Corrigan-Ramond Extension of QCD at Nonzero Baryon Density

We investigate the Corrigan-Ramond extension of one massless flavor Quantum Chromo Dynamics at nonzero quark chemical potential. Since the extension requires the fermions to transform in the two index antisymmetric representation of the gauge group, one finds that the number of possible channels is richer than in the 't Hooft limit. We first discuss the diquark channels and show that for a number of colors larger than three a new diquark channel appears. We then study the infinite number of color limit and show that the Fermi surface is unstable to the formation of the Deryagin-Grigoriev-Rubakov chiral waves. We discover, differently from the 't Hooft limit, the possibility of a colored chiral wave breaking the color symmetry as well as translation invariance.Comment: RevTeX, 14 pages, 2 figure

On the Direct Detection of Dark Matter Annihilation

We investigate the direct detection phenomenology of a class of dark matter (DM) models in which DM does not directly interact with nuclei, {but rather} the products of its annihilation do. When these annihilation products are very light compared to the DM mass, the scattering in direct detection experiments is controlled by relativistic kinematics. This results in a distinctive recoil spectrum, a non-standard and or even absent annual modulation, and the ability to probe DM masses as low as a $\sim$10 MeV. We use current LUX data to show that experimental sensitivity to thermal relic annihilation cross sections has already been reached in a class of models. Moreover, the compatibility of dark matter direct detection experiments can be compared directly in $E_{{\rm min}}$ space without making assumptions about DM astrophysics, mass, or scattering form factors. Lastly, when DM has direct couplings to nuclei, the limit from annihilation to relativistic particles in the Sun can be stronger than that of conventional non-relativistic direct detection by more than three orders of magnitude for masses in a 2-7 GeV window.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, PRL versio

Halo Independent Direct Detection of Momentum-Dependent Dark Matter

We show that the momentum dependence of dark matter interactions with nuclei can be probed in direct detection experiments without knowledge of the dark matter velocity distribution. This is one of the few properties of DM microphysics that can be determined with direct detection alone, given a signal of dark matter in multiple direct detection experiments with different targets. Long-range interactions arising from the exchange of a light mediator are one example of momentum-dependent DM. For data produced from the exchange of a massless mediator we find for example that the mediator mass can be constrained to be $\lesssim 10$ MeV for DM in the 20-1000 GeV range in a halo-independent manner.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures; updated to match published versio

Sounding stellar cycles with Kepler - preliminary results from ground-based chromospheric activity measurements

Due to its unique long-term coverage and high photometric precision, observations from the Kepler asteroseismic investigation will provide us with the possibility to sound stellar cycles in a number of solar-type stars with asteroseismology. By comparing these measurements with conventional ground-based chromospheric activity measurements we might be able to increase our understanding of the relation between the chromospheric changes and the changes in the eigenmodes. In parallel with the Kepler observations we have therefore started a programme at the Nordic Optical Telescope to observe and monitor chromospheric activity in the stars that are most likely to be selected for observations for the whole satellite mission. The ground-based observations presented here can be used both to guide the selection of the special Kepler targets and as the first step in a monitoring programme for stellar cycles. Also, the chromospheric activity measurements obtained from the ground-based observations can be compared with stellar parameters such as ages and rotation in order to improve stellar evolution models.Comment: submitted to the proceedings of the IAU symposium No. 264, 200

Detection of Solar-like Oscillations in the G7 Giant Star xi Hya

We report the firm discovery of solar-like oscillations in a giant star. We monitored the star xi Hya (G7III) continuously during one month with the CORALIE spectrograph attached to the 1.2m Swiss Euler telescope. The 433 high-precision radial-velocity measurements clearly reveal multiple oscillation frequencies in the range 50 - 130 uHz, corresponding to periods between 2.0 and 5.5 hours. The amplitudes of the strongest modes are slightly smaller than 2 m/s. Current model calculations are compatible with the detected modes.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication as a letter in A&

Sounding stellar cycles with Kepler - II. Ground-based observations

We have monitored 20 Sun-like stars in the Kepler field-of-view for excess flux with the FIES spectrograph on the Nordic Optical Telescope since the launch of Kepler spacecraft in 2009. These 20 stars were selected based on their asteroseismic properties to sample the parameter space (effective temperature, surface gravity, activity level etc.) around the Sun. Though the ultimate goal is to improve stellar dynamo models, we focus the present paper on the combination of space-based and ground-based observations can be used to test the age-rotation-activity relations. In this paper we describe the considerations behind the selection of these 20 Sun-like stars and present an initial asteroseismic analysis, which includes stellar age estimates. We also describe the observations from the Nordic Optical Telescope and present mean values of measured excess fluxes. These measurements are combined with estimates of the rotation periods obtained from a simple analysis of the modulation in photometric observations from Kepler caused by starspots, and asteroseismic determinations of stellar ages, to test relations between between age, rotation and activity.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

Stellar Oscillations Network Group

Stellar Oscillations Network Group (SONG) is an initiative aimed at designing and building a network of 1m-class telescopes dedicated to asteroseismology and planet hunting. SONG will have 8 identical telescope nodes each equipped with a high-resolution spectrograph and an iodine cell for obtaining precision radial velocities and a CCD camera for guiding and imaging purposes. The main asteroseismology targets for the network are the brightest (V<6) stars. In order to improve performance and reduce maintenance costs the instrumentation will only have very few modes of operation. In this contribution we describe the motivations for establishing a network, the basic outline of SONG and the expected performance.Comment: Proc. Vienna Workshop on the Future of Asteroseismology, 20 - 22 September 2006. Comm. in Asteroseismology, Vol. 150, in the pres