PSR B1257+12: a quark star with planets?
A recent observation has shown that PSR B1257+12 could have quite small X‐ray emitting area, only about 2000 m2, which is more than three orders smaller than the canonical polar cap size. We suggest here that PSR B1257+12 could be a low‐mass quark star with radius of R≃0.6 km and mass of M≃3×10−4 M⊙. Such a low‐mass quark star system may form in an accretion induced collapse process or a collision process of two quark stars.

title: The state of cold quark matter: a model-independent view
abstract: From a model-independent point of view, we address the possibility that quark clustering could occur in cold quark matter at realistic baryon densities because of the likely strong coupling between quarks in compact stars.

title: Possible re-acceleration regions above the inner gap and pulsar gamma-ray emission
abstract: We propose that the violent breakdown of the Ruderman-Sutherland type vacuum gap above the pulsar polar cap region may produce copious primary particles and make the charge density above the gap in excess of the Goldreich-Julian density. Such an excess residue of charge density may arise some re-acceleration regions above the gap due to the space-charge-limited flow mechanism. Such re-acceleration regions, if exist, may accelerate particles to carry away more spin-down energy, and may have some implications for pulsar $\gamma$-ray emission.

title: On Hoyle-Narlikar-Wheeler mechanism of vibration energy powered magneto-dipole emission of neutron stars
abstract: We revisit the well-known Hoyle-Narlikar-Wheeler proposition that neutron star emerging in the magnetic-flux-conserving process of core-collapse supernova can convert the stored energy of Alfvén vibrations into power of magneto-dipole radiation. We show that the necessary requirement for the energy conversion is the decay of internal magnetic field. In this case the loss of vibration energy of the star causes its vibration period, equal to period of pulsating emission, to lengthen at a rate proportional to the rate of magnetic field decay. These prediction of the model of vibration powered neutron star are discussed in juxtaposition with data on pulsating emission of magnetars whose radiative activity is generally associated with the decay of ultra strong magnetic field.

title: Are AXPs/SGRs magnetars?
abstract: Anomalous X-ray Pulsars and Soft Gamma-Ray Repeaters have been generally recognized as neutron stars with super strong magnetic fields, namely "magnetars". The "magnetars" manifest that the luminosity in X-ray band are larger than the rotational energy loss rate, i.e. $L_{X}>\dot {E}_{\rm rot}$, and then the radiation energy is coming from the energy of magnetic field. Here it is argued that magnetars may not really exist. Some X-ray and radio observational results are contradicted with the magnetar model. 
(1) The X-ray luminosity of PSR J1852+0040 is much larger than the rotational energy loss rate ($L_{X}/\dot {E}_{\rm rot}\simeq 18)$, but the magnetic field is just $3.1\times 10^{11}$ G. Does this X-ray radiation energy come from the magnetic field? 
(2) In contrast to the above, the magnetic fields of radio pulsars J1847-0130 and PSR J1718-3718 are higher than that of AXP 1E 2259+586, why is the radiation energy of those two radio pulsars still coming from rotational energy? Furthermore, the magnetic field of the newly discovered SGR 0418+5729 with the lowest magnetic field is 3.0 e13 G, lower than the critical magnetic field $B_{\rm C}=4.414$ e13 G) (Esposito et al. 2010). 
(3) Some "magnetars" also emit normal transient radio pulses, what is the essential difference between radio pulsars and the "magnetars"? 
The observational fact arguments will be presented at first, then we discuss in what situation the conventional method to obtain magnetic field could not be correct.

title: QUARK-CLUSTER STARS: HINTS FROM THE SURFACE
abstract: The matter inside pulsar-like compact stars could be in a quark-cluster phase since in cold dense matter at a few nuclear densities (ρ ~ 2 - 10ρ0), quarks could be coupled still very strongly and condensate in position space to form quark clusters. Quark-cluster stars are chromatically confined and could initially be bare, therefore the surface properties of quark-cluster stars would be quite different from that of conventional neutron stars. Some facts indicate that a bare and self-confined surface of pulsar-like compact stars might be necessary in order to naturally understand different observational manifestations. On one hand, as for explaining the drifting sub-pulse phenomena, the binding energy of particles on pulsar surface should be high enough to produce vacuum gaps, which indicates that pulsar's surface might be strongly self-confined. On the other hand, a bare surface of quark-cluster star can overcome the baryon contamination problem of γ-ray burst as well as promote a successful core-collapse supernova. What is more, the non-atomic thermal spectra of dead pulsars may indicate also a bare surface without atmosphere, and the hydro-cyclotron oscillation of the electron sea above the quark-cluster star surface could be responsible for those absorption features detected. These hints could reflect the property of compact star's surface and possibly the state of condensed matter inside, and then might finally result in identifying quark-cluster stars.

title: Quark and gluon jet properties in symmetric three jet events
abstract: Quark and gluon jets with the same energy, 24 GeV, are compared in symmetric three-jet configurations from hadronic Z decays observed by the ALEPH detector. Jets are defined using the Durham algorithm. Gluon jets are identified using an anti-tag on b jets, based on a track impact parameter method. The comparison of gluon and mixed flavour quark jets shows that gluon jets have a softer fragmentation function, a larger angular width and a higher particle multiplicity, Evidence is presented which shows that the corresponding differences between gluon and b jets are significantly smaller. In a statistically limited comparison the multiplicity in c jets was found to be comparable with that observed for the jets of mixed quark flavour.

title: Updated measurement of the average b hadron lifetime
abstract: An improved measurement of the average lifetime of b hadrons has been performed with the ALEPH detector. From a sample of 260 000 hadronic Z0 decays, recorded during the 1991 LEP run with the silicon vertex detector fully operational, a fit to the impact parameter distribution of lepton tracks coming from semileptonic decays yields an average b hadron lifetime of 1.49 ± 0.03 ± 0.06 ps.

title: Production of D**s mesons in hadronic Z decays
abstract: The production rates of the orbitally excited Ds** mesons, Ds1 and Ds2*, are measured with the 4.1 million hadronic Z decays recorded by the ALEPH detector during 1991--1995. The Ds** mesons are reconstructed in the decay modes Ds1+ -> D*+ K0, Ds1+ -> D*0 K+ and Ds2*+ -> D0 K+. The production rate of the Ds1 is measured to be n(Z->Ds1+-)=(0.52+-0.09+-0.06)%, under the assumption that the two considered decay modes of the Ds1 saturate the branching ratio. The production rate of the Ds2* is determined to be n(Z->Ds2*+-)=(0.83+-0.29+0.07-0.13)%, assuming that the branching fraction of the decay Ds2*+ -> D0 K+ is 45%. The production rates in Z->cc and Z->bbar decays are measured separately.

title: Measurement of the charged particle multiplicity distribution in hadronic Z decays
abstract: The charged particle multiplicity distribution of hadronic Z decays was measured on the peak of the Z resonance using the ALEPH detector at LEP. Using a model independent unfolding procedure the distribution was found to have a mean 〈n〉=20.85±0.24 and a dispersion D=6.34±0.12. Comparison with lower energy data supports the KNO scaling hypothesis in the energy range GeV. At GeV the shape of the multiplicity distribution is well described by a log-normal distribution, as predicted from a cascading model for multi-particle production. The same model also successfully describes the energy dependence of the mean and width of the multiplicity distribution. A next-to-leading order QCD prediction in the framework of the modified leading-log approximation and local parton-hadron duality is found to fit the energy dependence of the mean but not the width of the charged multiplicity distribution, indicating that the width of the multiplicity distribution is a sensitive probe for higher order QCD or non-perturbative effects.

title: Effect of asymmetric strange–antistrange sea to the NuTeV anomaly
abstract: We calculate the strange quark and antiquark distributions of the nucleon by using the effective chiral quark model, and find that the strange–antistrange asymmetry can bring a contribution of about 60–100% to the NuTeV deviation of sin 2 θ w from the standard value measured in other electroweak processes. The results are insensitive to different inputs. The light-flavor quark asymmetry of d ¯ – u ¯ is also investigated and found to be consistent with the experimental measurements. Therefore the chiral quark model provides a successful picture to understand the NuTeV anomaly, as well as the light-flavor quark asymmetry and the proton spin problem in previous studies.