Emergence of Cosmic Space and the Generalized Holographic Equipartition
Recently, a novel idea about our expanding Universe was proposed by T. Padmanabhan . He suggested that the expansion of our Universe can be thought of as the emergence of space as cosmic time progresses. The emergence is governed by the basic relation that the increase rate of Hubble volume is linearly determined by the difference between the number of degrees of freedom on the horizon surface and the one in the bulk. In this paper, following this idea, we generalize the basic relation to derive the Friedmann equations of an (n + 1)-dimensional Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe corresponding to general relativity, Gauss-Bonnet gravity, and Lovelock gravity.

title: A note on Friedmann equation of FRW universe in deformed Horava-Lifshitz gravity from entropic force
abstract: With entropic interpretation of gravity proposed by Verlinde, we obtain the Friedmann equation of the Friedmann—Robertson—Walker universe for the deformed Hořava—Lifshitz gravity. It is shown that, when the parameter of Hořava—Lifshitz gravity ω → ∞, the modified Friedmann equation will go back to the one in Einstein gravity. This results may imply that the entropic interpretation of gravity is effective for the deformed Hořava—Lifshitz gravity.

title: Hidden conformal symmetry of the Kerr-Newman black hole
abstract: We investigate the hidden conformal symmetry of the 4-dimensional non-extremal Kerr-Newman (KN) black hole with the idea of the near-region Kerr/CFT correspondence proposed by Castro, Maloney and Strominger in arXiv:1004.0996[hep-th]. The near-region KN black hole is dual to a 2D CFT with left and right temperatures TL = (2M2 − Q2)/(4πJ) and $ {T_R} = {{{\sqrt { - {J^2} - } }} \left/ {{\left( } \right.Hawking entropy and precisely match the absorption cross section of a near-region scalar field in the KN black hole with the finite-temperature absorption cross section for a 2D CFT.

title: Competition between s-wave order and d-wave order in holographic superconductors
abstract: A bstractWe study competition between s-wave order and d-wave order through two holographic superconductor models. We find that once the coexisting phase appears, it is always thermodynamically favored, and that the coexistence phase is narrow and one condensate tends to kill the other. The phase diagram is constructed for each model in terms of temperature and the ratio of charges of two orders. We further compare the behaviors of some thermodynamic quantities, and discuss the different aspects and identical ones between two models.

title: Thermodynamic geometry of black hole in the deformed Hořava-Lifshitz gravity
abstract: We investigate the thermodynamic geometry and phase transition of Kehagias-Sfetsos black hole in the deformed Hořava-Lifshitz gravity with coupling constant λ = 1. The phase transition in black-hole thermodynamics is thought to be associated with the divergence of the capacities. And the structures of these divergent points are studied. We also find that the thermodynamic curvature produced by the Ruppeiner metric is positive definite for all r+ > r− and is divergent at η2 = 0 corresponding to the divergent points of CΦ and CT . These results suggest that the microstructure of the black hole has an effective repulsive interaction, which is very similar to the ideal gas of fermions. These may shed some light on the microstructure of the black hole.

title: Non-relativistic Josephson junction from holography
abstract: A bstractWe construct a Josephson junction in non-relativistic case with a Lifshitz geometry as the dual gravity. We investigate the effect of the Lifshitz scaling in comparison with its relativistic counterpart. The standard sinusoidal relation between the current and the phase difference is found for various Lifshitz scalings characterised by the dynamical critical exponent. We also find the exponential decreasing relation between the condensate of the scalar operator within the barrier at zero current and the width of the weak link, as well as the relation between the critical current and the width. Nevertheless, the coherence lengths obtained from two exponential decreasing relations generically have discrepancies for non-relativistic dual.

title: Observational bounds on modified gravity models
abstract: Modified gravity provides a possible explanation for the currently observed cosmic acceleration. In this paper, we study general classes of modified gravity models. The Einstein-Hilbert action is modified by using general functions of the Ricci and the Gauss-Bonnet scalars, both in the metric and in the Palatini formalisms. We do not use an explicit form for the functions, but a general form with a valid Taylor expansion up to second order about redshift zero in the Riemann-scalars. The coefficients of this expansion are then reconstructed via the cosmic expansion history measured using current cosmological observations. These are the quantities of interest for theoretical considerations relating to ghosts and instabilities. We find that current data provide interesting constraints on the coefficients. The next-generation dark energy surveys should shrink the allowed parameter space for modified gravity models quite dramatically.

title: The silicon microstrip tracker for CMS
abstract: The CMS silicon strip tracker involves about 70 m2 of instrumented silicon, with approximately 18500 microstrip detectors read out by 5 × 106 electronics channels. It has to satisfy a set of stringent requirements imposed by the environment and by the physics expected at the LHC: low cell occupancy and good resolution, radiation hardness aided by adequate cooling, low mass combined with high stability. These conditions have been incorporated in a highly modular design of the detector modules and their support structures, chosen to facilitate construction and to allow for easy assembly and maintenance.

title: Observational probes of dark energy
abstract: The cause for the observed acceleration in the expansion of the universe is unknown, and referred to as "dark energy" for convenience. Dark energy could be an unknown energy component, or a modification of Einstein's general relativity. This dictates the measurements that are optimal in unveiling the nature of dark energy: the cosmic expansion history, and the growth history of cosmic large scale structure. I will examine Type Ia supernovae and galaxy clustering as dark energy probes, and discuss recent results and future prospects.

title: Nuclear reactor safeguards and monitoring with antineutrino detectors
abstract: Cubic-meter-sized antineutrino detectors can be used to non intrusively, robustly, and automatically monitor and safeguard a wide variety of nuclear reactor types, including power reactors, research reactors, and plutonium production reactors. Since the antineutrino spectra and relative yields of fissioning isotopes depend on the isotopic composition of the core, changes in composition can be observed without ever directly accessing the core itself. Information from a modest-sized antineutrino detector, coupled with the well-understood principles that govern the core’s evolution in time, can be used to determine whether the reactor is being operated in an illegitimate way. A group at Sandia is currently constructing a 1 m3 antineutrino detector at the San Onofre reactor site in California to demonstrate these principles.

title: The high-speed after pulse measurement system for PMT
abstract: A system employing a desktop FADC has been developed to investigate the features of 8 inches Hamamatsu PMT. The system stands out for its high-speed and informative results as a consequence of adopting fast waveform sampling technology. Recording full waveforms allows us to perform digital signal processing, pulse shape analysis, and precision timing extraction. High precision after pulse time and charge distribution characteristics are presented in this manuscript. Other photomultipliers characteristics, such as dark rate and transit time spread, can also be obtained by exploiting waveform analysis using this system.