Background Metric Research Articles

Radial accretion flows on static spherically symmetric black holes

We analyze the steady radial accretion of matter into a nonrotating black hole. Neglecting the self-gravity of the accreting matter, we consider a rather general class of static, spherically symmetric and asymptotically flat background spacetimes with a regular horizon. In addition to the Schwarzschild metric, this class contains certain deformation of it, which could arise in alternative gravity theories or from solutions of the classical Einstein equations in the presence of external matter fields. Modeling the ambient matter surrounding the black hole by a relativistic perfect fluid, we reformulate the accretion problem as a dynamical system, and under rather general assumptions on the fluid equation of state, we determine the local and global qualitative behavior of its phase flow. Based on our analysis and generalizing previous work by Michel, we prove that for any given positive particle density number at infinity, there exists a unique radial, steady-state accretion flow which is regular at the horizon. We determine the physical parameters of the flow, including its accretion and compression rates, and discuss their dependency on the background metric.

Background independence, gauge invariance and equations of motion for closed string modes

In an earlier paper, gauge invariant and background covariant equations for closed string modes were obtained from the exact Renormalization Group of the world sheet theory. The background metric (but not the physical metric) had to be flat and hence the method was not manifestly background independent. In this paper, the restrictions on the background metric are relaxed. A simple prescription for the map from loop variables to space–time fields is given whereby for arbitrary backgrounds the equations are generally covariant and gauge invariant. Extra terms involving couplings of the curvature tensor to (derivatives of) the Stueckelberg fields have to be added. The background metric can thus be chosen to be the physical metric without any restrictions. This method thus gives manifestly background independent equations of motion for both open and closed string modes.

Massive graviton on arbitrary background: derivation, syzygies, applications

We give the detailed derivation of the fully covariant form of the quadratic action and the derived linear equations of motion for a massive graviton in an arbitrary background metric (which were presented in arXiv:1410.8302 [hep-th]). Our starting point is the de Rham-Gabadadze-Tolley (dRGT) family of ghost free massive gravities and using a simple model of this family, we are able to express this action and these equations of motion in terms of a single metric in which the graviton propagates, hence removing in particular the need for a ``reference metric" which is present in the non perturbative formulation. We show further how 5 covariant constraints can be obtained including one which leads to the tracelessness of the graviton on flat space-time and removes the Boulware-Deser ghost. This last constraint involves powers and combinations of the curvature of the background metric. The 5 constraints are obtained for a background metric which is unconstrained, i.e. which does not have to obey the background field equations. We then apply these results to the case of Einstein space-times, where we show that the 5 constraints become trivial, and Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker space-times, for which we correct in particular some results that appeared elsewhere. To reach our results, we derive several non trivial identities, syzygies, involving the graviton fields, its derivatives and the background metric curvature. These identities have their own interest. We also discover that there exist backgrounds for which the dRGT equations cannot be unambiguously linearized.

Tidal deformation of a slowly rotating material body: External metric

We construct the external metric of a slowly rotating, tidally deformed material body in general relativity. The tidal forces acting on the body are assumed to be weak and to vary slowly with time, and the metric is obtained as a perturbation of a background metric that describes the external geometry of an isolated, slowly rotating body. The tidal environment is generic and characterized by two symmetric-tracefree tidal moments E_{ab} and B_{ab}, and the body is characterized by its mass M, its radius R, and a dimensionless angular-momentum vector \chi^a << 1. The perturbation accounts for all couplings between \chi^a and the tidal moments. The body's gravitational response to the applied tidal field is measured in part by the familiar gravitational Love numbers K^{el}_2 and K^{mag}_2, but we find that the coupling between the body's rotation and the tidal environment requires the introduction of four new quantities, which we designate as rotational-tidal Love numbers. All these Love numbers are gauge invariant in the usual sense of perturbation theory, and all vanish when the body is a black hole.

Population Estimation of Urban Residential Communities Using Remotely Sensed Morphologic Data

Fine-scale population estimation in urban areas provides information useful in such fields as emergency response, epidemiological applications, and urban management. It is however a challenge because of lack of detailed building morphologic information. This research investigated the capability of LiDAR data for extraction of residential buildings and used the results for population estimation in heterogeneous environments in Indianapolis, USA. A morphological building detection algorithm was applied, to extract buildings from LiDAR point cloud, and yielded an overall detection accuracy of 95%. Extracted buildings were then categorized into nonresidential buildings, apartments, single-family houses, and other buildings based on selected geometric features (e.g., area, height, and volume) and background characteristics (vegetation and impervious cover) by a random forest classifier. Linear regression modeling, based on area, volume, and housing units, was applied to examine the relationship between census population and LiDAR-derived residential variables. The results show that morphological metrics extracted from LiDAR can be applied to classify buildings with relatively high accuracy, with an overall accuracy of 81.67%. The shape indexes contributed mostly to the residential building extraction followed by building background metrics. By excluding nonresidential buildings, the accuracy of population estimation increased from an RMSE of 20 and a mean absolute relative error (MARE) of 61.38% to an RMSE of 13 and a MARE of 33.52%. The differentiation between single-family houses and apartments contributed to the improved estimation. Additionally, the introduction of building height resulted in relatively accurate unit-based estimation. This study provides important insights into fine-scale population estimation in heterogeneous urban regions, when detailed building information is unavailable.

SU(N)BPS monopoles inM2×S2

We extend the investigation of BPS saturated t'Hooft-Polyakov monopoles in $\mathcal{M}^{2}\times S^{2}$ to the general case of $SU(N)$ gauge symmetry. This geometry causes the resulting $N-1$ coupled non-linear ordinary differential equations for the $N-1$ monopole profiles to become autonomous. One can also define a flat limit in which the curvature of the background metric is arbitrarily small but the simplifications brought in by the geometry remain. We prove analytically that non-trivial solutions in which the profiles are not proportional can be found. Moreover, we construct numerical solutions for $N=2,3$ and 4. The presence of the parameter $N$ allows one to take a smooth large $N$ limit which greatly simplifies the treatment of the infinite number of profile function equations. We show that, in this limit, the system of infinitely many coupled ordinary differential equations for the monopole profiles reduces to a single two-dimensional non-linear partial differential equation.

Bi-conformal symmetry and static Green functions in the Schwarzschild-Tangherlini spacetimes

We study a static massless minimally coupled scalar field created by a source in a static D-dimensional spacetime. We demonstrate that the corresponding equation for this field is invariant under a special transformation of the background metric. This transformation consists of the static conformal transformation of the spatial part of the metric accompanied by a properly chosen transformation of the red-shift factor. Both transformations are determined by one function Ω of the spatial coordinates. We show that in a case of higher dimensional spherically symmetric black holes one can find such a bi-conformal transformation that the symmetry of the D-dimensional metric is enhanced after its application. Namely, the metric becomes a direct sum of the metric on a unit sphere and the metric of 2D anti-de Sitter space. The method of the heat kernels is used to find the Green function in this new space, which allows one, after dimensional reduction, to obtain a static Green function in the original space of the static black hole. The general useful representation of static Green functions is obtained in the Schwarzschild-Tangherlini spacetimes of arbitrary dimension. The exact explicit expressions for the static Green functions are obtained in such metrics for D < 6. It is shown that in the four dimensional case the corresponding Green function coincides with the Copson solution.

Background independent exact renormalization group for conformally reduced gravity

Within the conformally reduced gravity model, where the metric is parametrised by a function $f(\phi)$ of the conformal factor $\phi$, we keep dependence on both the background and fluctuation fields, to local potential approximation and $\mathcal{O}(\partial^2)$ respectively, making no other approximation. Explicit appearances of the background metric are then dictated by realising a remnant diffeomorphism invariance. The standard non-perturbative Renormalization Group (RG) scale $k$ is inherently background dependent, which we show in general forbids the existence of RG fixed points with respect to $k$. By utilising transformations that follow from combining the flow equations with the modified split Ward identity, we uncover a unique background independent notion of RG scale, $\hat k$. The corresponding RG flow equations are then not only explicitly background independent along the entire RG flow but also explicitly independent of the form of $f$. In general $f(\phi)$ is forced to be scale dependent and needs to be renormalised, but if this is avoided then $k$-fixed points are allowed and furthermore they coincide with $\hat k$-fixed points.

Axial gravitational perturbations of an infinite static line source

The Levi-Civita metric, which contains a naked singularity that has been interpreted as an infinite static line source, appears, for instance, as the possible end point in the collapse of cylindrically symmetric objects such as shells of dust. The analysis of its gravitational stability should therefore be relevant in the contexts of the cosmic censorship and hoop conjectures. In this paper we study axial gravitational perturbations of the Levi-Civita metric. The perturbations are restricted to axial symmetry but break the cylindrical symmetry of the background metric. We analyze the gauge issues that arise in setting up the appropriate form of the perturbed metric and show that it is possible to restrict the perturbations to diagonal terms but that this does not fix the gauge completely. We derive and solve the perturbation equations. The solutions contain gauge-trivial parts, and we show how to extract the gauge-nontrivial components. We impose appropriate boundary conditions on the solutions and show that these lead to a boundary value problem that determines the allowed functional forms of the perturbation modes. The associated eigenvalues determine a sort of ‘dispersion relation’ for the frequencies and corresponding ‘wave vector’ components. The central result of this analysis is that the spectrum of allowed frequencies contains one unstable (imaginary frequency) mode for every possible choice of the background metric. The completeness of the mode expansion in relation to the initial value problem and to the gauge problem is discussed in detail, and we show that the perturbations contain an unstable component for generic initial data and therefore that the Levi-Civita space times are gravitationally unstable. We also include, for completeness, a set of approximate eigenvalues and examples of the functional form of the solutions.

Elliptic equations in weighted Besov spaces on asymptotically flat Riemannian manifolds

This paper deals with the applications of weighted Besov spaces to elliptic equations on asymptotically flat Riemannian manifolds, and in particular to the solutions of Einstein’s constraints equations. We establish existence theorems for the Hamiltonian and the momentum constraints with constant mean curvature and with a background metric that satisfies very low regularity assumptions. These results extend the regularity results of Holst et al. (Commun Math Phys 288:547–613, 2009) about the constraint equations on compact manifolds in the Besov space \({B_{p,p}^{s}}\), to asymptotically flat manifolds. We also consider the Brill–Cantor criterion in the weighted Besov spaces. Our results improve the regularity assumptions on asymptotically flat manifolds (Choquet-Bruhat et al. in Chin Ann Math Ser B 27(1), 31–52, 2006; Maxwell in Commun Math Phys 253(3):561–583, 2005), as well as they enable us to construct the initial data for the Einstein–Euler system.

On the gravitational scattering of gravitational waves

We discuss the scattering of weak gravitational waves from a slowly rotating gravitational source, having mass M and angular momentum . We start considering the dynamics of a massless spin-2 field propagating in the weak gravitational field of the source, writing down the Fierz–Pauli in the presence of a slightly curved background. We adopt a semiclassical framework, where the gravitational background is described as a classical external field; meanwhile, the spin-2 field is treated quantum mechanically. In the weak-coupling limit, in which the typical wavelength of satisfies (where Rs is the Schwarzschild radius of the source), we obtain the cross-section for the scattering process in the Born approximation. We also discuss helicity asymmetry, showing its relationship with the spin-2 field coupling to the derivatives of the background metric. We finally consider the transition to the case of gravitational wave scattering, showing that—under reasonable assumptions—gravitational waves are expected to follow the same behavior. Our results partly agree with those presented through the years by various authors. The present analysis suggests that the scattering of weak gravitational waves in the field of a macroscopic gravitational source still represents an interesting open issue for further careful investigation.

Conformal Spectrum and Harmonic Maps

This paper is devoted to the study of the conformal spectrum (and more precisely the first eigenvalue) of the Laplace-Beltrami operator on a smooth connected compact Riemannian surface without boundary, endowed with a conformal class. We give a constructive proof of a critical metric which is smooth except at some conical singularities and maximizes the first eigenvalue in the conformal class of the background metric. We also prove that the map associating a finite number of eigenvectors of the maximizing $\lambda_1$ into the sphere is harmonic, establishing a link between conformal spectrum and harmonic maps.

Effective matter cosmologies of massive gravity: Physical fluids

We derive new cosmological solutions of the ghost-free massive gravity with a general background metric in which the contribution of the mass sector to the metric one is modeled by an effective cosmological constant and an ideal fluid which obeys the first law of thermodynamics; thus it satisfies the ordinary energy-momentum conservation or continuity equation.

Quintessence and effective RN de Sitter brane geometries

We revisit the effective space-time torsion curvature in a second order formalism, underlying the non-linear $$U(1)$$ gauge dynamics, of a two form on a $$D_4$$ -brane. The formalism incorporates a significant global NS two form into the theory via its perturbative coupling to a dynamical two form. In particular we explore the non-linear gauge dynamics on a $$D_4$$ -brane in the presence of a non-trivial background metric. An effective de Sitter universe is shown to emerge on a vacuum created pair of $$(D{\bar{D}})_3$$ -branes by a local two form at the past horizon with the Big Bang. We obtain a number of $$4D$$ de Sitter quantum black holes with and without a propagating torsion. In a low energy limit the non-perturbative correction may be seen to be insignificant. The quantum black hole undergoes an expansion in the limit and identifies with the Einstein vacuum. Interestingly our analysis reveals a plausible quintessence (axion) on an anti- $$D_3$$ -brane which may source the dark energy in a $$D_3$$ -brane universe. Arguably a brane universe moves away from its anti-brane due to the conjectured repulsive gravity underlying the quintessence. It leads to a growth in the extra fifth dimension between a brane and an anti-brane, which may provide a clue to an accelerating universe as observed in cosmology.

Holographic Screening Length on Parallel Motion of Quark-Antiquark Pair in Four Dimensional Strongly Coupled = 4 super-Yang-Mills plasma

We study the screening length of a quark-antiquark pair moving in a strongly coupled hot plasma of = 4 super-Yang-Mills using AdS/CFT correspondence where the background metric is five dimensional AdS black hole. We take the string solution as such the separation length L of quark-antiquark pair is parallel to the string velocity v. The screening length and the bound energy are computed numerically using Mathematica. We find that the plots are bounded from below by some functions that are related to the momentum flow of the drag force configuration Pc. We compare the result by computing the screening length in the quark-antiquark reference frame by boosting the AdS black hole.

Gauge invariance and equations of motion for closed string modes

We continue earlier discussions on loop variables and the exact renormalization group on the string world sheet for closed and open string backgrounds. The world sheet action with a UV regulator is written in a generally background covariant way by introducing a background metric. It is shown that the renormalization group gives background covariant equations of motion – this is the gauge invariance of the graviton. Interaction is written in terms of gauge invariant and generally covariant field strength tensors. The basic idea is to work in Riemann normal coordinates and covariantize the final equation. It turns out that the equations for massive modes are gauge invariant only if the space–time curvature of the (arbitrary) background is zero. The exact RG equations give quadratic equations of motion for all the modes including the physical graviton. The level (2,2¯) massive field equations are used to illustrate the techniques. At this level there are mixed symmetry tensors. Gauge invariant interacting equations can be written down. In flat space an action can also be written for the free theory.

On the initial value problem for the wave equation in Friedmann-Robertson-Walker space-times.

The propagator W(t0,t1)(g,h) for the wave equation in a given space-time takes initial data (g(x),h(x)) on a Cauchy surface {(t,x) : t=t0} and evaluates the solution (u(t1,x),∂ tu(t1,x)) at other times t1. The Friedmann-Robertson-Walker space-times are defined for t0,t1>0, whereas for t0→0, there is a metric singularity. There is a spherical means representation for the general solution of the wave equation with the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker background metric in the three spatial dimensional cases of curvature K=0 and K=-1 given by S.Klainerman and P. Sarnak. We derive from the expression of their representation three results about the wave propagator for the Cauchy problem in these space-times. First, we give an elementary proof of the sharp rate of time decay of solutions with compactly supported data. Second, we observe that the sharp Huygens principle is not satisfied by solutions, unlike in the case of three-dimensional Minkowski space-time (the usual Huygens principle of finite propagation speed is satisfied, of course). Third, we show that for 0<t0<t the limit, [Formula: see text] exists, it is independent of h(x), and for all reasonable initial data g(x), it gives rise to a well-defined solution for all t>0 emanating from the space-time singularity at t=0. Under reflection t→-t, the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric gives a space-time metric for t<0 with a singular future at t=0, and the same solution formulae hold. We thus have constructed solutions u(t,x) of the wave equation in Friedmann-Robertson-Walker space-times which exist for all [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], where in conformally regularized coordinates, these solutions are continuous through the singularity t=0 of space-time, taking on specified data u(0,⋅)=g(⋅) at the singular time.

Jet quenching parameter with hyperscaling violation

In this paper we study the behavior of jet quenching parameter in the background metric with hyperscaling violation at finite temperature.The background metric is covariant under a generalized Lifshitz scaling symmetry with the dynamical exponent z and hyperscaling exponent $\theta$. We evaluate the jet quenching parameter for certain range of these parameters consistent with the Gubser bound conditions in terms of T, z and $\theta$. We compare our results with those from conformal case and experimental data. Then we add a constant electric field to this background and find its effect on the jet quenching parameter.

Dynamic field theory and equations of motion in cosmology

We discuss a field-theoretical approach based on general-relativistic variational principle to derive the covariant field equations and hydrodynamic equations of motion of baryonic matter governed by cosmological perturbations of dark matter and dark energy. The action depends on the gravitational and matter Lagrangian. The gravitational Lagrangian depends on the metric tensor and its first and second derivatives. The matter Lagrangian includes dark matter, dark energy and the ordinary baryonic matter which plays the role of a bare perturbation. The total Lagrangian is expanded in an asymptotic Taylor series around the background cosmological manifold defined as a solution of Einstein’s equations in the form of the Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker (FLRW) metric tensor. The small parameter of the decomposition is the magnitude of the metric tensor perturbation. Each term of the series expansion is gauge-invariant and all of them together form a basis for the successive post-Friedmannian approximations around the background metric. The approximation scheme is covariant and the asymptotic nature of the Lagrangian decomposition does not require the post-Friedmannian perturbations to be small though computationally it works the most effectively when the perturbed metric is close enough to the background FLRW metric. The temporal evolution of the background metric is governed by dark matter and dark energy and we associate the large scale inhomogeneities in these two components as those generated by the primordial cosmological perturbations with an effective matter density contrast δρ/ρ≤1. The small scale inhomogeneities are generated by the condensations of baryonic matter considered as the bare perturbations of the background manifold that admits δρ/ρ≫1. Mathematically, the large scale perturbations are given by the homogeneous solution of the linearized field equations while the small scale perturbations are described by a particular solution of these equations with the bare stress–energy tensor of the baryonic matter. We explicitly work out the covariant field equations of the successive post-Friedmannian approximations of Einstein’s equations in cosmology and derive equations of motion of large and small scale inhomogeneities of dark matter and dark energy. We apply these equations to derive the post-Friedmannian equations of motion of baryonic matter comprising stars, galaxies and their clusters.

En route to Background Independence: Broken split-symmetry, and how to restore it with bi-metric average actions

The most momentous requirement a quantum theory of gravity must satisfy is Background Independence, necessitating in particular an ab initio derivation of the arena all non-gravitational physics takes place in, namely spacetime. Using the background field technique, this requirement translates into the condition of an unbroken split-symmetry connecting the (quantized) metric fluctuations to the (classical) background metric. If the regularization scheme used violates split-symmetry during the quantization process it is mandatory to restore it in the end at the level of observable physics. In this paper we present a detailed investigation of split-symmetry breaking and restoration within the Effective Average Action (EAA) approach to Quantum Einstein Gravity (QEG) with a special emphasis on the Asymptotic Safety conjecture. In particular we demonstrate for the first time in a non-trivial setting that the two key requirements of Background Independence and Asymptotic Safety can be satisfied simultaneously. Carefully disentangling fluctuation and background fields, we employ a ‘bi-metric’ ansatz for the EAA and project the flow generated by its functional renormalization group equation on a truncated theory space spanned by two separate Einstein–Hilbert actions for the dynamical and the background metric, respectively. A new powerful method is used to derive the corresponding renormalization group (RG) equations for the Newton- and cosmological constant, both in the dynamical and the background sector. We classify and analyze their solutions in detail, determine their fixed point structure, and identify an attractor mechanism which turns out instrumental in the split-symmetry restoration. We show that there exists a subset of RG trajectories which are both asymptotically safe and split-symmetry restoring: In the ultraviolet they emanate from a non-Gaussian fixed point, and in the infrared they loose all symmetry violating contributions inflicted on them by the non-invariant functional RG equation. As an application, we compute the scale dependent spectral dimension which governs the fractal properties of the effective QEG spacetimes at the bi-metric level. Earlier tests of the Asymptotic Safety conjecture almost exclusively employed ‘single-metric truncations’ which are blind towards the difference between quantum and background fields. We explore in detail under which conditions they can be reliable, and we discuss how the single-metric based picture of Asymptotic Safety needs to be revised in the light of the new results. We shall conclude that the next generation of truncations for quantitatively precise predictions (of critical exponents, for instance) is bound to be of the bi-metric type.