Ava Gravity Research Articles

Cancellation of divergences in the nonprojectable Hořava theory

We perform an analysis of the ultraviolet divergences of the quantum nonprojectable Ho\ifmmode \check{r}\else \v{r}\fi{}ava gravity. We work the quantum-field theory directly in the Hamiltonian formalism provided by the Batalin-Fradkin-Vilkovisky quantization. In this way the second-class constraints can be incorporated into the quantization. A known local gauge-fixing condition leads to a local canonical Lagrangian. Although the canonical fields acquire regular propagators, irregular propagators persist dangerous subdivergences. We show that all these loops cancel exactly between them due to a perfect matching between the propagators and vertices of the fields and ghosts forming the loops. The rest of the divergences behave similarly to the projectable theory, they can be removed by local counterterms. This result points to the renormalization of the nonprojectable Ho\ifmmode \check{r}\else \v{r}\fi{}ava theory.

Beta functions of ( 3+1 )-dimensional projectable Hořava gravity

We derive the full set of beta functions for the marginal essential couplings of projectable Ho\ifmmode \check{r}\else \v{r}\fi{}ava gravity in ($3+1$)-dimensional spacetime. To this end we compute the divergent part of the one-loop effective action in static background with an arbitrary spatial metric. The computation is done in several steps: reduction of the problem to three dimensions, extraction of an operator square root from the spatial part of the fluctuation operator, and evaluation of its trace using the method of universal functional traces. This provides us with the renormalization of couplings in the potential part of the action which we combine with the results for the kinetic part obtained previously. The calculation uses symbolic computer algebra and is performed in four different gauges yielding identical results for the essential beta functions. We additionally check the calculation by evaluating the effective action on a special background with spherical spatial slices using an alternative method of spectral summation. We conclude with a preliminary discussion of the properties of the beta functions and the resulting renormalization group flow, identifying several candidate asymptotically free fixed points.

Cosmological constraints on Hořava gravity revised in light of GW170817 and GRB170817A and the degeneracy with massive neutrinos

We revise the cosmological bounds on Ho\v{r}ava gravity taking into accounts the stringent constraint on the speed of propagation of gravitational waves from GW170817 and GRB170817A. In light of this we also investigate the degeneracy between massive neutrinos and Ho\v{r}ava gravity. We show that a luminal propagation of gravitational waves suppresses the large-scale Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation temperature anisotropies and the presence of massive neutrinos increases this effect. On the contrary large neutrinos mass can compensate the modifications induced by Ho\v{r}ava gravity in the lensing, matter and primordial B-mode power spectra. Another degeneracy is found, at theoretical level, between the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ and massive neutrinos as well as with the model's parameters. We analyze these effects using CMB, supernovae type Ia (SNIa), galaxy clustering and weak gravitational lensing measurements and we show how such degeneracies are removed. We find that the model's parameters are constrained to be very close to their General Relativity limits and we get a two orders of magnitude improved upper bound, with respect to the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis constraint, on the deviation of the effective gravitational constant from the Newtonian one. The deviance information criterion suggests that in Ho\v{r}ava gravity $\Sigma m_\nu>0$ is favored when CMB data only are considered, while the joint analysis of all datasets prefers zero neutrinos mass.

Relation between general relativity and a class of Hořava gravity theories

Violations of Lorentz (and specifically boost) invariance can make gravity renormalizable in the ultraviolet, as initially noted by Ho\v{r}ava, but are increasingly constrained in the infrared. At low energies, Ho\v{r}ava gravity is characterized by three dimensionless couplings, $\alpha$, $\beta$ and $\lambda$, which vanish in the general relativistic limit. Solar system and gravitational wave experiments bound two of these couplings ($\alpha$ and $\beta$) to tiny values, but the third remains relatively unconstrained ($0\leq\lambda\lesssim 0.01-0.1$). Moreover, demanding that (slowly moving) black-hole solutions are regular away from the central singularity requires $\alpha$ and $\beta$ to vanish {\it exactly}. Although a canonical constraint analysis shows that the class of khronometric theories resulting from these constraints ($\alpha=\beta=0$ and $\lambda\neq0$) cannot be equivalent to General Relativity, even in vacuum, previous calculations of the dynamics of the solar system, binary pulsars and gravitational-wave generation show perfect agreement with General Relativity. Here, we analyze spherical collapse and compute black-hole quasinormal modes, and find again that they behave {\it exactly} as in General Relativity, as far as {\it observational} predictions are concerned. Nevertheless, we find that spherical collapse leads to the formation of a regular {\it universal} horizon, i.e. a causal boundary for signals of arbitrary propagation speeds, inside the usual event horizon for matter and tensor gravitons. Our analysis also confirms that the additional scalar degree of freedom present alongside the spin-2 graviton of General Relativity remains strongly coupled at low energies, even on curved backgrounds. These puzzling results suggest that any further bounds on Ho\v{r}ava gravity will probably come from cosmology.

Towards a Unitary, Renormalizable, and Ultraviolet-Complete Quantum Theory of Gravity

For any fundamental quantum field theory, unitarity, renormalizability, and relativistic invariance are considered to be essential properties. Unitarity is inevitably connected to the probabilistic interpretation of the quantum theory, while renormalizability guarantees its completeness. Relativistic invariance, in turn, is a symmetry which derives from the structure of spacetime. So far, the perturbative attempt to formulate a fundamental local quantum field theory of gravity based on the metric field seems to be in conflict with at least one of these properties. In quantum Ho\v{r}ava gravity, a quantum Lifshitz field theory of gravity characterized by an anisotropic scaling between space and time, unitarity and renormalizability can be retained while Lorentz invariance is sacrificed at high energies and must emerge only as approximate symmetry at low energies. I review various approaches to perturbative quantum gravity with a particular focus on recent progress in the quantization of Ho\v{r}ava gravity, supporting its theoretical status as a unitary, renormalizable and ultraviolet-complete quantum theory of gravity.

Anisotropic fluid spheres in Hořava gravity and Einstein-æther theory with a nonstatic æther

In this paper we consider spherically symmetric interior spacetimes filled by anisotropic fluids in the context of Ho\v{r}ava gravity and Einstein-aether theory. We assume a specific non-static configuration of the aether vector field and show that the field equations admit a family of exact analytical solutions which can be obtained if one of the two metric coefficients is assigned. We study as an illustrative example the case in which the metric of the interior spacetime reproduces the Newtonian potential of a fluid sphere with constant density.

Neutron star sensitivities in Hořava gravity after GW170817

Ho\v{r}ava gravity breaks boost invariance in the gravitational sector by introducing a preferred time foliation. The dynamics of this preferred slicing is governed, in the low-energy limit suitable for most astrophysical applications, by three dimensionless parameters $\alpha$, $\beta$ and $\lambda$. The first two of these parameters are tightly bound by solar system and gravitational wave propagation experiments, but $\lambda$ remains relatively unconstrained ($0\leq\lambda\lesssim 0.01-0.1$). We restrict here to the parameter space region defined by $\alpha=\beta=0$ (with $\lambda$ kept generic), which in a previous paper we showed to be the only one where black hole solutions are non-pathological at the universal horizon, and we focus on possible violations of the strong equivalence principle in systems involving neutron stars. We compute neutron star 'sensitivities', which parametrize violations of the strong equivalence principle at the leading post-Newtonian order, and find that they vanish identically, like in the black hole case, for $\alpha=\beta=0$ and generic $\lambda\neq0$. This implies that no violations of the strong equivalence principle (neither in the conservative sector nor in gravitational wave fluxes) can occur at the leading post-Newtonian order in binaries of compact objects, and that data from binary pulsars and gravitational interferometers are unlikely to further constrain $\lambda$.

Towards the renormalization group flow of Hořava gravity in 3+1 dimensions

We compute the renormalization group running of the Newton constant and the parameter $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ in ($3+1$)-dimensional projectable Ho\ifmmode \check{r}\else \v{r}\fi{}ava gravity. We use the background-field method, expanding around configurations with flat spatial metric, but nonvanishing shift. This allows us to reduce the number of interaction vertices and thereby drastically simplify the calculations. The gauge-invariant $\ensuremath{\beta}$-function of $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ has two families of zeros, attractive in the infrared and ultraviolet, respectively. They are candidates for the fixed points of the full renormalization group flow of the theory, once the $\ensuremath{\beta}$-functions for the rest of the couplings are added.

Constraints on Hořava gravity from binary black hole observations

Ho\v{r}ava gravity breaks Lorentz symmetry by introducing a preferred spacetime foliation, which is defined by a timelike dynamical scalar field, the khronon. The presence of this preferred foliation makes black hole solutions more complicated than in General Relativity, with the appearance of multiple distinct event horizons: a matter horizon for light/matter fields, a spin-0 horizon for the scalar excitations of the khronon, a spin-2 horizon for tensorial gravitational waves, and even, at least in spherical symmetry, a universal horizon for instantaneously propagating modes appearing in the ultraviolet. We study how black hole solutions in Ho\v{r}ava gravity change when the black hole is allowed to move with low velocity relative to the preferred foliation. These slowly moving solutions are a crucial ingredient to compute black hole "sensitivities" and predict gravitational wave emission (and in particular dipolar radiation) from the inspiral of binary black hole systems. We find that for generic values of the theory's three dimensionless coupling constants, slowly moving black holes present curvature singularities at the universal horizon. Singularities at the spin-0 horizon also arise unless one waives the requirement of asymptotic flatness at spatial infinity. Nevertheless, we have verified that at least in a one-dimensional subset of the (three-dimensional) parameter space of the theory's coupling constants, slowly moving black holes are regular everywhere, even though they coincide with the general relativistic ones (thus implying in particular the absence of dipolar gravitational radiation). Remarkably, this subset of the parameter space essentially coincides with the one selected by the recent constraints from GW170817 and by solar system tests.

Gravitational waves and the polarizations in Hořava gravity after GW170817

The gravitational waves of Ho\v{r}ava gravity, their polarization states and their possible observational signatures are discussed. Using the gauge-invariant variable formalism, we found the three polarization modes in Ho\v{r}ava gravity excited by the three physical degrees of freedom contained in this theory. In particular, the scalar degree of freedom excites a mix of the transverse breathing and the longitudinal polarizations. The constraints from the previous experimental observations are taken into account, especially including the speed bound from the observations of GW170817 and GRB 170817A. It was found that Ho\v{r}ava theory is highly constrained. Within the experimentally allowed parametric space, we studied whether the pulsar timing arrays and the Gaia mission can be used to distinguish the different polarizations. After calculating the cross-correlation functions between the redshifts of photons and the astrometric positions of stars, one concludes that it is possible to tell whether there exits the scalar polarization using pulsar timing arrays and the Gaia mission.

Dark Energy After GW170817: Dead Ends and the Road Ahead.

Multimessenger gravitational-wave (GW) astronomy has commenced with the detection of the binary neutron star merger GW170817 and its associated electromagnetic counterparts. The almost coincident observation of both signals places an exquisite bound on the GW speed |c_{g}/c-1|≤5×10^{-16}. We use this result to probe the nature of dark energy (DE), showing that a large class of scalar-tensor theories and DE models are highly disfavored. As an example we consider the covariant Galileon, a cosmologically viable, well motivated gravity theory which predicts a variable GW speed at low redshift. Our results eliminate any late-universe application of these models, as well as their Horndeski and most of their beyond Horndeski generalizations. Three alternatives (and their combinations) emerge as the only possible scalar-tensor DE models: (1)restricting Horndeski's action to its simplest terms, (2)applying a conformal transformation which preserves the causal structure, and (3)compensating the different terms that modify the GW speed (to be robust, the compensation has to be independent on the background on which GWs propagate). Our conclusions extend to any other gravity theory predicting varying c_{g} such as Einstein-Aether, Hořava gravity, Generalized Proca, tensor-vector-scalar gravity (TEVES), and other MOND-like gravities.

Hořava Gravity is Asymptotically Free in 2+1 Dimensions.

We compute the β functions of marginal couplings in projectable Hořava gravity in 2+1 spacetime dimensions. We show that the renormalization group flow has an asymptotically free fixed point in the ultraviolet (UV), establishing the theory as a UV-complete model with dynamical gravitational degrees of freedom. Therefore, this theory may serve as a toy model to study fundamental aspects of quantum gravity. Our results represent a step forward towards understanding the UV properties of realistic versions of Hořava gravity.

Universal horizons and Hawking radiation in nonprojectable 2d Hořava gravity coupled to a nonrelativistic scalar field

In this paper, we study the non-projectable 2d Ho\v{r}ava gravity coupled with a non-relativistic scalar field, where the coupling is in general non-minimal and of the form $f(\phi)R$, where $f(\phi)$ is an arbitrary function of the scalar field $\phi$, and $R$ denotes the 2d Ricci scalar. In particular, we first investigate the Hamiltonian structure, and show that there are two-first and two-second class constraints, similar to the pure gravity case, but now the local degree of freedom is one, due to the presence of the scalar field. Then, we present various exact stationary solutions of this coupled system, and find that some of them represent black holes but now with universal horizons as their boundaries. At these horizons, the Hawking radiations are thermal with temperatures proportional to their surface gravities, which normally depend on the non-linear dispersion relations of the particles radiated, similar to the (3+1)-dimensional case.

Hamiltonian analysis of the cuscuton

The cuscuton was introduced in the context of cosmology as a field with infinite speed of propagation. It has been claimed to resemble Ho\ifmmode \check{r}\else \v{r}\fi{}ava gravity in a certain limit, and it is a good candidate for an ether theory in which a time-dependent cosmological constant appears naturally. The analysis of its properties is usually performed in the Lagrangian framework, which makes issues like the counting of its dynamical degrees of freedom less clear-cut. Here we perform a Hamiltonian analysis of the theory. We show that the homogeneous limit with local degrees of freedom has singular behavior in the Hamiltonian framework. In other frames, it has an extra scalar degree of freedom. The homogeneous field has regular behavior only if defined a priori as a spatially constant field in a constant mean curvature foliation and contributing with a single global degree of freedom. Lastly, we find conditions on the cuscuton potential for the resulting lapse function to be nonzero throughout evolution.

Uninvited guest in mixed derivative Hořava gravity

We revisit the mixed derivative extension of Ho\v{r}ava gravity which was designed to address the naturalness problems of the standard theory in the presence of matter couplings. We consider the minimal theory with mixed derivative terms that contain two spatial and two temporal derivatives. Including all terms compatible with the (modified) scaling rules and the foliation preserving diffeomorphisms, we calculate the dispersion relations of propagating modes. We find that the theory contains four propagating degrees of freedom, as opposed to three in the standard Ho\v{r}ava gravity. The new degree of freedom is another scalar graviton and it is unstable at low energies. Our result brings tension to the Lorentz violation suppression mechanism that relies on separation of scales.

Static and rotating universal horizons and black holes in gravitational theories with broken Lorentz invariance

In this paper, we show the existence of static and rotating universal horizons and black holes in gravitational theories with the broken Lorentz invariance. We pay particular attention on the ultraviolet regime, and show that universal horizons and black holes exist not only in low energy scales but also in the UV scales. This is realized by presenting various static and stationary exact solutions of the full theory of the projectable Ho\v{r}ava gravity with an extra U(1) symmetry in (2+1)-dimensions, which, by construction, is power-counting renormalizable.

Asymptotically Lifshitz spacetimes with universal horizons in (1+2) dimensions

Ho\ifmmode \check{r}\else \v{r}\fi{}ava gravity theory possesses global Lifshitz space as a solution and has been conjectured to provide a natural framework for Lifshitz holography. We derive the conditions on the two-derivative Ho\ifmmode \check{r}\else \v{r}\fi{}ava gravity Lagrangian that are necessary for static, asymptotically Lifshitz spacetimes with flat transverse dimensions to contain a universal horizon, which plays a similar thermodynamic role as the Killing horizon in general relativity. Specializing to $z=2$ in $1+2$ dimensions, we then numerically construct such regular solutions over the whole spacetime. We calculate the mass for these solutions and show that, unlike the asymptotically anti--de Sitter case, the first law applied to the universal horizon is straightforwardly compatible with a thermodynamic interpretation.

Renormalization of Hořava gravity

We prove perturbative renormalizability of projectable Ho\ifmmode \check{r}\else \v{r}\fi{}ava gravity. The key element of the argument is the choice of a gauge which ensures the correct anisotropic scaling of the propagators and their uniform falloff at large frequencies and momenta. This guarantees that the counterterms required to absorb the loop divergences are local and marginal or relevant with respect to the anisotropic scaling. Gauge invariance of the counterterms is achieved by making use of the background-covariant formalism. We also comment on the difficulties of this approach when addressing the renormalizability of the nonprojectable model.

Hořava’s quantum gravity illustrated by embedding diagrams of the Kehagias–Sfetsos spacetimes

Possible astrophysical consequences of the Ho\v{r}ava quantum gravity theory have been recently studied by several authors. They usually employ the Kehagias-Sfetsos (KS) spacetime which is a spherically symmetric vacuum solution of a specific version of Ho\v{r}ava's gravity. The KS metric has several unusual geometrical properties that in the present article we examine by means of the often used technique of embedding diagrams. We pay particular attention to the transition between naked singularity and black-hole states, which is possible along some particular sequences of the KS metrics.

Complete classification of four-dimensional black hole and membrane solutions in IR-modified Hořava gravity

Ho\v{r}ava gravity has been proposed as a renormalizable, higher-derivative gravity without ghost problems, by considering different scaling dimensions for space and time. In the non-relativistic higher-derivative generalization of Einstein gravity, the meaning and physical properties of black hole and membrane space-times are quite different from the conventional ones. Here, we study the singularity and horizon structures of such geometries in IR-modified Ho\v{r}ava gravity, where the so-called "detailed balance" condition is softly broken in IR. We classify all the viable static solutions without naked singularities and study its close connection to non-singular cosmology solutions. We find that, in addition to the usual point-like singularity at $r=0$, there exists a "surface-like" curvature singularity at finite $r=r_S$ which is the cutting edge of the real-valued space-time. The degree of divergence of such singularities is milder than those of general relativity, and the Hawking temperature of the horizons diverges when they coincide with the singularities. As a byproduct we find that, in addition to the usual "asymptotic limit," a consistent flow of coupling constants, that we called "GR flow limit," is needed in order to recover general relativity in the IR.