Position Space CMB Anomalies from Multi-Stream Inflation
Temporary domain walls are produced during the bifurcation era of multi-stream inflation. The observational effects from such a domain wall to spectator field perturbations are calculated, and we expect the inflationary perturbations share similarities with the case of spectator field. A domain wall induces a preferred direction in the sky, affecting the angular distribution of perturbations. A correlated suppression of multipoles together with an alignment of multipole moments on the preferred direction are generated. Other observational aspects of multi-stream inflation, including hemispherical asymmetry and cold spot are also briefly reviewed.

title: Quadra-Spectrum and Quint-Spectrum from Inflation and Curvaton Models
abstract: We calculate the quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum, corresponding to five and six point correlation functions of the curvature perturbation. For single field inflation with standard kinetic term, the quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum are small, which are suppressed by slow roll parameters. The calculation can be generalized to multiple fields. When there is no entropy perturbation, the quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum are suppressed as well. With the presence of entropy perturbation, the quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum can get boosted. We illustrate this boost in the multi-brid inflation model. For the curvaton scenario, the quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum are also large in the small r limit. We also calculate representative terms of quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum for inflation with generalized kinetic terms, and estimate their order of magnitude for quasi-single field inflation.

title: CMB statistical anisotropies of classical and quantum origins
abstract: We examine the impact of different anisotropic relics on inflation, in particular the predictions on the density perturbations. These relics can be the source of the large scale anomalies in the cosmic microwave background. There are two different types of background relics, one from the matter sector and the other purely from the metric. Although the angular-dependence of the statistical anisotropy in both cases are degenerate, the scale-dependence are observationally distinctive. In addition, we demonstrate that non-Bunch-Davies vacuum states can extend the statistical anisotropy to much shorter scales, and leave a scale-dependence that is insensitive to the different backgrounds but sensitive to the initial quantum state.

title: Quasi-Single Field Inflation and Non-Gaussianities
abstract: In quasi-single field inflation models, massive isocurvature modes, that are coupled to the inflaton and have mass of order the Hubble parameter, can have nontrivial impacts on density perturbations, especially non-Gaussianities. We study a simple example of quasi-single field inflation in terms of turning inflaton trajectory. Large bispectra with a one-parameter family of novel shapes arise, lying between the well-known local and equilateral shape. The trispectra can also be very large and its magnitude tNL can be much larger than fNL2.

title: Non-Gaussianity, isocurvature perturbation, gravitational waves, and a no-go theorem for the isocurvaton
abstract: We investigate the isocurvaton model, in which the isocurvature perturbation plays a role in suppressing the curvature perturbation, and large non-Gaussianity and gravitational waves can be produced with no isocurvature perturbation for dark matter. We show that in the slow-roll noninteracting multifield theory, the isocurvaton mechanism cannot be realized. This result can also be generalized to most of the studied models with generalized kinetic terms. We also study the implications for the curvaton model. We show that there is a combined constraint for curvaton on non-Gaussianity, gravitational waves, and isocurvature perturbation. The technique used in this paper can also help to simplify some calculations in the mixed inflaton and curvaton models. We also investigate the possibility of producing large negative non-Gaussianity and nonlocal non-Gaussianity in the curvaton model.

title: Curvaton dynamics and the non-linearity parameters in the curvaton model
abstract: We investigate the curvaton dynamics and the non-linearity parameters in the curvaton model with a potential slightly deviating from the quadratic form in detail. The non-linearity parameter gNL will show up due to the curvaton self-interaction. We also point out that the leading order of the non-quadratic term in the curvaton potential can be negative, for example in the axion-type curvaton model. If a large positive gNL is detected, the axion-type curvaton model will be preferred.

title: STRONG FIELD EFFECTS ON PULSAR ARRIVAL TIMES: GENERAL ORIENTATIONS
abstract: A pulsar beam passing close to a black hole can provide a probe of very strong gravitational fields even if the pulsar itself is not in a strong field region. In the case that the spin of the hole can be ignored, we have previously shown that all strong field effects on the beam can be understood in terms of two 'universal' functions: F(phi{sub in}) and T(phi{sub in}) of the angle of beam emission phi{sub in}; these functions are universal in that they depend only on a single parameter, the pulsar/black hole distance from which the beam is emitted. Here we apply this formalism to general pulsar-hole-observer geometries, with arbitrary alignment of the pulsar spin axis and arbitrary pulsar beam direction and angular width. We show that the analysis of the observational problem has two distinct elements: (1) the computation of the location and trajectory of an observer-dependent 'keyhole' direction of emission in which a signal can be received by the observer; and (2) the determination of an annulus that represents the set of directions containing beam energy. Examples of each are given along with an example of a specific observational scenario.

title: Looking for Cosmological Alfven Waves in WMAP Data
abstract: A primordial cosmological magnetic field induces and supports vorticity or Alfven waves, which in turn generate cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies. A homogeneous primordial magnetic field with fixed direction induces correlations between the $a_{l-1,m}$ and $a_{l+1,m}$ multipole coefficients of the CMB temperature anisotropy field. We discuss the constraints that can be placed on the strength of such a primordial magnetic field using CMB anisotropy data from the WMAP experiment. We place 3 $\sigma$ upper limits on the strength of the magnetic field of $B < 15$ nG for vector perturbation spectral index $n=-5$ and $B<1.7$ nG for $n=-7$.

title: Investigate the interaction between dark matter and dark energy
abstract: In this paper we investigate the interaction between dark matter and dark energy by considering two different interacting scenarios, i.e. the cases of constant interaction function and variable interaction function. By fitting the current observational data to constrain the interacting models, it is found that the interacting strength is non-vanishing, but weak for the case of constant interaction function, and the interaction is not obvious for the case of variable interaction function. In addition, for seeing the influence from interaction we also investigate the evolutions of interaction function, effective state parameter for dark energy and energy density of dark matter. At last some geometrical quantities in the interacting scenarios are discussed.

title: System identification of the linac RF system using a wavelet method and its applications in the SNS LLRF control system
abstract: For a pulsed LINAC such as the SNS, an adaptive feed-forward algorithm plays an important role in reducing the repetitive disturbance caused by the pulsed operation conditions. In most modern feed-forward control algorithms, accurate real time system identification is required to make the algorithm more effective. In this paper, an efficient wavelet method is applied to the system identification in which the Haar function is used as the base wavelet. The advantage of this method is that the Fourier transform of the Haar function in the time domain is a sinc function in the frequency domain. Thus we can directly obtain the system transfer function in the frequency domain from the coefficients of the time domain system response.

title: CHANDRA STUDY OF X-RAY POINT SOURCES IN THE EARLY-TYPE GALAXY NGC 4552 (M89)
abstract: We present a Chandra ACIS study of the early-type galaxy NGC 4552. We detect 47 X-ray point sources, most of which are likely low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs), within four effective radii (Re). The brightest X-ray source coincides with the optical, UV, and radio center of the galaxy and shows variability on >1 hr timescales, indicating the possible existence of a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus (AGN). The 46 off-center sources and the unresolved point sources contribute about 29% and 20% to the total luminosity of the galaxy, respectively. We find that after correcting for the incompleteness at the low-luminosity end, the observed cumulative X-ray luminosity function (XLF) of the off-center sources is best fitted by a broken power-law model with a break at Lb = 4.4 × 1038 ergs s-1. We identified 210 globular cluster (GC) candidates in a HST WFPC2 optical image of the galaxy's central region. Of the 25 off-center LMXBs that fall within the WFPC2 field of view, 10 sources are coincident with a GC. Thus, the fraction of the GCs hosting bright LMXBs and the fraction of the LMXBs associated with GCs are 4.8% and 40%, respectively. In the V and I bands, the GCs hosting bright LMXBs are typically 1-2 mag brighter than the GCs with no detected LMXBs. There are about 1.9 ± 0.4 times as many LMXBs in the red, metal-rich GCs as there are in the blue, metal-poor ones. We find no obvious difference between the luminosity distributions of LMXBs in GCs and in the field, but the cumulative spectrum of the LMXBs in GCs tends to be softer than that of the LMXBs in field. We detected three X-ray sources that have isotropic luminosities larger than 1039 ergs s-1. Only one of these is located in the joint Chandra-HST field and is found to be associated with a GC. By studying its ACIS spectra we infer that the this may be a candidate black hole system with a mass of 15-135 M☉. One of the other sources with a luminosity brighter than 1039 ergs s-1 reveals temporal variations in brightness on timescales greater than 1 hr.