Massive Modes Research Articles

Reaching out a geometrical description for spin-4 self-dual models in D=2+1

Starting with a first-order derivative in a self-dual model which describes a massive spin-4 mode in $D=2+1$ dimensions, we obtain a sequence of three more new descriptions, which then gives us an interconnected self-dual chain $SD(i)$ with $i=1$, 2, 3, 4 indicating the order in derivatives. We demonstrate that a powerful notation in terms of a self-adjoint operator $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}$ in the framelike scenario truly simplifies the investigation for new models, and at the third-order level can be converted to a geometrical description in terms of the much more usual totally symmetric double traceless field.

The Role of Longitudinal Polarizations in Horndeski and Macroscopic Gravity: Introducing Gravitational Plasmas

We discuss some general and relevant features of longitudinal gravitational modes in Horndeski gravity and their interaction with matter media. Adopting a gauge-invariant formulation, we clarify how massive scalar and vector fields can induce additional transverse and longitudinal excitations, resulting in breathing, vector, and longitudinal polarizations. We review, then, the interaction of standard gravitational waves with a molecular medium, outlining the emergence of effective massive gravitons, induced by the net quadrupole moment due to molecule deformation. Finally, we investigate the interaction of the massive mode in Horndeski gravity with a noncollisional medium, showing that Landau damping phenomenon can occur in the gravitational sector as well. That allows us to introduce the concept of “gravitational plasma”, where inertial forces associated with the background field play the role of cold ions in electromagnetic plasma.

First-order formalism for thick branes in f(T,{mathscr {T}}) gravity

In this paper we study the thick brane scenario constructed in the recently proposed f(T,{mathscr {T}}) theories of gravity, where T is called the torsion scalar and {mathscr {T}} is the trace of the energy–momentum tensor. We use the first-order formalism to find analytical solutions for models that include a scalar field as a source. In particular, we describe two interesting case in which in the first we obtain a double-kink solution, which generates a splitting in the brane. In the second case, proper management of a kink solution obtained generates a splitting in the brane intensified by the torsion parameter, evinced by the energy density components satisfying the weak and strong energy conditions. In addition, we investigate the behavior of the gravitational perturbations in this scenario. The parameters that control the torsion and the trace of the energy–momentum tensor tend to shift the massive modes to the core of the brane, keeping a gapless non-localizable and stable tower of massive modes and producing more localized massless modes.

De Sitter braneworld and gravitational waves

We study the braneworld theory constructed by multi-scalar fields. The model contains a smooth and infinitely large extra dimension, allowing background fields to propagate in it. We give a de Sitter solution for the four-dimensional cosmology as a good approximation to the early universe inflation. We show that the graviton has a localizable massless mode, and a series of continuous massive modes, separated by a mass gap. There could be a normalizable massive mode, depending on the background solution. The gravitational waves of the massless mode evolve as in the four-dimensional theory, while those of the massive modes evolve very differently from the massless mode.

Continuity, localization, and cosmology in warped geometry

This is the first of two papers studying localization of massive bulk fields on a bane in 5D anti-de Sitter spacetime, and some of their cosmological consequences. Here we focus on a massive 5D scalar, which is known to lack a localized mode, and discuss how a seeming discontinuity between this theory and the massless theory - known to support a localized zero mode - is resolved thanks to peculiar analytic properties of the massive two-point amplitude. Furthermore, we propose a boundary term that leads to the emergence of a massless localized mode in the massive theory. Last but not least, we consider the case when the brane world-volume is de Sitter spacetime, and prove the existence of a localized massive mode. We discuss how these results, taken collectively, can be used to describe the accelerated expansion due to the massive 5D scalar field in an early, or in a late-time universe.

Codimension- n holography for cones

We propose a novel codimension-n holography, called cone holography, between a gravitational theory in $(d+1)$-dimensional conical spacetime and a CFT on the $(d+1-n)$-dimensional defects. Similar to wedge holography, the cone holography can be obtained by taking the zero-volume limit of holographic defect CFT. Remarkably, it can be regarded as a holographic dual of the edge modes on the defects. For one class of solutions, we prove that the cone holography is equivalent to AdS/CFT, by showing that the classical gravitational action and thus the CFT partition function in large N limit are the same for the two theories. In general, cone holography and AdS/CFT are different due to the infinite towers of massive Kaluza-Klein modes on the branes. We test cone holography by studying Weyl anomaly, Entanglement/R\'enyi entropy and correlation functions, and find good agreements between the holographic and the CFT results. In particular, the c-theorem is obeyed by cone holography. These are strong supports for our proposal. We discuss two kinds of boundary conditions, the mixed boundary condition and Neumann boundary condition, and find that they both define a consistent theory of cone holography. We also analyze the mass spectrum on the brane and find that the larger the tension is, the more continuous the mass spectrum is. The cone holography can be regarded as a generalization of the wedge holography, and it is closely related to the defect CFT, entanglement/R\'enyi entropy and AdS/BCFT(dCFT). Thus it is expected to have a wide range of applications.

Gravitational-wave propagation and polarizations in the teleparallel analog of Horndeski gravity

Gravitational waves (GWs) have opened a new window on fundamental physics in a number of important ways. The next generation of GW detectors may reveal more information about the polarization structure of GWs. Additionally, there is growing interest in theories of gravity beyond GR. One such theory which remains viable within the context of recent measurements of the speed of propagation of GWs is the teleparallel analogue of Horndeski gravity. In this work, we explore the polarization structure of this newly proposed formulation of Horndeski theory. In curvature-based gravity, Horndeski theory is almost synonymous with extensions to GR since it spans a large portion of these possible extensions. We perform this calculation by taking perturbations about a Minkowski background and consider which mode propagates. The result is that the polarization structure depends on the choice of model parameters in the teleparallel Horndeski Lagrangian with a maximum of seven propagating degrees of freedom. While the curvature-based Horndeski results follows as a particular limit within this setup, we find a much richer structure of both massive and massless cases which produce scalar--vector--tensor propagating degrees of freedom. We also find that the GW polarization that emerges from the teleparallel analogue of Horndeski gravity results in analogous massive and massless modes which take on at most four polarizations in the massless sector and two scalar ones in the massive sector. In none of the cases do we find vector polarizations.

Teleparallel gravity: Effects of torsion in 6D braneworlds

Braneworld models are interesting theoretical and phenomenological frameworks to search for new physics beyond the standard model of particles and cosmology. In this work, we discuss braneworld models whose gravitational dynamics is governed by teleparallel [Formula: see text] gravities. Here, we emphasize a codimension two-axisymmetric model, also known as a string-like brane. Likewise, in the 5D domain-wall models, the [Formula: see text] gravitational modification leads to a phase transition on the perfect fluid source providing a brane-splitting mechanism. Furthermore, the torsion changes the gravitational perturbations. The torsion produces new potential wells inside the brane core leading to a massless mode more localized around the ring structures. In addition, the torsion keeps a gapless nonlocalizable and a stable tower of massive modes in the bulk.

From operator statistics to wormholes

For a generic quantum many-body system, the quantum ergodic regime is defined as the limit in which the spectrum of the system resembles that of a random matrix theory (RMT) in the corresponding symmetry class. In this paper we analyse the time dependence of correlation functions of operators. We study them in the ergodic limit as well as their approach to the ergodic limit which is controlled by non-universal massive modes. An effective field theory (EFT) corresponding to the causal symmetry and its breaking describes the ergodic phase. We demonstrate that the resulting Goldstone-mode theory has a topological expansion, analogous to the one described in arXiv:2008.02271 with added operator sources, whose leading non-trivial topologies give rise to the universal ramp seen in correlation functions. The ergodic behaviour of operators in our EFT is seen to result from a combination of RMT-like spectral statistics and Haar averaging over wave-functions. Furthermore we analytically capture the plateau behaviour by taking into account the contribution of a second saddle point. Our main interest are quantum many-body systems with holographic duals and we explicitly establish the validity of the EFT description in the SYK-class of models, starting from their microscopic description. By studying the tower of massive modes above the Goldstone sector we get a detailed understanding of how the ergodic EFT phase is approached and derive the relevant Thouless time scales. We point out that the topological expansion can be reinterpreted in terms of contributions of bulk wormholes and baby-universes.

Gravitational waves in non-local gravity

We derive gravitational waves in a theory with non-local curvature corrections to the Hilbert–Einstein Lagrangian. In addition to the standard two massless tensor modes, with plus and cross polarizations, helicity 2 and angular frequency ω 1, we obtain a further scalar massive mode with helicity 0 and angular frequency ω 2, whose polarization is transverse. It is a breathing mode, which, at the lowest order of an effective parameter γ, presents a speed difference between nearly null and null plane waves. Finally, the quasi-Lorentz E(2)-invariant class for the non-local gravity is type N 3, according to the Petrov classification. This means that the presence (or absence) of gravitational wave modes is observer-independent.

Cosmological Particle Production in Quantum Gravity

Quantum theory of a test field on a quantum cosmological spacetime may be viewed as a theory of the test field on an emergent classical background. In such a case, the resulting dressed metric for the field propagation is a function of the quantum fluctuations of the original geometry. When the backreaction is negligible, massive modes can experience an anisotropic Bianchi type I background. The field modes propagating on such a quantum-gravity-induced spacetime can then unveil interesting phenomenological consequences of the super-Planckian scales, such as gravitational particle production. The aim of this paper is to address the issue of gravitational particle production associated with the massive modes in such an anisotropic dressed spacetime. By imposing a suitable adiabatic condition on the vacuum state and computing the energy density of the created particles, the significance of the particle production on the dynamics of the universe in Planck era is discussed.

Spin-2 Kaluza-Klein mode scattering in models with a massive radion

We calculate tree-level scattering amplitudes of massive spin-2 KK particles in models of stabilized compact extra-dimensional theories. Naively introducing a mass for the radion in an extra-dimensional model without accounting for the dynamics responsible for stabilizing the extra dimension upsets the cancellations relating the masses and couplings of the spin-2 modes, resulting in KK scattering amplitudes which grow like $E^{4}$ instead of $E^{2}$. We therefore investigate scattering of the Kaluza-Klein states in theories incorporating the Goldberger-Wise mechanism to stabilize the size of the extra dimension. We demonstrate that the cancellations occur only when one includes not only the massive radion, but also the massive spin-0 modes arising from the Goldberger-Wise scalar. We compute the revised sum rules which are satisfied in a stabilized model to ensure a consistent high-energy scattering amplitude. We introduce a simple model of a stabilized extra dimension which is a small deformation of a flat (toroidal) five-dimensional model, and demonstrate the cancellations in computations performed to leading nontrivial order in the deformation. These results are the first complete KK scattering computation in an extra-dimensional model with a stabilized extra dimension, with implications for the theory and phenomenology of these models.

Gravitational-wave polarizations in generic linear massive gravity and generic higher-curvature gravity

We study the polarizations of gravitational waves (GWs) in two classes of extended gravity theories. First, we formulate the polarizations in linear massive gravity (MG) with generic mass terms of non-Fierz-Pauli type by identifying all the independent variables that obey Klein-Gordon-type equations. The dynamical degrees of freedom (dofs) in the generic MG consist of spin-2 and spin-0 modes, the former breaking down into two tensor (helicity-2), two vector (helicity-1) and one scalar (helicity-0) components, while the latter just corresponding to a scalar. We find convenient ways of decomposing the two scalar modes of each spin into distinct linear combinations of the transverse and longitudinal polarizations with coefficients directly expressed by the mass parameters, thereby serving as a useful tool in measuring the masses of GWs. Then we analyze the linear perturbations of generic higher-curvature gravity (HCG) whose Lagrangian is an arbitrary polynomial of the Riemann tensor. On a flat background, the linear dynamical dofs in this theory are identified as massless spin-2, massive spin-2, and massive spin-0 modes. As its massive part encompasses the identical structure to the generic MG, GWs in the generic HCG provide six massive polarizations on top of the ordinary two massless modes. In parallel to MG, we find convenient representations for the scalar-polarization modes directly connected to the parameters of HCG. In this analysis, we employ two distinct methods; One takes full advantage of the partial equivalence between the generic HCG and MG at the linear level, whereas the other relies upon a gauge-invariant formalism. We confirm that the two results agree. We also discuss methods to determine the theory parameters by GW-polarization measurements. Our method does not require measuring the propagation speeds or the details of the waveforms of the GWs. [Abridged]

Detecting the massive bosonic zero-mode in expanding cosmological spacetimes

We examine a quantised massive scalar field in $(1+1)$-dimensional spatially compact cosmological spacetimes in which the early time and late time expansion laws provide distinguished definitions of Fock "in" and "out" vacua, with the possible exception of the spatially constant sector, which may become effectively massless at early or late times. We show, generalising the work of Ford and Pathinayake, that when such a massive zero mode occurs, the freedom in the respective "in" and "out" states is a family with two real parameters. As an application, we consider massive untwisted and twisted scalar fields in the $(1+1)$-dimensional spatially compact Milne spacetime, where the untwisted field has a massive "in" zero mode. We demonstrate, by a combination of analytic and numerical methods, that the choice of the massive "in" zero mode state has a significant effect on the response of an inertial Unruh-DeWitt detector, especially in the excitation part of the spectrum. The detector's peculiar velocity with respect to comoving cosmological observers has the strongest effect in the "in" vacuum of the untwisted field, where it shifts the excitation and de-excitation resonances towards higher values of the detector's energy gap.

Symmetry and unification from soft theorems and unitarity

We argue that symmetry and unification can emerge as byproducts of certain physical constraints on dynamical scattering. To accomplish this we parameterize a general Lorentz invariant, four-dimensional theory of massless and massive scalar fields coupled via arbitrary local interactions. Assuming perturbative unitarity and an Adler zero condition, we prove that any finite spectrum of massless and massive modes will necessarily unify at high energies into multiplets of a linearized symmetry. Certain generators of the symmetry algebra can be derived explicitly in terms of the spectrum and three-particle interactions. Furthermore, our assumptions imply that the coset space is symmetric.

Edge mode dynamics in long-range Kitaev model

In this paper we study the dynamics of long-range pairing and hopping p-wave superconducting chain after a ‎sudden quench of chemical potential. We have shown that the quantum-classical phase transition occurs ‎when the system is quenched to the critical point and the Loschmidt echo shows perfect periodic oscillations. ‎Moreover we have studied the dynamical phase transition for a quench across the critical point. Our analysis ‎shows that the dynamical phase transition occurs for the cases where the system initially prepared in the ‎massless edge modes. While the system does not show dynamical phase transition when the system is ‎prepared in the massive edge modes, even the quench crossing the critical point‎‎.

Kaluza-Klein Dilatonic Matter: a Simplified Toy Model

We construct a field theoretical toy model for dilatonic matter using the five-dimensional Kaluza-Klein theory in the compactified approach. Kaluza’s ideas and basic aspects of compactification are examined in order to find an action with well-defined sectors. Through linearization of gravity sector, we obtain the propagators and interactions that allow to calculate differential cross sections at tree–level. We study some processes between photons and Kaluza-Klein particles, associated with the first massive mode of the scalar field. Finally, we make some discussion about possible applications and extensions of this model.

Black hole scalarization in Gauss-Bonnet extended Starobinsky gravity

We propose a class of higher-derivative gravities that can be viewed as the Gauss-Bonnet extension of the Starobinsky model. The theory admits the Minkowski spacetime vacuum whose linear spectrum consists of the graviton and a massive scalar mode. In addition to the usual Schwarzschild black hole, we use numerical analysis to establish that in some suitable mass range, new black holes carrying the massive scalar hair can emerge. The new black hole serves as a "wall" separating the naked spacetime singularity and wormholes in the parameter space of the scalar hair. Our numerical results also indicate that although the new hairy black hole and the Schwarzschild have different spacetime geometry, their entropy and temperature are same for the same mass.

Thick string-like braneworlds in f(T) gravity

We propose a codimension two warped braneworld model within the teleparallel [Formula: see text] gravity. Asymptotically, the bulk geometry converges to an [Formula: see text] spacetime whose cosmological constant is produced by the torsion parameters. Furthermore, the torsion induces an AdS-dS transition on the exterior region. As the torsion parameters vary, the brane undergoes a phase transition from a thick string-like brane into ring-like structures. The bulk-brane Planck mass ration is modified by the torsion. The analysis of the stress–energy condition reveals a splitting brane process satisfying the weak and strong–energy conditions for some values of the parameters. In addition, we investigate the behavior of the gravitational perturbations in this scenario. It turns out that the gravitational spectrum has a linear behavior for small masses and is independent of the torsion parameters for large masses. In the bulk, the torsion keeps a gapless nonlocalizable and stable tower of massive modes. Inside the brane core, the torsion produces new barriers and potential wells leading to small amplitude massive modes and a massless mode localized around the ring structures.

Fermion localization in braneworld teleparallel f(T, B) gravity

We study a spin 1/2 fermion in a thick braneworld in the context of teleparallel f(T, B) gravity. Here, f(T, B) is such that f_1(T,B)=T+k_1B^{n_1} and f_2(T,B)=B+k_2T^{n_2}, where n_{1,2} and k_{1,2} are parameters that control the influence of torsion and the boundary term. We assume Yukawa coupling, where one scalar field is coupled to a Dirac spinor field. We show how the n_{1,2} and k_{1,2} parameters control the width of the massless Kaluza–Klein mode, the breadth of non-normalized massive fermionic modes and the properties of the analogue quantum-potential near the origin.