CS 5-4 survey toward nearby IR bright galaxies
With the observations of the CS 5-4 line toward a sample of 24 infrared bright galaxies using HHSMT, we detected CS 5-4 emission in 14 galaxies, including 12 ULIRGs/LIRGs and 2 nearby normal galaxies. As a good dense gas tracer, which has been well used for studying star formation in the Milky Way, CS 5-4 can trace the active star forming gas in galaxies. The correlation between CS 5-4 luminosity, which is estimated with detected CS 5-4 line emission, and infrared luminosity in these 14 galaxies is fitted with correlation coefficient of 0.939 and the slope close to unity. This correlation confirmed that dense gas, which is closely linked to star formation, is very important for understanding star formation in galaxies.

title: CO observation of SNR IC 443
abstract: We present our 12CO and 13CO mapping observations of SNR IC 443 interacting with molecular clouds. It is the first large-scale high-resolution 13CO mapping observation in the surrounding region. The morphologies of IC 443 in 12CO and 13CO are compared with the optical, infrared, Spitzer far-infrared, X-ray, and neutral atomic gas (HI). We also make comparison and analysis in the kinematics, using the date-cubes of 12CO, 13CO and HI, to help distinguish the complicated gas motions in the shocked regions. Based on the work of Wang & Scoville (1992), we present a new model to explain the coexistence of multiple shocks with different speeds in a pc-scale region at the central clump B. We test this new model by analyzing the HI and CO distribution in both velocity and space domain. We also establish the relationship between the dissociation rate of shocked molecular gas and the shock velocity in this region. Finally, we derive the optical depth of 12CO with the 13CO spectra in clump B, and discuss the validity of the assumption of optically thin emission for the shocked 12CO.

title: Discovery potential of new boson W1± in the Minimal Higgsless model at LHC
abstract: In this paper, we demonstrate the LHC discovery potential of new charged vector boson W 1 ± predicted by the Minimal Higgsless model in the process p p → W 1 ± q q ′ → W ± Z 0 q q ′ → l ± l + l − ν q q ′ ( l = e , μ ) by analyzing the generator level events of the signal and backgrounds. The generator for the signal p p → W 1 ± q q ′ → W ± Z 0 q q ′ at tree level is developed with the Minimal Higgsless model and then interfaced with PYTHIA for the parton showers and hadronization. The backgrounds are produced with PYTHIA and ACERMC. We give integrated luminosities required to discover 5σ signal as a function of W 1 ± mass.

title: Search for new physics with long-lived particles decaying to photons and missing energy in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s}=7 $ TeV
abstract: A bstractA search is performed for long-lived neutral particles decaying into a photon and invisible particles. An example of such a signature is the decay of the lightest neutralino with nonzero lifetime into a gravitino and a photon in gauge-mediated supersymmetry, with the neutralino as the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle and the gravitino as the lightest. The search uses events containing photons, missing transverse energy, and jets. The impact parameter of the photon relative to the beam-beam collision point can be reconstructed using converted photons. The method is sensitive to lifetimes of the order of 0.1 to 1 ns. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.23 fb−1 in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s}=7 $ TeV, recorded in the first part of 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC. Cross-section limits are presented on pair production for such particles, each of which decays into a photon and invisible particles. The observed 95% confidence level limits vary between 0.11 and 0.21 pb, depending on the neutral particle lifetime.

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: Constraints on the star formation histories of galaxies from z∼ 1 to 0
abstract: We present a new method to estimate the average star formation rate per unit stellar mass (SSFR) of a stacked population of galaxies. We combine the spectra of 600-1000 galaxies with similar stellar masses and parametrize the star formation history of this stacked population using a set of exponentially declining functions. The strength of the hydrogen Balmer absorption-line series in the rest-frame wavelength range 3750-4150 A is used to constrain the SSFR by comparing with a library of models generated using the BC03 stellar population code. Our method, based on a principal component analysis, can be applied in a consistent way to spectra drawn from local galaxy surveys and from surveys at z ∼ 1, and is only weakly influenced by attenuation due to dust. We apply our method to galaxy samples drawn from Sloan Digital Sky Survey and DEEP2 to study the mass-dependent growth of galaxies from z ∼ 1 to 0. We find that (i) high-mass galaxies have lower SSFRs than low-mass galaxies and (ii) the average SSFR has decreased from z = 1 to 0 by a factor of ∼3-4, independent of galaxy mass. Additionally, at z ∼ 1, our average SSFRs are a factor of 2-2.5 lower than those derived from multiwavelength photometry using similar data sets. We then compute the average time [in units of the Hubble time, t H (z)] needed by galaxies of a given mass to form their stars at their current rate. At both z = 0 and 1, this time-scale decreases strongly with stellar mass from values close to unity for galaxies with masses ∼10 10 M ⊙ , to more than 10 for galaxies more massive than 10 11 M ⊙ . Our results are in good agreement with models in which active galactic nuclei feedback is more efficient at preventing gas from cooling and forming stars in high-mass galaxies.

title: POLARIZATION OF QUASARS: ELECTRON SCATTERING IN THE BROAD ABSORPTION LINE REGION
abstract: It is widely accepted that the broad absorption line region (BALR) exists in most (if not all) quasars with a small covering factor. Recent works showed that the BALR is optically thick to soft and even medium-energy X-rays, with a typical hydrogen column density of a few 1023 to >1024 cm-2. The electron scattering in the thick absorber might contribute significantly to the observed continuum polarization for both BAL QSOs and non-BAL QSOs. In this paper, we present a detailed study of the electron scattering in the BALR by assuming an equatorial and axisymmetric outflow model. Monte Carlo simulations are performed to correct for the effect of radiative transfer. Assuming an average covering factor of 0.2 of the BALR, which is consistent with observations, we find that electron scattering in the BALR with a column density of ~4 × 1023 cm-2 can successfully produce the observed average continuum polarization for both BAL QSOs and non-BAL QSOs. The observed distribution of the continuum polarization of radio-quiet quasars (for both BAL QSOs and non-BAL QSOs) is used to constrain the dispersal distribution of the BALR. We find that to match the observations, the maximum continuum polarization produced by the BALR (while viewed edge-on) peaks at P = 0.34%, which is much smaller than the average continuum polarization of BAL QSOs (P = 0.93%). The discrepancy can be explained by a selection bias in which the BAL with a larger covering factor, and thus producing larger continuum polarization, is more likely to be detected. A larger sample of radio-quiet quasars with accurate measurement of the continuum polarization will give better constraints to the distribution of BALR properties.