119514677
Isotropy and stability of the brane
We reexamine Wald’s no-hair theorem for global anisotropy in the brane world scenarios. We derive a set of sufficient conditions which must be satisfied bythe brane matter and bulk metric so that a homogeneous and anisotropic brane asymptotically evolves to a de Sitter spacetime in the presence of a positive cosmological constant on the brane. We discuss the violations of these sufficient conditions and we show that a negative nonlocal energy density or the presence of strong anisotropic stress (i.e., a magnetic field) may lead the brane to collapse. We discuss the generality of these conditions.
17421918
Living in a void: testing the Copernican principle with distant supernovae.
We show that the local redshift dependence of the luminosity distance can be used to test the Copernican principle that we are not in a central or otherwise special region of the Universe. Future surveys of type Ia supernovae that focus on a redshift range of approximately 0.1-0.4 will be ideally suited to observationally determine the validity of the Copernican principle on new scales, as well as probing the degree to which dark energy must be considered a necessary ingredient in the Universe.
11014726
Initial conditions of the universe: how much isocurvature is allowed?
We investigate the constraints imposed by current data on correlated mixtures of adiabatic and nonadiabatic primordial perturbations. We discover subtle flat directions in parameter space that tolerate large (approximately 60%) fractions of nonadiabatic fluctuations. In particular, larger values of the baryon density and a spectral tilt are allowed. The cancellations in the degenerate directions are explored and the role of priors is elucidated.
9420614
The Trispectrum of the 4 Year COBE DMR Data
We propose an estimator for the trispectrum of a scalar random field on a sphere, discuss its geometrical and statistical properties, and outline its implementation. By estimating the trispectrum of the 4 yr COBE Differential Microwave Radiometer experiment data (in HEALPix pixelization), we find new evidence of a non-Gaussian signal associated with a known systematic effect. We find that by removing data from the sky maps for those periods of time perturbed by this effect, the amplitudes of the trispectrum coefficients become completely consistent with predictions for a Gaussian sky. These results reinforce the importance of statistical methods based in harmonic space for quantifying non-Gaussianity.
118316369
The Parameterized Post-Friedmann Framework for Theories of Modified Gravity: Concepts, Formalism and Examples.
A unified framework for theories of modified gravity will be an essential tool for interpreting the forthcoming deluge of cosmological data. We present such a formalism, the Parameterized Post-Friedmann framework (PPF), which parameterizes the cosmological perturbation theory of a wide variety of modified gravity models. PPF is able to handle spin-0 degrees of freedom from new scalar, vector and tensor fields, meaning that it is not restricted to simple models based solely on cosmological scalar fields. A direct correspondence is maintained between the parameterization and the underlying space of theories, which allows us to build up a `dictionary' of modified gravity theories and their PPF correspondences. In this paper we describe the construction of the parameterization and demonstrate its use through a number of worked examples relevant to the current literature. We indicate how the formalism will be implemented numerically, so that the dictionary of modified gravity can be pitted against forthcoming observations.
122687802
Imaging the early universe with the BOOMERanG Experiment
The BOOMERanG experiment has recently detected temperature fluctuations the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the otherwise isotropic radiation coming from the early Universe. These anisotropies have a low contrast (about 30 ppm) and feature a peculiar angular power spectrum at angles corresponding to sub-horizon scales at recombination. In the current cosmological model, these structures result from acoustic oscillations in the primeval plasma. In the framework of the Hot Big Bang theory with the inflationary hypothesis, the statistical properties of the image of the CMB allow us to measure most of the cosmological parameters.
118869835
Heterotic, Open and Unoriented String Theories from Topological Membrane
In this work are consider several topics in the Topological Membrane (TM) approach to string theory. The string dynamics is generated from the bulk physics, namely from the 3D Topologically Massive Gauge Theory (TMGT) and Topologically Massive Gravity (TMG). Both (equivalent) path integral and canonical methods of quantizing TMGT are studied. It is shown that Narain constraints on toroidal compactification (integer, even, self-dual momentum lattice) have a natural interpretation in purely three dimensional terms. The Heterotic string and the block structure of c=1 RCFT are derived from the point of view of three dimensional field theory. Open and unoriented strings in TM(GT) theory are also studied through orbifolds of the bulk 3D space. This is achieved by gauging discrete symmetries of the theory. Open and unoriented strings can be obtained from all possible realizations of C, P and T symmetries. The important role of C symmetry to distinguish between Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions is discussed in detail. Future directions of research in this field are also suggested and discussed.
119493491
One-loop stau masses in the effective potential approach
We calculate the one-loop contributions to the tau slepton masses in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model in the effective potential approach. For the majority of parameter space under study, those corrections are shown to elevate the value of the lightest stau mass.
88506479
Parameterizing the flattening of galaxies rotation curves on an expanding locally anisotropic background
In this paper are discussed possible many body generalizations of the expanding locally anisotropic metric ansatz with respect to approximately Newtonian gravitational systems. This ansatz consistently describes local point-like matter distributions on the expanding Universe also allowing for a covariant parameterization of gravitational interactions at intermediate length scales. 
As an example of applicability it is modeled a disk galaxy model matching the physical parameters of the galaxy UGC2885 and it is shown that, by fine-tuning the metric functional parameter, the flattening of the galaxy rotation curve is fully parameterized by this metric. In addition it is numerically computed the mass-energy density corrections due to the expanding anisotropic background and explicitly shown that although there are negative contributions within the galaxy plane the total mass-energy density is strictly positive both at the galaxy plane and outside the galaxy plane. As the functional parameter for this metric is an exponential factor is required a floating point precision of $250$ significant digits for root finding routines and $200$ significant digits to evaluate the effective mass-energy density rendering a final precision of the results presented above double precision ($16$ significant digits). 
It is further shown that these results are consistent with the interpretation of the gravitational corrections as due to Dark Matter, in particular constituting a novel heuristic local parameterization for the Dark Matter distribution within the galaxy plane consistent with both local scale and cosmological scale physical laws which is useful to further investigate the local properties of Dark Matter.
119502389
D-branes in topological membranes
Abstract It is shown how two-dimensional states corresponding to D-branes arise in orbifolds of topologically massive gauge and gravity theories. Brane vertex operators naturally appear in induced worldsheet actions when the three-dimensional gauge theory is minimally coupled to external charged matter and the orbifold relations are carefully taken into account. Boundary states corresponding to D-branes are given by vacuum wavefunctionals of the gauge theory in the presence of the matter, and their various constraints, such as the Cardy condition, are shown to arise through compatibility relations between the orbifold charges and bulk gauge invariance. We show that with a further conformally-invariant coupling to a dynamical massless scalar field theory in three dimensions, the brane tension is naturally set by the bulk mass scales and arises through dynamical mechanisms. As an auxilliary result, we show how to describe string descendent states in the three-dimensional theory through the construction of gauge-invariant excited wavefunctionals.
18543360
Tree-Level Vacuum Stability in Multi Higgs Models
In the most general model with two Higgs doublets, if a minimum that preserves the $U(1)_{em}$ symmetry exists, then charge breaking (CB) minima cannot occur. The depth of the potential at a stationary point that breaks CB or CP, relative to the $U(1)_{em}$ preserving minimum, is proportional to the squared mass of the charged or pseudoscalar Higgs, respectively.