Beam and SKS spectrometers at the K1.8 beam line
High-resolution spectrometers for both incident beams and scattered particles have been constructed at the K1.8 beam line of the Hadron Experimental Facility at J-PARC. A point-to-point optics is realized between the entrance and exit of QQDQQ magnets for the beam spectrometer. Fine-pitch wire chamber trackers and hodoscope counters are installed in the beam spectrometer to accept a high rate beam up to 107 Hz. The superconducting kaon spectrometer for scattered particles was transferred from KEK with modifications to the cryogenic system and detectors. A missing-mass resolution of 1.9 ± 0.1 MeV/c2 (FWHM) was achieved for the Σ peaks of (π±,K+) reactions on a proton target in the first physics run of E19 in 2010

title: High-resolution search for the Theta(+) pentaquark via a pion-induced reaction at J-PARC
abstract: The pentaquark Theta(+) has been searched for via the pi(-) p --> K- X reaction with beam momenta of 1.92 and 2.01 GeV/c at J-PARC. A missing mass resolution of 2 MeV (FWHM) was achieved but no sharp peak structure was observed. The upper limits on the production cross section averaged over the scattering angle from 2 degrees to 15 degrees in the laboratory frame were found to be less than 0.28 mu b/sr at the 90% confidence level for both the 1.92- and 2.01- GeV/c data. The systematic uncertainty of the upper limits was controlled within 10%. Constraints on the Theta(+) decay width were also evaluated with a theoretical calculation using an effective Lagrangian. The present result implies that the width should be less than 0.36 and 1.9 MeV for the spin-parity of 1/2(+) and 1/2(-), respectively

title: Xi hypernuclear spectroscopy with SKS+ spectrometer at J-PARC

title: Search for $^6_\Lambda$H hypernucleus by the $^6$Li$(\pi^-,K^+)$ reaction at $p_{\pi^-}$ = 1.2 GeV/$c$
abstract: We have carried out an experiment to search for a neutron-ric h hypernucleus, 6 Λ H, by the6Li(π−,K+) reaction atpπ− =1.2 GeV/c. The obtained missing-mass spectrum with an estimated energy re solution of 3.2 MeV (FWHM) showed no peak structure correspo nding to the6 Λ H hypernucleus neither below nor above the 4 Λ H+2n particle decay threshold. An upper limit of the production c ross section for the bound6 Λ H hypernucleus was estimated to be 1.2 nb /sr at 90% confidence level.

title: Non-Gaussian fingerprints of self-interacting curvaton
abstract: We investigate non-Gaussianities in self-interacting curvaton models treating both renormalizable and non-renormalizable polynomial interactions. We scan the parameter space systematically and compute numerically the non-linearity parameters f{sub NL} and g{sub NL}. We find that even in the interaction dominated regime there are large regions consistent with current observable bounds. Whenever the interactions dominate, we discover significant deviations from the relations f{sub NL} ∼ r{sub dec}{sup −1} and g{sub NL} ∼ r{sub dec}{sup −1} valid for quadratic curvaton potentials, where r{sub dec} measures the curvaton contribution to the total energy density at the time of its decay. Even if r{sub dec} || 1, there always exists regions with f{sub NL} ∼ 0 since the sign of f{sub NL} oscillates as a function of the parameters. While g{sub NL} can also change sign, typically g{sub NL} is non-zero in the low-f{sub NL} regions. Hence, for some parameters the non-Gaussian statistics is dominated by g{sub NL} rather than by f{sub NL}. Due to self-interactions, both the relative signs of f{sub NL} and g{sub NL} and the functional relation between them is typically modified from the quadratic case, offering a possible experimental test of the curvaton interactions.

title: The ASTRO-H X-ray Observatory
abstract: 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: Primordial Curvature Fluctuation and Its Non-Gaussianity in Models with Modulated Reheating
abstract: We investigate non-Gaussianity in the modulated reheating scenario where fluctuations of the decay rate of the inflaton generate adiabatic perturbations, paying particular attention to the nonlinearity (NL) parameters f{sub NL}, {tau}{sub NL}, and g{sub NL} as well as the scalar spectral index and tensor-to-scalar ratio which characterize the nature of the primordial power spectrum. We also take into account the preexisting adiabatic perturbations produced from the inflaton fluctuations. It has been known that the nonlinearity between the curvature perturbations and the fluctuations of the decay rate can yield non-Gaussianity at the level of f{sub NL}{approx}O(1), but we find that the nonlinearity between the decay rate and the modulus field which determines the decay rate can generate much greater non-Gaussianity. We also discuss a consistency relation among nonlinearity parameters which holds in the scenario and find that the modulated reheating yields a different one from that of the curvaton model. In particular, they both can yield a large positive f{sub NL} but with a different sign of g{sub NL}. This provides a possibility to discriminate these two competitive models by looking at the sign of g{sub NL}. Furthermore, we work on some concrete inflation models and investigate in what cases modelsmore » predict the spectral index and the tensor-to-scalar ratio allowed by the current data while generating large non-Gaussianity, which may have many implications for model buildings of the inflationary universe.« less

title: Mixed inflaton and spectator field models after Planck
abstract: We investigate the possibility that the primordial perturbation has two sources: the inflaton and a spectator field, which is not dynamically important during inflation but which after inflation can contribute to the curvature perturbation. We derive the constraints on the model by using recent Planck results on the spectral index, tensor-to-scalar ratio and nonlinearity parameters fNL and τNL for the cases with and without specifying the inflation and spectator models. If one chooses the spectator to be the curvaton with a quadratic potential, non-Gaussianities can be computed and imply restrictions on possible values of the ratio of the spectator-to-inflaton power R. We also consider a mixed curvaton and chaotic inflation model and show that even quartic chaotic inflation is still feasible in the context of mixed models even with Planck data.

title: Unoriented open - closed string field theory
abstract: The string field theory for unoriented open-closed string mixed system is constructed up to quadratic order based on the joining-splitting type vertices. The gauge invariance with closed string transformation parameter is proved. The infinity cancellation mechanism between disk and projective plane amplitudes plays an essential role for the gauge invariance of the theory.