Gauge independent approach to chiral symmetry breaking in a strong magnetic field
The gauge independence of the dynamical fermion mass generated through chiral symmetry breaking in QED in a strong, constant external magnetic field is critically examined. We show that the bare vertex approximation, in which the vertex corrections are ignored, is a consistent truncation of the Schwinger–Dyson equations in the lowest Landau level approximation. The dynamical fermion mass, obtained as the solution of the truncated Schwinger–Dyson equations evaluated on the fermion mass shell, is shown to be manifestly gauge independent. By establishing a direct correspondence between the truncated Schwinger–Dyson equations and the 2PI (two-particle-irreducible) effective action truncated at the lowest nontrivial order in the loop expansion as well as in the 1 / N f expansion ( N f is the number of fermion flavors), we argue that in a strong magnetic field the dynamical fermion mass can be reliably calculated in the bare vertex approximation.

title: PROGRESS ON CHIRAL SYMMETRY BREAKING IN A STRONG MAGNETIC FIELD
abstract: The problem of chiral symmetry breaking in QED in a strong magnetic field is briefly reviewed. Recent progress on issues regarding the gauge fixing independence of the dynamically generated fermion mass is discussed.

title: Real time nonequilibrium dynamics in hot QED plasmas: Dynamical renormalization group approach
abstract: We study the real-time nonequilibrium dynamics in hot QED plasmas implementing a dynamical renormalization group and using the hard thermal loop (HTL) approximation. The focus is on the study of the relaxation of gauge and fermionic mean fields and on the quantum kinetics of the photon and fermion distribution functions. For semihard photons of momentum eT q \gamma and \bar{q} -> \bar{q}\gamma) at O(\alpha) grows logarithmically in time and is comparable to that produced from on-shell Compton scattering and pair annihilation at O(\alpha \alpha_s). Fermion mean fields relax as e^{-\alpha T t ln(\omega_P t)} with \omega_P=eT/3 the plasma frequency, as a consequence of the emission and absorption of soft magnetic photons. A quantum kinetic equation for hard fermions is obtained directly in real time from a field theoretical approach improved by the dynamical renormalization group. The collision kernel is time-dependent and infrared finite.

title: Dynamical electron mass in a strong magnetic field
abstract: Motivated by recent interest in understanding properties of strongly magnetized matter, we study the dynamical electron mass generated through approximate chiral symmetry breaking in QED in a strong magnetic field. We reliably calculate the dynamical electron mass by numerically solving the nonperturbative Schwinger-Dyson equations in a consistent truncation within the lowest Landau level approximation. It is shown that the generation of dynamical electron mass in a strong magnetic field is significantly enhanced by the perturbative electron mass that explicitly breaks chiral symmetry in the absence of a magnetic field.

title: REAL-TIME NONEQUILIBRIUM DYNAMICS IN HOT QED PLASMAS
abstract: The quantum kinetics of photons in hot QED plasmas is studied directly in real time by implementing the dynamical renormalization group. In contrast to conventional approach, the dynamical renormalization group method consistently includes off-shell (energy non-conserving) effects and accounts for time-dependent collisional kernel. To lowest order we find that in the relaxation time approximation the semihard photon distribution function relaxes with a power law.

title: Nonequilibrium relaxation of Bose-Einstein condensates: Real-time equations of motion and Ward identities
abstract: We present a field-theoretical method to obtain consistently the equations of motion for small amplitude condensate perturbations in a homogeneous Bose-condensed gas directly in real time. It is based on a linear response and combines the Schwinger–Keldysh formulation of nonequilibrium quantum field theory with the Nambu–Gor'kov formalism of quasiparticle excitations in the condensed phase and the tadpole method in quantum field theory. This method leads to causal equations of motion that allow us to study the nonequilibrium evolution as an initial value problem. It also allows us to extract directly the Ward identities, which are a consequence of the underlying gauge symmetry and which in equilibrium lead to the Hugenholtz–Pines theorem. An explicit one-loop calculation of the equations of motion beyond the Hartree–Fock–Bogoliubov approximation reveals that the nonlocal, absorptive contributions to the self-energies corresponding to the Beliaev and Landau damping processes are necessary to fulfill the Ward identities in or out of equilibrium. It is argued that a consistent implementation at low temperatures must be based on the loop expansion, which is shown to fulfill the Ward identities order by order in perturbation theory.

title: A Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) TDC for the Fermilab SeaQuest (E906) Experiment and Its Test with a Novel External Wave Union Launcher
abstract: We developed a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) TDC module for the tracking detectors of the Fermilab SeaQuest (E906) experiment, including drift chambers, proportional tubes, and hodoscopes. This 64-channel TDC module had a 6U VMEbus form factor and was equipped with a low-power, radiation-hardened Microsemi ProASIC3 Flash-based FPGA. The design of the new FPGA firmware (Run2-TDC) aimed to reduce the data volume and data acquisition (DAQ) deadtime. The firmware digitized multiple input hits of both polarities while allowing users to turn on a multiple-hit elimination logic to remove after-pulses in the wire chambers and proportional tubes. A scaler was implemented in the firmware to allow for recording the number of hits in each channel. The TDC resolution was determined by an internal cell delay of 450 ps. A measurement precision of 200 ps was achieved. We used five kinds of tests to ensure the qualification of 93 TDCs in mass production. We utilized the external wave union launcher in our test to improve the TDC's measurement precision and also to illustrate how to construct the Wave Union TDC using an existing multi-hit TDC without modifying its firmware. Measurement precision was improved by a factor of about two (108 ps) based on the four-edge wave union. Better measurement precision (69 ps) was achieved by combining the approaches of Wave Union TDC and multiple-channel ganging.

title: LSST Science Book, Version 2.0
abstract: A survey that can cover the sky in optical bands over wide fields to faint magnitudes with a fast cadence will enable many of the exciting science opportunities of the next decade. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will have an effective aperture of 6.7 meters and an imaging camera with field of view of 9.6 deg^2, and will be devoted to a ten-year imaging survey over 20,000 deg^2 south of +15 deg. Each pointing will be imaged 2000 times with fifteen second exposures in six broad bands from 0.35 to 1.1 microns, to a total point-source depth of r~27.5. The LSST Science Book describes the basic parameters of the LSST hardware, software, and observing plans. The book discusses educational and outreach opportunities, then goes on to describe a broad range of science that LSST will revolutionize: mapping the inner and outer Solar System, stellar populations in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, the structure of the Milky Way disk and halo and other objects in the Local Volume, transient and variable objects both at low and high redshift, and the properties of normal and active galaxies at low and high redshift. It then turns to far-field cosmological topics, exploring properties of supernovae to z~1, strong and weak lensing, the large-scale distribution of galaxies and baryon oscillations, and how these different probes may be combined to constrain cosmological models and the physics of dark energy.

title: PROTON BRANCH OF MODIFIED URCA PROCESS IN STRONG MAGNETIC FIELD AND SUPERFLUIDITY OF NEUTRON STAR CORES
abstract: The modified URCA process produces efficient neutrino energy losses in neutron star cores, and has been shown to go via neutron and proton branches. Based on the improved electron chemical potential and critical temperature of superfluidity, the effects of strong magnetic field and superfluidity on the proton branch of modified URCA process are investigated simultaneously in this paper. The results show that strong magnetic field enhances the neutrino emissivities compared to the case in zero magnetic field, and superfluidity reduces the emissivities significantly. For the total neutrino emissivities, the magnetic field is dominant at the initial stage of neutron star cooling, but the superfluidity becomes crucial as the temperature drops below the critical temperature.

title: Gravitational Field Equations and Theory of Dark Matter and Dark Energy
abstract: The main objective of this article is to derive new gravitational field equations and to establish a unified theory for dark energy and dark matter. The gravitational field equations with a scalar potential $\varphi$ function are derived using the Einstein-Hilbert functional, and the scalar potential $\varphi$ is a natural outcome of the divergence-free constraint of the variational elements. 
Gravitation is now described by the Riemannian metric 
$g_{\mu\nu}$, the scalar potential $\varphi$ and their interactions, unified by the new field equations. 
From quantum field theoretic point of view, the vector field $\Phi_\mu=D_\mu \varphi$, the gradient of the scalar function $\varphi$, is a spin-1 massless bosonic particle field. The field equations induce a natural duality between the graviton (spin-2 massless bosonic particle) and this spin-1 massless bosonic particle. Both particles can be considered as gravitational force carriers, and as they are massless, the induced forces are long-range forces. The (nonlinear) interaction between these bosonic particle fields leads to a unified theory for dark energy and dark matter. Also, associated with the scalar potential $\varphi$ is the scalar potential energy density $\frac{c^4}{8\pi G} \Phi=\frac{c^4}{8\pi G} g^{\mu\nu}D_\mu D_\nu \varphi$, which represents a new type of energy caused by the non-uniform distribution of matter in the universe. 
The negative part of this potential energy density produces attraction, and the positive part produces repelling force. This potential energy density is conserved with mean zero: $\int_M \Phi dM=0$. 
The sum of this potential energy density 
$\frac{c^4}{8\pi G} \Phi$ and the coupling energy 
 between the energy-momentum tensor $T_{\mu\nu}$ and the scalar potential field $\varphi$ gives rise to a unified theory for dark matter and dark energy: 
The negative part of 
this sum represents the dark matter, which produces attraction, 
and the positive part represents the dark energy, which drives the acceleration of expanding galaxies. 
In addition, the scalar curvature of space-time obeys $R=\frac{8\pi G}{c^4} T + \Phi$. 
Furthermore, the proposed field equations resolve a few difficulties encountered by the classical Einstein field equations.

title: Unified field equations coupling four forces and principle of interaction dynamics
abstract: The main objective of this article is to postulate a principle of interaction dynamics (PID) and to derive field equations coupling the four fundamental interactions based on first principles. PID is a least action principle subject to div$_A$-free constraints for the variational element with $A$ being gauge potentials. The Lagrangian action is uniquely determined by 1) the principle of general relativity, 2) the $U(1)$, $SU(2)$ and $SU(3)$ gauge invariances, 3) the Lorentz invariance, and 4) the principle of representation invariance (PRI), introduced in . The unified field equations are then derived using PID. The field model spontaneously breaks the gauge symmetries, and gives rise to a new mass generation mechanism. 
The unified field model introduces a natural duality between the mediators and their dual mediators, and can be easily decoupled to study each individual interaction when other interactions are negligible. The unified field model, together with PRI and PID applied to individual interactions, provides clear explanations and solutions to a number of outstanding challenges in physics and cosmology, including e.g. the dark energy and dark matter phenomena, the quark confinement, asymptotic freedom, short-range nature of both strong and weak interactions, decay mechanism of sub-atomic particles, baryon asymmetry, and the solar neutrino problem.