ks - [4.5]. The Spitzer images of our sample show that the groups around HAEBEs, spectral types earlier than B8, are usually associated with bright infrared nebulosity. Within this, there are normally 10-50 young stars distributed close to the HAEBEs (<1 pc). Not only are there young stars around the HAEBEs, there are also young stellar populations throughout the whole cloud, some of which are distributed and some of which are clumped. The groups around the HAEBEs are substructures of the large young population within the molecular cloud. The sizes of groups are also comparable with those substructures seen in massive clusters. Young stars in groups around HAEBEs have generally larger SED slopes compared to those outside, which suggests that the young stars in groups are probably younger than the distributed systems. This might imply that there is usually a higher and more continuous star-forming rate in groups, that the formation of groups initiates later, or that low-mass stars in groups form slower than those outside. Finally, there is no obvious trend between the SED slopes and the distance to the HAEBEs for those young stars within the groups. This suggests that the clustering of young stars dominates over the effect of massive stars on the low-mass young stars at the scale of our study.