Expression of Interest for the Study of Nucleon Decay and Neutrino Physics Using a Large Underground Water Cherenkov Detector

title: INFRARED PHOTOMETRY OF NGC 6791
abstract: We present deep JHK photometry of the old and metal-rich open cluster NGC 6791. The photometry reaches below the main-sequence turnoff to K ≈ 16.5 mag. We combine our photometry with that from Stetson et al. to provide color-magnitude diagrams showing K versus J - K, K versus V - K, and V versus V - K. We study the slope of the red giant branch in the infrared but find that it is not a useful metallicity indicator for the cluster, nor any metal-rich cluster that lacks a well-populated red giant branch, because it is not linear, as has often been assumed, in K versus J - K. The mean color of the red horizontal-branch/red clump stars provide an estimate of the cluster reddening, E(B - V) = 0.14 ± 0.04 mag for [Fe/H] = +0.4 ± 0.1. The mean magnitudes of these stars also provide a good distance estimate, (m - M)0 = 13.07 ± 0.04. Finally, we find that the isochrones of Yi et al. provide optimal fits in V versus B - V and V - K and K versus J - K and V - K for such values if [Fe/H] lies between +0.3 and +0.5 (with a slight preference for +0.5) and ages between 9 Gyr ([Fe/H] = +0.3) and 7.5 Gyr ([Fe/H] = +0.5).

title: Bootes II: Not a Dwarf Galaxy but Possibly Shed by One
abstract: We present moderately deep V I C photometry of Boötes II, obtained using the SOAR Telescope. While identified initially as an old, metal-poor, dwarf galaxy, Boötes II appears to be a moderately metal-rich globular cluster with [Fe/H] ≈ −0.7. The slope of the red giant branch suggests that [α/Fe] ≈ 0.0, and the turn-off indicates an age of 7 to 9 Gyrs, considerably younger than most globular clusters, but similar to Palomar 12. Like that object, Boötes II lies in the direction of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy tidal stream, and, with a distance of almost 50 kpc, is probably associated with the more distant portion of the stream, as defined by Belokurov et al. (2006a).

title: THE RR LYRAE VARIABLES AND HORIZONTAL BRANCH OF NGC 6656 (M22)
abstract: The first calibrated broadband UBVI time-series photometry is presented for the RR Lyrae variable stars in NGC 6656 (M22), with observations spanning a range of 22 years. We have also redetermined the variability types and periods for the RR Lyrae stars identified previously by photographic observations, revising the number of fundamental-mode RR Lyrae variables (RR0) to 10 and the number of first-overtone variables (RR1) to 16. The mean periods of the RR0 and RR1 variables are (P) {sub RR0} = 0.66 ± 0.02 days and (P) {sub RR1} = 0.33 ± 0.01 days, respectively, supporting an Oosterhoff II classification for the cluster. The number ratio of RR1-type to all RR-type variables is N {sub 1}/N{sub RR} = 0.61, also consistent with an Oosterhoff II designation. Both the RR Lyrae stars' minimum light colors and the blue edge of the RR Lyrae instability strip suggest E( B – – V) = 0.36 ± 0.02 mag toward M22. Regarding the HB morphology of M22, we find (B-R)/(B+V+R) = +0.97 ± 0.1 and at least one ''gap'' located in an unusual part of the blue HB, in the middle of the so-called hot HB stars.

title: A Chemical Abundance Study of three RHB and two RGB stars in NGC6637 (M69)
abstract: We present a detailed chemical abundance study of three red horizontal branch and two red giant branch stars in the metal-rich globular cluster NGC 6637 (M69). The value of [Fe/H] derived from LTE calculations is $-$0.77 $\pm$ 0.02 dex. We also discuss the anticorrelation between oxygen and sodium abundances in the program stars and compare the [Si/Ti] ratio of NGC 6637 with those of other globular clusters.

title: Enrichment by supernovae in globular clusters with multiple populations
abstract: The most massive globular cluster in the Milky Way, ω Centauri, is thought to be the remaining core of a disrupted dwarf galaxy, as expected within the model of hierarchical merging. It contains several stellar populations having different heavy elemental abundances supplied by supernovae—a process known as metal enrichment. Although M 22 appears to be similar to ω Cen, other peculiar globular clusters do not. Therefore ω Cen and M 22 are viewed as exceptional, and the presence of chemical inhomogeneities in other clusters is seen as ‘pollution’ from the intermediate-mass asymptotic-giant-branch stars expected in normal globular clusters. Here we report Ca abundances for seven globular clusters and compare them to ω Cen. Calcium and other heavy elements can only be supplied through numerous supernovae explosions of massive stars in these stellar systems, but the gravitational potentials of the present-day clusters cannot preserve most of the ejecta from such explosions. We conclude that these globular clusters, like ω Cen, are most probably the relics of more massive primeval dwarf galaxies that merged and disrupted to form the proto-Galaxy.

title: On the origin of the holographic principle
abstract: It was recently suggested that quantum mechanics and gravity are not fundamental but emerge from information loss at causal horizons. On the basis of the formalism the holographic principle is also shown to arise naturally from the loss of information about bulk fields observed by an outside observer. As an application, Witten's prescription is derived.

title: The Variation of Relative Magnetic Helicity around Major Flares
abstract: We have investigated the variation of magnetic helicity over a span of several days around the times of 11 X-class flares which occurred in seven active regions (NOAA 9672, 10030, 10314, 10486, 10564, 10696, and 10720) using the magnetograms taken by the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). As a major result we found that each of these major flares was preceded by a significant helicity accumulation, (1.8–16) × 1042 Mx2 over a long period (0.5 to a few days). Another finding is that the helicity accumulates at a nearly constant rate, (4.5–48) × 1040 Mx2 hr−1, and then becomes nearly constant before the flares. This led us to distinguish the helicity variation into two phases: a phase of monotonically increasing helicity and the following phase of relatively constant helicity. As expected, the amount of helicity accumulated shows a modest correlation with time-integrated soft X-ray flux during flares. However, the average helicity change rate in the first phase shows even stronger correlation with the time-integrated soft X-ray flux. We discuss the physical implications of this result and the possibility that this characteristic helicity variation pattern can be used as an early warning sign for solar eruptions.

title: Background electromagnetic fields and nonrelativistic QED matching: Scalar case
abstract: The low-energy structure of hadrons can be described systematically using effective field theory, and the parameters of the effective theory can be determined from lattice QCD computations. Recent work, however, points to inconsistencies between the background field method in lattice QCD and effective field theory matching conditions. We show that the background field problem necessitates inclusion of operators related by equations of motion. In the presence of time-dependent electromagnetic fields, for example, such operators modify Green's functions, thereby complicating the isolation of hadronic parameters which enter on-shell scattering amplitudes. The particularly simple case of a scalar hadron coupled to uniform electromagnetic fields is investigated in detail. At the level of the relativistic effective theory, operators related by equations of motion are demonstrated to be innocuous. The same result does not hold in the non-relativistic effective theory, and inconsistencies in matching are resolved by carefully treating operators related by equations of motion. As uniform external fields potentially allow for surface terms, the problem is additionally analyzed on a torus where such terms are absent. Finite-size corrections are derived for charged scalar correlation functions in uniform electric fields as a useful byproduct.

title: QCD radiative corrections to J/ψ leptonic decay by using the scalar-integral reduction method

title: The Expected Performance of the ATLAS Inner Detector