Upstream veto counter for the K2K long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment
We have constructed and tested the upstream veto counter for the K2K long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. The upstream veto counter was constructed in such a way that two VENUS scintillators were read out via a single photomultiplier tube at each end. Timing resolutions and efficiencies of the veto counter were better than 1.0 ns and 99% in the active region of the scintillators, respectively. Energy resolutions of the veto counter are also better than 20% between the far end and the center of the scintillators. We conclude that the upstream veto counter meets requirements to reject backgrounds such as cosmic muons and beam-related muons from the upstream water Cherenkov counter and to separate beam-induced electrons from muons.

title: Zero cosmological constant and nonzero dark energy from the holographic principle
abstract: The first law of thermodynamics and the holographic principle applied to an arbitrary large cosmic causal horizon are shown to naturally demand a zero cosmological constant and a non-zero dynamical dark energy in the form of the holographic dark energy. A semiclassical analysis shows that the holographic dark energy has a parameter d = 1 and an equation of state comparable to current observational data if the entropy of the horizon saturates the Bekenstein-Hawking bound. This result indicates that quantum field theory should be modified on a large scale to explain the dark energy. The relations among the dark energy, the quantum vacuum energy and the entropic gravity are also discussed.

title: Radiation Damping at a Bubble Wall
abstract: The first order phase transition proceeds via nucleation and growth of true vacuum bubbles. When charged particles collide with the bubble they could radiate electromagnetic wave. We show that, due to an energy loss of the particles by the radiation, the damping pressure acting on the bubble wall depends on the velocity of the wall even in a thermal equilibrium state.

title: Dark energy, inflation and the cosmic coincidence problem
abstract: We show that holographic dark energy could explain why the current dark energy density is so small, if there was an inflation with a sufficient expansion in the early universe. It is also suggested that an inflation with the number of e-folds N ≃ 65 may solve the cosmic coincidence problem in this context. Assuming the inflation and the power-law acceleration phase today we obtain approximate formulas for the event horizon size of the universe and dark energy density as functions of time. A simple numerical study exploiting the formula well reproduces the observed evolution of dark energy. This nontrivial match between the theory and the observational data supports both inflation and holographic dark energy models.

title: Black Hole as an Information Eraser
abstract: We discuss the identity of black hole entropy and show that the first law of black hole thermodynamics, in the case of a Schwarzschild black hole, can be derived from Landauer's principle by assuming that the black hole is one of the most efficient information erasers. The term "most efficient" implies that maximal information will be erased for a given amount of work. We calculate the discrete mass spectra and the entropy of a Schwarzschild black hole assuming that the black hole processes information in unit of bits. The black hole entropy acquires a subleading contribution proportional to the logarithm of its mass-squared in addition to the usual mass-squared term without an artificial cutoff. We also argue that the minimum of the black hole mass is $\sqrt{\log 2/(8\pi)}M_{\rm P}$.

title: Quantum entanglement from the holographic principle
abstract: It is suggested that quantum entanglement emerges from the holographic principle stating that all of the information of a region (bulk bits) can be described by the bits on its boundary surface. There are redundancy and information loss in the bulk bits that lead to the nonlocal correlation among the bulk bits. Quantum field theory overestimates the independent degrees of freedom in the bulk. The maximum entanglement in the universe increases as the size of the cosmic horizon and this could be related with the arrow of time and dark energy.

title: TWO DISTINCT PHASES OF HARD X-RAY EMISSIONS IN A SOLAR ERUPTIVE FLARE
abstract: We present a detailed analysis of the evolution of an M7.6 flare that occurred near the south-east limb on October 24, 2003 utilizing a multi-wavelength data set. Preflare images at TRACE 195 Å show that the bright and complex system of coronal loops already existed at the flaring site. The X-ray light curves clearly reveal two phases of flare evolution. The emission during the first phase is seen in GOES and RHESSI measurements at energies below 25 keV, while the second phase is evident in all the X-ray energies as high as 300 keV. The first phase is gradual whereas the second phase shows impulsive emission with several individual hard X-ray bursts. The first phase starts with the appearance of an X-ray loop-top (LT) source in RHESSI images below 25 keV. About 5 minute later, the TRACE 195 Å images show an intense emission that is cospatial with RHESSI LT source. This hot and diffuse TRACE emission is attributed to the existence of 15-20 MK plasma, heated directly from the primary energy source. Both X-ray and TRACE LT sources exhibit an altitude decrease for ∼ 11 minute. The high energy X-ray emission between 25-300 keV dominates the second phase, which correlates well with TRACE 1600 Å and Hα flare ribbons. The first phase seems to be mostly dominated by hot thermal emission from flaring loops with temperatures T > 25 MK. The second phase is found to be dominantly non-thermal in Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Daejeon 305-348, Korea IGAM/Institute of Physics, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 5, A-8010 Graz, Austria Department of Astronomy and Space Science, Kyung Hee University, Yongin 446-701, Korea Physics Department, New Jersey Institute of Technology, 161 Warren Street, Newark, NJ 07102 Astronomical Institute, Moscow State University, Universitetskij Prospekt 13, Moscow 119992 Radio Astronomy Centre, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Udhagamandalam (Ooty) 643 001, India

title: Search for First Generation Scalar Leptoquarks in pp Collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV with the ATLAS Detector
abstract: We report a search for first generation scalar leptoquarks using 1.03 fb−1 of proton–proton collisions data produced by the Large Hadron Collider at and recorded by the ATLAS experiment. Leptoquarks are sought via their decay into an electron or neutrino and a quark, producing events with two oppositely charged electrons and at least two jets, or events with an electron, missing transverse momentum and at least two jets. Control data samples are used to validate background predictions from Monte Carlo simulation. In the signal region, the observed event yields are consistent with the background expectations. We exclude at 95% confidence level the production of first generation scalar leptoquark with masses when assuming the branching fraction of a leptoquark to a charged lepton is equal to 1.0 (0.5).

title: THE PERIOD VARIATION OF AND A SPOT MODEL FOR THE ECLIPSING BINARY AR BOOTIS
abstract: New CCD photometric observations of the eclipsing system AR Boo were obtained from 2006 February to 2008 April. The star's photometric properties are derived from detailed studies of the period variability and of all available light curves. We find that over about 56 yr the orbital period of the system has varied due to a combination of an upward parabola and a sinusoid rather than in a monotonic fashion. Mass transfer from the less massive primary to the more massive secondary component is likely responsible for at least a significant part of the secular period change. The cyclical variation with a period of 7.57 yr and a semi-amplitude of 0.0015 d can be produced either by a light-travel-time effect due to an unseen companion with a scaled mass of M 3sin i 3 = 0.081 M ☉ or by a magnetic period modulation in the secondary star. Historical light curves of AR Boo, as well as our own, display season-to-season light variability, which are best modeled by including both a cool spot and a hot one on the secondary star. We think that the spots express magnetic dynamo-related activity and offer limited support for preferring the magnetic interpretation of the 7.57 yr cycle over the third-body interpretation. Our solutions confirm that AR Boo belongs to the W-subtype contact binary class, consisting of a hotter, less massive primary star with a spectral type of G9 and a companion of spectral type K1.

title: Search for squarks and gluinos with the ATLAS detector in final states with jets and missing transverse momentum using 4.7 fb-1 of √s = 7 TeV proton-proton collision data
abstract: A search for squarks and gluinos in final states containing jets, missing transverse momentum and no high-p(T) electrons or muons is presented. The data represent the complete sample recorded in 2011 by the ATLAS experiment in 7 TeV proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider, with a total integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb(-1). No excess above the Standard Model background expectation is observed. Gluino masses below 860 GeV and squark masses below 1320 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level in simplified models containing only squarks of the first two generations, a gluino octet and a massless neutralino, for squark or gluino masses below 2 TeV, respectively. Squarks and gluinos with equal masses below 1410 GeV are excluded. In minimal supergravity/constrained minimal supersymmetric Standard Model models with tan beta = 10, A(0) = 0 and mu > 0, squarks and gluinos of equal mass are excluded for masses below 1360 GeV. Constraints are also placed on the parameter space of supersymmetric models with compressed spectra. These limits considerably extend the region of supersymmetric parameter space excluded by previous measurements with the ATLAS detector.

title: VI Photometry of Globular Clusters NGC 6293 and NGC 6541: The Formation of the Metal-poor Inner Halo Globular Clusters*
abstract: We present VI photometry of the metal-poor inner halo globular clusters NGC 6293 and NGC 6541 using the WFPC2 on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Our color-magnitude diagrams of the clusters show well-defined blue horizontal-branch populations, consistent with their low metallicities and old ages. NGC 6293 appears to have blue straggler stars in the cluster's central region. We discuss the interstellar reddening and the distance modulus of NGC 6293 and NGC 6541 and obtain E(B - V) = 0.40 and (m - M)0 = 14.61 for NGC 6293 and E(B - V) = 0.14 and (m - M)0 = 14.19 for NGC 6541. Our results confirm that NGC 6293 and NGC 6541 are clearly located in the Galaxy's central regions (RGC ≤ 3 kpc). We also discuss the differential reddening across NGC 6293. The interstellar reddening value of NGC 6293 appears to vary by ΔE(B - V) ≈ 0.02-0.04 mag within our small field of view. The most notable result of our study is that the inner halo clusters NGC 6293 and NGC 6541 essentially have the same ages as M92, confirming the previous result from the HST NIC3 observations of NGC 6287.