In this review article I attempt to summarise past and present-ongoing-work on the problem of the inspiral of a small body in the gravitational field of a much more massive Kerr black hole. Such extreme mass ratio systems, expected to occur in galactic nuclei, will constitute prime sources of gravitational radiation for the future LISA gravitational radiation detector. The article's main goal is to provide a survey of basic celestial mechanics in Kerr spacetime and calculations of gravitational waveforms and backreaction on the small body's orbital motion, based on the traditional `flux-balance' method and the Teukolsky black hole perturbation formalism.

A modified model of gravity with additional positive and negative powers of the scalar curvature, $R$, in the gravitational action is studied. This is done using the Palatini variational principle. It is demonstrated that using such a model might prove useful to explain both the early time inflation and the late time cosmic acceleration without the need for any form of dark energy.

It is of great interest whether the recent KamLAND bound on the flux of electron antineutrinos from the Sun constrains the electromagnetic properties of the neutrino. We examine the efficiency of the electron antineutrino production in the solar magnetic fields, assuming the neutrinos are Majorana particles with a relatively large transition moment. We consider fields both in the radiative and convective zones of the Sun, with physically plausible strengths, and take into account the recently established values of the oscillation parameters. Our analysis shows that the production rate in question is presently unobservable. In the radiative zone, it is suppressed by the large measured value of the flavor mixing angle which eliminates the resonant level crossing. A corresponding general resonance condition, valid for large as well as small values of the mixing angle, is derived. Likewise, in the convective zone, the strength of the small-scale magnetic field is likely insufficient. Thus, no useful bound on the neutrino transition moment can be derived from the published KamLAND bound. KamLAND may be, however, on the edge of probing an ``optimistic'' scenario, making further improvements of its sensitivity desirable.

We study the effect of neutrino trapping on the phase diagram of dense, locally neutral three-flavor quark matter within the framework of a Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model. In the analysis, dynamically generated quark masses are taken into account self-consistently. The phase diagrams in the plane of temperature and quark chemical potential, as well as in the plane of temperature and lepton-number chemical potential are presented. We show that neutrino trapping favors two-flavor color superconductivity and disfavors the color-flavor-locked phase at intermediate densities of matter. At the same time, the location of the critical line separating the two-flavor color-superconducting phase and the normal phase of quark matter is little affected by the presence of neutrinos. The implications of these results for the evolution of protoneutron stars are briefly discussed.

Conventional thermo-statistics address infinite homogeneous systems within the canonical ensemble. However, some 170 years ago the original motivation of thermodynamics was the description of steam engines, i.e. boiling water. Its essential physics is the separation of the gas phase from the liquid. Of course, boiling water is inhomogeneous and as such cannot be treated by conventional thermo-statistics. Then it is not astonishing, that a phase transition of first order is signaled canonically by a Yang-Lee singularity. Thus it is only treated correctly by microcanonical Boltzmann-Planck statistics. This was elaborated in the talk presented at this conference. It turns out that the Boltzmann-Planck statistics is much richer and gives fundamental insight into statistical mechanics and especially into entropy. This can be done to a far extend rigorously and analytically. The deep and essential difference between ``extensive'' and ``intensive'' control parameters, i.e. microcanonical and canonical statistics, was exemplified by rotating, self-gravitating systems. In the present paper the necessary appearance of a convex entropy $S(E)$ and the negative heat capacity at phase separation in small as well macroscopic systems independently of the range of the force is pointed out.

Within the context of modified gravity and dark energy scenarios of the accelerating universe, we study the stability of de Sitter space with respect to inhomogeneous perturbations using a gauge-independent formalism. In modified gravity the stability condition is exactly the same that one obtains from a homogeneous perturbation analysis, while the stability condition in scalar-tensor gravity is more restrictive.

Webs of domain walls are constructed as 1/4 BPS states in d=4, N=2 supersymmetric U(Nc) gauge theories with Nf hypermultiplets in the fundamental representation. Web of walls can contain any numbers of external legs and loops like (p,q) string/5-brane webs. We find the moduli space M of a 1/4 BPS equation for wall webs to be the complex Grassmann manifold. When moduli spaces of 1/2 BPS states (parallel walls) and the vacua are removed from M, the non-compact moduli space of genuine 1/4 BPS wall webs is obtained. All the solutions are obtained explicitly and exactly in the strong gauge coupling limit. In the case of Abelian gauge theory, we work out the correspondence between configurations of wall web and the moduli space CP^{Nf-1}.

We investigate in some quantitative details the viability of reheating in multi-throat brane inflationary scenarios by estimating and comparing the time scales for the various processes involved. We also calculate within perturbative string theory the decay rate of excited closed strings into KK modes and compare with that of their decay into gravitons; we find that in the inflationary throat the former is preferred. We also find that over a small but reasonable range of parameters of the background geometry, these KK modes will preferably tunnel to another throat (possibly containing the Standard Model) instead of decaying to gravitons due largely to their suppressed coupling to the bulk gravitons. Once tunneled, the same suppressed coupling to the gravitons again allows them to reheat the Standard Model efficiently. We also consider the effects of adding more throats to the system and find that for extra throats with small warping, reheating still seems viable.

Domain wall junctions are studied in N=2 supersymmetric U(Nc) gauge theory with Nf(>Nc) flavors. We find that all three possibilities are realized for positive, negative and zero junction charges. The positive junction charge is found to be carried by a topological charge in the Hitchin system of an SU(2) gauge subgroup. We establish rules of the construction of the webs of walls. Webs can be understood qualitatively by grid diagram and quantitatively by associating moduli parameters to web configurations.

In this report, we study within the context of general relativity with one extra dimension compactified either on a circle or an orbifold, how radion fluctuations interact with metric fluctuations in the three non-compact directions. The background is non-singular and can either describe an extra dimension on its way to stabilization, or immediately before and after a series of non-singular bounces. We find that the metric fluctuations transfer undisturbed through the bounces or through the transients of the pre-stabilization epoch. Our background is obtained by considering the effects of a gas of massless string modes in the context of a consistent 'massless background' (or low energy effective theory) limit of string theory. We discuss applications to various approaches to early universe cosmology, including the ekpyrotic/cyclic universe scenario and string gas cosmology.

We investigate a model of the interacting holographic dark energy with cold dark matter (CDM). In the case that the holographic energy density whose infrared cutoff is given by the future event horizon decays into CDM, we find two types of equation of state. For a constant ratio of two energy densities, their effective equations of state are given by the same negative constant. Actually, the cosmic anti-friction arisen from the vacuum decay process induces acceleration. For a variable ratio, their effective equations of state are dynamical but they approach the same negative constant in the far future. Furthermore, we find that such an interacting holographic energy model cannot accommodate a transition from the dark energy with $\omega^{\rm eff}_{\rm \Lambda}\ge-1$ to phantom regime with $\omega^{\rm eff}_{\rm \Lambda}<-1$.

We consider the effects on cosmology of higher-derivative modifications of (effective) gravity that make it asymptotically free without introducing ghosts. The weakening of gravity at short distances allows pressure to prevent the singularity, producing a solution with contraction preceding expansion.

The shell model embedded in the continuum is applied to calculate the astrophysical S-factor and the reaction rate for the radiative proton capture reaction 17F(p,gamma)18Ne. The dominant contribution to the cross-section at very low energies is due to M1 transitions J_i^pi = 2^+ --> J_f^pi = 2_1^+ whose magnitude is controlled by a weakly bound 2_2^+ state at the excitation energy E_x = 3.62 MeV.

In the Tolman model there exist two quite different branches of solutions - generic Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi (LTB) ones and T-spheres as a special case. We show that, nonetheless, T-spheres can be obtained as a limit of the class of LTB solutions having no origin and extending to infinity with the areal radius approaching constant. It is shown that all singularities of T-models are inherited from those of corresponding LBT solutions. In doing so, the disc type singularity of a T-sphere is the analog of shell-crossing.

Based on the Mathisson-Papapetrou-Dixon (MPD) equations and the Vaidya metric, the motion of a spinning point particle orbiting a non-rotating star while undergoing radiation-induced gravitational collapse is studied in detail. A comprehensive analysis of the orbital dynamics is performed assuming distinct central mass functions which satisfy the weak energy condition, in order to determine a correspondence between the choice of mass function and the spinning particle's orbital response, as reflected in the gravitational waves emitted by the particle. The analysis presented here is likely most beneficial for the observation of rotating solar mass black holes or neutron stars in orbit around intermediate-sized Schwarzschild black holes undergoing radiation collapse. The possibility of detecting the effects of realistic mass accretion based on this approach is considered. While it seems unlikely to observe such effects based on present technology, they may perhaps become observable with the advent of future detectors.

We introduce in this paper a new framework for obtaining a period of exponential inflation that is entirely driven by the quadratic kinetic energy of a scalar field. In contrast to recent attempts to realize scalar field inflation without potentials (such as k-inflation or ghost inflation), we find that it is possible to obtain exponential inflation, without invoking any higher derivative actions, or modifying gravity, and that unlike all previous approaches, we do not require a $\rho = -p$ phase in order to realize inflation. The inflaton in our proposed framework is a scalar field with a quadratic kinetic energy term, but with the `wrong sign'. We take the perspective that this is due to some temporary instability in our system at high energies, and provide physical examples of situations where a modulus field might temprorarily exhibit such behaviour. The deflation of extra dimensions is a neccesary feature of our framework. However, unlike in previous attempts at Kaluza-Klein inflation, it is possible to obtain exponential (as opposed to power law or pole) inflation. We provide several indications of how one can gracefully exit from this type of inflation.

We note that in extensions of the Standard Model that allow for a varying fine structure constant, alpha, all matter species, apart from right-handed neutrinos, will gain an intrinsic electric dipole moment (EDM). In a large subset of varying-alpha theories, all such particle species will also gain an effective electric charge. This charge will in general not be quantised and can result in macroscopic non-conservation of electric charge.

GRTensorJ - Books is an active interface to a small part of the computer algebra systems GRTensorII (for Maple) and GRTensorM (for Mathematica) with the specific intent of providing students of General Relativity with an advanced programmable calculator-style tool. All standard functions associated with a classical tensor approach to the subject are available thus reducing these to "elementary functions". This is not a traditional database. The database entries are spacetimes and calculations are done in real time. All spacetimes are referenced directly by equation number in ten current (and classic) texts in notation as close as possible to the original text. The tool is now available free of charge from \texttt{grtensor.org/teaching} .

We revisit the calculation of the relic density of the lightest Kaluza-Klein particle (LKP) in the model of Universal Extra Dimensions. The Kaluza-Klein (KK) particle spectrum at level one is rather degenerate, and various coannihilation processes may be relevant. We extend the calculation of hep-ph/0206071 to include coannihilation processes with all level one KK particles. In our computation we consider a most general KK particle spectrum, without any simplifying assumptions. In particular, we do not assume a completely degenerate KK spectrum and instead retain the dependence on each individual KK mass. As an application of our results, we calculate the Kaluza-Klein relic density in the Minimal UED model, turning on coannihilations with all level one KK particles. We then go beyond the minimal model and discuss the size of the coannihilation effects separately for each class of level 1 KK particles. Our results provide the basis for consistent relic density computations in arbitrarily general models with Universal Extra Dimenions.

We consider an inflating brane-world setup in which 4-dimensional Lorentz-invariance is violated at high 3-momentum scale $P_{LV} \gg H$, where $H$ is the inflationary Hubble parameter. We study massless scalar field in this background as a model for cosmological perturbations. Towards the end of inflation, the spectrum has both the standard, 4-dimensional part due to a brane-localized mode, and exotic, bulk induced contribution. The suppression of the latter is power-law only, $(H/P_{LV})^\alpha$, provided that there exist bulk modes with energies $\omega \ll H$. Contrary to general expectations, the exponent $\alpha$ may be smaller than 2, and even smaller than 1, depending on details of the bulk geometry. Furthermore, the overall amplitude of the bulk-induced perturbations is enhanced as compared to the standard part, so the effects due to Lorentz-violation may dominate over the standard mechanism even for $P_{LV} \gg H$.

In a recent paper (Phys. Rev. Lett. 94 (2005), 184506; physics/0411050) it was shown that a simple mean-field dynamo model with a spherically symmetric helical turbulence parameter alpha can exhibit a number of features which are typical for Earth's magnetic field reversals. In particular, the model produces asymmetric reversals, a positive correlation of field strength and interval length, and a bimodal field distribution. All these features are attributable to the magnetic field dynamics in the vicinity of an exceptional point of the spectrum of the non-selfadjoint dynamo operator. The negative slope of the growth rate curve between the nearby local maximum and the exceptional point makes the system unstable and drives it to the exceptional point and beyond into the oscillatory branch where the sign change happens. A weakness of this reversal model is the apparent necessity to fine-tune the magnetic Reynolds number and/or the radial profile of alpha. In the present paper, it is shown that this fine-tuning is not necessary in the case of higher supercriticality of the dynamo. Numerical examples and physical arguments are compiled to show that, with increasing magnetic Reynolds number, there is strong tendency for the exceptional point and the associated local maximum to move close to the zero growth rate line. Although exemplified again by the spherically symmetric alpha^2 dynamo model, the main idea of this ''self-tuning'' mechanism of saturated dynamos into a reversal-prone state seems well transferable to other dynamos. As a consequence, reversing dynamos might be much more typical and may occur much more frequently in nature than what could be expected from a purely kinematic perspective.