Problem In General Relativity Research Articles

Hamiltonian Lie algebroids

In previous work with M.C. Fernandes, we found a Lie algebroid symmetry for the Einstein evolution equations. The present work was motivated by the effort to combine this symmetry with the hamiltonian structure of the equations to explain the coisotropic structure of the constraint subset for the initial value problem. In this paper, we extend the notion of hamiltonian structure from Lie algebra actions to general Lie algebroids over presymplectic manifolds. Application of this construction to the problem in general relativity is still work in progress. After comparing a number of possible compatibility conditions between an anchor map A → T M A\to TM on a vector bundle A A and a presymplectic structure on the base M M , we choose the most natural of them, best formulated in terms of a suitably chosen connection on A A . We define a notion of momentum section of A ∗ A^* , and, when A A is a Lie algebroid, we specify a condition for compatibility with the Lie algebroid bracket. Compatibility conditions on an anchor, a Lie algebroid bracket, a momentum section, a connection, and a presymplectic structure are then the defining properties of a hamiltonian Lie algebroid. For an action Lie algebroid with the trivial connection, the conditions reduce to those for a hamiltonian action. We show that the clean zero locus of the momentum section of a hamiltonian Lie algebroid is a coisotropic submanifold. To define morphisms of hamiltonian Lie algebroids, we express the structure in terms of a bigraded algebra generated by Lie algebroid forms and de Rham forms on its base. We give an Atiyah-Bott type characterization of a bracket-compatible momentum map; it is equivalent to a closed basic extension of the presymplectic form, within the generalization of the BRST model of equivariant cohomology to Lie algebroids. We show how to construct a groupoid by reduction of an action Lie groupoid G × M G\times M by a subgroup H H of G G which is not necessarily normal, and we find conditions which imply that a hamiltonian structure descends to such a reduced Lie algebroid. We consider many examples and, in particular, find that the tangent Lie algebroid over a symplectic manifold is hamiltonian with respect to some connection if and only if the symplectic structure has a nowhere vanishing primitive. Recent results of Stratmann and Tang show that this is the case whenever the symplectic structure is exact.

General relativistic moving-mesh hydrodynamic simulations with arepo and applications to neutron star mergers

ABSTRACT We implement general relativistic hydrodynamics in the moving-mesh code arepo. We also couple a solver for the Einstein field equations employing the conformal flatness approximation. The implementation is validated by evolving isolated static neutron stars using a fixed metric or a dynamical space–time. In both tests, the frequencies of the radial oscillation mode match those of independent calculations. We run the first moving-mesh simulation of a neutron star merger. The simulation includes a scheme to adaptively refine or derefine cells and thereby adjusting the local resolution dynamically. The general dynamics are in agreement with independent smoothed particle hydrodynamics and static-mesh simulations of neutron star mergers. Coarsely comparing, we find that dynamical features like the post-merger double-core structure or the quasi-radial oscillation mode persist on longer time scales, possibly reflecting a low numerical diffusivity of our method. Similarly, the post-merger gravitational wave emission shows the same features as observed in simulations with other codes. In particular, the main frequency of the post-merger phase is found to be in good agreement with independent results for the same binary system, while, in comparison, the amplitude of the post-merger gravitational wave signal falls off slower, i.e. the post-merger oscillations are less damped. The successful implementation of general relativistic hydrodynamics in the moving-mesh arepo code, including a dynamical space–time evolution, provides a fundamentally new tool to simulate general relativistic problems in astrophysics.

Classical dynamics of vortex solitons from perturbative scattering amplitudes

We introduce a novel point-particle effective description of ANO vortex solitons in the critical Abelian Higgs Model (AHM) in d = 2 + 1 based on the small winding expansion. Identifying the effective vortices with the elementary quanta of a complex scalar field, relativistic vortex-vortex scattering amplitudes are calculated as a diagrammatic, perturbative expansion in the winding number N. Making use of powerful techniques recently developed for analyzing the post-Minkowskian two-body problem in general relativity, we efficiently extract the contribution to the loop integrals from the classical potential region, with the resulting velocity expansion subsequently resummed to all orders. The main result of this paper is an analytic expression for the classical, vortex-vortex potential at mathcal{O} (N2), or one-loop, with exact velocity dependence. By truncating the resulting effective Hamiltonian at mathcal{O} (p2) we derive an analytic, perturbative expression for the metric on the 2-vortex moduli space. Finally, the emergence of the critical AHM from the classical limit of the mathcal{N} = 2 supersymmetric AHM, and the resulting constraints on the point-particle EFT is described in detail using an on-shell superspace construction for BPS states in d = 2 + 1.

Energy extraction, or lack thereof

The problem of stability of rotating black holes is the subject of a long standing research program since the 1960s and remains an unresolved problem in general relativity. A major obstacle in the black hole stability problem is that the energy of waves propagating through rotating black holes spacetimes is not necessarily positive-definite, due to the so called ergo-region. This is a serious complication that limits the efficacy of most mathematical techniques. In this expository article, we report that, despite the ergo-region, there exists a positive-definite total energy for axisymmetric Maxwell, gravitational and electrovacuum perturbations of Kerr and Kerr–Newman black hole spacetimes.

Angular momentum and memory effect

It is a long-standing problem in general relativity that the notion of angular momentum of an isolated system has supertranslation ambiguity. In this paper, we argue that the ambiguity is essentially because of the gravitational wave memory. When properly subtracting the memory effect of the observer, one can introduce a supertranslation invariant definition of the angular momentum at null infinity even for dynamical process.

On the angular momentum of compact binary coalescence

The supertranslation ambiguity issue of angular momentum is a long-standing problem in general relativity. Recently, there appeared the first definition of angular momentum at null infinity that is supertranslation invariant. However, in the compact binary coalescence community, supertranslation ambiguity is often ignored. This paper demonstrates that we have the happy circumstance that the newly defined angular momentum coincides with the classical definition at the quadrupole level.

Axisymmetric, stationary collisionless gas clouds trapped in a Newtonian potential

The properties of an axisymmetric, stationary gas cloud surrounding a massive central object are discussed. It is assumed that the gravitational field is dominated by the central object which is modeled by a nonrelativistic rotationally-symmetric potential. Further, we assume that the gas consists of collisionless, identical massive particles that follow bound orbits in this potential. Several models for the one-particle distribution function are considered and the essential formulae that describe the relevant macroscopical observables, such as the particle and energy densities, pressure tensor, and the kinetic temperature are derived. The asymptotic decay of the solutions at infinity is discussed and we specify configurations with finite total mass, energy and (zero or non-zero) angular momentum. Finally, our configurations are compared to their hydrodynamic analogs. In an accompanying paper, the equivalent general relativistic problem is discussed, where the central object consists of a Schwarzschild black hole.

Radiation-reaction in the Effective Field Theory approach to Post-Minkowskian dynamics

We extend the Post-Minkowskian (PM) effective field theory (EFT) approach to incorporate conservative and dissipative radiation-reaction effects in a unified framework. This is achieved by implementing the Schwinger-Keldysh “in-in” formalism and separating conservative and non-conservative terms according to the formulation in [1], which we show promotes Feynman’s i0-prescription and cutting rules to a prominent role at the classical level. The resulting integrals, involving both Feynman and retarded propagators, can be bootstrapped to all orders in the velocity via differential equations with boundary conditions including potential and radiation modes. As a paradigmatic example we provide an ab initio derivation of the classical solution to the scattering problem in general relativity to mathcal{O} (G3). For the sake of completeness, we also reproduce the leading order radiation-reaction effects in classical electrodynamics.

Double null data and the characteristic problem in general relativity

General hypersurfaces of any causal character can be studied abstractly using the hypersurface data formalism. In the null case, we write down all tangential components of the ambient Ricci tensor in terms of the abstract data. Using this formalism, we formulate and solve in a completely abstract way the characteristic Cauchy problem of the Einstein vacuum field equations. The initial data is detached from any spacetime notion, and it is fully diffeomorphism and gauge covariant. The results of this paper put the characteristic problem on a similar footing as the standard Cauchy problem in General Relativity.

All things retarded: radiation-reaction in worldline quantum field theory

We exhibit an initial-value formulation of the worldline quantum field theory (WQFT) approach to the classical two-body problem in general relativity. We show that the Schwinger-Keldysh (in-in) formalism leads to purely retarded propagators in the evaluation of observables in the WQFT. Integration technology for retarded master integrals is introduced at third post-Minkowskian (3PM) order. As an application we compute the complete radiation-reacted impulse and radiated four momentum for the scattering of two non-spinning neutron stars including tidal effects at 3PM order, as well as the leading (2PM) far-field gravitational waveform.

Testing black holes in non-linear electrodynamics from the observed quasi-periodic oscillations

Quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs), in particular, the ones with high frequencies, often observed in the power spectrum of black holes, are useful in understanding the nature of strong gravity since they are associated with the motion of matter in the vicinity of the black hole horizon. Interestingly, these high frequency QPOs (HFQPOs) are observed in commensurable pairs, the most common ratio being 3:2. Several theoretical models are proposed in the literature which explain the HFQPOs in terms of the orbital and epicyclic frequencies of matter rotating around the central object. Since these frequencies are sensitive to the background spacetime, the observed HFQPOs can potentially extract useful information regarding the nature of the same. In this work, we investigate the role of regular black holes with a Minkowski core, which arise in gravity coupled to non-linear electrodynamics, in explaining the HFQPOs. Regular black holes are particularly interesting as they provide a possible resolution to the singularity problem in general relativity. We compare the model dependent QPO frequencies with the available observations of the quasi-periodic oscillations from black hole sources and perform a χ2 analysis. Our study reveals that most QPO models favor small but non-trivial values of the non-linear electrodynamics charge parameter. In particular, black holes with large values of non-linear electrodynamics charge parameter are generically disfavored by present observations related to QPOs.

Precisely computing bound orbits of spinning bodies around black holes. I. General framework and results for nearly equatorial orbits

Very large mass ratio binary black hole systems are of interest both as a clean limit of the two-body problem in general relativity, as well as for their importance as sources of low-frequency gravitational waves. At lowest order, the smaller body moves along a geodesic of the larger black hole's spacetime. Accurate models of such systems require postgeodesic corrections to this motion. Postgeodesic effects that drive the small body away from the geodesic include the gravitational self-force, which incorporates the backreaction of gravitational-wave emission, and the spin-curvature force, which arises from coupling of the small body's spin to the black hole's spacetime curvature. In this paper, we describe a method for precisely computing bound orbits of spinning bodies about black holes. Our analysis builds off of pioneering work by Witzany which demonstrated how to describe the motion of a spinning body to linear order in the small body's spin. Exploiting the fact that in the large mass-ratio limit spinning-body orbits are close to geodesics (in a sense that can be made precise) and using closed-form results due to van de Meent describing precession of the small body's spin along black hole orbits, we develop a frequency-domain formulation of the motion which can be solved very precisely. We examine a range of orbits with this formulation, focusing in this paper on orbits which are eccentric and nearly equatorial (i.e., the orbit's motion is $\mathcal{O}(S)$ out of the equatorial plane), but for which the small body's spin is arbitrarily oriented. We discuss generic orbits with general small-body spin orientation in a companion paper. We characterize the behavior of these orbits, contrasting them with geodesics, and show how the small body's spin shifts the frequencies ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}}_{r}$ and ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}}_{\ensuremath{\phi}}$ which affect orbital motion. These frequency shifts change accumulated phases which are direct gravitational-wave observables, illustrating the importance of precisely characterizing these quantities for gravitational-wave observations.

Machine-learning the classification of spacetimes

On the long-established classification problems in general relativity we take a novel perspective by adopting fruitful techniques from machine learning and modern data-science. In particular, we model Petrov's classification of spacetimes, and show that a feed-forward neural network can achieve high degree of success. We also show how data visualization techniques with dimensionality reduction can help analyze the underlying patterns in the structure of the different types of spacetimes.

Graviton particle statistics and coherent states from classical scattering amplitudes

In the two-body scattering problem in general relativity, we study the final graviton particle distribution using a perturbative approach. We compute the mean, the variance and the factorial moments of the distribution from the expectation value of the graviton number operator in the KMOC formalism. For minimally coupled scalar particles, the leading deviation from the Poissonian distribution is given by the unitarity cut involving the six-point tree amplitude with the emission of two gravitons. We compute this amplitude in two independent ways. First, we use an extension of the Cheung-Remmen parametrization that includes minimally coupled scalars. We then repeat the calculation using on-shell BCFW-like techniques, finding complete agreement. In the classical limit, this amplitude gives a purely quantum contribution, proving that we can describe the final semiclassical radiation state as a coherent state at least up to order mathcal{O} (G4) for classical radiative observables. Finally, we give general arguments about why we expect this to hold also at higher orders in perturbation theory.

Vacuum Energy in Saez-Ballester Theory and Stabilization of Extra Dimensions

In this work, we study a spherically symmetric metric in 5D within the framework of Saez-Ballester Theory, where minimal dark energy-matter interaction occurs. We predict that the expanding isotropic universe will be progressively DE dominated. We estimate few values of the deceleration parameter, very close to the recently predicted values. We obtain the value of the DE EoS parameter as ω=−1. Additionally, we measure the value of the overall density parameter as Ω=0.97(≈1), in line with the notion of a close to or nearly (not exactly) flat universe. We predict that the model universe starts with the Big-Bang and ends at the Big Freeze singularity. In general, we cannot find conditions for stabilization of extra dimensions in general relativity, and all dimensions want to be dynamical. Here, we present two possible conditions to solve this stabilization problem in general relativity.

Kepler problem in general relativity with Lorentz-covariant deformed Poisson brackets

Kepler problem in general relativity with Lorentz-covariant deformed Poisson brackets

Dragging of inertial frames by matter and waves

In this paper, we review and analyze four specific general-relativistic problems in which gravitomagnetism plays an important role: the dragging of magnetic fields around rotating black holes, dragging inside a collapsing slowly rotating spherical shell of dust, compared with the dragging by rotating gravitational waves. We demonstrate how the quantum detection of inertial frame dragging can be accomplished by using the Unruh–DeWitt detectors. Finally, we shall briefly show how “instantaneous Machian gauges” can be useful in the cosmological perturbation theory.

The Initial Boundary Value Problem in General Relativity: The Umbilic Case

AbstractWe give a short proof of local well-posedness for the initial boundary value problem in general relativity with sole boundary condition the requirement that the boundary is umbilic. This includes as a special case the totally geodesic boundary condition that we had previously addressed in [ 8]. The proof is based on wave coordinates and the key observation that the momentum constraint is always valid for umbilic boundaries. This allows for a greater freedom in the choice of boundary conditions, since imposing the umbilic condition also provides Neumann boundary conditions for three of the four wave coordinates conditions. Moreover, the umbilic condition, being geometric, implies that geometric uniqueness in the sense of Friedrich holds in this specific case.

Remodeling the effective one-body formalism in post-Minkowskian gravity

The Effective One-Body formalism of the gravitational two-body problem in general relativity is reconsidered in the light of recent scattering amplitude calculations. Based on the kinematic relationship between momenta and the effective potential, we consider an energy-dependent effective metric describing the scattering in terms of an Effective One-Body problem for the reduced mass. The identification of the effective metric simplifies considerably in isotropic coordinates when combined with a redefined angular momentum map. While the effective energy-dependent metric as expected is not unique, solutions can be chosen perturbatively in the Post-Minkowskian expansion without the need to introduce non-metric corrections. By a canonical transformation, our condition maps to the one based on the standard angular momentum map. Expanding our metric around the Schwarzschild solution we recover the solution based on additional non-metric contributions.

Newman-Janis Ansatz for rotating wormholes

A central problem in General Relativity is obtaining a solution to describe the source’s interior counterpart for Kerr black hole. Besides, determining a method to match the interior and exterior solutions through a surface free of predefined coordinates remains an open problem. In this work, we present the ansatz formulated by the Newman-Janis to generate solutions to the Einstein field equation inspired by the mention problems. We present a collection of independent classes of exact interior solutions of the Einstein equation describing rotating fluids with anisotropic pressures. Furthermore, we will elaborate on some obtained solutions by alluding to rotating wormholes.