A Comparative Study of Dark Energy Constraints from Current Observational Data
We examine how dark energy constraints from current observational data depend on the analysis methods used: the analysis of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), and that of galaxy clustering data. We generalize the flux-averaging analysis method of SNe Ia to allow correlated errors of SNe Ia, in order to reduce the systematic bias due to weak lensing of SNe Ia. We find that flux-averaging leads to larger errors on dark energy and cosmological parameters if only SN Ia data are used. When SN Ia data (the latest compilation by the SNLS team) are combined with WMAP 7 year results (in terms of our Gaussian fits to the probability distributions of the CMB shift parameters), the latest Hubble constant (H0) measurement using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and gamma ray burst (GRB) data, flux-averaging of SNe Ia increases the concordance with other data, and leads to significantly tighter constraints on the dark energy density at z = 1, and the cosmic curvature k. The galaxy clustering measurements of H(z = 0.35)rs(zd) and rs(zd)/DA(z = 0.35) (where H(z) is the Hubble parameter, DA(z) is the angular diameter distance, and rs(zd) is the sound horizon at the drag epoch) by Chuang & Wang (2011) are consistent with SN Ia data, given the same pirors (CMB+H0+GRB), and lead to significantly improved dark energy constraints when combined. Current data are fully consistent with a cosmological constant and a flat universe.

title: Caustics, critical curves and cross-sections for gravitational lensing by disc galaxies
abstract: We study strong gravitational lensing by spiral galaxies, modeling them as infinitely thin uniform disks embedded in singular isothermal spheres. We derive general properties of the critical curves and caustics analytically. The multiple-image cross section is a sensitive function of the inclination angle of the disk relative to the observer. We compute the inclination averaged cross section for several sets of lensing parameters. For realistic disk mass and size parameters, we find that the cross section for multiple imaging is increased by only a modest factor and no dramatic increase in the optical depth for strong lensing of QSOs would be expected. However, the cross section for high magnifications is significantly increased due to the inclusion of a disk, especially for nearly edge-on configurations; due to the strong observational selection effects favoring high magnifications, there might be significant consequences for lensing statistics.

title: Constraints on generalized extended inflationary models.
abstract: We study the physical constraints on generalized extended inflationary theories, in which the Brans-Dicke field {Phi} couples to the inflaton sector in the form of two arbitrary power-law functions of {Phi}. We find that the most stringent constraints arise from the need to suppress large bubbles and from considerations of the density perturbations generated during extended inflation. We find that there are sizable portions of the parameter spaces in which all the constraints are satisfied.

title: Dark Energy Constraints from Baryon Acoustic Oscillations
abstract: Baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs) in the galaxy power spectrum allow us to extract the scale of the comoving sound horizon at recombination, a cosmological standard ruler accurately determined by the cosmic microwave background anisotropy data. We examine various issues important in the use of BAOs to probe dark energy. We find that if we assume a flat universe and priors on ?m, ?mh2, and ?bh2 as expected from the Planck mission, the constraints on dark energy parameters (w0, w') scale much less steeply with survey area than (area)-1/2 for a given redshift range. The constraints on the dark energy density ?X(z), however, do scale roughly with (area)-1/2 due to the strong correlation between H(z) and ?m (which reduces the effect of priors on ?m). Dark energy constraints from BAOs are very sensitive to the assumed linear scale of matter clustering and the redshift accuracy of the survey. For a BAO survey with 0.5 ? z ? 2, ? (R) = 0.4 [corresponding to kmax (z = 0) = 0.086 h Mpc-1], and ?z/ (1 + z) = 0.001, we find = (0.115,0.183) and (0.069, 0.104) for survey areas of 1000 and 10,000 deg2, respectively. We find that it is critical to minimize the bias in the scale estimates in order to derive reliable dark energy constraints. For a 1000 (10,000) deg2 BAO survey, a 1 ? bias in ln H (z) leads to a 2 ? (3 ?) bias in w'. The bias in w' due to the same scale bias from ln DA (z) is slightly smaller and opposite in sign. The results from this paper will be useful in assessing different proposed BAO surveys and guiding the design of optimal dark energy detection strategies.

title: Dark Energy Search with Supernovae
abstract: To determine the nature of dark energy from observational data, it is important that we use model-independent and optimal methods. We should probe dark energy using its density (allowed to be a free function of cosmic time) instead of its equation of state. We should minimize gravitational lensing effect on supernovae by flux-averaging. We need to include complementary data (for example, from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and large scale structure (LSS)) in a consistent manner to help break the degeneracy between the dark energy density and the matter density fraction. We should push for ambitious future supernova surveys that can observe a large number of supernovae at the highest possible redshifts. I discuss these and other issues that will be important in our quest to unravel the mystery of the nature of dark energy. Current supernova, CMB, and LSS data already rule out dark energy models with dark energy densities that vary greatly with time; with the cosmological constant model providing an excellent fit to the data. A precise measurement of dark energy density as a free function of cosmic time will have a fundamental impact on particle physics and cosmology.

title: Wavelets and WMAP non-Gaussianity
abstract: We study the statistical properties of the first-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data on different scales using the spherical Mexican hat wavelet transform. Consistent with the 2004 results of Vielva et al., we find a deviation from Gaussianity in the form of kurtosis of wavelet coefficients on 3-4 scales in the southern Galactic hemisphere. This paper extends the work of Vielva et al. as follows: We find that the non-Gaussian signal shows up more strongly in the form of a larger than expected number of cold pixels and also in the form of scale-scale correlations among wavelet coefficients. We establish the robustness of the non-Gaussian signal under more wide-ranging assumptions regarding the Galactic mask applied to the data and the noise statistics. This signal is unlikely to be due to the usual quadratic term parameterized by the nonlinearity parameter fNL. We use the skewness of the spherical Mexican hat wavelet coefficients to constrain fNL with the first-year WMAP data. Our results constrain fNL to be 50+/-80 at 68% confidence and less than 280 at 99% confidence.

title: Modeling realistic Earth matter density for CP violation in neutrino oscillation
abstract: We examine the effect of a more realistic Earth matter density model which takes into account of the local density variations along the baseline of a possible 2100 km very long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. Its influence to the measurement of CP violation is investigated and a comparison with the commonly used global density models made. Significant differences are found in the comparison of the results of the different density models. PCAC 14.60.Pq , 11.30.Er

title: Observational constraints to Ricci dark energy model by using: SN, BAO, OHD, fgas data sets
abstract: We perform a global constraint on the Ricci dark energy model with both the flat case and the non-flat case, using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method and the combined observational data from the cluster X-ray gas mass fraction, Supernovae of type Ia (397), baryon acoustic oscillations, current Cosmic Microwave Background, and the observational Hubble function. In the flat model, we obtain the best fit values of the parameters in 1σ,2σ regions: Ωm0 = 0.2927+0.0420+0.0542−0.0323−0.0388, α = 0.3823+0.0331+0.0415−0.0418−0.0541, Age/Gyr = 13.48+0.13+0.17−0.16−0.21, H0 = 69.09+2.56+3.09−2.37−3.39. In the non-flat model, the best fit parameters are found in 1σ,2σ regions:Ωm0 = 0.3003+0.0367+0.0429−0.0371−0.0423, α = 0.3845+0.0386+0.0521−0.0474−0.0523, Ωk = 0.0240+0.0109+0.0133−0.0130−0.0153, Age/Gyr = 12.54+0.51+0.65−0.37−0.49, H0 = 72.89+3.31+3.88−3.05−3.72. Compared to the constraint results in the ΛCDM model by using the same datasets, it is shown that the current combined datasets prefer the ΛCDM model to the Ricci dark energy model.

title: Current observational constraints to the holographic dark energy model with a new infrared cutoff via the Markov chain Monte Carlo method
abstract: In this paper, the holographic dark energy models with the new infrared cutoff for both the flat case and the nonflat case are confronted with the combined constraints of current cosmological observations: type Ia supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillations, current cosmic microwave background, and the observational Hubble data. By utilizing the Markov chain Monte Carlo method, we obtain the best fit values of the parameters with $1\ensuremath{\sigma}$, $2\ensuremath{\sigma}$ errors in the flat model: ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{b}{h}^{2}={0.0233}_{\ensuremath{-}0.0009\ensuremath{-}0.0014}^{+0.0009+0.0013}$, $\ensuremath{\alpha}={0.8502}_{\ensuremath{-}0.0875\ensuremath{-}0.1064}^{+0.0984+0.1299}$, $\ensuremath{\beta}={0.4817}_{\ensuremath{-}0.0773\ensuremath{-}0.0955}^{+0.0842+0.1176}$, ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{\mathrm{de}0}={0.7287}_{\ensuremath{-}0.0294\ensuremath{-}0.0429}^{+0.0296+0.0432}$, ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{m0}={0.2713}_{\ensuremath{-}0.0296\ensuremath{-}0.0432}^{+0.0294+0.0429}$, ${H}_{0}={66.35}_{\ensuremath{-}2.14\ensuremath{-}3.07}^{+2.38+3.35}$. In the nonflat model, the constraint results are found in $1\ensuremath{\sigma}$, $2\ensuremath{\sigma}$ regions: ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{b}{h}^{2}={0.0228}_{\ensuremath{-}0.0010\ensuremath{-}0.0014}^{+0.0010+0.0014}$, ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{k}={0.0305}_{\ensuremath{-}0.0134\ensuremath{-}0.0176}^{+0.0092+0.0140}$, $\ensuremath{\alpha}={0.8824}_{\ensuremath{-}0.1163\ensuremath{-}0.1378}^{+0.2180+0.2213}$, $\ensuremath{\beta}={0.5016}_{\ensuremath{-}0.0871\ensuremath{-}0.1102}^{+0.0973+0.1247}$, ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{\mathrm{de}0}={0.6934}_{\ensuremath{-}0.0304\ensuremath{-}0.0413}^{+0.0364+0.0495}$, ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{m0}={0.2762}_{\ensuremath{-}0.0302\ensuremath{-}0.0412}^{+0.0278+0.0402}$, ${H}_{0}={70.20}_{\ensuremath{-}3.17\ensuremath{-}4.00}^{+3.03+3.58}$. In the best fit holographic dark energy models, the equation of state of dark energy and the deceleration parameter at present are characterized by ${w}_{\mathrm{de}0}=\ensuremath{-}1.1414\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.0608$, ${q}_{0}=\ensuremath{-}0.7476\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.0466$ (flat case) and ${w}_{\mathrm{de}0}=\ensuremath{-}1.0653\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.0661$, ${q}_{0}=\ensuremath{-}0.6231\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.0569$ (nonflat case). Compared to the $\ensuremath{\Lambda}\mathrm{CDM}$ model, it is found the current combined data sets do not favor the holographic dark energy model over the $\ensuremath{\Lambda}\mathrm{CDM}$ model.

title: Excess RF power required for RF control of the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) linac, a pulsed high-intensity superconducting proton accelerator
abstract: A high-intensity proton linac, such as that being planned for the SNS, requires accurate RF control of cavity fields for the entire pulse in order to avoid beam spill. The current design requirement for the SNS is RF field stability within /spl plusmn/0.5% and /spl plusmn/0.5/spl deg/. This RF control capability is achieved by the control electronics using the excess RF power to correct disturbances. To minimize the initial capital costs, the RF system is designed with 'just enough' RF power. All the usual disturbances exist, such as beam noise, klystron/HVPS noise, coupler imperfections, transport losses, turn-on and turn-off transients, etc. As a superconducting linac, there are added disturbances of large magnitude, including Lorentz detuning and microphonics. The effects of these disturbances and the power required to correct them are estimated, and the result shows that the highest power systems in the SNS have just enough margin, with little or no excess margin.

title: Different evolutionary stages in the massive star-forming region S255 complex
abstract: Massive stars form in clusters, and they are often found in different evolutionary stages located close to each other. To understand evolutionary and environmental effects during the formation of high-mass stars, we observed three regions of massive star formation at different evolutionary stages, and all are found that in the same natal molecular cloud.  The three regions, S255IR, S255N, and S255S, were observed at 1.3 mm with the submillimeter array (SMA), and follow-up short spacing information was obtained with the IRAM 30 m telescope. Near infrared (NIR) H + K-band spectra and continuum observations were taken for S255IR with VLT-SINFONI to study the different stellar populations in this region.  This combination of millimeter (mm) and near infrared data allow us to characterize different stellar populations within the young forming cluster in detail. While we find multiple mm continuum sources toward all regions, their outflow, disk, and chemical properties vary considerably. The most evolved source S255IR exhibits a collimated bipolar outflow visible in CO and H 2 emission, and the outflows from the youngest region S255S are still small and fairly confined in the regions of the mm continuum peaks. Also the chemistry toward S255IR is the most evolved, exhibiting strong emission from complex molecules, while much fewer molecular lines are detected in S255N, and in S255S we detect only CO isotopologues and SO lines. Also, rotational structures are found toward S255N and S255IR. Furthermore, a comparison of the NIR SINFONI and mm data from S255IR clearly reveal two different (proto) stellar populations with an estimated age difference of approximately 1 Myr.  A multiwavelength spectroscopy and mapping study reveals different evolutionary phases of the star formation regions. We propose the triggered outside-in collapse star formation scenario for the bigger picture and the fragmentation scenario for S255IR.