Future Type Ia Supernova Data as Tests of Dark Energy from Modified Friedmann Equations
In the Cardassian model, dark energy density arises from modifications to the Friedmann equation, which becomes H2 = g(ρM), where g(ρM) is a new function of the energy density. The universe is flat, matter dominated, and accelerating. The distance-redshift relation predictions of generalized Cardassian models can be very different from generic quintessence models, and can be differentiated with data from upcoming pencil beam surveys of Type Ia supernovae such as Supernova/Acceleration Probe (SNAP). We have found the interesting result that, once Ωm is known to 10% accuracy, SNAP will be able to determine the sign of the time dependence of the dark energy density. Knowledge of this sign (which is related to the weak energy condition) will provide a first discrimination between various cosmological models that fit the current observational data (cosmological constant, quintessence, Cardassian expansion). Further, we have performed Monte Carlo simulations to illustrate how well one can reproduce the form of the dark energy density with SNAP. To be concrete we study a class of two-parameter (n, q) generalized Cardassian models that includes the original Cardassian model (parameterized by n only) as a special case. Examples are given of modified polytropic (MP) Cardassian models that fit current supernova and cosmic microwave background data, and prospects for differentiating between MP Cardassian and other models in future data are discussed. We also note that some Cardassian models can satisfy the weak energy condition w > -1 even with a dark energy component that has an effective equation of state wX < -1.

title: A robust distance measurement and dark energy constraints from the spherically averaged correlation function of Sloan Digital Sky Survey luminous red Galaxies
abstract: We measure the effective distance to z = 0.26, DV (0.26), and mh 2 from the overall shape of the spherically-averaged two-point correlati on function of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 (DR7) volume-limited luminous red galaxy (LRG) sample, without assuming a dark energy model or a flat Universe. We giv e the mean and covariance matrix of DV (0.26), mh 2 , bh 2 , and ns. We show that these provide an efficient and accurate summary of the volume-limited LRG data. With flat priors on bh 2 and ns (7σWMAP7), we find mh 2 = 0.131 ± 0.020, and rs/DV (0.26) = 0.1466 +0.0068 0.0073 (the ratio of the sound horizon at the drag epoch to the effective distance to z = 0.26). We find that measurements of mh 2 or m are biased low if flux-limited (instead of volume-limited) L RG sample is used. By scaling the spherically-averaged correlation fun ction, we find the Hubble parameter H(0.26) = 79 +12 13 km s 1 Mpc 1 and the angular diameter distance DA(0.26) = 848 +86 88 Mpc. Combining our results with the cosmic microwave background and supernova data, we obtain k = 0.0059 +0.0092 0.0093 andw = 1.023 +0.054 0.053 (assuming a constant dark energy equation of state). We use LasDamas SDSS mock catalogs to compute the covariance matrix of the correlation function, and investigate the use of lognormal catal ogs as an alternative. We find that the input correlation function can be accurately recovered from lognormal catalogs, although they give larger errors on all scales (especially on small sc ales) compared to the mock catalogs derived from cosmological N-body simulations.

title: Dark Energy Constraints from Baryon Acoustic Oscillations
abstract: Baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs) in the galaxy power spectrum allow us to extract the scale of the comoving sound horizon at recombination, a cosmological standard ruler accurately determined by the cosmic microwave background anisotropy data. We examine various issues important in the use of BAOs to probe dark energy. We find that if we assume a flat universe and priors on ?m, ?mh2, and ?bh2 as expected from the Planck mission, the constraints on dark energy parameters (w0, w') scale much less steeply with survey area than (area)-1/2 for a given redshift range. The constraints on the dark energy density ?X(z), however, do scale roughly with (area)-1/2 due to the strong correlation between H(z) and ?m (which reduces the effect of priors on ?m). Dark energy constraints from BAOs are very sensitive to the assumed linear scale of matter clustering and the redshift accuracy of the survey. For a BAO survey with 0.5 ? z ? 2, ? (R) = 0.4 [corresponding to kmax (z = 0) = 0.086 h Mpc-1], and ?z/ (1 + z) = 0.001, we find = (0.115,0.183) and (0.069, 0.104) for survey areas of 1000 and 10,000 deg2, respectively. We find that it is critical to minimize the bias in the scale estimates in order to derive reliable dark energy constraints. For a 1000 (10,000) deg2 BAO survey, a 1 ? bias in ln H (z) leads to a 2 ? (3 ?) bias in w'. The bias in w' due to the same scale bias from ln DA (z) is slightly smaller and opposite in sign. The results from this paper will be useful in assessing different proposed BAO surveys and guiding the design of optimal dark energy detection strategies.

title: Dark Energy Search with Supernovae
abstract: To determine the nature of dark energy from observational data, it is important that we use model-independent and optimal methods. We should probe dark energy using its density (allowed to be a free function of cosmic time) instead of its equation of state. We should minimize gravitational lensing effect on supernovae by flux-averaging. We need to include complementary data (for example, from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and large scale structure (LSS)) in a consistent manner to help break the degeneracy between the dark energy density and the matter density fraction. We should push for ambitious future supernova surveys that can observe a large number of supernovae at the highest possible redshifts. I discuss these and other issues that will be important in our quest to unravel the mystery of the nature of dark energy. Current supernova, CMB, and LSS data already rule out dark energy models with dark energy densities that vary greatly with time; with the cosmological constant model providing an excellent fit to the data. A precise measurement of dark energy density as a free function of cosmic time will have a fundamental impact on particle physics and cosmology.

title: Constraints on generalized extended inflationary models.
abstract: We study the physical constraints on generalized extended inflationary theories, in which the Brans-Dicke field {Phi} couples to the inflaton sector in the form of two arbitrary power-law functions of {Phi}. We find that the most stringent constraints arise from the need to suppress large bubbles and from considerations of the density perturbations generated during extended inflation. We find that there are sizable portions of the parameter spaces in which all the constraints are satisfied.

title: Wavelets and WMAP non-Gaussianity
abstract: We study the statistical properties of the first-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data on different scales using the spherical Mexican hat wavelet transform. Consistent with the 2004 results of Vielva et al., we find a deviation from Gaussianity in the form of kurtosis of wavelet coefficients on 3-4 scales in the southern Galactic hemisphere. This paper extends the work of Vielva et al. as follows: We find that the non-Gaussian signal shows up more strongly in the form of a larger than expected number of cold pixels and also in the form of scale-scale correlations among wavelet coefficients. We establish the robustness of the non-Gaussian signal under more wide-ranging assumptions regarding the Galactic mask applied to the data and the noise statistics. This signal is unlikely to be due to the usual quadratic term parameterized by the nonlinearity parameter fNL. We use the skewness of the spherical Mexican hat wavelet coefficients to constrain fNL with the first-year WMAP data. Our results constrain fNL to be 50+/-80 at 68% confidence and less than 280 at 99% confidence.

title: Current observational constraints to the holographic dark energy model with a new infrared cutoff via the Markov chain Monte Carlo method
abstract: In this paper, the holographic dark energy models with the new infrared cutoff for both the flat case and the nonflat case are confronted with the combined constraints of current cosmological observations: type Ia supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillations, current cosmic microwave background, and the observational Hubble data. By utilizing the Markov chain Monte Carlo method, we obtain the best fit values of the parameters with $1\ensuremath{\sigma}$, $2\ensuremath{\sigma}$ errors in the flat model: ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{b}{h}^{2}={0.0233}_{\ensuremath{-}0.0009\ensuremath{-}0.0014}^{+0.0009+0.0013}$, $\ensuremath{\alpha}={0.8502}_{\ensuremath{-}0.0875\ensuremath{-}0.1064}^{+0.0984+0.1299}$, $\ensuremath{\beta}={0.4817}_{\ensuremath{-}0.0773\ensuremath{-}0.0955}^{+0.0842+0.1176}$, ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{\mathrm{de}0}={0.7287}_{\ensuremath{-}0.0294\ensuremath{-}0.0429}^{+0.0296+0.0432}$, ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{m0}={0.2713}_{\ensuremath{-}0.0296\ensuremath{-}0.0432}^{+0.0294+0.0429}$, ${H}_{0}={66.35}_{\ensuremath{-}2.14\ensuremath{-}3.07}^{+2.38+3.35}$. In the nonflat model, the constraint results are found in $1\ensuremath{\sigma}$, $2\ensuremath{\sigma}$ regions: ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{b}{h}^{2}={0.0228}_{\ensuremath{-}0.0010\ensuremath{-}0.0014}^{+0.0010+0.0014}$, ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{k}={0.0305}_{\ensuremath{-}0.0134\ensuremath{-}0.0176}^{+0.0092+0.0140}$, $\ensuremath{\alpha}={0.8824}_{\ensuremath{-}0.1163\ensuremath{-}0.1378}^{+0.2180+0.2213}$, $\ensuremath{\beta}={0.5016}_{\ensuremath{-}0.0871\ensuremath{-}0.1102}^{+0.0973+0.1247}$, ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{\mathrm{de}0}={0.6934}_{\ensuremath{-}0.0304\ensuremath{-}0.0413}^{+0.0364+0.0495}$, ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{m0}={0.2762}_{\ensuremath{-}0.0302\ensuremath{-}0.0412}^{+0.0278+0.0402}$, ${H}_{0}={70.20}_{\ensuremath{-}3.17\ensuremath{-}4.00}^{+3.03+3.58}$. In the best fit holographic dark energy models, the equation of state of dark energy and the deceleration parameter at present are characterized by ${w}_{\mathrm{de}0}=\ensuremath{-}1.1414\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.0608$, ${q}_{0}=\ensuremath{-}0.7476\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.0466$ (flat case) and ${w}_{\mathrm{de}0}=\ensuremath{-}1.0653\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.0661$, ${q}_{0}=\ensuremath{-}0.6231\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.0569$ (nonflat case). Compared to the $\ensuremath{\Lambda}\mathrm{CDM}$ model, it is found the current combined data sets do not favor the holographic dark energy model over the $\ensuremath{\Lambda}\mathrm{CDM}$ model.

title: Pelegant: A Parallel Accelerator Simulation Code for Electron Generation and Tracking
abstract: elegant is a general‐purpose code for electron accelerator simulation that has a worldwide user base. Recently, many of the time‐intensive elements were parallelized using MPI. Development has used modest Linux clusters and the BlueGene/L supercomputer at Argonne National Laboratory. This has provided very good performance for some practical simulations, such as multiparticle tracking with synchrotron radiation and emittance blow‐up in the vertical rf kick scheme. The effort began with development of a concept that allowed for gradual parallelization of the code, using the existing beamline‐element classification table in elegant. This was crucial as it allowed parallelization without major changes in code structure and without major conflicts with the ongoing evolution of elegant. Because of rounding error and finite machine precision, validating a parallel program against a uniprocessor program with the requirement of bitwise identical results is notoriously difficult. We will report validating simulati...

title: A scientific case study of an advanced LISA mission
abstract: A brief status report of an ongoing scientific case study of the Advanced Laser Interferometer Antenna (ALIA) mission is presented. Key technology requirements and primary science objectives of the mission are covered in the study. Possible descope options for the mission and the corresponding compromise in science are also considered and compared. Our preliminary study indicates that ALIA holds promise in mapping out the mass and spin distribution of intermediate mass black holes possibly present in dense star clusters at low redshift as well as in shedding important light on the structure formation in the early Universe.

title: Cosmological constraints on the generalized holographic dark energy
abstract: We use the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to investigate global constraints on the generalized holographic (GH) dark energy with flat and non-flat universe from the current observed data: the Union2 dataset of type supernovae Ia (SNIa), high-redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), the observational Hubble data (OHD), the cluster X-ray gas mass fraction, the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO), and the cosmic microwave background (CMB) data. The most stringent constraints on the GH model parameter are obtained. In addition, it is found that the equation of state for this generalized holographic dark energy can cross over the phantom boundary wde=−1.

title: The muon system of the Daya Bay Reactor antineutrino experiment
abstract: The Daya Bay experiment consists of functionally identical antineutrino detectors immersed in pools of ultrapure water in three well-separated underground experimental halls near two nuclear reactor complexes. These pools serve both as shields against natural, low-energy radiation, and as water Cherenkov detectors that efficiently detect cosmic muons using arrays of photomultiplier tubes. Each pool is covered by a plane of resistive plate chambers as an additional means of detecting muons. Design, construction, operation, and performance of these muon detectors are described.