Scientific Series

I will discuss various different ways of quantifying the differences between two quantum observables (POVMs). Each of these approaches gives rise to a notion of approximately measuring one observable by means of measuring some other observable. This will be illustrated in the case of position and momentum by studying the question which POVMs on phase space can reasonably be said to represent a joint approximate determination of these observables. A new, universally valid trade-off relation for the associated inaccuracies will be rigorously formulated. I will sketch the proof which is an adaptation of some interesting techniques and properties of covariant phase space observables used recently by R Werner in a related project. Recommended reading (optional): quant-ph/0405184 (R Werner), quant-ph/0609185 (PB et al), and also for further background information quant-ph/0309091 (M Hall), quant-ph/0310070 (M Ozawa), quant-ph/9803051 (DM Appleby).

Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are excellent candidates for cold dark matter. After the first millisecond, WIMPs have decoupled from standard model matter, both chemically and kinetically, they enter the free streaming regime and the formation of cosmic structure begins. Another 40 million years pass before the typical first structures enter the nonlinear regime and collapse to the first WIMPy halos. Therefore, it has been assumed that structure formation is insensitive to the WIMP field theory and can be neglected. However, this leads to a monotonically increasing power of structure formation on small scales and some kind of regularization procedure would be required to make the hierarchical picture of structure formation well defined. It will be shown that nonequilibrium processes give rise to a physical regularization of hierarchical structure formation. This has important consequences for indirect and direct dark matter searches which are sensitive to sub-galactic and sub-milli-parsec scales. Furthermore, due the existence of a physical regulator, the problem of structure formation can consistently be solved using N-body simulations.

Realizations of inflation in string theory hold the promise of connecting the theory to observational tests, and at the same time providing new insights for field theory models of inflation. I will report on progress towards realizing inflation on D-branes in type IIB string theory. Moduli stabilization effects generically lead to an eta problem in this scenario, and to analyze the model it is necessary to compute a particular correction to the nonperturbative effects arising on wrapped D-branes. I will explain this calculation, then present results for the full inflaton potential that establish the existence of successful models, albeit with qualitatively new predictions.

We consider the hypothesis that quantum mechanics is an approximation to another, cosmological theory, accurate only for the description of subsystems of the universe. Quantum theory is then to be derived from the cosmological theory by averaging over variables which are not internal to the subsystem, which may be considered non-local hidden variables. I will explain the motivation for this view, give some examples of theories of this kind and investigate general conditions for such an approach to succeed.

Conventional wisdom holds that the majority of high energy atomic nuclei ("cosmic rays") that continually rain upon the Earth originate in galactic supernova shock waves, although some different (likely extragalactic) origin must be invoked to explain the highest energy particles. Despite many decades of intensive research on the subject, only indirect clues to these ideas exist at present. Direct measurements of the spectrum and mass composition of high energy cosmic rays are needed to validate these notions, but are hampered by rapidly dwindling fluxes with energy. Indeed, there is an expectation that the cosmic nuclei should have progressively more charge (and therefore mass), on average, with increasing energy, up to the astrophysical "knee" (spectral break) in the spectrum at around 3x10^15 eV. At energies beyond the knee, only indirect measurements are possible. The CREAM (Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass) experiment is a complex particle detector flown by high altitude balloon to directly measure the charge and energy of the cosmic rays at energies near the spectral knee. It flew successfully in Antarctica in Dec 04 / Jan 05 for a record-breaking 42 days, and again in Dec 05 / Jan 06. We will review the science and performance of the instrument in flight, and present preliminary results and discuss prospects for additional CREAM missions. The Auger experiment is the largest cosmic ray detector ever built, currently nearing completion in Argentina, covering an area of 3000 km^2. Its aim is to resolve a number of mysteries surrounding the highest energy cosmic rays, beyond 10^18 eV, whose very existence and ability to reach the Earth are difficult to understand. The rarity of the highest energy particles has precluded definitive answers to the question of their nature and origin, and indeed some controversy surrounds the existing experimental evidence. The Auger experiment will afford an order of magnitude improvement in statistics over previous efforts, as well as much improved control of systematics. We will briefly review the science of the highest energy cosmic rays and present first results obtained with the growing Auger array, and discuss plans for the future of these efforts.