Late-time Behavior Research Articles

Holographic complexity of Born\u2013Infeld gravity

We investigate the duality conjecture “Complexity=Action” (CA) for Born–Infeld (BI) gravity model and derive the growth rate of its action within the Wheeler–DeWitt (WDW) patch, which is believed to be dual to the growth rate of quantum complexity of holographic boundary state. In order to find the correct on-shell action, we use direct variational procedure to find proper boundary and corner terms. We find out that the late-time behavior of holographic complexity is the well-known two times of energy, as expected.

Hot cosmic qubits: late-time de Sitter evolution and critical slowing down

Temporal evolution of a comoving qubit coupled to a scalar field in de Sitter space is studied with an emphasis on reliable extraction of late-time behaviour. The phenomenon of critical slowing down is observed if the effective mass is chosen to be sufficiently close to zero, which narrows the window of parameter space in which the Markovian approximation is valid. The dynamics of the system in this case are solved in a more general setting by accounting for non-Markovian effects in the evolution of the qubit state. Self-interactions for the scalar field are also incorporated, and reveal a breakdown of late-time perturbative predictions due to the presence of secular growth.

Perturbations of an extremal Kerr spacetime: Analytic framework and late-time tails

We develop a complete and systematic analytical approach to field perturbations of extremal Kerr spacetime based on the formalism of Mano, Suzuki and Takasugi (MST) for the Teukolsky equation. Analytical expressions for the radial solutions and frequency-domain Green function in terms of infinite series of special functions are presented. As an application, we compute, for the first time, the leading late-time behavior due to the branch point at zero frequency of scalar, gravitational, and electromagnetic field perturbations on and off the event horizon. We also use the MST method to compute the leading behavior of the Green function modes near the branch point at the superradiant bound frequency and show that this behavior agrees with existing results in the literature using a different method.

Anisotropic evolution of D-dimensional FRW spacetime

We examine the time evolution of the D=d+4 dimensional Einstein field equations subjected to a flat Robertson-Walker metric where the 3D and higher-dimensional scale factors are allowed to evolve at different rates. We find the exact solution to these equations for a single fluid component, which yields two limiting regimes offering the 3D scale factor as a function of the time. The fluid regime solution closely mimics that described by 4D FRW cosmology, offering a late-time behavior for the 3D scale factor after becoming valid in the early universe, and can give rise to a late-time accelerated expansion driven by vacuum energy. This is shown to be preceded by an earlier volume regime solution, which offers a very early-time epoch of accelerated expansion for a radiation-dominated universe for d=1. The time scales describing these phenomena, including the transition from volume to fluid regime, are shown to fall within a small fraction of the first second when the fundamental constants of the theory are aligned with the Planck time. This model potentially offers a higher-dimensional alternative to scalar-field inflationary theory and a consistent cosmological theory, yielding a unified description of early- and late-time accelerated expansions via a 5D spacetime scenario.

How does a collapsing star look?

Time evolution of an optical image of a pressureless star under gravitational collapse is studied in the geometric optics approximation. The star surface is assumed to emit radiation obeying Lambert's cosine law but with an arbitrary spectral intensity in the comoving frame. We develop a formalism for predicting observable quantities by photon counting and by radiometry, in particular, spectral photon flux and spectral radiant flux. Then, this method is applied to the two cases: One is monochromatic radiation, and the other is blackbody radiation. The two kinds of spectral flux are calculated numerically for each case. It is reconfirmed that the redshift factor remains finite and the star becomes gradually invisible due to decay of the photon flux. We also develop an approximate method to present analytic formulas that describe the late time behavior. A possible connection of our study to observation of high-energy neutrinos is briefly discussed.

Swampland conjecture in f(R) gravity by the Noether symmetry approach

Swampland conjecture has been recently proposed to connect early time cosmological models with the string landscape, and then to understand if related scalar fields and potentials can come from some fundamental theory in the high energy regime. In this paper, we discuss swampland criteria for $f(R)$ gravity considering models where duality symmetry is present. In this perspective, specific $f(R)$ models can naturally belong to the string landscape. In particular, it is possible to show that duality is a Noether symmetry emerging from dynamics. The selected $f(R)$ models, satisfying the swampland conjecture, are consistent, in principle, with both early and late-time cosmological behaviors.

Late time approach to Hawking radiation: Terms beyond leading order

Black hole evaporation is studied using wave packets for the modes. These allow for approximate frequency and time resolution. The leading order late time behavior gives the well known Hawking radiation that is independent of how the black hole formed. The focus here is on the higher order terms and the rate at which they damp at late times. Some of these terms carry information about how the black hole formed. A general argument is given which shows that the damping is significantly slower (power law) than what might be naively expected from a stationary phase approximation (exponential). This result is verified by numerical calculations in the cases of 2D and 4D black holes that form from the collapse of a null shell.

Vacuum induced dispersions on the motion of test particles in D+1 dimensions

When the vacuum state of a scalar or electromagnetic field is modified by the presence of a reflecting boundary, an interacting test particle undergoes velocity fluctuations. Such effect is regarded as a sort of quantum analog of the classical Brownian motion. Several aspects about this system have been recently investigated in the literature, for instance, finite temperature effects, curved spacetime framework, near-boundary regime, late time behavior, and subvacuum phenomena. Here, further steps are given in this analysis by considering the effect of vacuum fluctuations of a scalar field in the presence of a perfectly reflecting flat boundary over the motion of a scalar test particle when the background field does not satisfy the Huygens' principle. Specifically, the background field is allowed to have mass and the system is studied in $D+1$ dimensions. A method of implementing a smooth transition between distinct states of the field is also developed, rendering regularized analytic expressions describing the velocity fluctuations of the test particle. This method is applied to study some special behaviors of the system. Possible applications include fields known to occur in nature as, for instance, the massive Higgs' field, for which the velocity fluctuations are here predicted to acquire a characteristic oscillation, thus behaving differently from their electromagnetic counterparts.

Many-body delocalization dynamics in long Aubry-André quasiperiodic chains

We study quench dynamics in an interacting spin chain with a quasi-periodic on-site field, known as the interacting Aubry-Andr\'e model of many-body localization. Using the time-dependent variational principle, we assess the late-time behavior for chains up to $L = 50$. We find that the choice of periodicity $\Phi$ of the quasi-periodic field influences the dynamics. For $\Phi = (\sqrt{5}-1)/2$ (the inverse golden ratio) and interaction $\Delta = 1$, the model most frequently considered in the literature, we obtain the critical disorder $W_c = 4.8 \pm 0.5$ in units where the non-interacting transition is at $W = 2$. At the same time, for periodicity $\Phi = \sqrt{2}/2$ we obtain a considerably higher critical value, $W_c = 7.8 \pm 0.5$. Finite-size effects on the critical disorder $W_c$ are much weaker than in the purely random case. This supports the enhancement of $W_c$ in the case of a purely random potential by rare "ergodic spots," which do not occur in the quasi-periodic case. Further, the data suggest that the decay of the antiferromagnetic order in the delocalized phase is faster than a power law.

A study of an Einstein Gauss-Bonnet quintessential inflationary model

In this paper we study a class of quintessential Einstein Gauss-Bonnet models, focusing on their early and late-time phenomenology. With regard to the early-time phenomenology, we formalize the slow-roll evolution of these models and we calculate in detail the spectral index of the primordial curvature perturbations and the tensor-to-scalar ratio. As we demonstrate, the resulting observational indices can be compatible with both the Planck and the BICEP2/Keck-Array observational constraints on inflation. With regard to the late-time behavior, by performing a numerical analysis we demonstrate that the class of models for which the coupling function ξ(ϕ) to the Gauss-Bonnet scalar satisfies ξ(ϕ)∼1V(ϕ), produce a similar pattern of evolution, which at late-times is characterized by a decelerating era until some critical redshift, at which point the Universe super-decelerates and subsequently accelerates until present time, with a decreasing rate though. The critical redshift crucially depends on the initial conditions chosen for the scalar field and for all the quintessential Einstein Gauss-Bonnet models studied, the late-time era is realized for large values of the scalar field.

Signature of quantum chaos in operator entanglement in 2d CFTs

We study operator entanglement measures of the unitary evolution operators of (1 + 1)-dimensional conformal field theories (CFTs), aiming to uncover their scrambling and chaotic behaviors. In particular, we compute the bi-partite and tri-partite mutual information for various configurations of input and output subsystems, and as a function of time. We contrast three different CFTs: the free fermion theory, compactified free boson theory at various radii, and CFTs with holographic dual. We find that the bi-partite mutual information exhibits distinct behaviors for these different CFTs, reflecting the different information scrambling capabilities of these unitary operators; while a quasi-particle picture can describe the case of the free fermion and free boson CFTs well, it completely fails for the case of holographic CFTs. Similarly, the tri-partite mutual information also distinguishes the unitary evolution operators of different CFTs. In particular, its late-time behaviors, when the output subsystems are semi-infinite, are quite distinct for these theories. We speculate that for holographic theories the late-time saturation value of the tri-partite mutual information takes the largest possible negative value and saturates the lower bound among quantum field theories.

Beyond the poles in attractor models of inflation

We offer a geometric interpretation of attractor theories with singular kinetic terms as a union of multiple canonical models. We demonstrate that different domains (separated by poles) can drastically differ in their phenomenology. We illustrate this with the help of a “master model” that leads to distinct predictions depending on which side of the pole the field evolves before examining the more realistic example of α-attractor models. Such models lead to quintessential inflation within the poles when featuring an exponential potential. However, beyond the poles, we discover a novel behaviour: the scalar field responsible for the early-time acceleration of the Universe may reach the boundary of the field-space manifold, indicating that the theory is incomplete and that a boundary condition must be imposed in order to determine its late-time behaviour. If the evolution of the field is arrested before this happens, however, we discover that quintessence can be achieved without a potential offset. Turning to multifield models with singular kinetic terms, we see that poles generalise straightforwardly to singular curves, which act as “model walls” between distinct pole-free inflationary models. As an example, we study a simple two-field α-attractor-inspired model, whose evolution of isocurvature perturbations is sensitive to where the non-canonical field begins its trajectory. We finally discuss initial conditions in attractor theories, where the existence of multiple disconnected canonical models implies that we must make a fundamental choice: in which domain we impose a distribution for the inflaton in order to then determine the likelihood of inflation.

More on complexity in finite cut off geometry

It has been recently proposed that late time behavior of holographic complexity in a uncharged black brane solution of Einstein-Hilbert theory with boundary cut off is consistent with Lloyd's bound if we have a cut off behind the horizon. Interestingly, the value of this new cut off is fixed by the boundary cut off. In this paper, we extend this analysis to the charged black holes. Concretely, we find the value of this new cut off for charged small black hole solutions of Einstein-Hilbert-Maxwell theory, in which the proposed bound on the complexification is saturated. We also explore this new cut off in Gauss-Bonnet-Maxwell theory.

On the Growth and Saturation of the Gyroresonant Streaming Instabilities

Abstract The self-regulation of cosmic-ray (CR) transport in the interstellar and intracluster media has long been viewed through the lenses of linear and quasi-linear kinetic plasma physics. Such theories are believed to capture the essence of CR behavior in the presence of self-generated turbulence but cannot describe potentially critical details arising from the nonlinearities of the problem. We utilize the particle-in-cell numerical method to study the time-dependent nonlinear behavior of the gyroresonant streaming instabilities, self-consistently following the combined evolution of particle distributions and self-generated wave spectra in one-dimensional periodic simulations. We demonstrate that the early growth of instability conforms to the predictions from linear physics, but that the late-time behavior can vary depending on the properties of the initial CR distribution. We emphasize that the nonlinear stages of instability depend strongly on the initial anisotropy of CRs—highly anisotropic CR distributions do not efficiently reduce to Alfvénic drift velocities, owing to reduced production of left-handed resonant modes. We derive estimates for the wave amplitudes at saturation and the timescales for nonlinear relaxation of the CR distribution and then demonstrate the applicability of these estimates to our simulations. Bulk flows of the background plasma due to the presence of resonant waves are observed in our simulations, confirming the microphysical basis of CR-driven winds.

A year in the life of GW170817: the rise and fall of a structured jet from a binary neutron star merger

Abstract We present the results of our year-long afterglow monitoring of GW170817, the first binary neutron star (NS) merger detected by advanced LIGO and advanced Virgo. New observations with the Australian Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) and the Chandra X-ray Telescope were used to constrain its late-time behavior. The broadband emission, from radio to X-rays, is well-described by a simple power-law spectrum with index β ∼0.585 at all epochs. After an initial shallow rise ∝ t0.9, the afterglow displayed a smooth turn-over, reaching a peak X-ray luminosity of LX≈5 ×1039 erg s−1 at 160 d, and has now entered a phase of rapid decline, approximately ∝ t−2. The latest temporal trend challenges most models of choked jet/cocoon systems, and is instead consistent with the emergence of a relativistic structured jet seen at an angle of ≈22○ from its axis. Within such model, the properties of the explosion (such as its blastwave energy EK ≈ 2 × 1050 erg, jet width θc ≈4○, and ambient density n ≈3 × 10−3 cm−3) fit well within the range of properties of cosmological short GRBs.

Capillary imbibition in cement-based materials with time-dependent permeability

Models of capillary imbibition (or absorption) generally assume that materials remain stable during wetting, and that transport properties do not change. This is also assumed in standard tests to measure the sorptivity of porous construction materials. Anomalies in the water imbibition behaviour of cement-based materials are occasionally reported. In some cases, these may arise from the alteration of materials on contact with water. The property most sensitive to wetting is the permeability. Here, a Sharp Front imbibition model is developed that incorporates a time-varying permeability. The concept of a contact time is introduced to describe the duration of contact between material and water at any location. Imbibition kinetics shows a crossover from early-time to late-time behaviour. During crossover, there is a deviation from standard (time)1/2 behaviour, as the permeability decrease retards the advance of the wet front. Published experimental data are well represented by the model.

Evolution of relativistic thin discs with a finite ISCO stress – II. Late time behaviour

ABSTRACT We present solutions to the relativistic thin disc evolutionary equation using a modified description of the mean fluid flow within the disc. The model takes into account the effects of sub-circular velocities in the innermost disc regions, and resolves otherwise unsustainable behaviour present in simple finite innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) stress disc models. We show that the behaviour of a relativistic thin disc evolving with a finite ISCO stress is comprised of three distinct stages which join the ordinarily distinct finite and vanishing ISCO stress solutions into a fully continuous model parametrization. The most important prediction of our model is the existence of an intermediate stage of ‘stalled accretion’, controlled by a single dimensionless parameter. The hallmarks of this evolutionary phase appear to have been seen in General Relativistic MHD simulations as well as in the late time X-ray observations of tidal disruption events, but dedicated simulations and extended observations are needed for a deeper understanding.

Bayesian evidence for α-attractor dark energy models

Dark energy models with tracker properties have gained attention due to the large range of initial conditions leading to the current value of the dark energy density parameter. A well-motivated family of these models are the so-called α-attractors, which show the late time behavior of a cosmological constant. In the present paper we perform a model-selection analysis of a variety of α-attractor potentials in comparison with a non-flat ΛCDM model. Specifically, we compute the Bayes Factor for the L-Model, the Oscillatory Tracker Model, the Recliner Model, and the Starobinsky Model, while considering the non-flat ΛCDM as the base model. Each model is tested through a Bayesian analysis using observations relevant to the current accelerated expansion: we employ the latest SNe Ia data, combined with cosmic clocks, the latest BOSS release of BAO data, and the Planck Compressed 2018 data. The produced Markov Chains for each model are further compared through a Bayesian evidence analysis. From the latter we conclude that the Oscillatory Tracker Model is preferred by data (even if weakly) over the non-flat ΛCDM model. Our results also suggest at the L-model is the least favoured version of the α-attractor models considered.

Asymptotic states for stationary Unruh-DeWitt detectors

We study the late-time asymptotic state of a stationary Unruh-DeWitt detector interacting with a field in a thermal state. We work in an open system framework, where the field plays the role of an environment for the detector. The long-time interaction between the detector and the field is modelled with the aid of a one-parameter family of switching functions that turn on and off the interaction Hamiltonian between the two subsystems, such that the long-time interaction limit is reached as the family parameter goes to infinity. In such limit, we show that if the field is in a Kubo-Martin-Schwinger (KMS) state and the detector is stationary with respect to the notion of positive frequency of the field, in the Born-Markov approximation, the asymptotic state of the detector is a Gibbs state at the KMS temperature. We then relax the KMS condition for the field state, and require only that a frequency-dependent version of the detailed balance condition for the Wightman function pulled back to the detector worldline hold, in the sense that the inverse temperature appearing in the detailed balance relation need not be constant. In this setting, we show that the late-time asymptotic state of the detector has the form of a thermal density matrix, but with a frequency-dependent temperature. We present examples of these results, which include the classical Unruh effect and idealised Hawking radiation (for fields in the HHI state), and also the study of the late-time behaviour of detectors following stationary "cusped" and circular motions in Minkowski space interacting with a massless Klein-Gordon field in the Minkowski vacuum. In the cusped motion case, a frequency-dependent, effective temperature for the asymptotic late-time detector state is obtained analytically. In the circular motion case, such effective temperature is obtained numerically.

Spectral form factor in non-Gaussian random matrix theories

We consider Random Matrix Theories with non-Gaussian potentials that have a rich phase structure in the large $N$ limit. We calculate the Spectral Form Factor (SFF) in such models and present them as interesting examples of dynamical models that display multi-criticality at short time-scales and universality at large time scales. The models with quartic and sextic potentials are explicitly worked out. The disconnected part of the Spectral Form Factor (SFF) shows a change in its decay behavior exactly at the critical points of each model. The dip-time of the SFF is estimated in each of these models. The late time behavior of all polynomial potential matrix models is shown to display a certain universality. This is related to the universality in the short distance correlations of the mean-level densities. We speculate on the implications of such universality for chaotic quantum systems including the SYK model.