Galileon Theory Research Articles

Color-kinematics duality for nonlinear sigma models with nonsymmetric cosets

We propose an extension of the color-kinematics duality for nonlinear sigma models with nonymmetric cosets. The role of color is replaced with curvatures in field space. The duality between curvature and kinematics allows for a new double copy: the double copy of the nonlinear sigma model for nonsymmetric cosets is the general Galileon theory. We provide evidence for this new double copy of geometry. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Scrutinizing black hole stability in cubic vector Galileon theories

In a subclass of generalized Proca theories where a cubic vector Galileon term breaks the U(1) gauge invariance, it is known that there are static and spherically symmetric black hole (BH) solutions endowed with nonvanishing temporal and longitudinal vector components. Such hairy BHs are present for a vanishing vector-field mass (m=0) with a non-zero cubic Galileon coupling β 3. We study the linear stability of those hairy BHs by considering even-parity perturbations in the eikonal limit. In the angular direction, we show that one of the three dynamical perturbations has a nontrivial squared propagation speed c Ω,1 2, while the other two dynamical modes are luminal.We could detect two different unstable behaviors of perturbations in all the parameter spaces of hairy asymptotically flat BH solutions we searched for. In the first case, an angular Laplacian instability on the horizon is induced by negative c Ω,1 2. For the second case, it is possible to avoid this horizon instability, but in such cases, the positivity of c Ω,1 2 is violated at large distances. Hence these hairy BHs are generally prone to Laplacian instabilities along the angular direction in some regions outside the horizon. Moreover, we also encounter a pathological behavior of the radial propagation speeds c r possessing two different values of c r 2 for one of the dynamical perturbations. Introducing the vector-field mass m to cubic vector Galileons, however, we show that the resulting no-hair Schwarzschild BH solution satisfies all the linear stability conditions in the small-scale limit, with luminal propagation speeds of three dynamical even-parity perturbations.

Scalar induced gravity waves from ultra slow-roll galileon inflation

We consider the production of secondary gravity waves in Galileon inflation with an ultra-slow roll (USR) phase and show that the spectrum of scalar-induced gravitational waves (SIGWs) in this case is consistent with the recent NANOGrav 15-year data and with sensitivities of other ground and space-based missions, LISA, BBO, DECIGO, CE, ET, HLVK (consists of aLIGO, aVirgo, and KAGRA), and HLV(03). Thanks to the non-renormalization property of Galileon theory, the amplitude of the large fluctuation is controllable at the sharp transitions between SR and USR regions. We show that the behavior of the GW spectrum, when one-loop effects are included in the scalar power spectrum, is preserved under a shift of the sharp transition scale with peak amplitude ΩGWh2∼O(10−6), and hence it can cover a wide range of frequencies within O(10−9Hz−107Hz). An analysis of the allowed mass range for primordial black holes (PBHs) is also performed, where we find that mass values ranging from O(1M⊙−10−18M⊙) can be generated over the corresponding allowed range of low and high frequencies.

Primordial non-Gaussianity as a saviour for PBH overproduction in SIGWs generated by pulsar timing arrays for Galileon inflation

We investigate the explicit role of negative local non-Gaussianity, fNL, in suppressing the abundance of primordial black holes (PBHs) in the single-field model of Galileon inflation. PBH formation requires significantly enhancing the scalar power spectrum, which greatly affects their abundance. The associated frequencies in the nHz regime are also sensitive to the generation of scalar-induced gravitational waves (SIGWs) which may explain the current data from the pulsar timing arrays (PTAs). Our analysis using the threshold statistics on the compaction function demonstrates that Galileon theory not only avoids PBH overproduction using the curvature perturbation enhancements that give fNL∼O(−6), but also generates SIGWs that conform well with the PTA data.

Pions from higher-dimensional gluons: general realizations and stringy models

In this paper we revisit the general phenomenon that scattering amplitudes of pions can be obtained from “dimensional reduction” of gluons in higher dimensions in a more general context. We show that such “dimensional reduction” operations universally turn gluons into pions regardless of details of interactions: under such operations any amplitude that is gauge invariant and contains only local simple poles becomes one that satisfies Adler zero in the soft limit. As two such examples, we show that starting from gluon amplitudes in both superstring and bosonic string theories, the operations produce “stringy” completion of pion scattering amplitudes to all orders in α′, with leading order given by non-linear sigma model amplitudes. Via Kawai-Lewellen-Tye relations, they give closed-stringy completion for Born-Infeld theory and the special Galileon theory, which are directly related to gravity amplitudes in closed-string theories. We also discuss how they naturally produce stringy models for mixed amplitudes of pions and colored scalars.

Simulating a numerical UV completion of quartic Galileons

The Galileon theory is a prototypical effective field theory that incorporates the Vainshtein screening mechanism—a feature that arises in some extensions of general relativity, such as massive gravity. The Vainshtein effect requires that the theory contain higher order derivative interactions, which results in Galileons, and theories like them, failing to be technically well posed. While this is not a fundamental issue when the theory is correctly treated as an effective field theory, it nevertheless poses significant practical problems when numerically simulating this model. These problems can be tamed using a number of different approaches: introducing an active low-pass filter and/or constructing a UV completion at the level of the equations of motion, which controls the high momentum modes. These methods have been tested on cubic Galileon interactions, and have been shown to reproduce the correct low-energy behavior. Here we show how the numerical UV-completion method can be applied to quartic Galileon interactions, and present the first simulations of the quartic Galileon model using this technique. We demonstrate that our approach can probe physics in the regime of the effective field theory in which the quartic term dominates, while successfully reproducing the known results for cubic interactions. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Scalar radiation with a quartic Galileon

The class of Galileon scalar fields theories encapsulate the Vainshtein screening mechanism, which is characteristic of a large range of infrared modified theories of gravity. Such theories can lead to testable departures from general relativity through fifth forces and new scalar modes of gravitational radiation. However, the inherent nonlinearity of the Vainshtein mechanism has limited analytic attempts to describe Galileon theories with both cubic and quartic interactions. To improve on this, we perform direct numerical simulations of the quartic Galileon model for a rotating binary source and infer the power spectrum of given multipoles. To tame numerical instabilities we utilize a low-pass filter, extending previous work on the cubic Galileon. Our findings show that the multipole expansion is well defined and under control. Moreover, our results confirm that despite being a nonlinear scalar, the dominant Galileon radiation is quadrupole, and we find a new scaling behavior deep inside the Vainshtein region. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Spherical collapse and halo abundance in shift-symmetric Galileon theory

Spherical collapse and halo abundance in shift-symmetric Galileon theory

Fully consistent rotating black holes in the cubic Galileon theory

Configurations of rotating black holes in the cubic Galileon theory are computed by means of spectral methods. The equations are written in the formalism and the coordinates are based on the maximal slicing condition and the spatial harmonic gauge. The black holes are described as apparent horizons in equilibrium. It enables the first fully consistent computation of rotating black holes in this theory. Several quantities are extracted from the solutions. In particular, the vanishing of the mass is confirmed. A link is made between that and the fact that the solutions do not obey the zeroth-law of black hole thermodynamics.

Primordial non-Gaussianity from ultra slow-roll Galileon inflation

We present a detailed study of the generation of large primordial non-Gaussianities during the slow-roll (SR) to ultra-slow roll (USR) transitions in the framework of Galileon inflation. We found out that due to having sharp transitions in the USR phase, which persist with a duration of Δ𝒩USR ∼ 2 e-folds, we are able to generate the non-Gaussianity amplitude of the order: |f NL| ∼ 𝒪(10-2) in the SRI, -5 < f NL < 5 in the USR, and -2 < f NL < 2 in the SRII phases. As a result, we are able to achieve a cumulative average value of |f NL| ∼ 𝒪(1). This implies that our results strictly satisfy Maldacena's no-go theorem in the squeezed limit only for SRI, while they strictly violate the same condition in both the USR and SRII phases.The non-renormalization theorem in the Galileon theory helps to support our results regarding the generation of large mass primordial black holes along with large non-Gaussianities, which we show to be dependent on the specific positions of the transition wave numbers fixed at low scales.

Extensions of two-field mimetic gravity

Two-field mimetic gravity was recently realized by looking at the singular limit of the conformal transformation between the auxiliary metric and the physical metric with two scalar fields involved. In this paper, we reanalyze the singular conformal limit and find a more general solution for the conformal factor A, which greatly broadens the form of two-field mimetic constraint and thus extends the two-field mimetic gravity. We find the general setup still mimics the role of dark matter at the cosmological background level. Moreover, we extend the action by introducing extra possible term for phenomenological interests. Surprisingly, some special cases are found to be equivalent to general relativity, k-essence theory and Galileon theory. Finally, we further extend the theory by allowing the expression of mimetic constraint to be arbitrary without imposed condition, and show that the dark matter-like behavior is unaffected even in this extension.

Smoothly splitting amplitudes and semi-locality

In this paper, we study a novel behavior developed by certain tree-level scalar scattering amplitudes, including the biadjoint, NLSM, and special Galileon, when a subset of kinematic invariants vanishes without producing a singularity. This behavior exhibits properties which we call smooth splitting and semi-locality. The former means that an amplitude becomes the product of exactly three amputated Berends-Giele currents, while the latter means that any two currents share one external particle. We call these smooth splittings 3-splits. In fact, there are exactly left(begin{array}{c}n {}3end{array}right)-n such 3-splits of an n-particle amplitude, one for each tripod in a polygon; as they cannot be obtained from standard factorization, they are a new phenomenon in Quantum Field Theory. In fact, the resulting splitting is analogous to the one first seen in Cachazo-Early-Guevara-Mizera (CEGM) amplitudes which generalize standard cubic scalar amplitudes from their Tr G(2, n) formulation to Tr G(k, n), where Tr G(k, n) is the tropical Grassmannian. Along the way, we show how smooth splittings naturally lead to the discovery of mixed amplitudes in the NLSM and special Galileon theories and to novel BCFW-like recursion relations for NLSM amplitudes.

Double copy for massive scalar field theories

We explore extensions of the double copy to massive theories and find a new cubic theory with a local double copy. We consider the nonlinear sigma model and the special galileon theory, massless versions of which are known to be related through the double copy. We show that by performing a Kaluza-Klein reduction of these theories from five dimensions down to four, a double copy relation exists between the resulting massive four-dimensional scalar field theories. This requires the vanishing contribution of new galileon terms arising in high dimensions. We further explore if other interactions that do not arise from a dimensional reduction of the nonlinear sigma model could be double copied and find a new cubic interaction which satisfies the BCJ relations up to 5-point amplitudes.

Effective field theories and cosmological scattering equations

We propose worldsheet formulae for wavefunction coefficients of the massive non-linear sigma model (NLSM), scalar Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI), and special Galileon (sGal) theories in de Sitter momentum space in terms of the recently proposed cosmological scattering equations constructed from conformal generators in the future boundary. The four-point integrands are assembled from simple building blocks and we identify a double copy prescription mapping the NLSM wavefunction coefficient to the DBI and sGal wavefunction coefficients, including mass deformations and curvature corrections. Finally, we compute the soft limits of these wavefunction coefficients and find that they can be written in terms of boundary conformal generators acting on contact diagrams.

Transmutation operators and expansions for one-loop Feynman integrands

In this paper, the connections among $1$-loop Feynman integrands of a large variety of theories with massless external states are further investigated. The work includes two parts. First, we construct a new class of differential operators which transmute the $1$-loop gravitational Feynman integrands to $1$-loop Yang-Mills Feynman integrands. The new operators are commutable with the integration of loop momentum, thus the corresponding transmutational relations hold at not only the integrands level, but also the $1$-loop amplitudes level. Secondly, by using $1$-loop level transmutational relations, together with some general requirements such as gauge and Lorentz invariance, we derive the expansions of the Feynman integrands of one theory to those of other theories. The unified web for expansions is established, including a wide range of theories which are gravitational theory, Einstein-Yang-Mills theory, Einstein-Maxwell theory, Born-Infeld theory, pure Yang-Mills theory, Yang-Mills-scalar theory, special Yang-Mills-scalar theory, Dirac-Born-Infeld theory, extended Dirac-Born-Infeld theory, special Galileon theory, non-linear sigma model. The systematic rules for evaluating coefficients in the expansions are provided, and the duality between transmutational relations and expansions is shown.

Universal expansions of scattering amplitudes for gravitons, gluons, and Goldstone particles

Tree-level scattering amplitudes for gravitons, gluons and Goldstone particles in any dimensions are strongly constrained by basic principles, and they are intimately related to each other via various relations. We study two types of "universal expansions" with respect to gauge bosons and Goldstone bosons: the former express tree amplitudes in Einstein gravity (Yang-Mills) as linear combinations of single-trace Einstein-Yang-Mills (Yang-Mills-$\phi^3$) amplitudes with coefficients given by Lorentz products of polarizations and momenta; the latter express tree amplitudes in non-linear sigma model, (Dirac-)Born-Infeld and a special Galileon theory, as linear combinations of single-trace mixed amplitudes with particles of lower "degree of Adler's zero" and coefficients given by products of Mandelstam variables. We trace the origin of gauge-theory expansions to the powerful uniqueness theorem based on gauge invariance, and expansions in effective field theories can be derived from gauge-theory ones via a special dimension reduction.

Towards color-kinematics duality in generic spacetimes

In this note, we study color-kinematics duality in generic spacetimes. We work with a contact representation for on shell correlators. The position-space integrand is encoded by enumerated differential operators. This setup generalizes certain features of S-matrix kinematics to curved space. Differences between flat and curved space are captured by commutators. We study the nonlinear sigma model at four points as an explicit example and find that color-kinematics duality holds in generic spacetimes. We illustrate our approach in the AdS transition amplitude, a type of on shell correlation function. We find a double copy procedure at four points that connects the nonlinear sigma model, the biadjoint scalar theory, and the special Galileon theory.

Equatorial orbits and imaging of hairy cubic Galileon black holes

Null and timelike equatorial orbits are investigated in a family of hairy black holes in the cubic Galileon theory. These include rotating generalizations of static black hole metrics supporting a time-dependent scalar field. Depending on the coupling and rotation, the properties of the geodesics expectedly deviate from general relativity. In particular, it is found that stable circular geodesics only exist below a critical coupling, which is related to the existence of an outermost stable circular orbit. Focusing on the strong-field region, images of an accretion disk are also produced to highlight tendencies that would constrain the model given further accurate observations of supermassive black holes.

Shift-symmetric \U0001d5b2\U0001d5ae(\U0001d5ad) multi-Galileon

A Poincarè invariant, local scalar field theory in which the Lagrangian and the equation of motion contain only up to second-order derivatives of the fields is called generalized Galileon. The covariant version of it in four dimensions is called Horndeski theory, and has been vigorously studied in applications to inflation and dark energy. In this paper, we study a class of multi-field extensions of the generalized Galileon theory. By imposing shift and SO(N) symmetries on all the currently known multi-Galileon terms in general dimensions, we find that the structure of the Lagrangian is uniquely determined and parameterized by a series of coupling constants. We also study tensor perturbation in the shift-symmetric SO(3) multi-Galileon theory in four dimensions. The tensor perturbations can obtain a mass term stemming from the same symmetry breaking pattern as the solid inflation. We also find that the shift-symmetric SO(3) multi-Galileon theory gives rise to new cubic interactions of the tensor modes, suggesting the existence of a new type of tensor primordial non-Gaussianity.

On differential operators and unifying relations for 1-loop Feynman integrands

We generalize the unifying relations for tree amplitudes to the 1-loop Feynman integrands. By employing the 1-loop CHY formula, we construct differential operators which transmute the 1-loop gravitational Feynman integrand to Feynman integrands for a wide range of theories, including Einstein-Yang-Mills theory, Einstein-Maxwell theory, pure Yang-Mills theory, Yang-Mills-scalar theory, Born-Infeld theory, Dirac-Born-Infeld theory, bi-adjoint scalar theory, non-linear sigma model, as well as special Galileon theory. The unified web at 1-loop level is established. Under the well known unitarity cut, the 1-loop level operators will factorize into two tree level operators. Such factorization is also discussed.