Dark Energy and Extending the Geodesic Equations of Motion: Connecting the Galactic and Cosmological Length Scales

Recently, an extension of the geodesic equations of motion using the Dark Energy length scale was proposed. Here, we apply this extension to the analyzing the motion of test particles at the galactic scale and longer. A cosmological check of the extension is made using the observed rotational velocity curves and core sizes of 1393 spiral galaxies. We derive the density profile of a model galaxy using this extension, and with it, we calculate $\sigma_8$ to be $0.73_{\pm 0.12}$; this is within experimental error of the WMAP value of $0.761_{-0.048}^{+0.049}$. We then calculate $R_{200}$ to be $206_{\pm 53}$ kpc, which is in reasonable agreement with observations.Comment: 25 pages. Accepted for publication in General Relativity and Gravitation. Paper contains the published version of the second half of arXiv:0711.3124v2 with corrections include

Controlling Phase Space Caustics in the Semiclassical Coherent State Propagator

The semiclassical formula for the quantum propagator in the coherent state representation $$ is not free from the problem of caustics. These are singular points along the complex classical trajectories specified by $\mathbf{z}'$, $\mathbf{z}''$ and $T$ where the usual quadratic approximation fails, leading to divergences in the semiclassical formula. In this paper we derive third order approximations for this propagator that remain finite in the vicinity of caustics. We use Maslov's method and the dual representation proposed in Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 95}, 050405 (2005) to derive uniform, regular and transitional semiclassical approximations for coherent state propagator in systems with two degrees of freedom.Comment: 24 pages, to appear in Ann. of Phy

Possible Origin of Antimatter Regions in the Baryon Dominated Universe

We discuss the evolution of U(1) symmetric scalar field at the inflation epoch with a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone tilt revealing after the end of exponential expansion of the Universe. The U(1) symmetry is supposed to be associated with baryon charge. It is shown that quantum fluctuations lead in natural way to baryon dominated Universe with antibaryon excess regions. The range of parameters is calculated at which the fraction of Universe occupied by antimatter and the size of antimatter regions satisfy the observational constraints, survive to the modern time and lead to effects, accessible to experimental search for antimatter.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figur

CROO: A universal infrastructure and protocol to detect identity fraud

Identity fraud (IDF) may be defined as unauthorized exploitation of credential information through the use of false identity. We propose CROO, a universal (i.e. generic) infrastructure and protocol to either prevent IDF (by detecting attempts thereof), or limit its consequences (by identifying cases of previously undetected IDF). CROO is a capture resilient one-time password scheme, whereby each user must carry a personal trusted device used to generate one-time passwords (OTPs) verified by online trusted parties. Multiple trusted parties may be used for increased scalability. OTPs can be used regardless of a transaction’s purpose (e.g. user authentication or financial payment), associated credentials, and online or on-site nature; this makes CROO a universal scheme. OTPs are not sent in cleartext; they are used as keys to compute MACs of hashed transaction information, in a manner allowing OTP-verifying parties to confirm that given user credentials (i.e. OTP-keyed MACs) correspond to claimed hashed transaction details. Hashing transaction details increases user privacy. Each OTP is generated from a PIN-encrypted non-verifiable key; this makes users’ devices resilient to off-line PIN-guessing attacks. CROO’s credentials can be formatted as existing user credentials (e.g. credit cards or driver’s licenses)

A straw drift chamber spectrometer for studies of rare kaon decays

We describe the design, construction, readout, tests, and performance of planar drift chambers, based on 5 mm diameter copperized Mylar and Kapton straws, used in an experimental search for rare kaon decays. The experiment took place in the high-intensity neutral beam at the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron of Brookhaven National Laboratory, using a neutral beam stop, two analyzing dipoles, and redundant particle identification to remove backgrounds

Infinite systems of non-colliding generalized meanders and Riemann-Liouville differintegrals

Yor's generalized meander is a temporally inhomogeneous modification of the $2(\nu+1)$-dimensional Bessel process with $\nu > -1$, in which the inhomogeneity is indexed by $\kappa \in [0, 2(\nu+1))$. We introduce the non-colliding particle systems of the generalized meanders and prove that they are the Pfaffian processes, in the sense that any multitime correlation function is given by a Pfaffian. In the infinite particle limit, we show that the elements of matrix kernels of the obtained infinite Pfaffian processes are generally expressed by the Riemann-Liouville differintegrals of functions comprising the Bessel functions $J_{\nu}$ used in the fractional calculus, where orders of differintegration are determined by $\nu-\kappa$. As special cases of the two parameters $(\nu, \kappa)$, the present infinite systems include the quaternion determinantal processes studied by Forrester, Nagao and Honner and by Nagao, which exhibit the temporal transitions between the universality classes of random matrix theory.Comment: LaTeX, 35 pages, v3: The argument given in Section 3.2 was simplified. Minor corrections were mad

Sedimentary cycles in a Mesoproterozoic aeolian erg-margin succession: Mangabeira Formation, Espinhaço Supergroup, Brazil

Aeolian systems were abundant and widespread in the early Proterozoic, post-2.2 Ga. However, the majority of aeolian successions of such great age are intensely deformed and are preserved only in a fragmentary state meaning that, hitherto, few attempts have been made to apply a sequence stratigraphic approach to determine mechanisms of aeolian construction, accumulation and preservation in such systems. The Mangabeira Formation is a well preserved Mesoproterozoic erg successions covering part of the São Francisco Craton, northeastern Brazil. The lower unit of the Mangabeira Formation (~ 500 m thick) comprises aeolian deposits of dune, interdune, and sand-sheet origin, as well as some of waterlain origin. These deposits are organized into vertically stacked depositional cycles, each 6 to 20 m thick, and characterized by aeolian sandsheet and waterlain deposits succeeded by aeolian dune and interdune deposits indicative of a drying-upward trend. Aeolian cross-strata exhibit a mean dip direction to the north. Each of these cycles likely arose in response to climatic oscillation from relatively humid to arid conditions, possibly related to orbital forcing. The lower unit of the Mangabeira Formation comprises up to 14 erg sequences. The accumulation and preservation of each was determined by the relative rate of water-table rise and the availability of sand for aeolian transport, both of which changed through time, resulting in the preservation of a succession of repeated drying-upward cycles

Heavy quarkonium: progress, puzzles, and opportunities

A golden age for heavy quarkonium physics dawned a decade ago, initiated by the confluence of exciting advances in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and an explosion of related experimental activity. The early years of this period were chronicled in the Quarkonium Working Group (QWG) CERN Yellow Report (YR) in 2004, which presented a comprehensive review of the status of the field at that time and provided specific recommendations for further progress. However, the broad spectrum of subsequent breakthroughs, surprises, and continuing puzzles could only be partially anticipated. Since the release of the YR, the BESII program concluded only to give birth to BESIII; the $B$-factories and CLEO-c flourished; quarkonium production and polarization measurements at HERA and the Tevatron matured; and heavy-ion collisions at RHIC have opened a window on the deconfinement regime. All these experiments leave legacies of quality, precision, and unsolved mysteries for quarkonium physics, and therefore beg for continuing investigations. The plethora of newly-found quarkonium-like states unleashed a flood of theoretical investigations into new forms of matter such as quark-gluon hybrids, mesonic molecules, and tetraquarks. Measurements of the spectroscopy, decays, production, and in-medium behavior of c\bar{c}, b\bar{b}, and b\bar{c} bound states have been shown to validate some theoretical approaches to QCD and highlight lack of quantitative success for others. The intriguing details of quarkonium suppression in heavy-ion collisions that have emerged from RHIC have elevated the importance of separating hot- and cold-nuclear-matter effects in quark-gluon plasma studies. This review systematically addresses all these matters and concludes by prioritizing directions for ongoing and future efforts.Comment: 182 pages, 112 figures. Editors: N. Brambilla, S. Eidelman, B. K. Heltsley, R. Vogt. Section Coordinators: G. T. Bodwin, E. Eichten, A. D. Frawley, A. B. Meyer, R. E. Mitchell, V. Papadimitriou, P. Petreczky, A. A. Petrov, P. Robbe, A. Vair

An Integrated TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource to Drive High-Quality Survival Outcome Analytics

For a decade, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program collected clinicopathologic annotation data along with multi-platform molecular profiles of more than 11,000 human tumors across 33 different cancer types. TCGA clinical data contain key features representing the democratized nature of the data collection process. To ensure proper use of this large clinical dataset associated with genomic features, we developed a standardized dataset named the TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource (TCGA-CDR), which includes four major clinical outcome endpoints. In addition to detailing major challenges and statistical limitations encountered during the effort of integrating the acquired clinical data, we present a summary that includes endpoint usage recommendations for each cancer type. These TCGA-CDR findings appear to be consistent with cancer genomics studies independent of the TCGA effort and provide opportunities for investigating cancer biology using clinical correlates at an unprecedented scale. Analysis of clinicopathologic annotations for over 11,000 cancer patients in the TCGA program leads to the generation of TCGA Clinical Data Resource, which provides recommendations of clinical outcome endpoint usage for 33 cancer types