Induced topological phases at the boundary of 3D topological superconductors.
We present tight-binding models of 3D topological superconductors in class DIII that support a variety of winding numbers. We show that gapless Majorana surface states emerge at their boundary in agreement with the bulk-boundary correspondence. At the presence of a Zeeman field, the surface states become gapped and the boundary behaves as a 2D superconductor in class D. Importantly, the 2D and 3D winding numbers are in agreement, signifying that the topological phase of the boundary is induced by the phase of the 3D bulk. Hence, the boundary of a 3D topological superconductor in class DIII can be used for the robust realization of localized Majorana zero modes.

title: Abelian Chern-Simons-Maxwell theory from a tight-binding model of spinless fermions.
abstract: Abelian Chern-Simons-Maxwell theory can emerge from the bosonization of the (2+1)-dimensional Thirring model that describes interacting Dirac fermions. Here we show how the Thirring model manifests itself in the low energy limit of a two-dimensional tight-binding model of spinless fermions. To establish that, we employ a modification of Haldane's model, where the "doubling" of fermions is rectified by adiabatic elimination. Subsequently, fermionic interactions are introduced that lead to the analytically tractable Thirring model. By local density measurements of the lattice fermions we can establish that for specific values of the couplings the model exhibits the confining (2+1)-dimensional QED phase or a topological ordered phase that corresponds to the Chern-Simons theory. The implementation of the model as well as the measurement protocol are accessible with the current technology of cold atoms in optical lattices.

title: Gravitational Behaviour of an Effective Topological Field Theory
abstract: Effective topological field theories describe the properties of Dirac fermions in the low-energy regime. In this work, we introduce a new emergent gravity model by considering Dirac fermions invariant under local de Sitter transformations in four-dimensional open manifolds. In the context of Cartan geometry, fermions couple to spacetime through a $Spin(5)$ Cartan connection that can be decomposed in spin connection and tetrads. In presence of a gravitational instanton background, we show that the corresponding effective topological field theory becomes equivalent to a dynamical gravitational theory with positive cosmological constant and Barbero-Immirzi parameter. At classical level and in absence of matter, this theory is compatible with general relativity.

title: A crucial hypothesis for Inflation
abstract: As is well known there are many different inflationary models that can explain the accelerated expansion occurred in the early Universe. It is possible that there exists a fundamental property of this period that could provide the corresponding field theory. Our hypothesis is that the Ricci scalar should assume a positive constant value during Inflation. Considering a single scalar field that drives the inflationary phase, we obtain uniquely the scalar potential and the coupling term between the scalar field and spacetime geometry. For this potential, that is well known in the inflationary scenario, the theoretical prediction of the spectral index ns is in perfect agreement with the experimental data. Interestingly in two dimensions, our model is equivalent to Liouville gravity.

title: X-ray source overdensities in Chandra distant cluster fields: a new probe to map the cosmic tapestry?
abstract: The first systematic study of the serendipitous X-ray source density around 10 high z (0.24 2σ per field, and >5σ overall) only on scales 8 � × 8 � and peculiar to cluster fields. The blank field fluctuations, i.e. the most sensitive measurements to date of the X-ray cosmic variance on this scale, indicate 1σ variations within ∼15-25% around the average value. The first marginal evidence that these overdensities increase with cluster redshift is also presented. We speculate that the most likely explanation for what has been observed is that the X-ray sources are AGNs which trace filaments connected to the clusters. Nevertheless other possible explanations such as an "X-ray Butcher-Oemler" effect are not ruled out by the present results. If the association of the overdensities with large-scale structures and their positive relation with cluster redshift is confirmed, these studies could represent a new, direct, way of mapping the cosmic web and its parameters at high z.

title: On the origin of the FeK$\alpha$ line in the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 7172
abstract: The Seyfert 2 Galaxy NGC 7172 was observed twice by BeppoSAX narrow eld instruments approx- imately one year apart. As found in previous observations, the source is variable on short time scales (hours) by a factor of30%, conrming the presence of a type 1 nucleus at the center. A strong flux variability (by a factor of 2) on a longer time scale was observed between the two observations. Indeed, in November 1997, the lowest flux ever recorded was detected by BeppoSAX. The broad band spectra obtained with the BeppoSAX narrow eld instruments show marginal evidence of a reflection component. This structure could explain the very flat spectra previously observed in the 2{10 keV band. An FeK line was also detected in both observations. The line intensity appears to remain almost constant between the two observations even if the associated large errors cannot exclude some variability. In order to understand the problem of the origin of the line, data from previous observations, performed with other satellites, were also used. The scenario favored is one where the line is produced at a distance of approximatively 8 light years from the continuum source region, rather than having its origin in the accretion disk. In the framework of the standard unied models for AGN, this suggests that its origin is located in the molecular torus.

title: Unveiling the AGN powering the \Composite" Seyfert/Star-forming galaxy NGC 7679: BeppoSAX and ASCA results
abstract: We discuss BeppoSAX observations and archive ASCA data of NGC 7679, a nearby, nearly face-on SB0 galaxy in which starburst and AGN activities coexist. The X-ray observations reveal a bright (L0:1 50 keV 2:9 10 43 erg s 1 ) and variable source having a minimum observed doubling/halving time scale of10{20 ksec. A simple power law with photon index of 1:75 and small absorption (NH < 4 10 20 cm 2 ) can reproduce the NGC 7679 spectrum from 0.1 up to 50 keV. These X-ray properties are unambiguous signs of Seyfert 1 activity in the nucleus of NGC 7679. The starburst activity, revealed by the IR emission, optical spectroscopy and H imaging, and dominating in the optical and IR bands, is clearly overwhelmed by the AGN in the X-ray band. Although, at rst glance, this is similar to what is observed in other starburst-AGN galaxies (e.g. NGC 6240, NGC 4945), most strikingly here and at odds with the above examples, the X-ray spectrum of NGC 7679 does not appear to be highly absorbed. The main peculiarity of objects like NGC 7679 is not the strength of their starburst but the apparent optical weakness of the Seyfert 1 nucleus when compared with its X-ray luminosity. To date NGC 7679 is one of the few Seyfert 1/Starburst composites for which the broad-band X-ray properties have been investigated in detail. The results presented here imply that optical and infrared spectroscopy could be highly inecient in revealing the presence of an AGN in these kinds of objects, which instead is clearly revealed from X-ray spectroscopic and variability investigations.

title: First high‐resolution detection of a warm absorber in the Broad Line Radio Galaxy 3C 382
abstract: Recent high-resolution measurements suggest that the soft X-ray spectrum of obscured radio galaxies exhibits signatures of photoionized gas (e.g. 3C 445 and 3C 33) similar to those observed in radio-quiet obscured active galactic nuclei. While signatures of warm absorbing gas covering a wide range of temperature and ionization states have been detected in about one-half of the population of nearby type 1 Seyfert galaxies, no traces of warm absorber gas have been reported to date in the high-resolution spectra of broad-line radio galaxies (BLRG). We present here the first detection of a soft X-ray warm absorber in the powerful Fanaroff–Riley type II BLRG 3C 382 using the Reflection Grating Spectrometer on-board XMM–Newton. The absorption gas appears to be highly ionized, with column density of the order of 1022 cm−2, ionization parameter log ξ > 2 erg cm s−1 and outflow velocities of the order of 103 km s−1. The absorption lines may come from regions located outside the torus, however, at distances less than 60 pc. This result may indicate that a plasma ejected at velocities near the speed of light and a photoionized gas with slower outflow velocities can coexist in the same source beyond the broad-line regions.

title: The first XMM-Newton study of two Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxies discovered in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
abstract: The Early Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) contains 150 Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies, most of them previously unknown. We present here the study of the X-ray emission from two of these active galaxies (SDSS J030639.57 + 000343.2 and SDSS J141519.50−003021.6), based upon XMM-Newton observations. The spectral and timing characteristics of the two sources are presented and compared to the typical properties of known NLS1 galaxies. We found that these two NLS1 are within the dispersion range of the typical values of this class of AGN, although with some interesting features that deserve further studies.