Generalized Higgs inflation
We study Higgs inflation in the context of generalized G-inflation, i.e. the most general single-field inflation model with second-order field equations. The four variants of Higgs inflation proposed so far in the literature can be accommodated at one time in our framework. We also propose yet another class of Higgs inflation, the running Einstein inflation model, that can naturally arise from the generalized G-inflation framework. As a result, five Higgs inflation models in all should be discussed on an equal footing. Concise formulas for primordial fluctuations in these generalized Higgs inflation models are provided, which will be helpful to determine which model is favored from the future experiments and observations such as the Large Hadron Collider and the Planck satellite.

title: Neutrino mass from cosmology: impact of high-accuracy measurement of the Hubble constant
abstract: Non-zero neutrino mass would affect the evolution of the Universe in observable ways, and a strong constraint on the mass can be achieved using combinations of cosmological data sets. We focus on the power spectrum of cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies, the Hubble constant H0, and the length scale for baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) to investigate the constraint on the neutrino mass, mν. We analyze data from multiple existing CMB studies (WMAP5, ACBAR, CBI, BOOMERANG, and QUAD), recent measurement of H0 (SHOES), with about two times lower uncertainty (5 %) than previous estimates, and recent treatments of BAO from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We obtained an upper limit of mν < 0.2eV (95 % C.L.), for a flat ΛCDM model. This is a 40 % reduction in the limit derived from previous H0 estimates and one-third lower than can be achieved with extant CMB and BAO data. We also analyze the impact of smaller uncertainty on measurements of H0 as may be anticipated in the near term, in combination with CMB data from the Planck mission, and BAO data from the SDSS/BOSS program. We demonstrate the possibility of a 5σ detection for a fiducial neutrino mass of 0.1 eV or a 95 % upper limit of 0.04 eV for a fiducial of mν = 0 eV. These constraints are about 50 % better than those achieved without external constraint. We further investigate the impact on modeling where the dark-energy equation of state is constant but not necessarily -1, or where a non-flat universe is allowed. In these cases, the next-generation accuracies of Planck, BOSS, and 1 % measurement of H0 would all be required to obtain the limit mν < 0.05−0.06 eV (95 % C.L.) for the fiducial of mν = 0 eV. The independence of systematics argues for pursuit of both BAO and H0 measurements.

title: Constraining SuperWIMPy and Warm Subhalos with Future Submillilensing
abstract: We propose to observe QSO-galaxy strong lens systems to give a new constraint on the damping scale of the initial fluctuations. We find that the future observation of submilliarc scale astrometric shifts of the multiple lensed images of QSOs would find ∼ 10 ( 3 – 9 ) M ⊙ subhalos inside the macrolens halo. The superweakly interacting massive particles (superWIMPs) produced from a WIMP decay and the warm dark matter (WDM) particles that predict a comoving damping scale larger than ∼ 2 kpc can be constrained if ∼ 10 3 M ⊙ subhalos are detected.

title: Bigger Rip with no dark energy
abstract: By studying a modified Friedmann equation which arises in an extension of general relativity which accommodates a time-dependent fundamental length L ( t ), we consider cosmological models where the scale factor diverges with an essential singularity at a finite future time. Such models have no dark energy in the conventional sense of energy possessing a simple pressure–energy relationship. Data on supernovae restrict the time from the present until the Rip to be longer than the current age of the Universe.

title: Correlated Isocurvature Fluctuation of Quintessence and Curvaton Scenario
abstract: We consider cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy in models with quintessence taking into account of isocurvature fluctuation in the quintessence. It is shown that, if the primordial fluctuation of the quintessence has a correlation with the adiabatic density fluctuations, CMB angular power spectrum $C_l$ at low multipoles can be suppressed. Possible scenario of generating correlated mixture of the quintessence and adiabatic fluctuations is also discussed.

title: On the determination of neutrino masses and dark energy evolution from the cross-correlation of CMB and LSS
abstract: We discuss the possibilities of the simultaneous determination of the neutrino masses and the evolution of dark energy from future cosmological observations such as cosmic microwave background (CMB), large scale structure (LSS) and the cross-correlation between them. Recently it has been discussed that there is a degeneracy between the neutrino masses and the equation of state for dark energy. It is also known that there are some degeneracies among the parameters describing the dark energy evolution. We discuss the implications of these for the cross-correlation of CMB with LSS in some detail. Then we consider to what extent we can determine the neutrino masses and the dark energy evolution using the expected data from CMB, LSS and their cross-correlation.

title: Comments on observables for identity-based marginal solutions in Berkovits’ superstring field theory
abstract: A bstractWe construct an analytic solution for tachyon condensation around identity-based marginal solutions in Berkovits’ WZW-like open superstring field theory. Using this, which is a kind of wedge-based solution, the gauge invariant overlaps for the identity-based marginal solutions can be calculated analytically. This is a straightforward extension of a method in bosonic string field theory, which has been elaborated by the authors, to superstring. We also comment on a gauge equivalence relation between the tachyon vacuum solution and its marginally deformed one. From this viewpoint, we can find the vacuum energy of the identity-based marginal solutions to be zero, which agrees with the previous result as a consequence of ξ zero mode counting.

title: On the Generalized Gluing and Resmoothing Theorem
abstract: The generalized gluing and resmoothing theorem originally proved by LeClair, Peskin and Preitschopf, gives a powerful formula for the fused vertex obtained by contracting any two vertices in string field theories. Although the theorem is naturally expected to hold for the vertices at any loop level, the original proof was restricted to the vertices at tree level. Here we present a simplified proof for the tree level theorem and then prove explicitly the extended version at one-loop level. We also find that a non-trivial sign factor, which depends on the string states to be contracted, appears in the theorem. This sign factor turns out to be essential for reproducing correctly the conformal field theory correlation function on the torus.

title: Classical Solutions and Order of Zeros in Open String Field Theory
abstract: Earlier an analytic approach is proposed for classical solutions describing tachyon vacuum in open string field theory. Based on the approach, we construct a certain class of classical solutions written in terms of holomorphic functions with higher order zeros. Taking the simplest among the new classical solutions, we study the cohomology of the new BRS charge and make a numerical analysis of the vacuum energy. The results indicate that the new non-trivial solution is another analytic candidate for the tachyon vacuum.

title: Gauge Invariant Overlaps for Classical Solutions in Open String Field Theory
abstract: We calculate gauge invariant observables for Schnabl's solution with analytic method and with the level truncation approximation. We also compute them for the numerical solution initially obtained by Sen and Zwiebach in the level truncation approximation to compare with the one for Schnabl's solution. The results are consistent with the expectation that they may be gauge equivalent. We briefly discuss the gauge invariant observables and the action for a marginal solution with a nonsingular current.

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