Constraints on inflation revisited: An analysis including the latest local measurement of the Hubble constant

We revisit the constraints on inflation models by using the current cosmological observations involving the latest local measurement of the Hubble constant ($H_{0} = 73.00\pm 1.75$ km s $^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$). We constrain the primordial power spectra of both scalar and tensor perturbations with the observational data including the Planck 2015 CMB full data, the BICEP2 and Keck Array CMB B-mode data, the BAO data, and the direct measurement of $H_0$. In order to relieve the tension between the local determination of the Hubble constant and the other astrophysical observations, we consider the additional parameter $N_{\rm eff}$ in the cosmological model. We find that, for the $\Lambda$CDM+$r$+$N_{\rm eff}$ model, the scale invariance is only excluded at the 3.3$\sigma$ level, and $\Delta N_{\rm eff}>0$ is favored at the 1.6$\sigma$ level. Comparing the obtained 1$\sigma$ and 2$\sigma$ contours of $(n_s,r)$ with the theoretical predictions of selected inflation models, we find that both the convex and concave potentials are favored at 2$\sigma$ level, the natural inflation model is excluded at more than 2$\sigma$ level, the Starobinsky $R^2$ inflation model is only favored at around 2$\sigma$ level, and the spontaneously broken SUSY inflation model is now the most favored model.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Constraining dark energy with Hubble parameter measurements: an analysis including future redshift-drift observations

Dark energy affects the Hubble expansion rate (namely, the expansion history) $H(z)$ by an integral over $w(z)$. However, the usual observables are the luminosity distances or the angular diameter distances, which measure the distance-redshift relation. Actually, dark energy affects the distances (and the growth factor) by a further integration over functions of $H(z)$. Thus, the direct measurements of the Hubble parameter $H(z)$ at different redshifts are of great importance for constraining the properties of dark energy. In this paper, we show how the typical dark energy models, for example, the $\Lambda$CDM, $w$CDM, CPL, and holographic dark energy (HDE) models, can be constrained by the current direct measurements of $H(z)$ (31 data in total, covering the redshift range of $z\in [0.07,2.34]$). In fact, the future redshift-drift observations (also referred to as the Sandage-Loeb test) can also directly measure $H(z)$ at higher redshifts, covering the range of $z\in [2,5]$. We thus discuss what role the redshift-drift observations can play in constraining dark energy with the Hubble parameter measurements. We show that the constraints on dark energy can be improved greatly with the $H(z)$ data from only a 10-year observation of redshift drift.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures; final version published in EPJ

Symplectic formulation of the type IIA nongeometric scalar potential

We study the four-dimensional (4D) scalar potential arising from a generalized type IIA flux superpotential including the (non-)geometric fluxes. First, we show that using a set of peculiar flux combinations, the 4D scalar potential can be formulated into a very compact form. This is what we call as the `symplectic formulation' from which one could easily anticipate the ten-dimensional origin of the effective scalar potential. We support our formulation through an alternate derivation of the scalar potential via considering the Double Field Theory (DFT) reduction on a generic Calabi Yau orientifold. In addition, we also exemplify the insights of our formulation with explicit computations for two concrete toroidal examples using orientifolds of the complex threefolds ${\mathbb T}^6/{({\mathbb Z}_2 \times {\mathbb Z}_2)}$ and ${\mathbb T}^6/{\mathbb Z}_4$.Comment: v4: 33 pages, typos fixed in eqn. (4.22) and (4.23), and some cosmetic changes in the title; version to appear in PR

Price-Based Resource Allocation for Spectrum-Sharing Femtocell Networks: A Stackelberg Game Approach

This paper investigates the price-based resource allocation strategies for the uplink transmission of a spectrum-sharing femtocell network, in which a central macrocell is underlaid with distributed femtocells, all operating over the same frequency band as the macrocell. Assuming that the macrocell base station (MBS) protects itself by pricing the interference from the femtocell users, a Stackelberg game is formulated to study the joint utility maximization of the macrocell and the femtocells subject to a maximum tolerable interference power constraint at the MBS. Especially, two practical femtocell channel models: sparsely deployed scenario for rural areas and densely deployed scenario for urban areas, are investigated. For each scenario, two pricing schemes: uniform pricing and non-uniform pricing, are proposed. Then, the Stackelberg equilibriums for these proposed games are studied, and an effective distributed interference price bargaining algorithm with guaranteed convergence is proposed for the uniform-pricing case. Finally, numerical examples are presented to verify the proposed studies. It is shown that the proposed algorithms are effective in resource allocation and macrocell protection requiring minimal network overhead for spectrum-sharing-based two-tier femtocell networks.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figures, Submitted to JSA

On Missing Bianchi Identities in Cohomology Formulation

In this article, we perform a deep analysis of the Bianchi identities in the two known formulations developed for the four-dimensional effective type IIA supergravity theory with (non-)geometric fluxes. In what we call the `first formulation', fluxes are expressed in the real six-dimensional indices while in the `second formulation', fluxes are written in the cohomology form. We find that the set of flux constraints arising from these two known formulations are not equivalent, and there are missing identities in the cohomology version which need to be supplemented to match with the first formulation. By analyzing two explicit examples, we conjecture a model independent form for (the most of) the missing identities. These identities have been mostly overlooked in the previous attempts of studying moduli stabilization, particularly for the models developed in the beyond toroidal frameworks, where they could play some important role.Comment: v2: 24 pages + 3 appendices, minor improvements and references added. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1712.07310; v3: minor updates, published versio