Search

Charges associated with gauge symmetries are defined on boundaries of spacetimes. But these constructions typically involve divergent quantities when considering asymptotic boundaries. Different prescriptions exist to address this problem, based on ambiguities in the definition of the symplectic potential. We propose a method well suited to leaky boundaries, which describe spacetimes than can exchange matter or radiation with their environment. The main advantage of this approach is that it relies only on the bulk Lagrangian and it is not tied to a specific choice of boundary conditions. The prescription is applied to four dimensional Einstein-Hilbert gravity in the partial Bondi gauge. This leads to a finite symplectic potential for unconstrained boundary data and reveals two new corner symplectic pairs associated with the relaxation of the gauge., Comment: 34 pages; A Mathematica notebook with an extended expression is included as an ancillary file

In this paper, we explore the application of variational quantum algorithms designed for classical optimization to the problem of matched filtering in the detection of gravitational waves. Matched filtering for detecting gravitational wave signals requires searching through a large number of template waveforms, to find one which is highly correlated with segments of detector data. This computationally intensive task needs to be done quickly for low latency searches in order to aid with follow-up multi-messenger observations. The variational quantum algorithms we study for this task consist of quantum walk-based generalizations of the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA). We present results of classical numerical simulations of these quantum algorithms using open science data from LIGO. These results show that the tested variational quantum algorithms are outperformed by an unstructured restricted-depth Grover search algorithm, suggesting that the latter is optimal for this computational task., Comment: 27 pages, 13 figures

Searching for gravitational waves from stellar-mass binary black holes with LISA remains a challenging open problem. Conventional template-bank approaches to the search are impossible due to the prohibitive number of templates that would be required. This paper continues the development of a hierarchical semi-coherent stochastic search, extending it to a full end-to-end pipeline that is then applied to multiple mock LISA data streams which include simulated noise. Particle swarm optimization is used as a stochastic search algorithm, tracking multiple maxima of a semi-coherent search statistic defined over source parameter space. The pipeline is accelerated by the use of graphical processing units (GPUs). No prior information from observations by ground-based detectors is used; this is necessary in order to provide advance warning of the merger. We find that the pipeline is able to detect sources with signal-to-noise ratios as low as $\rho\sim 17$, we demonstrate that these searches can directly seed coarse parameter estimation in cases where the search trigger is loud. An example of how the false-alarm probability can be estimated for this type of GW search is also included., Comment: 15 pages + appendices, 7 figures, submitted to PRD

The dense and dynamic environments within active galactic nuclei (AGN) accretion disks may serve as prolific birthplaces for binary black holes (BBHs) and one possible origin for some of the BBHs detected by gravitational-wave (GW) observatories. We show that a considerable fraction of the BBH in AGN disks will be strongly lensed by the central supermassive black hole (SMBH). Thus, the non-observation of lensed GW signals can be used to constrain the fraction of BBH binaries residing in AGN disks. The non-detection of lensing with current ${\cal O}(100)$ detections will be sufficient to start placing constraints on the fraction of BBHs living within accretion disks near the SMBH. In the next-generation detectors era, with ${\cal O}(10^5)$ BBH observations and no lensed events, we will be able to rule out most migration traps as dominant birthplaces of BBH mergers; moreover, we will be able to constrain the minimum size of the accretion disk. On the other hand, should AGNs constitute a major formation channel, lensed events from AGNs will become prominent in the future., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

Superrotations are local extensions of the Lorentz group at null infinity that have been argued to be symmetries of gravitational scattering. In their smooth version, they can be identified with the group of diffeomorphisms on the celestial sphere. Their canonical realization requires treating the celestial metric as a variable in the gravitational phase space, along with the news and shear tensors. In this paper, we derive the resulting Poisson brackets (PB). The standard PB algebra of the news and shear tensors is augmented by distributional terms at the boundaries of null infinity, including novel PB relations between the celestial metric and the radiative variables., Comment: 72 pages

The low-energy limit of string theory contains additional gravitational degrees of freedom, a skew-symmetric tensor $B$-field and a scalar dilaton, that are not present in general relativity. Together with the metric, these three fields are naturally embedded in the $\mathbf{O}(D,D)$-symmetric framework of double field theory. The $\mathbf{O}(D,D)$ symmetry uniquely prescribes the interactions between the extended gravitational sector and other matter, leading to novel features beyond conventional string cosmology. In this work we present the equations of motion for linear perturbations around $\mathbf{O}(D,D)$ string cosmological backgrounds in $D=4$ under a scalar-vector-tensor decomposition. We obtain analytic solutions in the superhorizon limit for scalar perturbations around various homogeneous and isotropic background solutions, including some candidate models for bouncing cosmologies. The generalized energy-momentum tensor includes source terms for the $B$-field and dilaton, and we show how the resulting generalized conservation laws modify the conditions for conservation of curvature perturbations., Comment: 41 + 16 pages (main body + title, appendices, and references)

The frame-dragging phenomenon in gravitational fields is revisited to explore the geometric effects induced by spacetime curvature. We quantize a massless scalar field in the spacetime of a rotating sphere, incorporating the frame-dragging frequency into the field modes. The excitation rate for an atom undergoing uniform circular motion and interacting with the scalar field is calculated. Our results reveal that the time-dependent excitation rates of atoms following different trajectories exhibit a common envelope, from which the frame-dragging frequency can be effectively extracted. This discovery leads us to propose a novel detection scheme for measuring the frame-dragging frequency caused by rotating celestial bodies, eliminating the need for traditional starlight calibration methods.

Einstein Telescope (ET) is a project of third generation gravitational wave (GW) detector with a planned sensitivity 10 times better than current detectors such as Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. The high rate of GW signals expected in the data will pose several data analysis challenges, like the ability to disentangle overlapping signals or the need to dimension the computational resources required to treat all the candidate events. We explore the behaviour and the performances of a data analysis pipeline designed to search for unmodelled GW signals with duration 1 to 1000 s on a mock dataset that consists of 1 month of data following ET design sensitivity on top of which is added a realistic distribution of compact binary coalescence (CBC) signals. Unmodelled searches are intrinsically less sensitive to CBC signals than template-based searches, but are computationally cheaper and more robust to uncertainties in the waveforms. This search recovers 38% of the total number of injected binary black hole (BBH) signals, including 89% of the systems with a total mass above 100 solar masses, as well as the majority of binary neutron star (BNS) signals closer than 850 Mpc (z = 0.17). It is also able to estimate the chirp mass of the recovered BNS with an average precision of 1.3%. Therefore, we show that this unmodelled search is able to detect a substantial amount of CBC events at a relatively low computational cost, which makes it interesting for low latency analyses and independent validation of detections made by matched filtering pipelines. We also find that the presence of many CBC signals only marginally impacts the sensitivity of the search to other kinds of unmodelled long duration transient signals, by 3% in average.

Although fast radio bursts (FRBs) were discovered more than a decade ago, and they have been one of the active fields in astronomy and cosmology, their origins are still unknown. An interesting topic closely related to the origins of FRBs is their classifications. On the other hand, FRBs are actually a promising probe to study cosmology. In the literature, some new classifications of FRBs different from repeaters and non-repeaters were suggested, and some tight empirical relations have been found for them. In particular, Guo and Wei suggested to classify FRBs into the ones associated with old or young populations, which have also some new empirical relations. They also proposed to use one of the empirical relations without dispersion measure (DM) to calibrate FRBs as standard candles for cosmology. This shows the potential of the new classification and the empirical relations for FRBs. Nowadays, more than 50 FRBs have been well localized, and hence their redshifts $z$ are observationally known. Thus, it is time to check the empirical relations with the current localized FRBs. We find that many empirical relations still hold, and in particular the one used to calibrate FRBs as standard candles for cosmology stands firm., Comment: 15 pages, 2 tables, 7 figures, revtex4

We propose a new series expansion method for the periapsis shift. The method formulates the periapsis shift in various spacetimes analytically without using special functions and provides simple and highly accurate approximate formulae. We derive new series representations for the periapsis shift in the Kerr and the Chazy-Curzon spacetimes by using the method, where the expansion parameter is defined as the eccentricity divided by the non-dimensional quantity that vanishes in the limit of the innermost stable circular orbit. That is to say, the expansion parameter denotes how eccentric the orbit is and how close it is to the innermost stable circular orbit. The smaller the eccentricity, the higher the accuracy of the formulae that are obtained by truncating the new series representations up to a finite number of terms. If the eccentricity is sufficiently small, the truncated new representations have higher accuracy than the post-Newtonian expansion formulae even in strong gravitational fields where the convergence of the post-Newtonian expansion formula is not guaranteed. On the other hand, even if the orbit is highly eccentric, the truncated new representations have comparable or higher accuracy than the post-Newtonian expansion formulae if the semi-major axis is sufficiently large. An exact formula for the periapsis shift of the quasi-circular orbit in the Chazy-Curzon spacetime is also obtained as a special case of the new series representation., Comment: 41 pages, 18 figures

We consider gravitational lensing of neutrinos in the Rezzolla-Zhidenko spacetime in the weak-field limit with plane-wave approximation. We apply the analysis to an hypothetical system with a central object with its mass of the order of solar mass and a detector located at an Earth-like distance from the source. We find that the deformation parameters of the Rezzolla-Zhidenko metric can have significant impact on the oscillation probabilities of the neutrinos. We also investigate the role of decoherence on flavor oscillations of the lensed neutrinos and show that the parameters of the Rezzolla-Zhidenko metric does not have significant effects on the decoherence length., Comment: 12 pages, 6 captioned figures

Unlike generic models of regular black holes (BHs) with nonzero surface gravity on both Cauchy and event horizons, an inner-degenerate counterpart with zero Cauchy horizon surface gravity was recently proposed. For this regular BH solution with spherical symmetry, we examine the stability of the Cauchy horizon from both classic and quantum mechanics viewpoints. We find that the classical perturbations do not lead to mass inflation at the Cauchy horizon, indicating classically stability, while quantum fluctuations cause it to be unstable quantum mechanically., Comment: 6 pages (two columns, letters style)

This study effectively reconstructs a cosmological model utilizing covariant $f(Q)$ gravity within Connection-III and FLRW spacetime. The dynamic behavior of the reconstructed model is thoroughly analyzed using the Hubble parameter $H(z)$ and various observational datasets. Our robust findings demonstrate that the model displays quintessence behavior at the present epoch and converges to the $\Lambda$CDM model at late time. It is confirmed through comprehensive evaluations against energy conditions that the Null Energy Condition remains positive throughout cosmic evolution, and the Dominant Energy Condition is consistently satisfied. The Strong Energy Condition is initially fulfilled in the early Universe but violated in the late epoch. Moreover, scalar perturbations extensively assess stability, affirming the strength of the model with respect to the Hubble parameter. This research offers compelling insights into cosmic acceleration, suggesting that $f(Q)$ gravity can effectively displace the $\Lambda$CDM model and provides a convincing alternative explanation for the current accelerating expansion of the Universe without relying on the cosmological constant., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures

In this paper, our aim is to illustrate that the process of open string scattering corresponds to the evolution of the entanglement wedge, where the width of the scattering cross-section is identified as the entanglement wedge cross-section. Moreover, open-closed string scattering, specifically the disk-disk interaction, works for the evolution of the reflected entanglement wedge, with the circumference of the scattering cross-section equating to the reflected entropy. It therefore provides evidence for the deep connections between the string worldsheet and the Ryu-Takayanagi surface. The validity of this result arises from the fact that the bulk dual of entanglement entropy and the string vertices both are intrinsic hyperbolic., Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures

We have discussed in detail how neutrinos produced from inflaton solely through gravitational interaction can successfully reheat the universe. For this, we have introduced the well-known Type-I seesaw neutrino model. Depending on seesaw model parameters, two distinct reheating histories have been realized and dubbed as i) Neutrino dominating: Following the inflaton domination, the universe becomes neutrino dominated, and their subsequent decay concludes the reheating process, and ii) Neutrino heating: Despite being sub-dominant compared to inflaton energy, neutrinos efficiently heat the thermal bath and produce the radiation dominated universe. Imposing baryon asymmetric yield, the $\Delta N_{\rm eff}$ constraint at Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) considering primordial gravitational waves (PGW), we have arrived at the following constraints on reheating equation of state to lie within $0.5\lesssim w_\phi\lesssim1.0$. In these neutrino-driven reheating backgrounds, we further performed a detailed analysis of both thermal and non-thermal production of dark matter (DM), invoking two minimal models, namely the Higgs portal DM and classical QCD pseudo scalar axion. An interesting correlation between seemingly uncorrelated DM and Type-I seesaw parameters has emerged when confronting various direct and indirect observations. When DMs are set to freeze-in, freeze-out, or oscillate during reheating, new parameter spaces open, which could be potentially detectable in future experiments, paving an indirect way to look into the early universe in the laboratory., Comment: 24 pages,13 figures, 3 tables

We present a novel principle for quantum sensing of gravitational waves by exploiting the collective radiative dynamics of a one-dimensional array of atoms to selectively amplify a gravitational wave signal against the incoherent and collective Minkowskian contributions. We find that, in contrast to a single atom, the collective radiative dynamics of the array is sensitive to the gravitational wave at first order in its amplitude. We demonstrate that the effective number of atoms cooperating to sense the gravitational wave scales linearly with the total number of participating atoms, up to an upper limit. As a result, the imprint of the gravitational wave in the emission rate of the array scales nearly quadratically with the number of participating atoms. Additionally, this contribution to the radiative dynamics of the array involves coherent photon emission with well-defined directionality and at frequencies shifted by the frequency of the incident gravitational wave. We discuss the feasibility of this scheme in light of current and near-future experimental capabilities., Comment: 8+9 pages, 7 figures

We study the phenomenon of bounces, as predicted by Belinski, Khalatnikov and Lifshitz (BKL) in the study of singularities arising from Einstein's equations, as an instability mechanism within the setting of the (inhomogeneous) Einstein-Maxwell-scalar field system in surface symmetry. This article can be viewed as a companion to our other article "BKL bounces outside homogeneity: Gowdy symmetric spacetimes" [27], where we study bounces for the Einstein vacuum equations in Gowdy symmetry. That is, we show many features of such bounces generalize to the matter model described, albeit in a different symmetry class. The articles may be read independently. In analogy to [27], we describe a wide class of inhomogeneous initial data which permit formation of a spacelike singularity, but such that the dynamics towards different spatial points at the singularity are well-described by independent nonlinear ODEs reminiscent of BKL bounces. A major ingredient is the proof of so-called Asymptotically Velocity Term Dominated behaviour even in the presence of such bounces, though one difference from [27] is that our model does not permit the existence of so-called "spikes". One particular application is the study of (past) instability of certain generalized Kasner spacetimes with no electromagnetic field present. Perturbations of such spacetimes are such that the singularity persists, but for perturbations with electromagnetism turned on the intermediate dynamics - between data and the singularity - features up to one BKL-like bounce. This is in analogy with the instability of polarized Gowdy spacetimes due to non-polarized perturbations in [27]., Comment: 58 pages, 4 figures. This paper was written in parallel with our companion article "BKL bounces outside homogeneity: Gowdy symmetric spacetimes" and shares many structural features, including some text overlap. The two papers may be read independently

We study the phenomenon of bounces, as predicted by Belinski, Khalatnikov and Lifshitz (BKL), as an instability mechanism within the setting of the Einstein vacuum equations in Gowdy symmetry. In particular, for a wide class of inhomogeneous initial data we prove that the dynamics near the $t = 0$ singularity are well-described by ODEs reminiscent of Kasner bounces. Unlike previous works regarding bounces, our spacetimes are not necessarily spatially homogeneous, and a crucial step is proving so-called asymptotically velocity term dominated (AVTD) behaviour, even in the presence of nonlinear BKL bounces and other phenomena such as spikes. (A similar phenomenon involving bounces and AVTD behaviour, though not spikes, can also be seen in our companion paper "BKL bounces outside homogeneity: Einstein-Maxwell-scalar field in surface symmetry", albeit in the context of the Einstein-Maxwell-scalar field model in surface symmetry.) One particular application is the study of (past) instability of certain polarized Gowdy spacetimes, including some Kasner spacetimes. Perturbations of such spacetimes are such that the singularity persists, but the intermediate dynamics -- between initial data and the singularity -- feature BKL bounces., Comment: 43 pages, 2 figures. This paper was written in parallel with our companion article "BKL bounces outside homogeneity: Einstein-Maxwell-scalar field in surface symmetry", and shares many structural features including some text overlap. The two papers can be read independently

We investigate the timelike transitions in a two-level atom in the presence of an infinite reflecting mirror in the Kasner regions of a Minkowski spacetime as well as region interior of a $(1+1)$ dimensional Schwarzschild black hole. In particular, when considering the Kasner spacetime, two specific scenarios are dealt with -- $(i)$ a static mirror is synchronized with Minkowski time while the static atom is using future Kasner time, $(ii)$ a static atom is using Minkowski time and the mirror is following the future Kasner time. Analogous scenarios in the black hole spacetime are -- the static mirror is using future Kruskal time while the static atom is using Schwarzschild timelike coordinate, defined inside the black hole, as its time, and vice-versa. In all of these scenarios, we observe thermal response and its periodic dependence on the separation between the atom and the mirror. These responses vanish periodically with this separation, which contrasts the scenario of uniform acceleration. We observe that the $(1+1)$ dimensional Minkowski-Kasner responses are the same when the atomic and field frequencies are equal. At the same time, the Schwarzschild-interior and $(3+1)$ dimensional Minkowski-Kasner are unequal for the same atomic and field frequencies. Therefore we feel that the robustness of the symmetry between the two scenarios crucially depends on the dimension as well as the curvature of the spacetime. Although qualitatively, there exist similarities to a certain degree between the responses in the Minkowski-Kasner and Schwarzschild-interior, they also carry crucial differences. We discuss the physical interpretations of these observations., Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures, revtex4

Kerr-Newman black holes in a de Sitter space have the limit of rotating Nariai black holes with the near-horizon geometry of a warped ${\rm dS}_3 \times {\rm S}^1/Z_2$ when the black hole horizon and the cosmological horizon coincide or approach close to each other. We study the effect of rotation on the emission of charges in the near-extremal rotating charged Nariai black hole and compare it to those from the near-extremal Nariai black hole and near-extremal Kerr-Newman black hole in de Sitter space. The emission has an exponential amplification for charges with high energy and becomes catastrophic when the two horizons are very close to each together. The angular momentum of black holes decreases the mean number of charges by a factor not by an order. We observe a catastrophic emission of boson condensation for charges with the effective energy equal to the chemical potential in the spacelike outer region of the cosmological horizon. Further, the rotating charged Nariai black holes can evolve into singular spacetimes with a naked singularity by the Schwinger pair production., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2309.00218

In Cosmology, when dissipative effects are minimal, the energy content of the Universe can be effectively described as a sum of perfect fluids. Perfect fluid descriptions ensure thermal equilibrium since they equilibrate immediately. However, interactions among different energy content of the Universe might prevent such rapid equilibration. This limitation calls for a more fundamental framework that incorporates these interactions directly at the level of the action. In earlier work, two of the authors demonstrated that an interacting dark energy (DE)-dark matter (DM) field theory action could be derived from a modified gravity action via a conformal transformation, establishing a one-to-one correspondence between the field theory action and fluid for a unique interaction term [arXiv:2006.04618]. In this work, we extend that analysis by considering quadratic order Horndeski gravity, identifying two classes of models: field coupling and field-kinetic coupling. Our approach generalizes the coupling function for DE-DM interactions by incorporating an additional dependence on kinetic terms. We establish a field-to-fluid mapping for dark matter and find that this mapping only holds for a specific form of the interaction strength. Interestingly, we show that this interaction strength excludes non-gravitational interactions between dark energy and dark radiation. Numerical analysis reveals that purely kinetic interactions within the dark sector can significantly alter cosmological evolution compared to non-interacting scenarios, highlighting the strong dependence of cosmological dynamics on coupling strength. A preliminary examination of linear scalar perturbations indicates that the field-kinetic coupling results in a non-zero gravitational slip parameter and momentum exchange., Comment: 48 pages, 15 figures, 3 tables

Sydney Coleman's Q-ball remains a compelling instance of localised object formation within classical field theory, independently of the quantum evolution. The theoretical possibility of such objects forming and colliding in the early universe from models such as Affleck-Dine fragmentation, or from a number of mechanisms where they are produced copiously with various size and charges to be dark matter candidates, makes it important to study in detail Q-ball collision phenomenology. In this work we present results from a study of Q-ball collisions and their gravitational waves, using a new general code package for scalar fields coupled to gravity. We then comment on the possibility of future gravitational wave detectors searching for signals of Q-ball collisions., Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures

In this paper, we investigate the optical appearance of a regular static spherically symmetric hairy black hole within the context of Minkowski deformation governed by the parameter \(\alpha\). This black hole describes a hairy black hole with geometric deformations in the radial and temporal metric components, parameterized by \(\alpha\). The optical appearance of the black hole, illuminated by a static thin accretion disk in three toy emission function models, exhibits distinctive shadows and photon rings. Our findings reveal that for static spherically symmetric hairy Minkowski-deformed regular black holes, the event horizon radius \(r_h\), photon sphere radius \(r_{ph}\), critical impact parameter \(b_{ph}\), and innermost stable circular orbit radius \(r_{isco}\) all have a positive correlation with \(\alpha\). These parameters affect the null geodesic trajectories, shadows, and the optical appearance of the photon rings illuminated by a static thin accretion disk around the black hole. Utilizing this, we obtained the optical appearance of this black hole when observed in the forward direction of the optical and geometric thin accretion disk models. In all three models, the radius of the photon ring images also shows a positive correlation with the parameter \(\alpha\). Therefore, under the static spherically symmetric hairy Minkowski-deformed regular black hole, there is no degeneracy of photon rings dependent on the parameter \(\alpha\). Theoretically, this allows for the distinction of different spacetime metrics of hairy Minkowski-deformed regular black holes, providing a potential method for testing the no-hair theorem through future observations of black hole photon rings.

We investigate compact stars in the noninteger power (NIP) model of $f(R)$ gravity theory, which includes the higher-curvature correction to the Einstein-Hilbert action. The mass-radius relation of the compact stars in the NIP model predicts large deviations from those in the general relativity in the low-mass region, potentially allowing us to test the NIP model by future astrophysical observations. We also study the nonvanishing scalar hair surrounding the compact star and demonstrate that the chameleon mechanism works efficiently. They result in distinct scalar profiles inside and outside the star, which implies screening the fifth force mediated by the scalar field., Comment: 35 pages, 27 figures

This is a collection of notes to calculate electromagnetic spectra of geometrically thin and optically thick accretion disks around black holes. The presentation is intentionally pedagogical and most calculations are reported step by step. In the disk-corona model, the spectrum of a source has three components: a thermal component from the disk, a Comptonized component from the corona, and a reflection component from the disk. These notes review only the relativistic calculations. The formulas presented here are valid for stationary, axisymmetric, asymptotically-flat, circular spacetimes, so they can be potentially used for a large class of black hole solutions., Comment: 25 pages, 8 figures. Lecture notes

In this manuscript, we investigate the possibility of constructing anisotropic dark matter compact stars motivated by the Einasto density profile. This work develops analytical solutions for an anisotropic fluid sphere within the framework of the well-known Adler-Finch-Skea metric. This toy model incorporates an anisotropic fluid distribution that includes a dark matter component. We use the minimal geometric deformation scheme within the framework of gravitational decoupling to incorporate anisotropy into the pressure profile of the stellar system. In this context, we model the temporal constituent of the $\Theta$-field sector to characterize the contribution of dark matter within the gravitational matter source. We present an alternative approach to studying anisotropic self-gravitating structures. This approach incorporates additional field sources arising from gravitational decoupling, which act as the dark component. We explicitly verify whether the proposed model satisfies all the requirements for describing realistic compact structures in detail. We conclude that the modeling of the Einasto density model with the Adler-Finch-Skea metric gives rise to the formation of well-behaved and viable astrophysical results that can be employed to model the dark matter stellar configurations., Comment: 25 pages, 13 figures, version accepted for publication in Physics of the Dark Universe

The prospect of detecting/constraining deviations from general relativity by studying gravitational waves (GWs) from merging black holes has been one of the primary motivations of GW interferometers like LIGO/Virgo. Within pure gravity, the only possible way deviations can arise is from the existence of higher order derivative corrections, namely higher powers of the Riemann curvature tensor, in the effective action. Any observational bounds imply constraints on the corresponding Wilson coefficients. At the level of the action, one can imagine the coefficients are sufficiently large so as to be in principle detectable. However, from the point of view of some fundamental principles, namely causality and unitarity, this is much less clear, as we examine here. We begin by reviewing certain known bounds on these coefficients, which together imply a low cut off on the effective theory. We then consider a possible mechanism to generate such terms, namely in the form of many minimally coupled light scalars that can be integrated out to give these higher order operators. We show that a by product of this is the generation of quantum corrections to Newton's potential, whose observable consequences are already ruled out by solar system tests. We point out that over 7 orders of magnitude of improvement in interferometer sensitivity would be required to avoid such solar system constraints., Comment: 23 pages, 2 figures

In this work, we studied the genus fluctuations of the AdS$_{3}$ spacetime. The tunneling action of the high genus AdS$_{3}$ spacetime is formulated in the Siegel upper half space. Adopting the dilute wormhole gas approximation, we computed the genus creation rate in the semiclassical region. We show that a genus is more easily created in the spacetime corresponding to a larger absolute value of the cosmological constant. We find that fluctuations of fat wormholes are more likely to occur than those of thin wormholes. We also studied the influence of genus fluctuations on false vacuum decay. The vacuum decay rate will increase if the effect of genus fluctuations is included. We show that all results do not change qualitatively when the values of certain parameters are changed.

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will observe gravitational-wave signals from a wide range of sources, including massive black hole binaries. Although numerous techniques have been developed to perform Bayesian inference for LISA, they are often computationally expensive; analyses often take at least $\sim 1$ month on a single CPU, even when using accelerated techniques. Not only does this make it difficult to concurrently analyse more than one gravitational-wave signal, it also makes it challenging to rapidly produce parameter estimates for possible electromagnetic follow-up campaigns. simple-pe was recently developed to produce rapid parameter estimates for gravitational-wave signals observed with ground-based gravitational-wave detectors. In this work, we extend simple-pe to produce rapid parameter estimates for LISA sources, including the effects of higher order multipole moments. We show that simple-pe infers the source properties of massive black hole binaries in zero-noise at least $\sim 100\times$ faster than existing techniques; $\sim 12$ hours on a single CPU. We further demonstrate that simple-pe can be applied before existing Bayesian techniques to mitigate biases in multi-modal parameter estimation analyses of MBHBs., Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures

In the present work, we investigate the gravitational lensing effects of two quantum-modified black hole models recently proposed in effective quantum gravity. The light deflection angles in both the weak field limit and the strong field limit are calculated. Furthermore, we use the data of the supermassive black holes SgrA* and M87* and calculate the lensing observables in the strong field limit. We find that the quantum parameter plays a role analogous to the electric charge in the weak gravitational lensing, whereas in the strong field limit, the effect of the quantum parameter on the deflection angle, the angular separation and the relative magnification is opposite to that of the electric charge, the scalar charge and the quantum parameters in some gravity theories. The results indicate the discrepancies between the classical black holes and the two quantum-modified black hole models that depend on the quantum correction, making them a valuable tool for differentiating between these black hole models.

The dependence of the final fate of supermassive star (SMS) cores on their mass and angular momentum is studied with simple modeling. SMS cores in the hydrogen burning phase encounter the general relativistic instability during the stellar evolution if the mass is larger than $\sim 3 \times 10^4M_\odot$. Spherical SMS cores in the helium burning phase encounter the general relativistic instability prior to the onset of the electron-positron pair instability if the mass is larger than $\sim 1\times 10^4M_\odot$. For rapidly rotating SMS cores, these values for the threshold mass are enhanced by up to a factor of $\sim 5$, and thus, for SMSs with mass smaller than $\sim 10^4M_\odot$ the collapse is triggered by the pair-instability, irrespective of the rotation. After the onset of the general relativistic instability, SMS cores in the hydrogen burning phase with reasonable metallicity are likely to collapse to a black hole irrespective of the degree of rotation, whereas the SMS cores in the helium burning phase could explode via nuclear burning with no black hole formation, as previous works demonstrate., Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures. Submitted to ApJ

We perform new general relativistic hydrodynamics simulations for collapses of rotating supermassive star cores with an approximate nuclear burning up to carbon and a detailed equation of state. For all the models we investigate, the energy generation by nuclear burning plays only a minor role, leading to the formation of a black hole without a nuclear-powered explosion. For rotating models, however, the stellar explosion associated with shock heating is driven from a torus, which forms after the black hole formation. The explosion energy is up to $10^{-4}$ of the mass energy of the supermassive star cores ($\sim 10^{55}-10^{56}$ erg). We find that, even if we increase the rotational angular momentum of the progenitor, the ejecta mass saturates at $\sim 1$\% of the total mass of the initial stellar core. The average ejecta velocity also saturates at $\approx 20\%$ of the speed of light. As a result, the ejecta kinetic energy is approximately proportional to the initial mass of the supermassive star core for the rapidly rotating case. We also perform viscous hydrodynamics simulations for exploring the evolution of the remnant torus. Although the viscous heating drives an outflow from the torus, we find that its effect is subdominant in terms of the kinetic energy because of the small velocity ($\approx 0.07c$) of the ejecta component., Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, submitted to ApJ

We embed Kerr-Newman-AdS black holes into $\mathcal{N}=8$ gauged supergravity and study quadratic fluctuations around the black hole backgrounds of all fields in the larger theory. The equations of motion of the perturbations are partially diagonalized by the group theory of broken symmetry. Nearly all fields in theory have non-minimal couplings, so their equations of motion are not merely massive Klein-Gordon equations with minimal coupling to background gauge fields, and their analogues for fields with spin. In the special case of extremal black holes we identify specific modes of instability, some of which touch supersymmetric locus. For example, we identify scalar fields in supergravity that condense in the near horizon region and transition the black hole into a superconducting phase. We also identify supergravity modes that are susceptible to superradiant instability., Comment: 52 pages, 8 figures

Particle production in cosmology is often efficiently computed in terms of Bogoliubov transforms. Restricting to a particular class of dispersion relationships, we identify a map between the number of particles produced in a special kinematic limit and a Stokes phenomena related topology of analytic continuation of the Bogoliubov coefficient functions. Intuitively, this kinematic limit corresponds to the long wavelength limit although a more precise description depends on the nature of the curved spacetime. To identify the topology, we reformulate the usual Bogoliubov computations as a type of SU(1,1) gauged differential equation and utilize a special gauge together with a discrete symmetry that naturally characterizes the dispersion relationship. Using a dark matter model and a nonzero constant spatial curvature model, we estimate how such topological contributions will arise in physical applications., Comment: 42 pages + appendices and references, 8 figures

Rotating black holes are well known to amplify the perturbing bosonic fields in certain parameter spaces. This phenomenon is popularly known as superradiance. In addition to rotation in the spacetime, charge plays a crucial role in the amplification process. In the present study, we have considered the spacetime of a magnetically charged rotating black hole emerging from the coupling of nonlinear electromagnetic field configuration to gravity. Due to this black hole spacetime, we have studied the scattering states of a massive scalar field and investigated the superradiant amplification process. We find that the magnetic charge of the spacetime affects the magnitude of the amplification and also significantly enlarges the allowed frequency ranges for which superradiance happens. In comparison, our analysis reveals that some of the behaviours are quite similar to what has been found in the case of the Kerr-Newmann black hole. Moreover, in specific parameter spaces, we observe exact similarities, which could imply a probable correspondence between the magnetically charged black hole and the Kerr-Newman black hole in certain scenarios. In addition to this, we have investigated the superradiant instability regime due to the massive potential barrier and also compared our results with that of the Kerr-Newmann black hole.

In this work we consider a dark matter candidate described by an ultralight vector field, whose mass is in principle in the range $H_{\rm{eq}}\sim 10^{-28}\rm{eV}\ll m< \rm{eV}$. The homogeneous background vector field is assumed to point in a given direction. We present a numerical implementation of cosmological perturbations in a Bianchi type I geometry with vector field dark matter in a modified version of the Cosmic Linear Anisotropy Solving System (CLASS). We study the evolution of large-scale cosmological perturbations in the linear regime. We compute the matter power spectrums defined for Fourier modes pointing in a given direction. We obtain interesting features in the power spectrums whose observational significance depends on the field mass. We compare the results with the standard $\rm{\Lambda CDM}$ and with the corresponding well-studied ultralight scalar field dark matter case. As for the scalar case we obtain a suppression in the power spectrums at small scales characterized by the same scale, namely the Jeans scale. The main characteristic feature of the vector field model we notice here for first time is that the amplitude of the suppression effect depends on the direction of the Fourier modes with respect to the background vector field, leaving eventually a possible anisotropic imprint in structure formation at small scales., Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures

In this study, we analyse constraints on the growth index of matter perturbations, $\gamma$, within the framework of $f(Q)$ gravity, using recent cosmological observations, at the background and the perturbation levels, including Pantheon$^{+}$, Cosmic Chronometer (CC), and Redshift Space Distortion (RSD) datasets. Our analysis focuses on quantifying the distortion parameter, which measures the deviation of the $f(Q)$ gravity model from the concordance $\Lambda$CDM cosmology at the background level. Specifically, we investigate two cases of the growth index parameter: a constant $\gamma$ and a time-varying $\gamma(z)$. We investigate various parametrizations of the growth index $\gamma$, expressed as $\gamma = \gamma_{0} +\gamma_{1} y(z)$, where the function $y(z)$ assumes different forms, including constant ($\Gamma_{0}$), Taylor expansion around $z = 0$ ($\Gamma_{1}$), Taylor expansion around the scale factor ($\Gamma_{2}$), and an exponential form ($\Gamma_{3}$). By employing the Akaike Information Criterion and Bayesian Information Criterion, we find that the combined Pantheon$^{+}$+ CC+ RSD datasets impose stringent constraints on the value of the growth index. For the $\Gamma_{0}$ model, our results indicate that within the concordance $\Lambda$CDM model, $\gamma$ is constrained to $0.545 \pm 0.096$, showing strong agreement with the theoretical expectation of $\gamma_{\Lambda} = \frac{6}{11}$. However, within the framework of $f(Q)$ gravity, we observe $\gamma = 0.571^{+0.095}_{-0.110}$, slightly exceeding the $\Lambda$CDM value by 4.66 $\%$. Furthermore, when considering a time-varying growth index, our analysis reveals that the range of $\gamma_{0}$ spans from $0.596$ to $0.62$ across the $\Gamma_{1-3}$ models., Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures

In this study, we investigate the impact of modified gravity on the merger rate of compact binaries within dark-matter spikes surrounding super-massive black holes (SMBHs). Specifically, we calculate binary merger rates involving primordial black holes (PBHs) and/or neutron stars (NSs) in Hu-Sawicki $f(R)$ gravity and the normal branch of Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati (nDGP) gravity, with three SMBH mass functions, Benson, Vika, and Shankar. The results show consistently higher merger rates predicted for PBH-PBH and PBH-NS binaries in these gravity models compared to general relativity (GR), in particular at lower SMBH masses and for steeper dark-matter spike density profiles. The predicted merger rates are compared to the LIGO-Virgo observations to constrain the parameters of the theory. In particular we find steeper dark-matter spike density profiles in the modified gravity scenarios compared to GR. When compared to current observational constraints on PBH abundance, the mass ranges allowed by Hu-Sawicki $f(R)$ models are found to be wider than by nDGP models, for given merger rates. The results are highly dependent on the choice of SMBH mass function, with Vika and Shankar mass functions predicting lower abundances. The considerable sensitivity of the results on the assumed gravity scenario and SMBH mass function demonstrates the necessity of incorporating the corresponding theoretical uncertainties in making relatively robust predictions on compact binary merger rates and, as a result on PBH properties., Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, refs added

We employ a twist deformation on infinitesimal diffeomorphisms to study a modification of General Relativity on a non-commutative spacetime extending the local $\kappa$-Minkowski spacetime. This non-commutative spacetime is present in Deformed Special Relativity (DSR) theories, where a fundamental length is relativistically incorporated into Special Relativity as an effective description of Quantum Gravity near Planckian energy scales. To avoid mathematical and physical ambiguities, such as the inability to twist-deform the Poincar\'e symmetry group such that $\kappa$-Minkowski becomes its covariant spacetime, we propose a novel approach to DSR and non-commutative theories, twisting the Dilatation-enlarged IGL(3,1) group and constructing deformed General Relativity accordingly. Physically, we interpret this as minimally modifying classical relativistic physics to accommodate quantum effects solely through spacetime uncertainties in a relativistic manner, a possibility new to DSR theories. These tools open the way to developing the dynamic sector of DSR, which would allow for predictions testable by astrophysical observations., Comment: 19 pages, 1 table

Schr\"{o}dinger cat states of levitated masses have several applications in sensing and, offer an avenue to explore the fundamental nature -- classical vs nonclassical -- of gravity, eg, through gravitationally induced entanglement (GIE). The interaction between a qubit and a levitated mass is a convenient method to create such a cat state. The size of the superpositions is limited by weak mass-qubit interactions. To overcome this limitation, we propose a protocol that exponentially expands an initially small superposition via Gaussian dynamics and successfully recombines it to complete an interferometry. An unknown force can be sensed by the superposition exponentially fast in the expansion time. The entanglement between two such interferometers interacting via a quantum force is -- for the first time in qubit-based non-Gaussian protocols -- obtained by solving the full quantum dynamics using Gaussian techniques. GIE grows exponentially, thereby making it closer to experimental feasibility. Requirements of experimental precision and decoherence are obtained., Comment: 5 Pages, 2 Figures, Table, and Appendix. Comments are welcome

Creating macroscopic spatial superposition states is crucial for investigating matter-wave interferometry and advancing quantum sensor technology. Currently, two potential methods exist to achieve this objective. The first involves using inverted harmonic potential (IHP) to spatially delocalize quantum states through coherent inflation [1]. The second method employs a spin-dependent force to separate two massive wave packets spatially [2]. The disadvantage of the former method is the slow initial coherent inflation, while the latter is hindered by the diamagnetism of spin-embedded nanocrystals, which suppresses spatial separation. In this study, we integrate two methods: first, we use the spin-dependent force to generate initial spatial separation, and second, we use IHP to achieve coherent inflating trajectories of the wavepackets. This approach enables the attainment of massive large spatial superposition in minimal time. For instance, a spatial superposition with a mass of $10^{-15}$ kg and a size of 50 $\mu$m is realized in $0.1$ seconds. We also calculate the evolution of wave packets in both harmonic potential (HP) and IHP using path integral approach., Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures

We propose that moments of time arise through the failed emergence of the temporal diffeomorphism as gauge symmetry, and that the passage of time is a continual process of an instantaneous state collapsing toward a gauge-invariant state. Unitarity and directedness of the resulting time evolution are demonstrated for a minisuperspace model of cosmology., Comment: 8 pages

We follow the classical Double Copy (DC) procedure that links Yang-Mills and Double Field Theory (DFT), and we apply it on a four-derivative gauge theory which is known to be related to Weyl gravity at the level of the amplitudes. We obtain a perturbative T-duality invariant theory on a double geometry, or Conformal Double Field Theory (CDFT), incorporating Weyl gravity plus $b$-field and dilaton contributions at quadratic order, without the need to impose a gauge fixing condition. We also extend the formulation to cubic order for the case of vanishing generalized dilaton, which still incorporates Weyl gravity when $\Box h_{\mu \nu}=h=0$. CDFT, together with ordinary DFT, are examples of T-duality invariant theories constructed through classical DC maps, revealing a promising and deep connection between gauge theories and T-duality invariant models., Comment: 5 pages+references

We investigate the gravitational production of superheavy scalar fields with nonminimal coupling during and after inflation. We derive analytical approximations using the mode function solution in a de Sitter background and also apply the steepest descent method. We study both positive and negative nonminimal couplings and show that their comoving number density spectra behave differently in the short and long wavelength regimes. We numerically compute the comoving number density spectra and dark matter abundance for a broad range of superheavy spectator fields exceeding the Hubble scale during inflation, with $m_{\chi} > H_I$, and nonminimal couplings ranging from $-300 \leq \xi \leq 300$. When computing the allowed dark matter parameter space, we impose the maximum reheating temperature constraint, the Big Bang nucleosynthesis constraint, and the isocurvature constraint. We show that the presence of a positive or negative coupling $\xi$ can expand the parameter space up to $3$ orders of magnitude above the Hubble inflationary scale, allowing such dark matter candidates to be as heavy as $\sim 10^{16} \, \rm{GeV}$ in the Starobinsky model of inflation., Comment: 37 pages, 10 Figures

We consider the effects of relaxing the assumption that gravitational waves composing the stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) are uncorrelated between frequencies in analyses of the data from Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTAs). While individual monochromatic plane waves are often a good approximation, a background composed of astrophysical sources cannot be monochromatic since an infinite plane wave carries no signal. We consider how relaxing this assumption allows us to extract potential information about modified dispersion relations and other fundamental physics questions, as both the group and phase velocity of waves become relevant. After developing the formalism we carry out simple Gaussian wavepacket examples and then consider more realistic waveforms, such as that from binary inspirals. When the frequency evolves only slowly across the PTA temporal baseline, the monochromatic assumption at an effective mean frequency remains a good approximation and we provide scaling relations that characterize its accuracy., Comment: 30 pages, 6 figures

It is well known that a coarse-grained scalar field living on a de~Sitter (dS) background exhibits classical stochastic behavior, driven by a noise whose amplitude is set by the Hubble constant $H$. The coarse-graining is achieved by discarding wave numbers larger than a cutoff $\sigma H$ and demanding that $\sigma \ll 1$. Similar results hold for quasi-dS space, where the equation of state parameter $w$ is close to $-1$. Here we present exact expressions for the noise amplitude of a free massless field on an inflationary background with constant $w < -1/3$. We find that a classical stochastic behavior can emerge for $-5/3 < w < -1/3$. Furthermore, as we move away from $w = -1$ and approach $w = -1/3$, the constraint $\sigma \ll 1$ is relaxed and larger cutoffs ($\sigma \sim 1$) become feasible, too. However, in general the amplitude of the noise depends on $\sigma$, except in the quasi-dS regime $w \approx -1$., Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures

We investigate the behavior of the dense and cold (normalized) QCD trace anomaly, $\Delta$, in the interior of twin neutron stars (obtained from several sets of equations of state in agreement with modern compact-star and multimessenger data) satisfying static and dynamic stability conditions. We scan this parameter space in order to look for effects caused by the presence of a strong first-order phase transition connecting hadron and quark phases by means of a Maxwell construction. We found robustly that $\Delta$ suffers an abrupt decrease around the transition point, even reaching large negative values ($\Delta\simeq-0.35$), in marked contrast to current studies pointing out a smooth behavior with $\Delta\gtrsim 0$ at all densities. Besides, we characterize the behavior of conformal factor, $d_{c}$, in twin stars for which we perform comparisons with theoretical constraints, e.g. from Bayesian studies adjusted to agree with pQCD. All this allows us to infer and hypothesize modifications in the strong QCD coupling in dense nuclear matter with a strong thermodynamic discontinuity., Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures

We investigate the effects of non-thermally produced dark matter on large-scale structure formation, focusing on the gravitino dark matter. Our analysis shows that large-scale structure measurements from the SDSS LRG data offer a promising approach to probing non-thermally produced gravitinos. Specifically, if gravitinos resulting from neutralino decay constitute a fraction $F_\text{dec}=0.35~(0.1)$ of the dark matter component, the data exclude bino-like neutralino with a mass $m_{\chi_1^0}\lesssim25~(11)\text{ GeV}$. Furthermore, this constraint appears to be largely independent of the gravitino mass., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures

We have performed a parametrized post-Newtonian (PPN) test of a black hole spacetime using observational data of the star S0-2/S2 orbiting the massive black hole at our galactic center Sgr A*. After introducing our PPN model of black hole spacetime, we report the result of $\chi^2$ fitting of the PPN model with the observational data. A new finding through our PPN model is a detectability of the gravitational lens effect on the null geodesics connecting S0-2 and observer under the present observational uncertainties, if a PPN parameter is about one order larger than the value for general relativity case. On the other hand, the effect of black hole spin on the S0-2's motion is not detectable. Thus our present PPN test is performed with spherically symmetric vacuum black hole spacetime. The resultant value of the PPN parameter, which corresponds to the minimum $\chi^2$, implies that the gravitational field of Sgr A* is not of Schwarzschild metric or that the existence of sufficient amount of dark matters around Sgr A*. However, the difference between the minimum $\chi^2$ and the $\chi^2$ of Schwarzschild case is not large enough to ensure a statistical significance of non-Schwarzschild result. A more precise statistical analysis than $\chi^2$ statistics is necessary to extract a statistically significant information of the gravitational field of Sgr A* from present observational data. We will report a result by a Bayesian analysis in next paper., Comment: 43 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for Publication in Prog.Theor.Exp.Phys

To clarify a holographic modified thermodynamic relation, the present study applies a general formulation for cosmological equations in a flat FLRW universe to the first law of thermodynamics, using the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy $S_{\rm{BH}}$ and a dynamical Kodama-Hayward temperature $T_{\rm{KH}}$. For the general formulation, both an effective pressure $p_{e}$ of cosmological fluids for dissipative universes (e.g., bulk viscous cosmology) and an extra driving term $f_{\Lambda}(t)$ for non-dissipative universes (e.g., time-varying $\Lambda (t)$ cosmology) are phenomenologically assumed. When $f_{\Lambda}(t)$ is constant, the modified thermodynamic relation is equivalent to the formulation of the first law in standard cosmology. One side of this modified relation describes thermodynamic quantities in the bulk and can be divided into two time-derivative terms, namely $\dot{\rho}$ and $\dot{V}$ terms, where $\rho$ is the mass density of cosmological fluids and $V$ is the Hubble volume. Using the Gibbons-Hawking temperature $T_{\rm{GH}}$, the other side of this relation, $T_{\rm{KH}} \dot{S}_{\rm{BH}}$, can be formulated as the sum of $T_{\rm{GH}} \dot{S}_{\rm{BH}}$ and $[(T_{\rm{KH}}/T_{\rm{GH}}) -1] T_{\rm{GH}} \dot{S}_{\rm{BH}}$, which are equivalent to the $\dot{\rho}$ and $\dot{V}$ terms, respectively, with the magnitude of the $\dot{V}$ term being proportional to the square of the $\dot{\rho}$ term. In addition, the modified thermodynamic relation for constant $f_{\Lambda}(t)$ is examined by applying the equipartition law of energy on the horizon. This modified thermodynamic relation reduces to a kind of extended holographic-like connection when a constant $T_{\rm{KH}}$ universe is considered. The evolution of thermodynamic quantities is also discussed, using a constant $T_{\rm{KH}}$ model, extending a previous analysis [Phys. Rev. D 108, 083515 (2023) (arXiv:2306.11285)]., Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures