The ASTRO-H X-ray Observatory
The joint JAXA/NASA ASTRO-H mission is the sixth in a series of highly successful X-ray missions initiated by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS). ASTRO-H will investigate the physics of the highenergy universe via a suite of four instruments, covering a very wide energy range, from 0.3 keV to 600 keV. These instruments include a high-resolution, high-throughput spectrometer sensitive over 0.3–12 keV with high spectral resolution of ΔE ≦ 7 eV, enabled by a micro-calorimeter array located in the focal plane of thin-foil X-ray optics; hard X-ray imaging spectrometers covering 5–80 keV, located in the focal plane of multilayer-coated, focusing hard X-ray mirrors; a wide-field imaging spectrometer sensitive over 0.4–12 keV, with an X-ray CCD camera in the focal plane of a soft X-ray telescope; and a non-focusing Compton-camera type soft gamma-ray detector, sensitive in the 40–600 keV band. The simultaneous broad bandpass, coupled with high spectral resolution, will enable the pursuit of a wide variety of important science themes.

title: Discovery of recombining plasma in the supernova remnant 3C 391
abstract: Recent X-ray study of middle-aged supernova remnants (SNRs) reveals strong radiative recombination continua (RRCs) associated with overionized plasmas, of which the origin still remains uncertain. We report our discovery of an RRC in the middle-aged SNR 3C 391. If the X-ray spectrum is fitted with a two-temperature plasma model in collisional ionization equilibrium (CIE), residuals of Si XIV Ly alpha line at 2.006 keV, S XVI Ly alpha line at 2.623 keV and the edge of RRC of Si XIII at 2.666 keV are found. The X-ray spectrum is better described by a composite model consisting of a CIE plasma and a recombining plasma (RP). The abundance pattern suggests that the RP is associated to the ejecta from a core-collapse supernova with a progenitor star of 15 solar mass. There is no significant difference of the recombining plasma parameters between the southeast region and the northwest region surrounded by dense molecular clouds. We also find a hint of Fe I K alpha line at 6.4 keV (~2.4 sigma detection) from the southeast region of the SNR.

title: Applications and Imaging Techniques of a Si/CdTe Compton Gamma-Ray Camera
abstract: By using a new Compton camera consisting of a silicon double-sided strip detector (Si-DSD) and a CdTe doublesided strip detector (CdTe-DSD), originally developed for the ASTRO-H satellite mission, an experiment involving imaging radioisotopes was conducted to study their feasibility for hotspot monitoring. In addition to the hotspot imaging already provided by commercial imaging systems, identification of various radioisotopes is possible thanks to the good energy resolution obtained by the semiconductor detectors. Three radioisotopes of 133 Ba (356 keV), 22 Na (511 keV) and 137 Cs (662 keV) were individually imaged by applying event selection in the energy window and the gamma-ray images were correctly overlapped by an optical picture. Detection efficiency of 1.68 ×10 −4 (effective area: 1.7×10 −3 cm 2 ) and angular resolution of 3.8 degrees were obtained by stacking five detector modules for a 662 keV gamma ray. The higher detection efficiency required in specific use can be achieved by stacking more detector modules.

title: Dark energy parametrizations and the curvature of the universe
abstract: We investigate observational constraints on the curvature of the universe not restricting ourselves to a cosmological constant as dark energy, in particular allowing a dark energy equation of state to evolve with time in several ways. We use type Ia supernovae (SNeIa) data from the latest gold data set which includes 182 SNeIa, along with the cosmic microwave background shift parameter and the baryon acoustic oscillation peak. We show quantitatively that the constraint on the curvature of the universe depends on the dark energy model: some popular parametrizations give constraints closely around the flat universe at 5% level (2σ C.L.) whereas some parametrizations allow the universe to be as open as having Ωk ~ 0.2.

title: Duality of a supersymmetric model with the Pati-Salam group
abstract: Recently one of the authors proposed a dual theory of a Supersymmetric Standard Model (SSM), in which it is naturally understood that at least one quark (the top quark) should be heavy, i.e., almost the same order as the weak scale, and the supersymmetric Higgs mass parameter $\mu$ can naturally be expected to be small. However, the model cannot have Yukawa couplings of the lepton sector. In this paper, we examine a dual theory of a Supersymmetric Model with the Pati-Salam gauge group $SU(4)_{PS}\times SU(2)_L\times SU(2)_R $ with respect to the gauge group $SU(4)_{PS}$. In this scenario, Yukawa couplings of the lepton sector can be induced. In this model the Pati-Salam breaking scale should be around the SUSY breaking scale.

title: Implications of dark energy parametrizations for the determination of the curvature of the universe
abstract: We investigate how the nature of dark energy affects the determination of the curvature of the universe, using recent observations. For this purpose, we consider the constraints on the matter and dark energy density using observations of type Ia supernovae, the baryon acoustic oscillation peak and the cosmic microwave background with dark energy equations of state of several types. Although it is usually said that the combination of current observations favours a flat universe, we found that a relatively large parameter space allows the universe to be open for a particular model of dark energy. We also discuss what kind of dark energy model or prior allows a non-flat universe.

title: The fate of dark energy
abstract: By studying the present cosmological data, particularly on CMB, SNeIA and LSS, we find that the future fate of the universe, for simple linear models of the dark energy equation-of-state, can vary between the extremes of (I) a divergence of the scale factor in as little as 7 Gyr; (II) an infinite lifetime of the universe with dark energy dominant for all future time; (III) a disappearing dark energy where the universe asymptotes as t →∞ to a ( t )∼ t 2/3 , i.e., matter domination. Our dreadful conclusion is that no amount of data from our past light-cone can select between these future scenarios.

title: Primordial non-Gaussianity in models with dark matter isocurvature fluctuations
abstract: We investigate primordial non-Gaussianity and dark matter isocurvature fluctuations in the modulated reheating and the curvaton scenarios. In these scenarios, a large non-Gaussianity can be generated; on the other hand, depending on how dark matter is produced, too large isocurvature fluctuations can also arise, which is inconsistent with current observations. In this paper, we study this issue in a mixed scenario where the curvature fluctuations can also be produced from the inflaton fluctuations as well as those from a light scalar field such as the modulus and the curvaton. We show that primordial fluctuations can be highly non-Gaussian without conflicting with the current constraint on isocurvature fluctuations for such mixed scenarios. However, if the constraint on isocurvature fluctuations becomes severer as expected by the Planck satellite, f{sub NL}, a nonlinearity parameter for adiabatic fluctuations, should be very small as f{sub NL} < or approx. 3, which would give interesting implications for the generation mechanism of dark matter. Non-Gaussianity from isocurvature fluctuations is also discussed in these scenarios.