Testing Lorentz Invariance with Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray Spectrum

The GZK cutoff predicted at the Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray (UHECR) spectrum as been observed by the HiRes and Auger experiments. The results put severe constraints on the effect of Lorentz Invariance Violation(LIV) which has been introduced to explain the absence of GZK cutoff indicated in the AGASA data. Assuming homogeneous source distribution with a single power law spectrum, we calculate the spectrum of UHECRs observed on Earth by taking the processes of photopion production, $e^+e^-$ pair production and adiabatic energy loss into account. The effect of LIV is also taken into account in the calculation. By fitting the HiRes monocular spectra and the Auger combined spectra, we show that the LIV parameter is constrained to $\xi=-0.8^{+3.2}_{-0.5}\times10^{-23}$ and $0.0^{+1.0}_{-0.4}\times10^{-23}$ respectively, which is well consistent with strict Lorentz Invariance up to the highest energy.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review D 12 pages, 4 figure

Neutrino emission from dark matter annihilation/decay in light of cosmic e±e^{\pm} and pˉ\bar{p} data

A self-consistent global fitting method based on the Markov Chain Monte Carlo technique to study the dark matter (DM) property associated with the cosmic ray electron/positron excesses was developed in our previous work. In this work we further improve the previous study to include the hadronic branching ratio of DM annihilation/decay. The PAMELA $\bar{p}/p$ data are employed to constrain the hadronic branching ratio. We find that the 95% ($2\sigma$) upper limits of the quark branching ratio allowed by the PAMELA $\bar{p}/p$ data is $\sim 0.032$ for DM annihilation and $\sim 0.044$ for DM decay respectively. This result shows that the DM coupling to pure leptons is indeed favored by the current data. Based on the global fitting results, we further study the neutrino emission from DM in the Galactic center. Our predicted neutrino flux is some smaller than previous works since the constraint from $\gamma$-rays is involved. However, it is still capable to be detected by the forth-coming neutrino detector such as IceCube. The improved points of the present study compared with previous works include: 1) the DM parameters, both the particle physical ones and astrophysical ones, are derived in a global fitting way, 2) constraints from various species of data sets, including $\gamma$-rays and antiprotons are included, and 3) the expectation of neutrino emission is fully self-consistent.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, 1 table; Published in IJMPA 201

Constraints on the Dark Matter Annihilations by Neutrinos with Substructure Effects Included

Dark matter (DM) annihilations in the Galaxy may produce high energy neutrinos, which can be detected by the neutrino telescopes, for example IceCube, ANTARES and Super-Kamiokande. The neutrinos can also arise from hadronic interaction between cosmic ray and atmosphere around the Earth, known as atmospheric neutrino. Current measurements on neutrino flux is consistent with theoretical prediction of atmospheric neutrino within the uncertainties. In this paper, by requiring that the DM annihilation neutrino flux is less than the current measurements, we obtain an upper bound on the cross section of dark matter annihilation $$. Compared with previous investigations, we improve the bound by including DM substructure contributions. In our paper, two kinds of substructure effects are scrutinized. One is the substructure average contribution over all directions. The other is point source effect by single massive sub-halo. We found that the former can improve the bound by several times, while the latter can improve the bound by $10^1 \sim 10^4$ utilizing the excellent angular resolution of neutrino telescope IceCube. The exact improvement depends on the DM profile and the sub-halo concentration model. In some model, IceCube can achieve the sensitivity of $\sim 10^{- 26} cm^3 s^{- 1}$.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

The Galactic positron flux and dark matter substructures

In this paper we calculate the Galactic positron flux from dark matter annihilation in the frame of supersymmetry, taking the enhancement of the flux by existence of dark matter substructures into account. The propagation of positrons in the Galactic magnetic field is solved in a realistic numerical model GALPROP. The secondary positron flux is recalculated in the GLAPROP model. The total positron flux from secondary products and dark matter annihilation can fit the HEAT data well when taking a cuspy density profile of the substructures.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, accepted by JCA

A study on the sharp knee and fine structures of cosmic ray spectra

The paper investigates the overall and detailed features of cosmic ray (CR) spectra in the knee region using the scenario of nuclei-photon interactions around the acceleration sources. Young supernova remnants can be the physical realities of such kind of CR acceleration sites. The results show that the model can well explain the following problems simultaneously with one set of source parameters: the knee of CR spectra and the sharpness of the knee, the detailed irregular structures of CR spectra, the so-called "component B" of Galactic CRs, and the electron/positron excesses reported by recent observations. The coherent explanation serves as evidence that at least a portion of CRs might be accelerated at the sources similar to young supernova remnants, and one set of source parameters indicates that this portion mainly comes from standard sources or from a single source.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in SCIENCE CHINA Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy

Linear stability analysis of retrieval state in associative memory neural networks of spiking neurons

We study associative memory neural networks of the Hodgkin-Huxley type of spiking neurons in which multiple periodic spatio-temporal patterns of spike timing are memorized as limit-cycle-type attractors. In encoding the spatio-temporal patterns, we assume the spike-timing-dependent synaptic plasticity with the asymmetric time window. Analysis for periodic solution of retrieval state reveals that if the area of the negative part of the time window is equivalent to the positive part, then crosstalk among encoded patterns vanishes. Phase transition due to the loss of the stability of periodic solution is observed when we assume fast alpha-function for direct interaction among neurons. In order to evaluate the critical point of this phase transition, we employ Floquet theory in which the stability problem of the infinite number of spiking neurons interacting with alpha-function is reduced into the eigenvalue problem with the finite size of matrix. Numerical integration of the single-body dynamics yields the explicit value of the matrix, which enables us to determine the critical point of the phase transition with a high degree of precision.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Search for dark matter signals with Fermi-LAT observation of globular clusters NGC 6388 and M 15

The globular clusters are probably good targets for dark matter (DM) searches in $\gamma$-rays due to the possible adiabatic contraction of DM by baryons. In this work we analyse the three-year data collected by {\it Fermi} Large Area Telescope of globular clusters NGC 6388 and M 15 to search for possible DM signals. For NGC 6388 the detection of $\gamma$-ray emission was reported by {\it Fermi} collaboration, which is consistent with the emission of a population of millisecond pulsars. The spectral shape of NGC 6388 is also shown to be consistent with a DM contribution if assuming the annihilation final state is $b\bar{b}$. No significant $\gamma$-ray emission from M 15 is observed. We give the upper limits of DM contribution to $\gamma$-ray emission in both NGC 6388 and M 15, for annihilation final states $b\bar{b}$, $W^+W^-$, $\mu^+\mu^-$, $\tau^+\tau^-$ and monochromatic line. The constraints are stronger than that derived from observation of dwarf galaxies by {\it Fermi}.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, accepted by JCA

Clumpiness enhancement of charged cosmic rays from dark matter annihilation with Sommerfeld effect

Boost factors of dark matter annihilation into antiprotons and electrons/positrons due to the clumpiness of dark matter distribution are studied in detail in this work, taking the Sommerfeld effect into account. It has been thought that the Sommerfeld effect, if exists, will be more remarkable in substructures because they are colder than the host halo, and may result in a larger boost factor. We give a full calculation of the boost factors based on the recent N-body simulations. Three typical cases of Sommerfeld effects, the non-resonant, moderately resonant and strongly resonant cases are considered. We find that for the non-resonant and moderately resonant cases the enhancement effects of substructures due to the Sommerfeld effect are very small ($\sim \mathcal{O}(1)$) because of the saturation behavior of the Sommerfeld effect. For the strongly resonant case the boost factor is typically smaller than $\sim \mathcal{O}(10)$. However, it is possible in some very extreme cases that DM distribution is adopted to give the maximal annihilation the boost factor can reach up to $\sim 1000$. The variances of the boost factors due to different realizations of substructures distribution are also discussed in the work.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures, 2 table. The detailed fomula of the propagation and boost factor are moved to the Appendix. Accepted by JCA

North Atlantic simulations in Coordinated Ocean-ice Reference Experiments phase II (CORE-II). Part I: Mean states

Simulation characteristics from eighteen global ocean–sea-ice coupled models are presented with a focus on the mean Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) and other related fields in the North Atlantic. These experiments use inter-annually varying atmospheric forcing data sets for the 60-year period from 1948 to 2007 and are performed as contributions to the second phase of the Coordinated Ocean-ice Reference Experiments (CORE-II). The protocol for conducting such CORE-II experiments is summarized. Despite using the same atmospheric forcing, the solutions show significant differences. As most models also differ from available observations, biases in the Labrador Sea region in upper-ocean potential temperature and salinity distributions, mixed layer depths, and sea-ice cover are identified as contributors to differences in AMOC. These differences in the solutions do not suggest an obvious grouping of the models based on their ocean model lineage, their vertical coordinate representations, or surface salinity restoring strengths. Thus, the solution differences among the models are attributed primarily to use of different subgrid scale parameterizations and parameter choices as well as to differences in vertical and horizontal grid resolutions in the ocean models. Use of a wide variety of sea-ice models with diverse snow and sea-ice albedo treatments also contributes to these differences. Based on the diagnostics considered, the majority of the models appear suitable for use in studies involving the North Atlantic, but some models require dedicated development effort