Correlated Isocurvature Fluctuation of Quintessence and Curvaton Scenario
We consider cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy in models with quintessence taking into account of isocurvature fluctuation in the quintessence. It is shown that, if the primordial fluctuation of the quintessence has a correlation with the adiabatic density fluctuations, CMB angular power spectrum $C_l$ at low multipoles can be suppressed. Possible scenario of generating correlated mixture of the quintessence and adiabatic fluctuations is also discussed.

title: Cosmic microwave background anisotropy with cosine type quintessence
abstract: We study the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies produced by cosine-type quintessence models. In our analysis, effects of the adiabatic and isocurvature fluctuations are both taken into account. For purely adiabatic fluctuations with scale invariant spectrum, we obtain a stringent constraint on the model parameters using the CMB data from COBE, BOOMERanG and MAXIMA. Furthermore, it is shown that isocurvature fluctuations have significant effects on the CMB angular power spectrum at low multipoles in some parameter space, which may be detectable in future satellite experiments. Such a signal may be used to test the cosine-type quintessence models.

title: Constraints on neutrino masses from weak lensing
abstract: Weak lensing (WL) distortions of distant galaxy images are sensitive to neutrino masses by probing the suppression effect on clustering strengths of total matter in large-scale structure. We use the latest measurements of WL correlations, the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey data, to explore constraints on neutrino masses. We find that, while the WL data alone cannot place a stringent limit on neutrino masses due to parameter degeneracies, the constraint can be significantly improved when combined with other cosmological probes, such as the WMAP 5-year data (WMAP5) and the distance measurements of type-Ia supernovae (SNe) and baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO). The upper bounds on the sum of neutrino masses are , 0.76, and 0.54 eV (95% CL) for WL+WMAP5, WMAP5+SNe+BAO, and WL+WMAP5+SNe+BAO, respectively, assuming a flat {lambda}CDM model with finite-mass neutrinos. In deriving these constraints, our analysis includes the non-Gaussian covariances of the WL correlation functions to properly take into account significant correlations between different angles.

title: Gauge Fixing and Scattering Amplitudes in String Field Theory Expanded around Universal Solutions
abstract: We study a gauge fixed action of open string field theory expanded around the universal solution, which has been found as an analytic classical solution with one parameter, a .F or a> −1/2, we are able to reproduce open string scattering amplitudes in the theory fixed in the Siegel gauge. At a = −1/2, all scattering amplitudes vanish and there is no open string excitation in the gauge fixed theory. These results support the conjecture that the universal solution can be regarded as a pure gauge or the tachyon vacuum solution.

title: Observables for identity-based tachyon vacuum solutions
abstract: We consider a modified KBc algebra in bosonic open string field theory expanded around identity-based scalar solutions. By use of the algebra, classical solutions on the background are constructed and observables for them, including energy densities and gauge invariant overlaps, are calculable. These results are applied to evaluate observables analytically for both of the identity-based trivial pure gauge solution and the identity-based tachyon vacuum solution.

title: Open string field theory on noncommutative space
abstract: We study Witten's open string field theory in the presence of a constant B field. We construct the string field theory in the operator formalism and find that, compared to the ordinary theory with no B field, the vertices in the resulting theory has an additional factor. The factor makes the zero modes of strings noncommutative. This is in agreement with the results in the first-quantized formulation. We also discuss background independence of the purely cubic action derived from the above string field theory and then find a redefinition of string fields to remove the additional factor from the vertex. Furthermore, we briefly discuss the supersymmetric extension of our string field theory.

title: Numerical evaluation of gauge invariants for a-gauge solutions in open string field theory
abstract: We evaluate gauge invariants (the action and the gauge-invariant overlap) for numerical solutions satisfying the “a-gauge” condition with various values of a in the cubic open bosonic string field theory. We use the level-truncation approximation and an iterative procedure to construct numerical solutions in the twist-even universal space. The resulting gauge invariants are numerically stable and almost equal to those of Schnabl’s solution for tachyon condensation. Our result provides further evidence that these numerical and analytic solutions are gauge equivalent.

title: Closed string amplitudes in open string field theory
abstract: We investigate gauge invariant operators corresponding to on-shell closed string states in open string field theory. Using both oscillator representation and conformal mapping techniques, we calculate a two closed string tachyon amplitude that connects two gauge invariant operators by an open string propagator. We find that this amplitude is in a complete agreement with the usual disc amplitude.