Quantifying the role of bars in the build-up of central mass concentrations in disc galaxies
We analyze the role of bars in the build-up of central mass concentrations in massive, disk galaxies. Our parent sample consists of 3757 face-on disk galaxies with redshifts between 0.01 and 0.05, selected from the seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. 1555 galaxies with bars are identified using position angle and el lipticity profiles of the i-band light. We compare the ratio of the specific star formation rate measu red in the 1-3 kpc central region of the galaxy to that measured for the whole galaxy. Galaxies with strong bars have centrally enhanced star formation; the degree of enhancement depends primarily on the ellipticity of the bar, and not on the size of the bar or on the mass or structure of the host galaxy. The fraction of galaxies with strong bars is highest at stellar m asses greater than 3×10 10 M⊙, stellar surface densities less than 3× 10 8 M⊙ and concentration indices less than 2.5. In this region of parameter space, galaxies with strong bars either have enhanced central star formation rates, or star formation that is suppressed compared to the mean. This suggests that bars may play a role in the eventual quenching of star formation in galaxies. Only 50% of galaxies with strongly concentrated star formation have strong bars, indicating that other processes such as galaxy interactions also induce central star-bursts. We al so find that the ratio of the size of the bar to that of the disk depends mainly on the colour of the galaxy, suggesting that the growth and destruction of bars are regulated by gas accretion, as su ggested by simulations.

title: Gauge invariant effective Lagrangian for Kaluza-Klein modes
abstract: We construct a manifestly gauge invariant Lagrangian in $3+1$ dimensions for N Kaluza-Klein modes of an $\mathrm{SU}(m)$ gauge theory in the bulk. For example, if the bulk is $4+1,$ the effective theory is ${\ensuremath{\Pi}}_{i=1}^{N+1}{\mathrm{SU}(m)}_{i}$ with N chiral $(\overline{m},m)$ fields connecting the groups sequentially. This can be viewed as a Wilson action for a transverse lattice in ${x}^{5},$ and is shown explicitly to match the continuum $4+1$ compactified Lagrangian truncated in momentum space. Scale dependence of the gauge couplings is described by the standard renormalization group technique with threshold matching, leading to effective power law running. We also discuss the unitarity constraints, and chiral fermions.

title: Toward a Unified Model for the “Diffuse Ionized Medium” in Normal and Starburst Galaxies
abstract: The "diffuse ionized medium" (DIM) makes up a significant fraction of the mass and ionization requirements of the interstellar medium of the Milky Way and is now known to be an energetically significant component in most normal star-forming galaxies. Observations of the ionized gas in starburst galaxies have revealed the presence of gas with striking similarities to the DIM in normal galaxies: relatively low surface brightness and strong emission from low-ionization forbidden lines like [S II] λλ6716, 6731. In this paper we analyze Hα images and long-slit spectra of samples of normal and starburst galaxies to better understand the nature of this diffuse, low surface brightness gas. We find that in both samples there is a strong inverse correlation between the Hα surface brightness (ΣHα) and the [S II]/Hα line ratio at a given location in the galaxy. However, the correlation for the starbursts is offset brightward by an order of magnitude in Hα surface brightness at a given line ratio. In contrast, we find that all the galaxies (starburst and normal alike) define a universal relation between line ratio and the relative Hα surface brightness (ΣHα/Σe, where Σe is the mean Hα surface brightness within the galaxy half-light radius). We show that such a universal correlation is a natural outcome of a model in which the DIM is photoionized gas that has a characteristic thermal pressure (P) that is proportional to the mean rate of star formation per unit area in the galaxy (ΣSFR). Good quantitative agreement with the data follows if we require the constant of proportionality to be consistent with the values of P and ΣSFR in the local disk of the Milky Way. Such a scaling between P and ΣSFR may arise either because feedback from massive stars heats the ISM or because ΣSFR is determined (or limited) by the mean gas pressure.

title: Application of the complex scaling method in relativistic mean-field theory
abstract: We develop the complex scaling method within the framework of the relativistic mean-field (RMF) model. With the self-consistent nuclear potentials from the RMF model, the complex scaling method is used to study single-particle resonant states in spherical nuclei. As examples, the energies and widths of low-lying neutron resonant states in {sup 120}Sn are obtained. The results are compared with those from the real stabilization method, the scattering phase-shift method, and the analytic continuation in the coupling constant approach and satisfactory agreements are found.

title: Three family type IIB orientifold string vacua with non-abelian Wilson lines
abstract: We address the implementation of non-abelian Wilson lines in D = 4 N = 1 type IIB orientifold constructions. We present an explicit three-family example with the gauge group (U(4) × U(2) × SU(2) × SU(2))2 × (U(6) × Spp(4))2 and give the particle spectrum and the trilinear superpotential. Emphasizing the new subtleties associated with the introduction of non-abelian Wilson lines, we show that the abelian gauge anomalies are cancelled by the Green-Schwarz-type mechanism, and calculate the Fayet-Iliopoulos terms and gauge coupling corrections. The analysis thus sets a stage for further investigations of the phenomenological implications of this model.

title: Proposal for direct measurement of a pure spin current by a polarized light beam.
abstract: The photon helicity may be mapped to a spin-1/2, whereby we put forward an intrinsic interaction between a polarized light beam as a "photon spin current" and a pure spin current in a semiconductor, which arises from the spin-orbit coupling in valence bands as a pure relativity effect without involving the Rashba or the Dresselhaus effect due to inversion asymmetries. The interaction leads to linear and circular optical birefringence, which are similar to the Voigt effect and the Faraday rotation in magneto-optics but nevertheless involve no net magnetization. The birefringence effects provide a direct, nondemolition measurement of pure spin currents.

title: Precision measurement of charged pion and kaon differential cross sections in e+ e- annihilation at sqrt[s]=10.52  GeV.
abstract: Measurements of inclusive differential cross sections for charged pion and kaon production in e+ e- annihilation have been carried out at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt[s]=10.52  GeV. The measurements were performed with the Belle detector at the KEKB e+ e- collider using a data sample containing 113×10(6) e+ e- → qq events, where q={u,d,s,c}. We present charge-integrated differential cross sections dσ(h±)/dz for h±={π±,K±} as a function of the relative hadron energy z=2E(h)/sqrt[s] from 0.2 to 0.98. The combined statistical and systematic uncertainties for π± (K±) are 4% (4%) at z∼0.6 and 15% (24%) at z∼0.9. The cross sections are the first measurements of the z dependence of pion and kaon production for z>0.7 as well as the first precision cross section measurements at a center-of-mass energy far below the Z0 resonance used by the experiments at LEP and SLC.

title: Measurement of branching fractions and charge asymmetries for two-body B meson decays with charmonium
abstract: We report branching fractions and charge asymmetries for exclusive decays of charged and neutral B mesons to two-body final states containing a charmonium meson, J/Ψ or Ψ/(2S). This result is based on a 29.4 fb-1 data sample collected at the Y(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric e+e- collider.

title: Morphology of Luminous Infrared Galaxies in the Local Universe
abstract: We study the morphology, stellar mass and star formation rate of 159 local luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) using multi-color images from Data Release 2 (DR2) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The LIRGs are selected from a cross-correlation analysis between the IRAS survey and SDSS. They are all brighter than 15.9 mag in the r-band and below redshift ∼ 0.1, and can be reliably classified morphologically. The fractions of interacting/merging and normal disk galaxies are 48% and 40% respectively. The normal disk galaxies tend to have lower infrared luminosity than interacting/merging galaxies and hence become an increasingly important population at lower infrared luminosity. Our results complement and confirm the morphology evolution trend of LIRGs found by Melbourne, Koo & Le Floc’h (2005) from z ∼ 1 to z ∼ 0.1. We also find that about 75% of disk galaxies in the local LIRGs are barred, indicating that bars play an important role in triggering star formation rates & 20M⊙ yr −1 in the local universe.

title: Search for new physics with same-sign isolated dilepton events with jets and missing transverse energy.
abstract: A search for new physics is performed in events with two same-sign isolated leptons, hadronic jets, and missing transverse energy in the final state. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.98 fb(-1) produced in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. This constitutes a factor of 140 increase in integrated luminosity over previously published results. The observed yields agree with the standard model predictions and thus no evidence for new physics is found. The observations are used to set upper limits on possible new physics contributions and to constrain supersymmetric models. To facilitate the interpretation of the data in a broader range of new physics scenarios, information on the event selection, detector response, and efficiencies is provided.

title: Suppressed star formation in circumnuclear regions in seyfert galaxies
abstract: Feedback from black hole activity is widely believed to play a key role in regulating star formation and black hole growth. A long-standing issue is the relation between star formation and the fueling of the supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We compile a sample of 57 Seyfert galaxies to tackle this issue. We estimate the surface densities of gas and star formation rates in circumnuclear regions (CNRs). Comparing them with the well-known Kennicutt-Schmidt (K-S) law, we find that the star formation rates (SFRs) in the CNRs of most Seyfert galaxies are suppressed in this sample. Feedback is suggested to explain the suppressed SFRs.