Effects of the variation of mass on fermion localization and resonances on thick branes
A few years ago, Campos investigated the critical phenomena of thick branes in warped spacetimes . Inspired by his work, we consider a toy model of thick branes generated by a real scalar field with the potential V({phi})=a{phi}{sup 2}-b{phi}{sup 4}+c{phi}{sup 6}, and investigate the variation of the mass parameter a on the branes as well as the localization and resonances of fermions. An interesting result is found: there is a critical value for the mass parameter a, and when the critical value of a is reached the solution of the background scalar field is not unique and has the shape of a double kink. This happens in both cases with and without gravity. It is also shown that the numbers of the bound Kaluza-Klein modes of fermions on the gravity-free brane and the resonant states of fermions on the brane with gravity increase with the value of a.

title: Thermodynamic geometry of black hole in the deformed Hořava-Lifshitz gravity
abstract: We investigate the thermodynamic geometry and phase transition of Kehagias-Sfetsos black hole in the deformed Hořava-Lifshitz gravity with coupling constant λ = 1. The phase transition in black-hole thermodynamics is thought to be associated with the divergence of the capacities. And the structures of these divergent points are studied. We also find that the thermodynamic curvature produced by the Ruppeiner metric is positive definite for all r+ > r− and is divergent at η2 = 0 corresponding to the divergent points of CΦ and CT . These results suggest that the microstructure of the black hole has an effective repulsive interaction, which is very similar to the ideal gas of fermions. These may shed some light on the microstructure of the black hole.

title: Fermions coupled with self-dual vortex background on a torus
abstract: We study fermionic zero modes in the self-dual vortex background on an extra torus in 5+1 dimensions. It is shown that the self-dual vortex arises from the symmetric phase and the asymmetric phase of Higgs field in the context of generalized Abelian Higgs model. Then we analyze the Dirac operator on the extra two-dimensional space and the effective Lagrangian of four-dimensional fermion with the vortex background. Solving the Dirac equation, we obtain the fermionic zero modes in two simple cases. It is shown that the vortex background contributes a phase shift to the fermionic zero modes, and this phase is determined by the topology of the extra dimensions, it can be observed through Aharonov-Bohm effect. For the anti-vortex case, the corresponding zero modes present a singular behavior at the zero point of Higgs field. While for the vacuum one, they are non-singular.

title: Non-relativistic Josephson junction from holography
abstract: A bstractWe construct a Josephson junction in non-relativistic case with a Lifshitz geometry as the dual gravity. We investigate the effect of the Lifshitz scaling in comparison with its relativistic counterpart. The standard sinusoidal relation between the current and the phase difference is found for various Lifshitz scalings characterised by the dynamical critical exponent. We also find the exponential decreasing relation between the condensate of the scalar operator within the barrier at zero current and the width of the weak link, as well as the relation between the critical current and the width. Nevertheless, the coherence lengths obtained from two exponential decreasing relations generically have discrepancies for non-relativistic dual.

title: Competition between s-wave order and d-wave order in holographic superconductors
abstract: A bstractWe study competition between s-wave order and d-wave order through two holographic superconductor models. We find that once the coexisting phase appears, it is always thermodynamically favored, and that the coexistence phase is narrow and one condensate tends to kill the other. The phase diagram is constructed for each model in terms of temperature and the ratio of charges of two orders. We further compare the behaviors of some thermodynamic quantities, and discuss the different aspects and identical ones between two models.

title: Fermionic zero modes in gauge and gravity backgrounds on T-2
abstract: Here we study fermionic zero modes in gauge and gravity backgrounds taking a two-dimensional compact manifold T-2 as extra dimensions. The result is that there exist massless Dirac fermions which have normalizable zero modes under quite general assumptions about these backgrounds on the bulk. Several special cases of gauge background on the torus are discussed and some simple fermionic zero modes axe obtained.

title: Eternal Inflation: Prohibited by Quantum Gravity?
abstract: We investigate how eternal inflation is affected by quantum gravity effects. We consider general features of quantum gravity, such as renormalizability, complementarity, minimal length, definition of observables, and weak gravity conjecture. We also consider phenomenological models such as ghost inflation, non-commutative inflation, brane inflation, k-inflation and resonant tunneling. We find that all these features and models do not support eternal inflation. These evidences show hints that eternal inflation is prohibited by quantum gravity.

title: HIERARCHY IN HOŘAVA-LIKE GRAVITY
abstract: We investigate a Hořava-like gravity model in (4+1)-dimensional space–time. Differing from the original one, we put a critical exponent z to the extra space dimension, which preserves the 4-dimensional diffeomorphism. Surprisingly, we obtain a mass hierarchy in a way completely different from the Randall–Sundrum model, we also obtain an exponential factor solution with the use of Ricci-like flow. More interesting relations with AdS5/CFT4 are further demonstrated. Since AdS/CFT is a realization of holography, we conclude that the Hořava-like gravity may be also a realization of holography.

title: Results from the daya bay reactor neutrino experiment
abstract: The Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment was designed to achieve a sensitivity on the value of sin^2 2θ_(13) to better than 0.01 at 90% CL. The experiment consists of eight antineutrino detectors installed underground at different baselines from six nuclear reactors. With data collected with six antineutrino detectors for 55 days, Daya Bay announced the discovery of a non-zero value for sin^2 2θ_(13) with a significance of 5.2 standard deviations in March 2012. The most recent analysis with 139 days of data acquired in a six-detector configuration yields sin^2 2θ_(13) = 0.089 ± 0.010 (stat.) ± 0.005 (syst.), which is the most precise measurement of sin^2 2θ_(13) to date.

title: A fast programmable trigger for pattern recognition
abstract: We have built a fast programmable trigger processor based on a state-of-the-art Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) IC for the Palo Verde Neutrino Oscillation Experiment. The trigger processor can accommodate 160 ECL input signals, 8 NIM input signals, 16 ECL output signals and 8 NIM output signals. Our two-level trigger logic is designed asynchronously to maximize speed. We have attained trigger times of 40 ns for level 1 and 100 ns for level 2 with 132 asynchronous inputs. The trigger processor can be upgraded by replacing the FPGA with more advanced versions of the chip as they appear.

title: Models of the Primordial Standard Clock
abstract: Oscillating massive fields in the primordial universe can be used as Standard Clocks. The ticks of these oscillations induce features in the density perturbations, which directly record the time evolution of the scale factor of the primordial universe, thus if detected, provide a direct evidence for the inflation scenario or the alternatives. In this paper, we construct a full inflationary model of primordial Standard Clock and study its predictions on the density perturbations. This model provides a full realization of several key features proposed previously. We compare the theoretical predictions from inflation and alternative scenarios with the Planck 2013 temperature data on Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), and identify a statistically marginal but interesting candidate. We discuss how future CMB temperature and polarization data, non-Gaussianity analysis and Large Scale Structure data may be used to further test or constrain the Standard Clock signals.