Two-loop analysis of non-Abelian Chern-Simons theory.
Perturbative renormalization of a non-Abelian Chern-Simons gauge theory is examined. It is demonstrated by explicit calculation that, in the pure Chern-Simons theory, the [beta] function for the coefficient of the Chern-Simons term vanishes to three-loop order. Both dimensional regularization and regularization by introducing a conventional Yang-Mills term in the action are used. It is shown that dimensional regularization is not gauge invariant at two loops. A variant of this procedure, similar to regularization by dimensional reduction used in supersymmetric field theories, is shown to obey the Slavnov-Taylor identity to two loops and gives no renormalization of the Chern-Simons term. Regularization with the Yang-Mills term yields a finite integer-valued renormalization of the coefficient of the Chern-Simons term at one loop, and we conjecture no renormalization at higher order. We also examine the renormalization of Chern-Simons theory coupled to matter. We show that in the non-Abelian case the Chern-Simons gauge field as well as the matter fields require infinite renormalization at two loops and therefore obtain nontrivial anomalous dimensions. We show that the [beta] function for the gauge coupling constant is zero to two-loop order, consistent with the topological quantization condition for this constant.

title: BRST quantization of topological field theory.
abstract: The canonical quantization of the topological field-theory model {Sigma}, proposed by Horowitz, is examined through the Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin approach. With this approach we have a manifestly covariant description of a certain class of topological quantum field theories. However, if {ital M} in the present model is any orientable four-dimensional manifold, one would end up with different theories when different polarizations are chosen. Therefore a restriction {ital M}={ital R}{sup 1}{times}{Sigma}, as pointed out by Horowitz, is required for consistency.

title: PHASE-RESOLVED SPECTRAL ANALYSIS OF 4U 1901+03 DURING ITS OUTBURST
abstract: The high-mass X-ray binary 4U 1901+03 is reported to have a pulse profile evolving with the X-ray luminosity and energy during its outburst in 2003 February-July: the pulse peak changed from double to single along with the decreasing luminosity. We have carried out a detailed analysis on the contemporary phase-resolved energy spectrum of 4U 1901+03 as observed by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. We find that the spectra are phase dependent. At the beginning of the outburst, the maximum of the optical depth for Compton scattering is near the major phase peak. During the decay of the outburst, the optical depth has the maximum away from the main peak of the pulse profile. For each observation, Fe Kα emission line is detected in the phase-resolved spectra, and its flux is constant across the pulse phases. This suggests that the origin of the Fe emission is from the accretion disk, not the surface of the neutron star.

title: Critical statistical charge for anyonic superconductivity.
abstract: We examine a criterion for the anyonic superconductivity at zero temperature in Abelian matter-coupled Chern-Simons gauge-field theories in three dimensions. By solving the Dyson-Schwinger equations, we obtain a critical value of the statistical charge for the superconducting phase in a massless fermion-Chern-Simons model.

title: Charged Pion Photoproduction
abstract: We extracted the differential cross section for the γn→π−p process from a deuterium target using the CLAS detector at Jefferson Lab in Hall B for photon energies between 1.0 and 3.5 GeV and pion center‐of‐mass (c.m.) angles (θc.m.) between 50° and 115°. We confirm a previous indication of a broad enhancement around a c.m. energy (s) of 2.1 GeV at θc.m. = 90° in the scaled differential cross section, s7dσdt and a rapid fall‐off in a center‐of‐mass energy region of about 400 MeV following the enhancement. Our data show an angular dependence of this enhancement as the suggested scaling region is approached for θc.m. from 70° to 105°.

title: Implications of a cosmological constant varying as R-2.
abstract: We advocate the possibility that the (effective) cosmological constant {Lambda} varies in time as {ital R}{sup {minus}2}, {ital R} being the scale factor of our expanding Universe. This behavior can be obtained under some simple and general assumptions in conformity with quantum cosmology. After pointing out several advantages worth noticing, we show that such a time-varying {Lambda} leads to no conflict with existing observations. However, it does change the predictions of the standard cosmology in the matter-dominated epoch and alleviates some problems in reconciling observations with the inflationary scenario. In particular, this medium'' time variation of {Lambda} leads to creation of matter with a rate at present which is comparable to that in the steady-state cosmology.

title: Chiral-symmetry breaking in two-dimensional SU(2) QCD with fermions.
abstract: We have studied the chiral symmetry of SU(2) Yang-Mills theory coupled to an unflavored fermion on a two-dimensional lattice using a hybrid algorithm based on the projector hamiltonian Monte-Carlo method. We found chiral symmetry breaking in the continuum limit. The theory is predicted to reside in only one phase in which chiral symmetry is broken.

title: General theory of quantum statistics with internal degrees of freedom in two dimensions.
abstract: The general theory of θ statistics with internal degrees of freedom is presented. The intrinsic parts of wave functions are expressed by means of the irreducible representations of the quantum group SU(2,q) with q=e −iθ . We show that the violation of P or T reflection symmetry is involved in two kinds of coproduct for constructing these representations

title: Top quark search with the D0 1992-1993 data sample.
abstract: We present results on the search for the top quark in {ital p{bar p}} collisions at {radical}{ital s} =1.8 TeV with an integrated luminosity of 13.5{plus_minus}1.6 pb{sup {minus}1}. We have considered {ital t{bar t}} production in the standard model using electron and muon dilepton decay channels ({ital t{bar t}}{r_arrow}{ital e}{mu}+jets, {ital ee}+jets, and {mu}{mu}+jets) and single-lepton decay channels ({ital t{bar t}}{r_arrow}{ital e}+jets and {mu}+jets) with and without tagging of {ital b} quark jets. An analysis of these data optimized for top quark masses below 140 GeV/{ital c}{sup 2} gives a lower top quark mass limit of 128 GeV/{ital c}{sup 2}. An analysis optimized for higher top quark masses yields 9 events with an expected background of 3.8{plus_minus}0.9. If we assume that the excess is due to {ital t{bar t}} production, and assuming a top quark mass of 180 GeV/{ital c}{sup 2}, we obtain a cross section of 8.2{plus_minus}5.1 pb.

title: Comparative study of the hadronic production of Bc mesons.
abstract: A comparative study of the full {alpha}{sup 4}{sub {ital s}} perturbative QCD calculation of the hadronic production of the {ital B}{sub {ital c}} and {ital B}{sub {ital c}}{sup {asterisk}} mesons and the fragmentation approximation is presented. We examined the various subprocesses in detail and the distribution {ital C}({ital z}), where {ital z} is twice the fraction of the {ital B}{sub {ital c}} or {ital B}{sub {ital c}}{sup {asterisk}} meson energy in the center of mass of the subprocess, which proved insightful and revealed the importance of certain nonfragmentation contributions. We concluded that the condition for the applicability of the fragmentation approximation in hadronic collisions is that the transverse momentum {ital P}{sub {ital T}} of the produced {ital B}{sub {ital c}} and {ital B}{sub {ital c}}{sup {asterisk}} be much larger than the mass of the {ital B}{sub {ital c}} meson: i.e., {ital P}{sub {ital T}}{gt}{ital M}{sub {ital B}{sub {ital c}}}. Numerical results for the cross sections at the Fermilab Tevatron are also presented using updated parton distribution functions with various kinematic cuts.

title: Measurement of the bottom-quark production cross section in 800 GeV/c proton-gold collisions.
abstract: Using a silicon-microstrip detector array to identify secondary vertices, we have observed {ital b}{r_arrow}{ital J}/{psi}{r_arrow}{mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup {minus}} decays in 800 GeV/{ital c} proton-gold interactions. The doubly differential cross section for {ital J}/{psi} mesons originating from {ital b}-quark decays, assuming linear dependence on nucleon number, is {ital d}{sup 2}{sigma}/{ital dx}{sub {ital Fdp}}{sup 2}{sub {ital T}}=107{plus_minus}28{plus_minus}19/nucleon at {ital x}{sub {ital F}}=0.05 and {ital p}{sub {ital T}}=1GeV/{ital c}. This measurement is compared to next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. The integrated {ital b}-quark production cross section, obtained by extrapolation over all {ital x}{sub {ital F}} and {ital p}{sub {ital T}}, is {sigma}({ital pN}{r_arrow}{ital bb}{ovr bar}+{ital X})=5.7{plus_minus}1.5{plus_minus}1.3 nb/nucleon.