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At least 487 records · Page 27
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DOE OSTI2016

Heavy spin-2 Dark Matter

We provide further details on a recent proposal addressing the nature of the dark sectors in cosmology and demonstrate that all current observations related to Dark Matter can be explained by the presence of a heavy spin-2 particle. Massive spin-2 fields and their gravitational interactions are uniquely described by ghost-free bimetric theory, which is a minimal and natural extension of General Relativity. In this setup, the largeness of the physical Planck mass is naturally related to extremely weak couplings of the heavy spin-2 field to baryonic matter and therefore explains the absence of signals in experiments dedicated to Dark Matter searches. It also ensures the phenomenological viability of our model as we confirm by comparing it with cosmological and local tests of gravity. At the same time, the spin-2 field possesses standard gravitational interactions and it decays universally into all Standard Model fields but not into massless gravitons. Matching the measured DM abundance together with the requirement of stability constrains the spin-2 mass to be in the 1 to 100 TeV range.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2013

The neutron star mass distribution

In recent years, the number of pulsars with secure mass measurements has increased to a level that allows us to probe the underlying neutron star (NS) mass distribution in detail. We critically review the radio pulsar mass measurements. For the first time, we are able to analyze a sizable population of NSs with a flexible modeling approach that can effectively accommodate a skewed underlying distribution and asymmetric measurement errors. We find that NSs that have evolved through different evolutionary paths reflect distinctive signatures through dissimilar distribution peak and mass cutoff values. NSs in double NS and NS-white dwarf (WD) systems show consistent respective peaks at 1.33 M {sub ☉} and 1.55 M {sub ☉}, suggesting significant mass accretion (Δm ≈ 0.22 M {sub ☉}) has occurred during the spin-up phase. The width of the mass distribution implied by double NS systems is indicative of a tight initial mass function while the inferred mass range is significantly wider for NSs that have gone through recycling. We find a mass cutoff at ∼2.1 M {sub ☉} for NSs with WD companions, which establishes a firm lower bound for the maximum NS mass. This rules out the majority of strange quark and soft equation of state models as viable configurations for NS matter. The lack of truncation close to the maximum mass cutoff along with the skewed nature of the inferred mass distribution both enforce the suggestion that the 2.1 M {sub ☉} limit is set by evolutionary constraints rather than nuclear physics or general relativity, and the existence of rare supermassive NSs is possible.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Assessing pulsar timing array sensitivity to gravitational wave bursts with memory

Highly energetic astrophysical phenomena like supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) mergers are predicted to emit prodigious amounts of gravitational waves (GWs). An anticipated component of the gravitational waveform known as 'memory' is permanent and nonoscillatory. For SMBHB mergers, the memory is created primarily during the most violent moments of the inspiral immediately preceding the final plunge and ring-down when the strongest gravitational fields are at work and the nonlinearities of general relativity are most pronounced. The essentially time-domain nature of memory makes it forbiddingly difficult to detect with ground based GW detectors, leaving pulsar timing array (PTA) experiments as the most promising means by which it may be detected and studied. In this paper, we discuss how GW bursts with memory (BWMs) influence pulsar timing experiments and develop methods to assess how sensitive modern timing efforts are to such GW events. We discuss how PTA searches for BWMs can be used to constrain the rate of BWMs and how these constraints relate to information regarding the population of SMBHBs.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2010

New massive gravity extended with an arbitrary number of curvature corrections

We consider new massive gravity (NMG) type models in the context of AdS/CFT. By demanding the existence of a holographic c theorem, we construct an infinite family of three-dimensional quantum gravity models, generalizing the NMG Lagrangian to arbitrarily high order in curvatures. We calculate the central charge c and show that using Cardy's formula it matches the entropy of black hole solutions. We also consider fluctuations about an anti-de Sitter background, finding ghostlike massive modes as in NMG. However, these can (a) be made massless by setting c=0, in which case these Lagrangians are expected to provide gravity duals for strongly coupled logarithmic conformal field theories, (b) be eliminated by imposing a single constraint on the parameters of the Lagrangian, thereby obtaining an infinite family of theories with the same perturbative content of three-dimensional general relativity.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2010

Static solutions for fourth order gravity

The Lichnerowicz and Israel theorems are extended to higher order theories of gravity. In particular it is shown that Schwarzschild is the unique spherically symmetric, static, asymptotically flat, black-hole solution, provided the spatial curvature is less than the quantum gravity scale outside the horizon. It is then shown that in the presence of matter (satisfying certain positivity requirements), the only static and asymptotically flat solutions of general relativity that are also solutions of higher order gravity are the vacuum solutions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Unimodular gravity with external sources

The only allowed source of the gravitational field in the unimodular theory, invariant under area-preserving (transverse) diffeomorphisms as well as Weyl transformations, is just the traceless piece of the energy-momentum tensor. This fact notwithstanding, the free energy produced by arbitrary sources (not only static ones) is identical to the one predicted by general relativity. This encompasses all weak field tests of gravitation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Tidal Love numbers and Green’s functions in black hole spacetimes

Tidal interactions play a crucial role in deciphering gravitational wave signals emitted by the coalescence of binary systems. They are usually quantified by a set of complex coefficients which include tidal Love numbers, describing the conservative response to an external perturbation. In the static case, these are found to vanish exactly for asymptotically flat black holes in general relativity in four space-time dimensions, and recently they have been generalized to dynamical interactions. In the context of response theory, the retarded Green’s function provides the complete description of the behavior of dynamical systems. Here, in this work we investigate the relation between Love numbers and Green’s functions, and highlight the relevance of radiation reaction effects to their connection. As a special case, we discuss Banados-Teitelboim-Zanelli black holes, where the absence of radiative modes allows us to make a direct link between them.

classical black holes↗
DOE OSTI2017

The rotation curve of a point particle in stringy gravity

Double Field Theory suggests to view the whole massless sector of closed strings as the gravitational unity. The fundamental symmetries therein, including the O( D , D ) covariance, can determine unambiguously how the Standard Model as well as a relativistic point particle should couple to the closed string massless sector. The theory also refines the notion of singularity. We consider the most general, spherically symmetric, asymptotically flat, static vacuum solution to D =4 Double Field Theory, which contains three free parameters and consequently generalizes the Schwarzschild geometry. Analyzing the circular geodesic of a point particle in string frame, we obtain the orbital velocity as a function of R /( M {sub ∞} G ) which is the dimensionless radial variable normalized by mass. The rotation curve generically features a maximum and thus non-Keplerian over a finite range, while becoming asymptotically Keplerian at infinity, R /( M {sub ∞} G )→ ∞. The adoption of the string frame rather than Einstein frame is the consequence of the fundamental symmetry principle. Our result opens up a new scheme to solve the dark matter/energy problems by modifying General Relativity at 'short' range of R /( M {sub ∞} G ).

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2013

A NOVEL APPROACH IN THE WEAKLY INTERACTING MASSIVE PARTICLE QUEST: CROSS-CORRELATION OF GAMMA-RAY ANISOTROPIES AND COSMIC SHEAR

Both cosmic shear and cosmological gamma-ray emission stem from the presence of dark matter (DM) in the universe: DM structures are responsible for the bending of light in the weak-lensing regime and those same objects can emit gamma rays, either because they host astrophysical sources (active galactic nuclei or star-forming galaxies) or directly by DM annihilations (or decays, depending on the properties of the DM particle). Such gamma rays should therefore exhibit strong correlation with the cosmic shear signal. In this Letter, we compute the cross-correlation angular power spectrum of cosmic shear and gamma rays produced by the annihilation/decay of weakly interacting massive particle DM, as well as by astrophysical sources. We show that this observable provides novel information on the composition of the extragalactic gamma-ray background (EGB), since the amplitude and shape of the cross-correlation signal strongly depend on which class of sources is responsible for the gamma-ray emission. If the DM contribution to the EGB is significant (at least in a definite energy range), although compatible with current observational bounds, its strong correlation with the cosmic shear makes such signal potentially detectable by combining Fermi Large Area Telescope data with forthcoming galaxy surveys, like the Dark Energy Survey and Euclid. At the same time, the same signal would demonstrate that the weak-lensing observables are indeed due to particle DM matter and not to possible modifications of general relativity.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

New torsion black hole solutions in Poincaré gauge theory

We derive a new exact static and spherically symmetric vacuum solution in the framework of the Poincaré gauge field theory with dynamical massless torsion. This theory is built in such a form that allows to recover General Relativity when the first Bianchi identity of the model is fulfilled by the total curvature. The solution shows a Reissner-Nordström type geometry with a Coulomb-like curvature provided by the torsion field. It is also shown the existence of a generalized Reissner-Nordström-de Sitter solution when additional electromagnetic fields and/or a cosmological constant are coupled to gravity.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2016

SPECIAL RELATIVISTIC HYDRODYNAMICS WITH GRAVITATION

Special relativistic hydrodynamics with weak gravity has hitherto been unknown in the literature. Whether such an asymmetric combination is possible has been unclear. Here, the hydrodynamic equations with Poisson-type gravity, considering fully relativistic velocity and pressure under the weak gravity and the action-at-a-distance limit, are consistently derived from Einstein’s theory of general relativity. An analysis is made in the maximal slicing, where the Poisson’s equation becomes much simpler than our previous study in the zero-shear gauge. Also presented is the hydrodynamic equations in the first post-Newtonian approximation, now under the general hypersurface condition. Our formulation includes the anisotropic stress.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

The bispectrum of f(R) cosmologies

In this paper we analyze a suite of cosmological simulations of modified gravitational action f(R) models, where cosmic acceleration is induced by a scalar field that acts as a fifth force on all forms of matter. In particular, we focus on the bispectrum of the dark matter density field on mildly non-linear scales. For models with the same initial power spectrum, the dark matter bispectrum shows significant differences for cases where the final dark matter power spectrum also differs. Given the different dependence on bias of the galaxy power spectrum and bispectrum, bispectrum measurements can close the loophole of galaxy bias hiding differences in the power spectrum. Alternatively, changes in the initial power spectrum can also hide differences. By constructing ΛCDM models with very similar final non-linear power spectra, we show that the differences in the bispectrum are reduced (∼<4%) and are comparable with differences in the imperfectly matched power spectra. These results indicate that the bispectrum depends mainly on the power spectrum and less sensitively on the gravitational signatures of the f(R) model. This weak dependence of the matter bispectrum on gravity makes it useful for breaking degeneracies associated with galaxy bias, even for models beyond general relativity.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Black hole and de Sitter solutions in a covariant renormalizable field theory of gravity

It is shown that Schwarzschild black hole and de Sitter solutions exist as exact solutions of a recently proposed relativistic covariant formulation of (power-counting) renormalizable gravity with a fluid. The formulation without a fluid is presented here too. The stability of the solutions is studied and their corresponding entropies are computed by using the covariant Wald method. The area law is shown to hold both for the Schwarzschild and for the de Sitter solutions found, confirming that, for the {beta}=1 case, one is dealing with a minimal modification of general relativity.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Einstein–Cartan cosmologies

Cosmologies based on General Relativity encompassing an anti-symmetric connection (torsion) can display nice desirable features as the absence of the initial singularity and the possibility of inflation in the early stage of the universe. After briefly reviewing the standard approach to the cosmology with torsion, we generalize it to demonstrate that several theories of torsion gravity are possible using different choices of the diffeomorphic invariants in the Lagrangians. As a result, distinct cosmologies emerge. In all of them it is possible that the universe avoids the initial singularity and passes through an initial accelerated expansion. Differences between these theories are highlighted.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Model-independent limits and constraints on extended theories of gravity from cosmic reconstruction techniques

The onset of dark energy domination depends on the particular gravitational theory driving the cosmic evolution. Model independent techniques are crucial to test the both the present ΛCDM cosmological paradigm and alternative theories, making the least possible number of assumptions about the Universe. In this paper we investigate whether cosmography is able to distinguish between different gravitational theories, by determining bounds on model parameters for three different extensions of General Relativity, namely quintessence, F (Τ) and f ( R ) gravitational theories. We expand each class of theories in powers of redshift z around the present time, making no additional assumptions. This procedure is an extension of previous work and can be seen as the most general approach for testing extended theories of gravity through the use of cosmography. In the case of F (Τ) and f ( R ) theories, we show that some assumptions on model parameters often made in previous works are superfluous or even unjustified. We use data from the Union 2.1 supernovae catalogue, baryonic acoustic oscillation data and H ( z ) differential age compilations, which probe cosmology on different scales of the cosmological evolution. We perform a Monte Carlo analysis using a Metropolis-Hastings algorithm with a Gelman-Rubin convergence criterion, reporting 1-σ and 2-σ confidence levels. To do so, we perform two distinct fits, assuming only data within z < 1 first and then without limitations in redshift. We obtain the corresponding numerical intervals in which coefficients span, and find that the data is compatible the ΛCDM limit of all three theories at the 1-σ level, while still compatible with quite a large portion of parameter space. We compare our results to the truncated ΛCDM paradigm, demonstrating that our bounds divert from the expectations of previous works, showing that the permitted regions of coefficients are significantly modified and in general widened with respect to values usually reported in the existing literature. Finally, we test the extended theories through the Bayesian selection criteria AIC and BIC.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Effects of an additional dimension in the Young experiment

The results of the Young experiment can be analyzed either by classical or Quantum Physics. The later one though leads to a more complete interpretation, based on two different patterns that appear when one works either with single or double slits. Here we show that the two patterns can be derived from a single principle, in the context of General Relativity, if one assumes an additional spatial dimension to the four known today. The found equations yield the same results as those in Quantum Mechanics.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Cutting-edge issues of core-collapse supernova theory

Based on multi-dimensional neutrino-radiation hydrodynamic simulations, we report several cutting-edge issues about the long-veiled explosion mechanism of core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe). In this contribution, we pay particular attention to whether three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamics and/or general relativity (GR) would or would not help the onset of explosions. By performing 3D simulations with spectral neutrino transport, we show that it is more difficult to obtain an explosion in 3D than in 2D. In addition, our results from the first generation of full general relativistic 3D simulations including approximate neutrino transport indicate that GR can foster the onset of neutrino-driven explosions. Based on our recent parametric studies using a light-bulb scheme, we discuss impacts of nuclear energy deposition behind the supernova shock and stellar rotation on the neutrino-driven mechanism, both of which have yet to be included in the self-consistent 3D supernova models. Finally we give an outlook with a summary of the most urgent tasks to extract the information about the explosion mechanisms from multi-messenger CCSN observables.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Constraints from CMB in the intermediate Brans-Dicke inflation

We study an intermediate inflationary stage in a Jordan-Brans-Dicke theory. In this scenario we analyze the quantum fluctuations corresponding to adiabatic and isocurvature modes. Our model is compared to that described by using the intermediate model in Einstein general relativity theory. We assess the status of this model in light of the seven-year WMAP data.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗