Studying Inflation with Future Space-Based Gravitational Wave Detectors
Motivated by recent progress in our understanding of the B-mode polarization of cosmic microwave background (CMB), which provides important information about the inflationary gravitational waves (IGWs), we study the possibility to acquire information about the early universe using future space-based gravitational wave (GW) detectors. We perform a detailed statistical analysis to estimate how well we can determine the reheating temperature after inflation as well as the amplitude, the tensor spectral index, and the running of the inflationary gravitational waves. We discuss how the accuracies depend on noise parameters of the detector and the minimum frequency available in the analysis. Implication of such a study on the test of inflation models is also discussed.

title: Bigger Rip with no dark energy
abstract: By studying a modified Friedmann equation which arises in an extension of general relativity which accommodates a time-dependent fundamental length L ( t ), we consider cosmological models where the scale factor diverges with an essential singularity at a finite future time. Such models have no dark energy in the conventional sense of energy possessing a simple pressure–energy relationship. Data on supernovae restrict the time from the present until the Rip to be longer than the current age of the Universe.

title: Neutrino mass from cosmology: impact of high-accuracy measurement of the Hubble constant
abstract: Non-zero neutrino mass would affect the evolution of the Universe in observable ways, and a strong constraint on the mass can be achieved using combinations of cosmological data sets. We focus on the power spectrum of cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies, the Hubble constant H0, and the length scale for baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) to investigate the constraint on the neutrino mass, mν. We analyze data from multiple existing CMB studies (WMAP5, ACBAR, CBI, BOOMERANG, and QUAD), recent measurement of H0 (SHOES), with about two times lower uncertainty (5 %) than previous estimates, and recent treatments of BAO from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We obtained an upper limit of mν < 0.2eV (95 % C.L.), for a flat ΛCDM model. This is a 40 % reduction in the limit derived from previous H0 estimates and one-third lower than can be achieved with extant CMB and BAO data. We also analyze the impact of smaller uncertainty on measurements of H0 as may be anticipated in the near term, in combination with CMB data from the Planck mission, and BAO data from the SDSS/BOSS program. We demonstrate the possibility of a 5σ detection for a fiducial neutrino mass of 0.1 eV or a 95 % upper limit of 0.04 eV for a fiducial of mν = 0 eV. These constraints are about 50 % better than those achieved without external constraint. We further investigate the impact on modeling where the dark-energy equation of state is constant but not necessarily -1, or where a non-flat universe is allowed. In these cases, the next-generation accuracies of Planck, BOSS, and 1 % measurement of H0 would all be required to obtain the limit mν < 0.05−0.06 eV (95 % C.L.) for the fiducial of mν = 0 eV. The independence of systematics argues for pursuit of both BAO and H0 measurements.

title: Correlated Isocurvature Fluctuation of Quintessence and Curvaton Scenario
abstract: We consider cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy in models with quintessence taking into account of isocurvature fluctuation in the quintessence. It is shown that, if the primordial fluctuation of the quintessence has a correlation with the adiabatic density fluctuations, CMB angular power spectrum $C_l$ at low multipoles can be suppressed. Possible scenario of generating correlated mixture of the quintessence and adiabatic fluctuations is also discussed.

title: On the determination of neutrino masses and dark energy evolution from the cross-correlation of CMB and LSS
abstract: We discuss the possibilities of the simultaneous determination of the neutrino masses and the evolution of dark energy from future cosmological observations such as cosmic microwave background (CMB), large scale structure (LSS) and the cross-correlation between them. Recently it has been discussed that there is a degeneracy between the neutrino masses and the equation of state for dark energy. It is also known that there are some degeneracies among the parameters describing the dark energy evolution. We discuss the implications of these for the cross-correlation of CMB with LSS in some detail. Then we consider to what extent we can determine the neutrino masses and the dark energy evolution using the expected data from CMB, LSS and their cross-correlation.

title: Constraining SuperWIMPy and Warm Subhalos with Future Submillilensing
abstract: We propose to observe QSO-galaxy strong lens systems to give a new constraint on the damping scale of the initial fluctuations. We find that the future observation of submilliarc scale astrometric shifts of the multiple lensed images of QSOs would find ∼ 10 ( 3 – 9 ) M ⊙ subhalos inside the macrolens halo. The superweakly interacting massive particles (superWIMPs) produced from a WIMP decay and the warm dark matter (WDM) particles that predict a comoving damping scale larger than ∼ 2 kpc can be constrained if ∼ 10 3 M ⊙ subhalos are detected.

title: Classical Solutions and Order of Zeros in Open String Field Theory
abstract: Earlier an analytic approach is proposed for classical solutions describing tachyon vacuum in open string field theory. Based on the approach, we construct a certain class of classical solutions written in terms of holomorphic functions with higher order zeros. Taking the simplest among the new classical solutions, we study the cohomology of the new BRS charge and make a numerical analysis of the vacuum energy. The results indicate that the new non-trivial solution is another analytic candidate for the tachyon vacuum.

title: Level truncation analysis of exact solutions in open string field theory
abstract: 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: Beam and SKS spectrometers at the K1.8 beam line
abstract: High-resolution spectrometers for both incident beams and scattered particles have been constructed at the K1.8 beam line of the Hadron Experimental Facility at J-PARC. A point-to-point optics is realized between the entrance and exit of QQDQQ magnets for the beam spectrometer. Fine-pitch wire chamber trackers and hodoscope counters are installed in the beam spectrometer to accept a high rate beam up to 107 Hz. The superconducting kaon spectrometer for scattered particles was transferred from KEK with modifications to the cryogenic system and detectors. A missing-mass resolution of 1.9 ± 0.1 MeV/c2 (FWHM) was achieved for the Σ peaks of (π±,K+) reactions on a proton target in the first physics run of E19 in 2010

title: Wilson Lines and Classical Solutions in Cubic Open String Field Theory
abstract: We construct exact classical solutions in cubic open string field theory. By the redefinition of the string field, we find that the solutions correspond to finite deformations of the Wilson lines. The solutions have well-defined Fock space expressions, and they have no branch cut singularity of marginal parameters which was found in the analysis using level truncation approximation in Feynman-Siegel gauge. We also discuss marginal tachyon lump solutions at critical radius.

title: Tachyon vacuum of bosonic open string field theory in marginally deformed backgrounds
abstract: We consider bosonic open string field theory in marginally deformed backgrounds, which is obtained by expanding the string field around identity-based solutions associated with marginal deformations. We find a new set of string fields that satisfies the KB calgebra, but the nilpotent kinetic operator is that of the theory expanded around the identity-based marginal solution. By use of these string fields, we construct the tachyon vacuum solution in marginally deformed backgrounds. The vacuum energy density is equivalent to that of the tachyon vacuum without marginal deformations. The gauge invariant overlap is changed according to the effect of marginal deformations, as expected from known results in conformal field theory (CFT). These results suggest that the vacuum energy is zero for the identity-based marginal solutions in the original theory.