Probing cosmic acceleration by using the SNLS3 SNIa dataset
We probe the cosmic acceleration by using the recently released SNLS3 sample of 472 type Ia supernovae. Combining this type Ia supernovae dataset with the cosmic microwave background anisotropy data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 7-yr observations, the baryon acoustic oscillation results from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey data release 7, and the Hubble constant measurement from the Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope, we measure the dark energy equation of state w and the deceleration parameter q as functions of redshift by using the Chevallier-Polarski-Linder parametrization. Our result is consistent with a cosmological constant at 1σ confidence level, without evidence for the recent slowing down of the cosmic acceleration. Furthermore, we consider three binned parametrizations (w is piecewise constant in redshift z) based on different binning methods. The similar results are obtained, i.e., the ΛCDM model is still nicely compatible with current observations.

title: Dark energy: A brief review
abstract: The problem of dark energy is briefly reviewed in both theoretical and observational aspects. In the theoretical aspect, dark energy scenarios are classified into symmetry, anthropic principle, tuning mechanism, modified gravity, quantum cosmology, holographic principle, back-reaction and phenomenological types. In the observational aspect, we introduce cosmic probes, dark energy related projects, observational constraints on theoretical models and model independent reconstructions.

title: Cosmic Age Test in Inhomogeneous Cosmological Models Mimicking $\Lambda$CDM on the Light-Cone
abstract: The possibility of reconstructing a spherically symmetric inhomogeneous Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi (LTB) model with Lambda CDM observations has drawn much attention. Recently, an inhomogeneous LTB model having the same luminosity-distance and light-cone mass density of the homogeneous Lambda CDM model was reconstructed. From the Wilkinson microwave anisotropy probe 7-year measurements together with other cosmological observations, we calculate the cosmic age at our position in this LTB model, and obtain a constraint t(LTB) < 11.7 Gyr at 1 sigma confidence level. We find that this result is, although 2 Gyr younger compared with the age of the homogeneous Lambda CDM model, still within 1 sigma agreement with the constraint of cosmic age given by current astronomical measurements. We expect that in the future, with the help of more advanced observations, we can distinguish the reconstructed inhomogeneous LTB model from the homogeneous Lambda CDM model.

title: Thermodynamics of Schwarzschild de Sitter spacetimes: variable cosmological constant

title: Testing modified gravity models with recent cosmological observations
abstract: We explore the cosmological implications of five modified gravity (MG) models by using the recent cosmological observational data, including the recently released SNLS3 type Ia supernovae sample, the cosmic microwave background anisotropy data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 7-yr observations, the baryon acoustic oscillation results from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey data release 7, and the latest Hubble constant measurement utilizing the Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope. The MG models considered include the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati (DGP) model, two f (R) models, and two f (T) models. We find that compared with the ΛCDM model, MG models can not lead to an appreciable reduction of the χmin2. The analysis of AIC and BIC shows that the simplest cosmological constant model (ΛCDM) is still the most preferred by the current data, and the DGP model is strongly disfavored. In addition, from the observational constraints, we also reconstruct the evolutions of the growth factor in these models. We find that the current available growth factor data are not enough to distinguish these MG models from the ΛCDM model.

title: Revisit of Tension in Recent SNIa Datasets
abstract: Although today there are many observational methods, Type Ia supernovae (SNIa) is still one of the most powerful tools to probe the mysterious dark energy (DE). The most recent SNIa datasets are the 307 SNIa "Union" dataset \cite{kow08} and the 397 SNIa "Constitution" dataset \cite{hic09}. In a recent work \cite{wei10}, Wei pointed out that both Union and Constitution datasets are in tension with the observations of cosmic microwave background (CMB) and baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO), and suggested that two truncated versions of Union and Constitution datasets, namely "UnionT" and "", should be used to constrain various DE models. But in \cite{wei10}, only the $\Lambda$CDM model is used to select the outliers from the Union and the Constitution dataset. In principle, since different DE models may select different outliers, the truncation procedure should be performed for each different DE model. In the present work, by performing the truncation procedure of \cite{wei10} for 10 different models, we demonstrate that the impact of different models is negligible, and the approach adopted in \cite{wei10} is valid. Moreover, by using the 4 SNIa datasets mentioned above, as well as the observations of CMB and BAO, we perform best-fit analysis on the 10 models. It is found that: (1) For each DE model, the truncated SNIa datasets not only greatly reduce $\chi_{min}^{2}$ and $\chi_{min}^{2}/dof$, but also remove the tension between SNIa data and other cosmological observations. (2) The CMB data is very helpful to break the degeneracy among different parameters, and plays a very important role in distinguishing different DE models. (3) The current observational data are still too limited to distinguish all DE models.

title: Improved determination of the sample composition of dimuon events produced in $p\bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV
abstract: We use a new method to estimate with 5% accuracy the contribution of pion and kaon in-flight-decays to the dimuon data set acquired with the CDF detector. Based on this improved estimate, we show that the total number and the properties of the collected dimuon events are not yet accounted for by ordinary sources of dimuons which also include the contributions, as measured in the data, of heavy flavor, ϒ, and Drell–Yan production in addition to muons mimicked by hadronic punchthrough. The number of unaccounted events corresponds to (12.8±3.2)% of the $b\bar{b}$ production. We find that (23±6)% of the unaccounted events contain additional muon candidates. For comparison, this fraction is (6.9±0.4)% for events due to $b\bar{b}$ production.

title: Candidate chiral doublet bands in the odd-odd nucleus Cs 126
abstract: The candidate chiral doublet bands recently observed in $^{126}$Cs have been extended to higher spins, several new linking transitions between the two partner members of the chiral doublet bands are observed, and $\gamma$$-$intensities related to the chiral doublet bands are presented by analyzing the $\gamma$$-$$\gamma$ coincidence data collected earlier at the NORDBALL through the $^{116}$Cd$($$^{14}$N, 4n$)$$^{126}$Cs reaction at a beam energy of 65 MeV. The intraband $B(M1)/B(E2)$ and interband $B(M1)_{in}/B(M1)_{out}$ ratios and the energy staggering parameter, S(I), have been deduced for these doublet bands. The results are found to be consistent with the chiral interpretation for the two structures. Furthermore, the observation of chiral doublet bands in $^{126}$Cs together with those in $^{124}$Cs, $^{128}$Cs, $^{130}$Cs and $^{132}$Cs also indicates that the chiral conditions do not change rapidly with decreasing neutron number in these odd-odd Cesium isotopes.

title: Young Stellar Groups around Herbig Ae/Be Stars: A Low-Mass YSO Census
abstract: We present near-IR and mid-IR observations of eight embedded young stellar groups around Herbig Ae/Be stars (HAEBEs) using archived Spitzer IRAC data and 2MASS data. These young stellar groups are nearby (≤1 kpc) and still embedded within their molecular clouds. In order to identify the young stellar objects in our sample, we use the color-color diagram of J - [3.6] versus Ks - [4.5]. The Spitzer images of our sample show that the groups around HAEBEs, spectral types earlier than B8, are usually associated with bright infrared nebulosity. Within this, there are normally 10-50 young stars distributed close to the HAEBEs (<1 pc). Not only are there young stars around the HAEBEs, there are also young stellar populations throughout the whole cloud, some of which are distributed and some of which are clumped. The groups around the HAEBEs are substructures of the large young population within the molecular cloud. The sizes of groups are also comparable with those substructures seen in massive clusters. Young stars in groups around HAEBEs have generally larger SED slopes compared to those outside, which suggests that the young stars in groups are probably younger than the distributed systems. This might imply that there is usually a higher and more continuous star-forming rate in groups, that the formation of groups initiates later, or that low-mass stars in groups form slower than those outside. Finally, there is no obvious trend between the SED slopes and the distance to the HAEBEs for those young stars within the groups. This suggests that the clustering of young stars dominates over the effect of massive stars on the low-mass young stars at the scale of our study.

title: Constraining the evolution of dark energy with a combination of galaxy cluster observables
abstract: We show that the abundance and redshift distribution (dN/dz) of galaxy clusters in future high-yield cluster surveys, combined with the spatial power spectrum [P{sub c}(k)] of the same clusters, can place significant constraints on the evolution of the dark energy equation of state, w=w(a). We evaluate the expected errors on w{sub a}=-dw/da and other cosmological parameters using a Fisher matrix approach, and simultaneously including cluster structure evolution parameters in our analysis. We study three different types of forthcoming surveys that will identify clusters based on their x-ray emission (such as DUO, the Dark Universe Observatory), their Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) decrement (such as SPT, the South Pole Telescope), or their weak-lensing shear (such as LSST, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope). We find that combining the cluster abundance and power spectrum significantly enhances constraints from either method alone. We show that the weak-lensing survey can deliver a constraint as tight as {delta}w{sub a}{approx}0.1 on the evolution of the dark energy equation of state, and that the x-ray and SZ surveys each yield {delta}w{sub a}{approx}0.4 separately, or {delta}w{sub a}{approx}0.2 when these two surveys are combined. For the x-ray and SZ surveys, constraints on dark energy parameters are improved by a factor of 2 bymore » combining the cluster data with cosmic microwave background anisotropy measurements by Planck, but degrade by a factor of 2 if the survey is required to solve simultaneously for cosmological and cluster structure evolution parameters. The constraint on w{sub a} from the weak-lensing survey is improved by {approx}25% with the addition of Planck data.« less

title: Is modified gravity required by observations? An empirical consistency test of dark energy models
abstract: We apply the technique of parameter splitting to existing cosmological data sets, to check for a generic failure of dark energy models. Given a dark energy parameter, such as the energy density {omega}{sub {lambda}} or equation of state w, we split it into two meta-parameters with one controlling geometrical distances, and the other controlling the growth of structure. Observational data spanning Type Ia Supernovae, the cosmic microwave background (CMB), galaxy clustering, and weak gravitational lensing statistics are fit without requiring the two meta-parameters to be equal. This technique checks for inconsistency between different data sets, as well as for internal inconsistency within any one data set (e.g., CMB or lensing statistics) that is sensitive to both geometry and growth. We find that the cosmological constant model is consistent with current data. Theories of modified gravity generally predict a relation between growth and geometry that is different from that of general relativity. Parameter splitting can be viewed as a crude way to parametrize the space of such theories. Our analysis of current data already appears to put sharp limits on these theories: assuming a flat universe, current data constrain the difference {delta}{omega}{sub {lambda}}={omega}{sub {lambda}}(geom)-{omega}{sub {lambda}}(grow) to be -0.0044{sub -0.0057-0.0119}{sup +0.0058+0.0108} (68%more » and 95% C.L. respectively); allowing the equation of state w to vary, the difference {delta}w=w(geom)-w(grow) is constrained to be 0.37{sub -0.36-0.53}{sup +0.37+1.09}. Interestingly, the region w(grow)>w(geom), which should be generically favored by theories that slow structure formation relative to general relativity, is quite restricted by data already. We find w(grow)<-0.80 at 2{sigma}. As an example, the best-fit flat Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati model approximated by our parametrization lies beyond the 3{sigma} contour for constraints from all the data sets.« less