Polynomial formulations and renormalizability in quantum gravity
Non-renormalizability of quantum gravity is traced, in the “binomial” first order metric formulation, to a mismatch between the symmetries of its quadratic and cubic terms, which makes this ostensibly renormalizable system ill-defined about zero vacuum, and forces the usual expansion of the metric about a background. How it might have been is illustrated by the exception, D=2, where the theory is well-defined and hence is “off-shell” finite. In D=3, where the first order vielbein form is also quadratic plus cubic, it is explicitly shown to remain off-shell finite even about non-zero backgrounds, in contrast to the infinities expected in the metric description.

title: Magnetic Fields and Passive Scalars in Polyakov's Conformal Turbulence
abstract: Polyakov has suggested that two-dimensional turbulence might be described by a minimal model of conformal field theory. However, there are many minimal models satisfying the same physical inputs as Polyakov's solution (2, 21). Dynamical magnetic fields and passive scalars pose different physical requirements. For large magnetic Reynolds number other minimal models arise. The simplest one, (2, 13), makes reasonable predictions that may be tested in the astrophysical context. In particular, the equipartition theorem between magnetic and kinetic energies does not hold: the magnetic one dominates at larger distances.

title: Massive higher spin from dimensional reduction of gauge fields
abstract: A unified treatment of symmetric and ''D-bein'' higher integer spin massive fields in arbitrary dimension is presented and illustrated with the generic cases of spins 3 and 4. The theories are uniformly generated from massless gauge systems in one higher dimension by Kaluza--Klein reduction. The origin and role of various auxiliary field formulations are thereby clarified in terms of the underlying gauge freedom. This treatment is compared with the construction of massive theories from gauge field actions in the same dimension. The general canonical formulation is also exhibited.

title: THE EFFECTIVE LAGRANGIAN OF THREE DIMENSIONAL QUANTUM CHROMODYNAMICS
abstract: We consider the low energy limit of three dimensional quantum chromodynamics (QCD) with an even number of flavors. We show that parity is not spontaneously broken, but the global (flavor) symmetry is spontaneously broken. The low energy effective Lagrangian is a nonlinear sigma model on the Grassmannian. Some Chern-Simons terms are necessary in the Lagrangian to realize the discrete symmetries correctly. We consider also another parametrization of the low energy sector which leads to a three dimensional analogue of the Wess-Zumino-Witten-Novikov model. Since three dimensional QCD is believed to be a model for quantum antiferromagnetism, our effective Lagrangian can describe their long wavelength excitations (spin waves).

title: Asymptotic Freedom and Dirichlet String Theory
abstract: Fixed angle scattering at high energy in a string theory with boundaries satisfying Dirichlet conditions (Dirichlet strings) in D = 4 is shown to have logarithmic dependence on energy, in addition to the power-like behavior known before. High temperature free energy also depends logarithmically on temperature. Such a result could provide a matching mechanism between strings at long distance and asymptotic freedom at short distance, which is necessary for the reformulation of large-N QCD as a string theory. In order to reformulate the large-N QCD  as a string theory, assuming it is possible at all, we must find a string theory that contains only massive excitations (for pure QCD) and shares the characteristic features of asymptotic freedom, such as partonic behavior and logarithmic violation of scaling at high energy. The critical string theories we are mostly familiar with fail to meet theses two requirements: they contain massless gravitons and massless Yang-Mill particles, and fixed angle scattering falls off exponentially with total energy. Liouville theory [2] has been argued to be irrelevant for the problem of QCD , meanwhile the effective string picture advocated in , which without doubt is correct for long strings, has problems at short distances. Rigid strings  at first sight seem to give the right behavior at high energy and high temperature, but they have the wrong sign of free energy at high temperature as compared with QCD [6], and furthermore there are problems with unitarity [7]. Another simple yet non-trivial modification of short distance behavior of strings is to add world-sheet boundaries satisfying Dirichlet boundary conditions – each boundary is mapped to a single point in space-time and the position is then integrated over. Such a theory was originally proposed as an off-shell extension of closed string amplitudes . Meanwhile the point-like states of the Dirichlet boundaries were proven to produce powerlike behavior of fixed angle scattering at high energy [9]. The point-like structure was then linked to partons. Developments of the Dirichlet string theory in modern language can be found in . Recently Green [11] points out that at high temperature the Dirichlet boundaries produce a free energy similar to that of the large-N QCD found by Polchinski[6]. Namely, in QCD the free energy of a long string per unit length goes as μQCD(β)/L 2 ∼ − (β)N π2β4 , (1)

title: Energy and Stability in Einstein-{Gauss-Bonnet} Models
abstract: A unified energy expression for Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity, valid about the model's two distinct vacua, is obtained. It reduces to the usual Einstein form about a flat background, but about an anti-de Sitter vacuum it becomes that appropriate to a ghost Einstein theory with a cosmological term. Linearisation instability about the latter and general stability about the former are deduced by energy considerations, in agreement with previous results.

title: Simulation Study on neutrino nucleus cross section measurement in Segmented Detector at Spallation Neutron Source
abstract: Knowledge of νe-Fe/Pb differential cross sections for νe energy below several tens of MeV scale is believed to be crucial in understanding Supernova physics. In a segmented detector at Spallation Neutrino Source, νe energy reconstructed from the electron range measurement is strongly affected because of both multiple scattering and electromagnetic showers occurring along the electron passage in target materials. In order to estimate the effect, a simulation study has been performed with a cube block model assuming a perfect tracking precision. The distortion of energy spectrum is observed to be proportional to the atomic number of target material. Feasibility of unfolding the distorted νe energy spectrum is studied for both Fe and Pb cases. Evaluation of statistical accuracy attainable is therefore provided for a segmented detector.

title: Measurement of $CP$ asymmetry in $D^0 \rightarrow K^- K^+$ and $D^0 \rightarrow \pi^- \pi^+$ decays
abstract: Time-integrated $CP$ asymmetries in $D^0$ decays to the final states $K^- K^+$ and $\pi^- \pi^+$ are measured using proton-proton collisions corresponding to $3\mathrm{\,fb}^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity collected at centre-of-mass energies of $7\mathrm{\,Te\kern -0.1em V}$ and $8\mathrm{\,Te\kern -0.1em V}$. The $D^0$ mesons are produced in semileptonic $b$-hadron decays, where the charge of the accompanying muon is used to determine the initial flavour of the charm meson. The difference in $CP$ asymmetries between the two final states is measured to be \begin{align} 
\Delta A_{CP} = A_{CP}(K^-K^+)-A_{CP}(\pi^-\pi^+) = (+0.14 \pm 0.16\mathrm{\,(stat)} \pm 0.08\mathrm{\,(syst)})\% \ . \nonumber \end{align} A measurement of $A_{CP}(K^-K^+)$ is obtained assuming negligible $CP$ violation in charm mixing and in Cabibbo-favoured $D$ decays. It is found to be \begin{align} 
A_{CP}(K^-K^+) = (-0.06 \pm 0.15\mathrm{\,(stat)} \pm 0.10\mathrm{\,(syst)}) \% \ ,\nonumber \end{align} where the correlation coefficient between $\Delta A_{CP}$ and $A_{CP}(K^-K^+)$ is $\rho=0.28$. By combining these results, the $CP$ asymmetry in the $D^0\rightarrow\pi^-\pi^+$ channel is $A_{CP}(\pi^-\pi^+)=(-0.20\pm0.19\mathrm{\,(stat)}\pm0.10\mathrm{\,(syst)})\%$.

title: Evidence for the decay $B_c^+ \rightarrow J/\psi 3\pi^+ 2\pi^-$
abstract: Evidence is presented for the decay $B_c+\rightarrow J/\psi 3\pi^+2\pi^-$ using proton-proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3fb$^{-1}$, collected with the LHCb detector. A signal yield of $32\pm8$ decays is found with a significance of 4.5 standard deviations. The ratio of the branching fraction of the $B_c^+\rightarrow J/\psi 3\pi^+ 2\pi^-$ decay to that of the $B_c^+ \rightarrow J/\psi \pi^+$ decay is measured to be $$ \frac{Br (B_c^+ \rightarrow J/\psi 3\pi^+2\pi^)}{Br (B_c^+ \rightarrow J/\psi \pi^+)} = 1.74\pm0.44\pm0.24, $$ where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic.

title: Deconfinement phase transition in an expanding quark system in the relaxation time approximation
abstract: We investigated the effects of nonequilibrium and collision terms on the deconfinement phase transition of an expanding quark system in Friedberg-Lee model in relaxation time approximation. By calculating the effective quark potential, the critical temperature of the phase transition is dominated by the mean field, while the collisions among quarks and mesons change the time structure of the phase transition significantly.

title: An analytic solution of hydrodynamic equations with source terms in heavy-ion collisions
abstract: The energy and baryon densities in heavy-ion collisions are estimated by analytically solving a (1+1)-dimensional hydrodynamical model with source terms. In particular, a competition between the energy and baryon sources and the expansion of the system is discussed in detail.