Effects of a primordial magnetic field with log-normal distribution on the cosmic microwave background

We study the effect of primordial magnetic fields (PMFs) on the anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We assume the spectrum of PMFs is described by log-normal distribution which has a characteristic scale, rather than power-law spectrum. This scale is expected to reflect the generation mechanisms and our analysis is complementary to previous studies with power-law spectrum. We calculate power spectra of energy density and Lorentz force of the log-normal PMFs, and then calculate CMB temperature and polarization angular power spectra from scalar, vector, and tensor modes of perturbations generated from such PMFs. By comparing these spectra with WMAP7, QUaD, CBI, Boomerang, and ACBAR data sets, we find that the current CMB data set places the strongest constraint at $k\simeq 10^{-2.5}$ Mpc$^{-1}$ with the upper limit $B\lesssim 3$ nG.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure

Spectral sum rules for confining large-N theories

We consider asymptotically-free four-dimensional large-$N$ gauge theories with massive fermionic and bosonic adjoint matter fields, compactified on squashed three-spheres, and examine their regularized large-$N$ confined-phase spectral sums. The analysis is done in the limit of vanishing 't Hooft coupling, which is justified by taking the size of the compactification manifold to be small compared to the inverse strong scale $\Lambda^{-1}$. Our results motivate us to conjecture some universal spectral sum rules for these large $N$ gauge theories.Comment: 25 pages, 2 figures. v2: fixed typos, added references, and some minor improvements to discussio

Constraints on the neutrino mass and the primordial magnetic field from the matter density fluctuation parameter σ8\sigma_8

We have made an analysis of limits on the neutrino mass based upon the formation of large-scale structure in the presence of a primordial magnetic field. We find that a new upper bound on the neutrino mass is possible based upon fits to the cosmic microwave background and matter power spectrum when the existing independent constraints on the matter density fluctuation parameter $\sigma_8$ and the primordial magnetic field are taken into account.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, final version to appear in Phys. Rev. D, to match proof

Kaonic nuclei studied based on a new framework of Antisymmetric Molecular Dynamics

We have developed a new framework of Antisymmetrized Molecular Dynamics (AMD), to adequately treat the I=0 \={K}N interaction, which is essential to study kaonic nuclei. The improved points are 1) pK$^-$/n\={K}$^0$ mixing and 2) total spin and isospin projections. These improvements enable us to investigate various kaonic nuclei (ppnK$^-$, pppK$^-$, pppnK$^-$, $^6$BeK$^-$ and $^9$BK$^-$) systematically. We have found that they are deeply bound and extremely dense with a variety of shapes.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Two-Nucleon Bound States in Quenched Lattice QCD

We address the issue of bound state in the two-nucleon system in lattice QCD. Our study is made in the quenched approximation at the lattice spacing of a = 0.128 fm with a heavy quark mass corresponding to m_pi = 0.8 GeV. To distinguish a bound state from an attractive scattering state, we investigate the volume dependence of the energy difference between the ground state and the free two-nucleon state by changing the spatial extent of the lattice from 3.1 fm to 12.3 fm. A finite energy difference left in the infinite spatial volume limit leads us to the conclusion that the measured ground states for not only spin triplet but also singlet channels are bounded. Furthermore the existence of the bound state is confirmed by investigating the properties of the energy for the first excited state obtained by 2x2 diagonalization method. The scattering lengths for both channels are evaluated by applying the finite volume formula derived by Luscher to the energy of the first excited states.Comment: 34 pages, 28 figure

Antikaon-nucleus dynamics: from quasibound states to kaon condensation

Coupled-channel Kbar-N dynamics near threshold and its repercussions in few-body Kbar-nuclear systems are briefly reviewed, highlighting studies of a K^-pp quasibound state. In heavier nuclei, the extension of mean-field calculations to multi-Kbar nuclear and hypernuclear quasibound states is discussed. It is concluded that strangeness in finite self-bound systems is realized through hyperons, with no room for kaon condensation.Comment: Proceedings version of plenary talk at Quark Nuclear Physics (QNP09) September 2009, Beijing; matches published versio

Casimir energy of confining large NN gauge theories

Four-dimensional asymptotically-free large $N$ gauge theories compactified on $S^3_R \times \mathbb{R}$ have a weakly-coupled confining regime when $R$ is small compared to the strong scale. We compute the vacuum energy of a variety of confining large $N$ non-supersymmetric gauge theories in this calculable regime, where the vacuum energy can be thought of as the $S^3$ Casimir energy. The $N=\infty$ renormalized vacuum energy turns out to vanish in all of the large $N$ gauge theories we have examined, confirming a striking prediction of temperature-reflection symmetry.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. v2: added clarifications and typo corrections, conclusions unchange

Optimal double stopping of a Brownian bridge

We study optimal double stopping problems driven by a Brownian bridge. The objective is to maximize the expected spread between the payoffs achieved at the two stopping times. We study several cases where the solutions can be solved explicitly by strategies of threshold type