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Results for “effective quantum gravity”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 271 records · Page 15
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DOE OSTI2018

Starobinsky inflation and dark energy and dark matter effects from quasicrystal like spacetime structures

The goal of this work on mathematical cosmology and geometric methods in modified gravity theories, MGTs, is to investigate Starobinsky-like inflation scenarios determined by gravitational and scalar field configurations mimicking quasicrystal, QC, like structures. Such spacetime aperiodic QCs are different from those discovered and studied in solid state physics but described by similar geometric methods. We prove that a inhomogeneous and locally anisotropic gravitational and matter field effective QC mixed continuous and discrete “ether” can be modelled by exact cosmological solutions in MGTs and Einstein gravity. The coefficients of corresponding generic off-diagonal metrics and generalized connections depend (in general) on all spacetime coordinates via generating and integration functions and, certain smooth and discrete parameters. Imposing additional nonholonomic constraints, prescribing symmetries for generating functions and solving the boundary conditions for integration functions and constants, we can model various nontrivial torsion QC structures or extract cosmological Levi-Civita configurations with diagonal metrics reproducing de Sitter (inflationary) like and other type homogeneous inflation and acceleration phases. Finally, we speculate how various dark energy and dark matter effects can be modelled by off-diagonal interactions and deformations of a nontrivial QC like gravitational vacuum structure and analogous scalar matter fields.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Chaos in quantum channels

For this research, we study chaos and scrambling in unitary channels by considering their entanglement properties as states. Using out-of-time-order correlation functions to diagnose chaos, we characterize the ability of a channel to process quantum information. We show that the generic decay of such correlators implies that any input subsystem must have near vanishing mutual information with almost all partitions of the output. Additionally, we propose the negativity of the tripartite information of the channel as a general diagnostic of scrambling. This measures the delocalization of information and is closely related to the decay of out-of-time-order correlators. We back up our results with numerics in two non-integrable models and analytic results in a perfect tensor network model of chaotic time evolution. In conclusion, these results show that the butterfly effect in quantum systems implies the information-theoretic definition of scrambling.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2020

Cosmological decoherence from thermal gravitons

A bstract We study the effects of gravitationally-driven decoherence on tunneling processes associated with false vacuum decays, such as the Coleman-De Luccia instanton. We compute the thermal graviton-induced decoherence rate for a wave function describing a perfect fluid of nonzero energy density in a finite region. When the effective cosmological constant is positive, the thermal graviton background sourced by a de Sitter horizon provides an unavoidable decoherence effect, which may have important consequences for tunneling processes in cosmological history. We discuss generalizations and consequences of this effect and comment on its observability and applications to black hole physics.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Impact of a midband gravitational wave experiment on detectability of cosmological stochastic gravitational wave backgrounds

In this report we make forecasts for the impact a future “midband” space-based gravitational wave experiment, most sensitive to 10 -2 - 10Hz,could have on potential detections of cosmological stochastic gravitational wave backgrounds (SGWBs). Specific proposed midband experiments considered are TianGo, B-DECIGO, and AEDGE. We propose a combined power-law integrated sensitivity (CPLS) curve combining GW experiments over different frequency bands, which shows the midband improves sensitivity to SGWBs by up to two orders of magnitude at 10 -2 - 10 Hz . We consider GW emission from cosmic strings and phase transitions as benchmark examples of cosmological SGWBs. We explicitly model various astrophysical SGWB sources, most importantly from unresolved black hole mergers. Using Markov Chain Monte Carlo, we demonstrated that midband experiments can, when combined with LIGO A+ and LISA, significantly improve sensitivities to cosmological SGWBs and better separate them from astrophysical SGWBs. In particular, we forecast that a midband experiment improves sensitivity to cosmic string tension G μ by up to a factor of 10, driven by improved component separation from astrophysical sources. For phase transitions, a midband experiment can detect signals peaking at 0.1–1 Hz, which for our fiducial model corresponds to early Universe temperatures of T * ~10 4 – 10 6 GeV , generally beyond the reach of LIGO and LISA. The midband closes an energy gap and better captures characteristic spectral shape information. It thus substantially improves measurement of the properties of phase transitions at lower energies of T * ~ O(10 3 ) GeV , potentially relevant to new physics at the electroweak scale, whereas in this energy range LISA alone will detect an excess but not effectively measure the phase transition parameters. Our modeling code and chains are publicly available.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Quantum optics. Gravity meets quantum physics

Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity is a classical formulation but a quantum mechanical description of gravitational forces is needed, not only to investigate the coupling of classical and quantum systems but simply to give a more complete description of our physical surroundings. In this issue of Nature Photonics, Wen-Te Liao and Sven Ahrens reveal a link between quantum and gravitational physics. They propose that in the quantum-optical effect of superradiance, the world line of electromagnetic radiation is changed by the presence of a gravitational field.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2023

The S-matrix of 2D type 0B string theory. Part II. D-instanton effects

We study the effect of D-instantons on closed string scattering amplitudes in the two-dimensional type 0B string theory from the worldsheet perspective. We find that the contribution from a pair of D-instanton and anti-D-instanton to the closed string reflection amplitude, with a suitable contour prescription for the integration over the D-instanton moduli space, agrees with the corresponding leading non-perturbative corrections in the proposed dual matrix quantum mechanics. This analysis is further extended to thermal observables defined at finite temperature. The infrared divergence in charged processes is understood through the measure factor for charged D-instantons, and can be treated with spacetime dimensional regularization.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2017

On the implications of the Bekenstein bound for black hole evaporation

Highlights: •The Bekenstein bound may imply that classical spacetimes are emergent. •Similarly, particles deemed to be elementary are “quasi particles”. •Black hole evaporation is then necessarily non unitary in any quantum gravity. •Modified Page curves are produced for simple cases. -- Abstract: We elaborate on the possible impact of the Bekenstein bound on the unitarity of black hole evaporation. As such maximal bound on the entropy of any system may be regarded as due to the existence of entities more elementary than the ordinary ones, and since at our energy scales such fundamental degrees of freedom must organize themselves into quantum fields acting on classical spacetimes, we then propose that both, quantum fields and geometries, are emergent phenomena stemming from the same underlying dynamics. We investigate the kinematical and model independent effects of this “quasi-particle picture” on black hole evaporation within a simple toy model, that we construct. We conclude that the information associated to the quantum fields in the “phase” before the formation of the black hole is, in general, only partially recovered in the “phase” after the black hole has evaporated. This information loss is shown to be due to the entanglement between fields and geometry. Such modifications of the Page curve should be regarded as common features of any theory of quantumgravity.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2017

Weak lensing by galaxy troughs with modified gravity

We study the imprints that theories of gravity beyond GR can leave on the lensing signal around line of sight directions that are predominantly halo-underdense (called troughs) and halo-overdense. To carry out our investigations, we consider the normal branch of DGP gravity, as well as a phenomenological variant thereof that directly modifies the lensing potential. The predictions of these models are obtained with N-body simulation and ray-tracing methods using the ECOSMOG and Ray-Ramses codes. We analyse the stacked lensing convergence profiles around the underdense and overdense lines of sight, which exhibit, respectively, a suppression and a boost w.r.t. the mean in the field of view. The modifications to gravity in these models strengthen the signal w.r.t. ΛCDM in a scale-independent way. We find that the size of this effect is the same for both underdense and overdense lines of sight, which implies that the density field along the overdense directions on the sky is not sufficiently evolved to trigger the suppression effects of the screening mechanism. These results are robust to variations in the minimum halo mass and redshift ranges used to identify the lines of sight, as well as to different line of sight aperture sizes and criteria for their underdensity and overdensity thresholds.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

P not PQ

Parity solutions to the strong CP problem are a compelling alternative to approaches based on Peccei-Quinn symmetry, particularly given the expected violation of global symmetries in a theory of quantum gravity. The most natural of these solutions break parity at a low scale, giving rise to a host of experimentally accessible signals. We assess the status of the simplest parity-based solution in light of LHC data and flavor constraints, highlighting the prospects for near-future tests at colliders, tabletop experiments, and gravitational wave observatories. The origin of parity breaking and associated gravitational effects play crucial roles, providing new avenues for discovery through EDMs and gravity waves. These experimental opportunities underline the promise of generalized parity, rather than Peccei-Quinn symmetry, as a robust and testable solution to the strong CP problem.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Scalar and tensor perturbations in loop quantum cosmology: high-order corrections

Loop quantum cosmology (LQC) provides promising resolutions to the trans-Planckian issue and initial singularity arising in the inflationary models of general relativity. In general, due to different quantization approaches, LQC involves two types of quantum corrections, the holonomy and inverse-volume, to both of the cosmological background evolution and perturbations. In this paper, using the third-order uniform asymptotic approximations, we derive explicitly the observational quantities of the slow-roll inflation in the framework of LQC with these quantum corrections. We calculate the power spectra, spectral indices, and running of the spectral indices for both scalar and tensor perturbations, whereby the tensor-to-scalar ratio is obtained. We expand all the observables at the time when the inflationary mode crosses the Hubble horizon. As the upper error bounds for the uniform asymptotic approximation at the third-order are ∼< 0.15%, these results represent the most accurate results obtained so far in the literature. It is also shown that with the inverse-volume corrections, both scalar and tensor spectra exhibit a deviation from the usual shape at large scales. Then, using the Planck, BAO and SN data we obtain new constraints on quantum gravitational effects from LQC corrections, and find that such effects could be within the detection of the forthcoming experiments.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Gravitational waves and stability of cosmological solutions in the theory with anomaly-induced corrections

The dynamics of metric perturbations is explored in the gravity theory with anomaly-induced quantum corrections. Our first purpose is to derive the equation for gravitational waves in this theory on the general homogeneous and isotropic background, and then verify the stability of such background with respect to metric perturbations. The problem under consideration has several interesting applications. Our first purpose is to explore the stability of the classical cosmological solutions in the theory with quantum effects taken into account. There is an interesting literature about stability of Minkowski and de Sitter spaces and here we extend the consideration also to the radiation and matter dominated cosmologies. Furthermore, we analyze the behavior of metric perturbations during inflationary period, in the stable phase of the Modified Starobinsky inflation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Renormalization group for nonminimal Φ 2 R couplings and gravitational contact interactions

Theories of scalars and gravity, with an Einstein-Hilbert term and nonminimal interactions, M 2 R / 2 - α Φ 2 R / 12 , have graviton exchange-induced contact interactions. These modify the renormalization group, leading to a discrepancy between the conventional calculations in the Jordan frame that ignore this effect (and are found to be incorrect), and the Einstein frame in which α does not exist. Thus, the calculation of quantum effects in the Jordan and Einstein frames does not generally commute with the transition from the Jordan to the Einstein frame. In the Einstein frame, though α is absent, for small steps in scale δ μ / μ infinitesimal contact terms ~ δ α are induced, that are then absorbed back into other couplings by the contact terms. This modifies the β -functions in the Einstein frame. In conclusion, we show how correct results can be obtained in a simple model by including this effect.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Nonsingular bouncing cosmologies in light of BICEP2

We confront various nonsingular bouncing cosmologies with the recently released BICEP2 data and investigate the observational constraints on their parameter space. In particular, within the context of the effective field approach, we analyze the constraints on the matter bounce curvaton scenario with a light scalar field, and the new matter bounce cosmology model in which the universe successively experiences a period of matter contraction and an ekpyrotic phase. Additionally, we consider three nonsingular bouncing cosmologies obtained in the framework of modified gravity theories, namely the Hořava-Lifshitz bounce model, the f(T) bounce model, and loop quantum cosmology.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Soft de Sitter Effective Theory

Calculating the quantum evolution of a de Sitter universe on superhorizon scales is notoriously difficult. To address this challenge, we introduce the Soft de Sitter Effective Theory (SdSET). This framework holds for superhorizon modes whose comoving momentum is far below the UV scale, which is set by the inverse comoving horizon. The SdSET is formulated using the same approach that yields the Heavy Quark Effective Theory. The degrees of freedom that capture the long wavelength dynamics are identified with the growing and decaying solutions to the equations of motion. The operator expansion is organized using a power counting scheme, and loops can be regulated while respecting the low energy symmetries. For massive quantum fields in a fixed de Sitter background, power counting implies that all interactions beyond the horizon are irrelevant. Alternatively, if the fields are very light, the leading interactions are at most marginal, and resumming the associated logarithms using (dynamical) renormalization group techniques yields the evolution equation for canonical stochastic inflation. The SdSET is also applicable to models where gravity is dynamical, including inflation. In this case, diffeomorphism invariance ensures that all interactions are irrelevant, trivially implying the all-orders conservation of adiabatic density fluctuations and gravitational waves. We briefly touch on the application to slow-roll eternal inflation by identifying novel relevant operators. This work serves to demystify many aspects of perturbation theory outside the horizon, and has a variety of applications to problems of cosmological interest.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Numerical evaluation of the bispectrum in multiple field inflation—the transport approach with code

We present a complete framework for numerical calculation of the power spectrum and bispectrum in canonical inflation with an arbitrary number of light or heavy fields. Our method includes all relevant effects at tree-level in the loop expansion, including (i) interference between growing and decaying modes near horizon exit; (ii) correlation and coupling between species near horizon exit and on superhorizon scales; (iii) contributions from mass terms; and (iv) all contributions from coupling to gravity. We track the evolution of each correlation function from the vacuum state through horizon exit and the superhorizon regime, with no need to match quantum and classical parts of the calculation; when integrated, our approach corresponds exactly with the tree-level Schwinger or 'in-in' formulation of quantum field theory. In this paper we give the equations necessary to evolve all two- and three-point correlation functions together with suitable initial conditions. The final formalism is suitable to compute the amplitude, shape, and scale dependence of the bispectrum in models with | f {sub NL}| of order unity or less, which are a target for future galaxy surveys such as Euclid, DESI and LSST. As an illustration we apply our framework to a number of examples, obtaining quantitatively accurate predictions for their bispectra for the first time. Two accompanying reports describe publicly-available software packages that implement the method.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Scenarios for gluino coannihilation

In this article, we study supersymmetric scenarios in which the gluino is the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP), with a mass sufficiently close to that of the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) that gluino coannihilation becomes important. One of these scenarios is the MSSM with soft supersymmetry-breaking squark and slepton masses that are universal at an input GUT renormalization scale, but with non-universal gaugino masses. The other scenario is an extension of the MSSM to include vector-like supermultiplets. In both scenarios, we identify the regions of parameter space where gluino coannihilation is important, and discuss their relations to other regions of parameter space where other mechanisms bring the dark matter density into the range allowed by cosmology. In the case of the non-universal MSSM scenario, we find that the allowed range of parameter space is constrained by the requirement of electroweak symmetry breaking, the avoidance of a charged LSP and the measured mass of the Higgs boson, in particular, as well as the appearance of other dark matter (co)annihilation processes. Nevertheless, LSP masses m X ≲ 8TeV with the correct dark matter density are quite possible. In the case of pure gravity mediation with additional vector-like supermultiplets, changes to the anomaly-mediated gluino mass and the threshold effects associated with these states can make the gluino almost degenerate with the LSP, and we find a similar upper bound.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

Confronting gravitational-wave observations with modern nuclear physics constraints

Multi-messenger observations of neutron star (NS) mergers have the potential to revolutionize nuclear astrophysics. They will improve our understanding of nucleosynthesis, provide insights about the equation of state (EOS) of strongly interacting matter at high densities, and enable tests of the theory of gravity and of dark matter. We focus on the EOS, where both gravitational waves (GWs) from neutron-star mergers and X-ray observations from space-based detectors such as NICER will provide more stringent constraints on the structure of neutron stars. Furthermore, recent advances in nuclear theory have enabled reliable calculations of the EOS at low densities using effective field theory based Hamiltonians and advanced techniques to solve the quantum many-body problem. In this paper, we address how the first observation of GWs from GW170817 can be combined with modern calculations of the EOS to extract useful insights about the EOS of matter encountered inside neutron stars. We analyze the impact of various uncertainties, the role of phase transitions in the NS core, and discuss how future observations will improve our understanding of dense matter.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Path integral factorization and the gravitational effective action

Abstract We discuss the factorization and continuity properties of fields in the Euclidean gravitational path integral with higher dimension operators constructed from powers of the Riemann tensor. We construct the boundary terms corresponding to the microcanonical ensemble and show that the saddle point approximation to the path integral with a quasilocal energy constraint generally yields a saddle point with discontinuous temperature. This extends a previous result for the Euclidean Schwarzschild–de Sitter geometry in Einstein gravity and shows that it is robust against at least some types of quantum corrections from heavy fields. As an application, we compute the entropy of SdS in D = 4 using the BTZ method. Our result matches the entropy calculated using Wald’s formula.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗