Abstract: The running charm-quark mass in the scheme is determined from weighted finite energy QCD sum rules involving the vector current correlator. Only the short distance expansion of this correlator is used, together with integration kernels (weights) involving positive powers of s, the squared energy. The optimal kernels are found to be a simple pinched kernel and polynomials of the Legendre type. The former kernel reduces potential duality violations near the real axis in the complex s plane, and the latter allows us to extend the analysis to energy regions beyond the end point of the data. These kernels, together with the high energy expansion of the correlator, weigh the experimental and theoretical information differently from e. g. inverse moments finite energy sum rules. Current, state of the art results for the vector correlator up to four-loop order in perturbative QCD are used in the finite energy sum rules, together with the latest experimental data. The integration in the complex s plane is performed using three different methods: fixed order perturbation theory, contour improved perturbation theory, and a fixed renormalization scale mu. The final result is (m) over bar (c)(3 GeV) = 1008 +/- 26 MeV, in a wide region of stability against changes in the integration radius s(0) in the complex s plane.

Abstract: We calculate the relic density of stau at the big-bang nucleosynthesis era in the coannihilation scenario of the minimal supersymmetric standard model. In this scenario, stau can be long lived and have significance in the remediation of light elements abundances. The freeze-out of stau is corroborated by solving the Boltzmann equation numerically, and the parameter dependence of the relic density is investigated. The possibility of solving the Li-7 problem is examined by taking account into the long-lived stau. By adopting an observational value of Li-7 in [J. Melendez and I. Ramirez, Astrophys. J. 615, L33 (2004).], we get minimal supersymmetric standard model parameter space in which abundances of both dark matter and all of the light elements are reproduced in accordance with observations. We also address the influence of intergenerational mixing on our calculation.

Abstract: Determination of whether the Harrison-Zel'dovich spectrum for primordial scalar perturbations is consistent with observations is sensitive to assumptions about the reionization scenario. In light of this result, we revisit constraints on inflationary models using more general reionization scenarios. While the bounds on the tensor-to-scalar ratio are largely unmodified, when different reionization schemes are addressed, hybrid models are back into the inflationary game. In the general reionization picture, we reconstruct both the shape and amplitude of the inflaton potential. We discuss how relaxing the simple reionization restriction affects the reconstruction of the potential through the changes in the constraints on the spectral index, the tensor-to-scalar ratio and the running of the spectral index. We also find that the inclusion of other Cosmic Microwave Background data in addition to the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy probe data excludes the very flat potentials typical of models in which the inflationary evolution reaches a late-time attractor, as a consequence of the fact that the running of the spectral index is constrained to be different from zero at 99% confidence level.

Abstract: Semiclassical gravity is investigated in a large class of asymptotically flat, static, spherically symmetric spacetimes including those containing static stars, black holes, and wormholes. Specifically the stress-energy tensors of massless free spin 0 and spin 1/2 fields are computed to leading order in the asymptotic regions of these spacetimes. This is done for spin 0 fields in Schwarzschild spacetime using a WKB approximation. It is done numerically for the spin 1/2 field in Schwarzschild, extreme Reissner-Nordstrom, and various wormhole spacetimes. And it is done by finding analytic solutions to the leading order mode equations in a large class of asymptotically flat static spherically symmetric spacetimes. Agreement is shown between these various computational methods. It is found that, for all of the spacetimes considered, the energy density and pressure in the asymptotic region are proportional to r(-5) to leading order. Furthermore, for the spin 1/2 field and the conformally coupled scalar field, the stress-energy tensor depends only on the leading order geometry in the far field limit. This is also true for the minimally coupled scalar field for spacetimes containing either a static star or a black hole, but not for spacetimes containing a wormhole.

Abstract: We present an unquenched N-f = 2 lattice computation of the B-K parameter which controls K-0 – (K) over bar (0) oscillations. A partially quenched setup is employed with two maximally twisted dynamical (sea) light Wilson quarks, and valence quarks of both the maximally twisted and the Osterwalder-Seiler variety. Suitable combinations of these two kinds of valence quarks lead to a lattice definition of the B-K parameter which is both multiplicatively renormalizable and O(a) improved. Employing the nonperturbative RI-MOM scheme, in the continuum limit and at the physical value of the pion mass we get B-K(RGI) = 0.729 +/- 0.030, a number well in line with the existing quenched and unquenched determinations.