Assembly history and structure of galactic cold dark matter haloes
We use the Aquarius simulation series to study the imprint of assembly history on the structure of Galaxy-mass cold dark matter haloes. Our results confirm earlier work regarding the influence of mergers on the mass density profile and the inside-out growth of haloes. The inner regions that contain the visible galaxies are stable since early times and are significantly affected only by major mergers. Particles accreted diffusely or in minor mergers are found predominantly in the outskirts of haloes. Our analysis reveals trends that run counter to current perceptions of hierarchical halo assembly. For example, major mergers (i.e. those with progenitor mass ratios greater than 1:10) contribute little to the total mass growth of a halo, on average less than 20 per cent for our six Aquarius haloes. The bulk is contributed roughly equally by minor mergers and by ‘diffuse’ material which is not resolved into individual objects. This is consistent with modelling based on excursion-set theory which suggests that about half of this diffuse material should not be part of a halo of any scale. The simulations themselves suggest that a significant fraction is not truly diffuse, since it was ejected from earlier haloes by mergers prior to their joining the main system. The Aquarius simulations resolve haloes to much lower mass scales than are expected to retain gas or form stars. Thus, the fraction of diffuse dark matter accreted by haloes represents a lower limit to the fraction of diffuse baryons accreted by galaxies. Our results thus confirm that most of the baryons from which visible galaxies form are accreted diffusely, rather than through mergers, and they suggest that only relatively rare major mergers will affect galaxy structure at later times.

title: Variational Treatment with the Third Order Corrections for SU(2) Lattice Gauge Theory
abstract: The variational method in Lagrangian formalism in lattice gauge theory in cumulant expansion is discussed. For SU(2) pure gauge Wi1son model to the third order corrections we show that there is no phase transition in four dimensions, but there exists the first order phase transition in five dimensions at βC=0.838 in agreement with the Monte Carlo results. The physical meaning of higher order corrections is discussed.

title: Are mergers responsible for universal halo properties
abstract: N-body simulations of cold dark matter (CDM) have shown that, in this hierarchical structure formation model, dark matter halo properties, such as the density profile, the phase-space density profile, the distribution of axial ratio, the distribution of spin parameter and the distribution of internal specific angular momentum, follow 'universal' laws or distributions. Here, we study the properties of the first generation of haloes in a hot dark matter (HDM) dominated universe, as an example of halo formation through monolithic collapse. We find all these universalities to be present in this case also. Halo density profiles are very well fit by the Navarro, Frenk & White profile over two orders of magnitude in mass. The concentration parameter depends on mass as c α M 0.2 , reversing the dependence found in a hierarchical CDM universe. However, the concentration-formation time relation is similar in the two cases: earlier forming haloes tend to be more concentrated than their later forming counterparts. Halo formation histories are also characterized by two phases in the HDM case: an early phase of rapid accretion followed by slower growth. Furthermore, there is no significant difference between the HDM and CDM cases concerning the statistics of other halo properties: the phase-space density profile; the velocity anisotropy profile; the distribution of shape parameters; the distribution of spin parameter and the distribution of internal specific angular momentum are all similar in the two cases. Only substructure content differs dramatically. These results indicate that mergers do not play a pivotal role in establishing the universalities, thus contradicting models which explain them as consequences of mergers.

title: Substructure lensing: Effects of galaxies, globular clusters and satellite streams
abstract: Lensing flux-ratio anomalies have been frequently observed and taken as evidence for the presence of abundant dark matter substructures in lensing galaxies, as predicted by the cold dark matter (CDM) model of cosmogony. In previous work, we examined the cusp-caustic relations of the multiple images of background quasars lensed by galaxy-scale dark matter haloes, using a suite of high-resolution N-body simulations (the Aquarius simulations). In this work, we extend our previous calculations to incorporate both the baryonic and diffuse dark components in lensing haloes. We include in each lensing simulation: (1) a satellite galaxy population derived from a semi-analytic model applied to the Aquarius haloes; (2) an empirical Milky Way globular cluster population and (3) satellite streams (diffuse dark component) identified in the simulations. Accounting for these extra components, we confirm our earlier conclusion that the abundance of intrinsic substructures (dark or bright, bound or diffuse) is not sufficient to explain the observed frequency of cusp-caustic violations in the Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey (CLASS). We conclude that the observed effect could be the result of the small number statistics of CLASS, or intergalactic haloes along the line of sight acting as additional sources of lensing flux anomalies. Another possibility is that this discrepancy signals a failure of the CDM model.

title: Phase‐space structure in the local dark matter distribution and its signature in direct detection experiments
abstract: We study predictions for dark matter phase-space structure near the Sun based on highresolution simulations of six galaxy halos taken from the Aquarius Project. The local DM density distribution is predicted to be remarkably smooth; the density at the Sun differs from the mean over a best-fit ellipsoidal equidensity contour by less than 15% at the 99.9% confidence level. The local velocity distribution is also very smooth, but it differs systematically from a (multivariate) Gaussian distribution. This is not due to th e presence of individual clumps or streams, but to broad features in the velocity modulus and energy distributions that are stable both in space and time and reflect the detailed assembly histo ry of each halo. These features have a significant impact on the signals predicted for WIMP an d axion searches. For example, WIMP recoil rates can deviate by � 10% from those expected from the best-fit multivariate Gaussian models. The axion spectra in our simulations typically peak at lower frequencies than in the case of multivariate Gaussian velocity distribu tions. Also in this case, the spectra show significant imprints of the formation of the halo. Th is implies that once direct DM detection has become routine, features in the detector sign al will allow us to study the dark matter assembly history of the Milky Way. A new field, “dark ma tter astronomy”, will then emerge.

title: Variational-cumulant expansion in lattice gauge theory☆
abstract: A variational method in the lagrangian formalism combined with a cumulant expansion of its order-by-order corrections is developed. The technique for dealing with the expansion is presented in a systematic way. As an example, the order parameter Ep ≡ 〈(1/N)trUp〉 for the SU(2) pure gauge Wilson model is evaluated to the 4th order correction in four and five dimensions and is in good agreement with the Monte Carlo results.

title: Constraints on the star formation histories of galaxies from z∼ 1 to 0
abstract: We present a new method to estimate the average star formation rate per unit stellar mass (SSFR) of a stacked population of galaxies. We combine the spectra of 600-1000 galaxies with similar stellar masses and parametrize the star formation history of this stacked population using a set of exponentially declining functions. The strength of the hydrogen Balmer absorption-line series in the rest-frame wavelength range 3750-4150 A is used to constrain the SSFR by comparing with a library of models generated using the BC03 stellar population code. Our method, based on a principal component analysis, can be applied in a consistent way to spectra drawn from local galaxy surveys and from surveys at z ∼ 1, and is only weakly influenced by attenuation due to dust. We apply our method to galaxy samples drawn from Sloan Digital Sky Survey and DEEP2 to study the mass-dependent growth of galaxies from z ∼ 1 to 0. We find that (i) high-mass galaxies have lower SSFRs than low-mass galaxies and (ii) the average SSFR has decreased from z = 1 to 0 by a factor of ∼3-4, independent of galaxy mass. Additionally, at z ∼ 1, our average SSFRs are a factor of 2-2.5 lower than those derived from multiwavelength photometry using similar data sets. We then compute the average time [in units of the Hubble time, t H (z)] needed by galaxies of a given mass to form their stars at their current rate. At both z = 0 and 1, this time-scale decreases strongly with stellar mass from values close to unity for galaxies with masses ∼10 10 M ⊙ , to more than 10 for galaxies more massive than 10 11 M ⊙ . Our results are in good agreement with models in which active galactic nuclei feedback is more efficient at preventing gas from cooling and forming stars in high-mass galaxies.

title: Threshold resummation effects in Higgs boson pair production at the LHC
abstract: A bstractWe investigate the resummation effects in the Standard Model Higgs boson pair production through gluon-gluon fusion at the LHC with soft-collinear effective theory. We calculate the total cross section and the invariant mass distribution at Next-to-Next-to-Leading-Logarithmic level with π2-enhanced terms resummed, which are matched to the QCD Next-to-Leading Order results. In the high order QCD predictions exact top quark mass effects are included in full form factors. Our results show that the resummation effects increase the Next-to-Leading Order results by about 20% ~ 30%, and the scale uncertainty is reduced to 8%, which leads to increased confidence on the theoretical predictions. The PDF+αs uncertainties are almost not changed after including resummation effects. We also study the sensitivities of the total cross section and the invariant mass distribution to the Higgs boson self-coupling. We find that the total cross section and the invariant mass distribution shape depend strongly on the Higgs boson self-coupling, and therefore it is possible to extract Higgs boson self-coupling from the total cross section and invariant mass distribution when the measurement precision increases at the LHC.

title: On the minimum mass ratio of W UMa binaries
abstract: Using Eggleton’s stellar evolution code, we study the minimum mass ratio (qmin) of W Ursae Majoris (W UMa) binaries that have different primary masses. It is found that the minimum mass ratio of W UMa binaries decreases with increasing mass of the primary if the primary’s mass is less than about 1.3M⊙, and above this mass the ratio is roughly constant. By comparing the theoretical minimum mass ratio with the observational data, it is found that the existence of low-q systems can be explained by the different structure of the primaries with different masses. This suggests that the dimensionless gyration radius (k 1 ) and thus the structure of the primary is very important in determining the minimum mass ratio. In addition, we investigate the mass loss during the merging process of W UMa systems and calculate the rotation velocities of the single stars formed by the merger of W UMa binaries due to tidal instability. It is found that in the case of the conservation of mass and angular momentum, the merged single stars rotate with a equatorial velocity of about 588 ∼ 819 km s, which is much larger than their break-up velocities (vb). This suggests that the merged stars should extend to a very large radius (3.7∼5.3 times the radii of the primaries) or W UMa systems would lose a large amount of mass (21∼33 per cent of the total mass) during the merging process. If the effect of magnetic braking is considered, the mass loss decreases to be 12∼18 per cent of their total masses. This implies that the significant angular momentum and mass might be lost from W UMa systems in the course of the merging process, and this kind of mass and angular momentum

title: Feedback limits rapid growth of seed black holes at high redshift
abstract: Seed black holes formed in the collapse of Population III stars have been invoked to explain the presence of supermassive black holes at high redshift. It has been suggested that a seed black hole can grow up to through highly super-Eddington accretion for a period of similar to 10(6)-10(7) at redshift. We studied the feedback of radiation pressure, Compton heating, and outflow during the seed black hole growth. It is found that its surrounding medium fueled to the seed hole is greatly heated by Compton heating. For a supercritical accretion onto a seed hole, a Compton sphere ( with a temperature similar to 10(6) K) will be formed 10(3) M-circle dot on a timescale of 1.6 x 10(3) yr so that the hole is only supplied by a rate of 10(-3) of the Eddington the Compton sphere. The kinetic feedback of the strong outflow will heat the medium at a large distance from the black hole; this leads to a dramatic decrease of the outer Bondi accretion onto the black hole and avoids the accumulation of the matter. The highly supercritical accretion will be rapidly halted by the strong feedback. The seed black hole hardly grows up at the very early universe unless the strong feedback can be avoided.

title: Search for Microscopic Black Hole Signatures at the Large Hadron Collider
abstract: A search for microscopic black hole production and decay in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV has been conducted by the CMS Collaboration at the LHC, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35 inverse picobarns. Events with large total transverse energy are analyzed for the presence of multiple high-energy jets, leptons, and photons, typical of a signal expected from a microscopic black hole. Good agreement with the expected standard model backgrounds, dominated by QCD multijet production, is observed for various final-state multiplicities. Limits on the minimum black hole mass are set, in the range 3.5 -- 4.5 TeV, for a variety of parameters in a model with large extra dimensions, along with model-independent limits on new physics in these final states. These are the first direct limits on black hole production at a particle accelerator.