Radio jets and galaxies as cosmic string probes
The lensing effect of a cosmic string is studied, and some new methods are proposed to detect the cosmic string. The technique for using jets as extended gravitational lensing probes was first explored by Kronberg. We use the “alignment-breaking parameter” ηG as a sensitive indicator of gravitational distortion by a wiggly cosmic string. Then, we applied the non-constant deflection angle to jets, and ηG of a specific jet is just related to the projected slope of the jet. At least three jets in the sample of Square Kilometer Array (SKA) would have significant signals (ηG > 10°) if the wiggly infinite cosmic string existed. The distortion of elliptical object is also studied and used to do a statistical research on the directions of axes and ellipticities of galaxies. In the direction of the string, we find that galaxies appear to be more elliptical for an observer and the distribution of apparent ellipticity changes correspondingly. The ellipticity distribution of current SDSS spiral sample has the signal-to-noise ratio up to 8.48 which is large enough for astronomical observations. The future survey, such as Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) and Dark Energy Survey (DES) would weaken the requirement of special geometry in the data processing. As a result, all kinds of distributions, including ellipticity axis distribution, would serve as probes to detect wiggly strings in the near future. In brief, if a wiggly cosmic string existed, these signals would be convenient to be observed with the future weak lensing survey or other surveys in the deep space. If there was no lensing signal in these distributions, it would give the upper limit of the abundance of infinite strings.

title: Evidence for periodicities in the extinction record? Response to Melott & Bambach [arXiv:1307.1884]
abstract: In a recent paper, we applied time series analysis methods to study the possible influence of the solar motion through the Galaxy on terrestrial extinction (Feng & Bailer-Jones 2013). We drew conclusions about the relative probabilities of how well different models explain the geological extinction record. We found no strong evidence for either a periodicity in the extinction record or for a link between the solar orbit and this extinction record. In response to this, Melott & Bambach (2013) dedicate the majority of their article to criticizing our analysis. Their main objection is to evidence-based model comparison. Here we deal with their criticisms one by one, and show that they are largely misplaced, leaving our conclusions unaffected. The bottom line is that although one can get a periodic model at some period to fit the extinction data, there are other models which explain the data better.

title: $O(\alpha_s)$ corrections to $J/\psi+\chi_{cJ}$ production at $B$ factories
abstract: We investigate the ${\cal O}(\alpha_s)$ corrections to $e^+e^-\to J/\psi(\psi')+\chi_{cJ}$ ($J=0,1,2$) in the NRQCD factorization approach. These next-to-leading order (NLO) corrections are calculated at the level of helicity amplitude. We have made a detailed analysis for both polarized and unpolarized cross sections, and compared our predictions with the measurements at the $B$ factories. We also derive the asymptotic expressions for each of the NLO helicity amplitudes, and confirm the earlier speculation that at NLO in $\alpha_s$, the double logarithm of type $\ln^2 (s/m_c^2)$ appearing in the NRQCD short-distance coefficient is always associated with the helicity-suppressed channels.

title: Inconsistences of the k_T-Factorization in Exclusive B-Meson Decays
abstract: The k_T-factorization has been widely used for exclusive decays of B-mesons. In this factorization the pertubative coefficients are extracted from scattering of off-shell partons. Because the off-shellness of partons the extracted pertubative coefficients in general are not gauge-invariant. We show that these perturbative coefficients contain gauge-dependent singularities beyond tree-level. This leads to that the k_T-factorization is gauge-dependent and violated in the general covariant gauge. This is not consistent with expectations of physics. In the factorization there exist two different wave functions for a B-meson in general. We show that the two wave functions satisfy different evolution equations whose solutions are used to re-sum large log's. Based on this fact, the rseummation of large log's at leading log approximation in the widely used k_T-factorization with only one wave function is inconsistent.