Primordial perturbations in a non singular bouncing universe model

We construct a simple non singular cosmological model in which the currently observed expansion phase was preceded by a contraction. This is achieved, in the framework of pure general relativity, by means of a radiation fluid and a free scalar field having negative energy. We calculate the power spectrum of the scalar perturbations that are produced in such a bouncing model and find that, under the assumption of initial vacuum state for the quantum field associated with the hydrodynamical perturbation, this leads to a spectral index n=-1. The matching conditions applying to this bouncing model are derived and shown to be different from those in the case of a sharp transition. We find that if our bounce transition can be smoothly connected to a slowly contracting phase, then the resulting power spectrum will be scale invariant.Comment: 11 pages, RevTeX 4, 8 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Brane World Dynamics and Conformal Bulk Fields

In the Randall-Sundrum scenario we investigate the dynamics of a spherically symmetric 3-brane world when matter fields are present in the bulk. To analyze the 5-dimensional Einstein equations we employ a global conformal transformation whose factor characterizes the $Z_2$ symmetric warp. We find a new set of exact dynamical collapse solutions which localize gravity in the vicinity of the brane for a stress-energy tensor of conformal weight -4 and a warp factor that depends only on the coordinate of the fifth dimension. Geometries which describe the dynamics of inhomogeneous dust and generalized dark radiation on the brane are shown to belong to this set. The conditions for singular or globally regular behavior and the static marginally bound limits are discussed for these examples. Also explicitly demonstrated is complete consistency with the effective point of view of a 4-dimensional observer who is confined to the brane and makes the same assumptions about the bulk degrees of freedom.Comment: 26 pages, latex, no figures. Minor revisions. Some references added. Revised version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Shrinking a large dataset to identify variables associated with increased risk of Plasmodium falciparum infection in Western Kenya

Large datasets are often not amenable to analysis using traditional single-step approaches. Here, our general objective was to apply imputation techniques, principal component analysis (PCA), elastic net and generalized linear models to a large dataset in a systematic approach to extract the most meaningful predictors for a health outcome. We extracted predictors for Plasmodium falciparum infection, from a large covariate dataset while facing limited numbers of observations, using data from the People, Animals, and their Zoonoses (PAZ) project to demonstrate these techniques: data collected from 415 homesteads in western Kenya, contained over 1500 variables that describe the health, environment, and social factors of the humans, livestock, and the homesteads in which they reside. The wide, sparse dataset was simplified to 42 predictors of P. falciparum malaria infection and wealth rankings were produced for all homesteads. The 42 predictors make biological sense and are supported by previous studies. This systematic data-mining approach we used would make many large datasets more manageable and informative for decision-making processes and health policy prioritization

Global Search for New Physics with 2.0/fb at CDF

Data collected in Run II of the Fermilab Tevatron are searched for indications of new electroweak-scale physics. Rather than focusing on particular new physics scenarios, CDF data are analyzed for discrepancies with the standard model prediction. A model-independent approach (Vista) considers gross features of the data, and is sensitive to new large cross-section physics. Further sensitivity to new physics is provided by two additional algorithms: a Bump Hunter searches invariant mass distributions for "bumps" that could indicate resonant production of new particles; and the Sleuth procedure scans for data excesses at large summed transverse momentum. This combined global search for new physics in 2.0/fb of ppbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV reveals no indication of physics beyond the standard model.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures. Final version which appeared in Physical Review D Rapid Communication

Observation of Orbitally Excited B_s Mesons

We report the first observation of two narrow resonances consistent with states of orbitally excited (L=1) B_s mesons using 1 fb^{-1} of ppbar collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV collected with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. We use two-body decays into K^- and B^+ mesons reconstructed as B^+ \to J/\psi K^+, J/\psi \to \mu^+ \mu^- or B^+ \to \bar{D}^0 \pi^+, \bar{D}^0 \to K^+ \pi^-. We deduce the masses of the two states to be m(B_{s1}) = 5829.4 +- 0.7 MeV/c^2 and m(B_{s2}^*) = 5839.7 +- 0.7 MeV/c^2.Comment: Version accepted and published by Phys. Rev. Let

Noether gauge symmetry for f(R)f(R) gravity in Palatini formalism

In this study, we consider a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe in the context of Palatini $f(R)$ theory of gravity. Using the dynamical equivalence between $f(R)$ gravity and scalar-tensor theories, we construct a point Lagrangian in the flat FRW spacetime. Applying {\em Noether gauge symmetry approach} for this $f(R)$ Lagrangian we find out the form of $f(R)$ and the exact solution for cosmic scale factor. It is shown that the resulting form of $f(R)$ yield a power-law expansion for the scale factor of the universe.Comment: 7 pagese, no figures; Published in Astrophysics & Space Science. Some minor corrections have been mad

Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set

We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2, -1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012

On the Holographic RG-flow and the Low-energy, Strong Coupling, Large N Limit

From the AdS/CFT correspondence, we learn that the classical evolution of supergravity in the bulk can be reduced to a RG-flow equation for the dual low-energy, strongly coupled and large N gauge theory on the boundary. This result has been used to obtain interesting relations between the various terms in the gravitational part of the boundary effective action, in particular the term that affect the cosmological constant. It is found that once the cosmological constant is cancelled in the UV theory, the RG-flow symmetry of the boundary effective action automatically implies the existence of zero cosmological constant solutions that extend all the way into the IR. Given the standard (and well founded) contradiction between the RG-flow idea and the observational evidence of a small cosmological constant, this is considered to be an important progress, albeit incomplete, towards the final solution. Motivated by this success, it would be interesting to see whether this RG-stability extends outside the scope of strong 't Hooft coupling and large N regime that are implicitly assumed in the de Boer-Verlinde-Verlinde Hamilton-Jacobi formulation of the holographic RG-flow equations of the boundary theory. In this paper, we address this question. Taking into account the leading order corrections in the 1/N and $\alpha'/{R^2}$ parameters, we derive new bulk/boundary relations, from which one can read all the local terms in the boundary effective action. Next, we use the resulting constraints, to examine whether the RG-stability of the cosmological constant extends to the new coupling regime. It would be also interesting to use these constraints to study the Randall-Sundrum scenario in this case.Comment: 27 pages, LateX, no figures, minor changes, typos corrected and added more reference