Pure Gravity Research Articles

Classical gravitational back-reaction

The quantum gravitational back-reaction on inflation is based on the self-gravitation of infrared gravitons which are ripped out of the vacuum during inflation. The only quantum part of this process is the creation of gravitons; after they have emerged from the vacuum their behaviour is essentially classical. To test the thesis that a sufficiently dense ensemble of classical gravitons can hold the Universe together in pure gravity with a positive cosmological constant, we compute the initial value and first time derivative of an invariant measure of the expansion rate for arbitrary classical initial value data. Our result is that the self-gravitation from the kinetic energy of an initial ensemble of gravitons can indeed slow expansion enough to hold the Universe together.

Anomalous dimensions in non-supersymmetric bifundamental Chern-Simons theories

Non-abelian Chern-Simons theories coupled to fermions are known to provide an interesting class of non-supersymmetric conformal fixed points \cite{Giombi:2011kc}. These theories, particularly those based on bifundamental matter, are important because they may provide simple non-supersymmetric examples of the AdS/CFT correspondence. For instance, it seems natural to conjecture that $O(N)_{-k}\times O(N)_k$ Chern-Simons theory coupled to Majorana fermions transforming in a bi-vector representation may be dual to pure Einstein gravity with a small negative cosmological constant in the "M-theory" limit where $k=1$ and $N$ is large. While it is extremely difficult to directly study such bifundamental theories when $k=1$ or even at strong 't Hooft coupling $\lambda=\frac{N}{k}$, it is possible to calculate physical quantities to all orders in $\lambda$ in a $U(M)_{k_M} \times U(N)_{k_N}$ theory, in the limit $M \ll N$, in an $M/N$ expansion. To illustrate this, we calculate the anomalous dimension of the primary operator $\bar{\psi}{\psi}$, to first order in $M/N$, to all orders in $\lambda_M=\frac{N}{k_M}$, but with $\lambda_N=\frac{N}{k_N}=0$. We also comment on possible bosonization dualities for bifundamental Chern-Simons theories.

Numerical study of interfacial solitary waves propagating under an elastic sheet.

Steady solitary and generalized solitary waves of a two-fluid problem where the upper layer is under a flexible elastic sheet are considered as a model for internal waves under an ice-covered ocean. The fluid consists of two layers of constant densities, separated by an interface. The elastic sheet resists bending forces and is mathematically described by a fully nonlinear thin shell model. Fully localized solitary waves are computed via a boundary integral method. Progression along the various branches of solutions shows that barotropic (i.e. surface modes) wave-packet solitary wave branches end with the free surface approaching the interface. On the other hand, the limiting configurations of long baroclinic (i.e. internal) solitary waves are characterized by an infinite broadening in the horizontal direction. Baroclinic wave-packet modes also exist for a large range of amplitudes and generalized solitary waves are computed in a case of a long internal mode in resonance with surface modes. In contrast to the pure gravity case (i.e without an elastic cover), these generalized solitary waves exhibit new Wilton-ripple-like periodic trains in the far field.

Energy spectrum of the ensemble of weakly nonlinear gravity-capillary waves on a fluid surface

We consider nonlinear gravity-capillary waves with the nonlinearity parameter ɛ ∼ 0.1–0.25. For this nonlinearity, time scale separation does not occur and the kinetic wave equation does not hold. An energy cascade in this case is built at the dynamic time scale (D-cascade) and is computed by the increment chain equation method first introduced in [15]. We for the first time compute an analytic expression for the energy spectrum of nonlinear gravity-capillary waves as an explicit function of the ratio of surface tension to the gravity acceleration. We show that its two limits—pure capillary and pure gravity waves on a fluid surface—coincide with the previously obtained results. We also discuss relations of the D-cascade model with a few known models used in the theory of nonlinear waves such as Zakharov’s equation, resonance of modes with nonlinear Stokes-corrected frequencies, and the Benjamin-Feir index. These connections are crucial in understanding and forecasting specifics of the energy transport in a variety of multicomponent wave dynamics, from oceanography to optics, from plasma physics to acoustics.

ANALYTICAL SOLUTION FOR WAVES IN PLANETS WITH ATMOSPHERIC SUPERROTATION. I. ACOUSTIC AND INERTIA-GRAVITY WAVES

This paper is the first of a two-part study devoted to developing tools for a systematic classification of the wide variety of atmospheric waves expected on slowly rotating planets with atmospheric superrotation. Starting with the primitive equations for a cyclostrophic regime, we have deduced the analytical solution for the possible waves, simultaneously including the effect of the metric terms for the centrifugal force and the meridional shear of the background wind. In those cases when the conditions for the method of the multiple scales in height are met, these wave solutions are also valid when vertical shear of the background wind is present. A total of six types of waves have been found and their properties were characterized in terms of the corresponding dispersion relations and wave structures. In this first part, only waves that are direct solutions of the generic dispersion relation are studied—acoustic and inertia-gravity waves. Concerning inertia-gravity waves, we found that in the cases of short horizontal wavelengths, null background wind, or propagation in the equatorial region, only pure gravity waves are possible, while for the limit of large horizontal wavelengths and/or null static stability, the waves are inertial. The correspondence between classical atmospheric approximations and wave filtering has been examined too, and we carried out a classification of the mesoscale waves found in the clouds of Venus at different vertical levels of its atmosphere. Finally, the classification of waves in exoplanets is discussed and we provide a list of possible candidates with cyclostrophic regimes.

Modeling quantum gravity effects in inflation

Cosmological models in 1+1 dimensions are an ideal setting for investigating the quantum structure of inflationary dynamics -- gravity is renormalizable, while there is room for spatial structure not present in the minisuperspace approximation. We use this fortuitous convergence to investigate the mechanism of slow-roll eternal inflation. A variant of 1+1 Liouville gravity coupled to matter is shown to model precisely the scalar sector of cosmological perturbations in 3+1 dimensions. A particular example of quintessence in 1+1d is argued on the one hand to exhibit slow-roll eternal inflation according to standard criteria; on the other hand, a field redefinition relates the model to pure de Sitter gravity coupled to a free scalar matter field with no potential. This and other examples show that the standard logic leading to slow-roll eternal inflation is not invariant under field redefinitions, thus raising concerns regarding its validity. Aspects of the quantization of Liouville gravity as a model of quantum de Sitter space are also discussed.

Scattering of massless particles: scalars, gluons and gravitons

In a recent note we presented a compact formula for the complete tree-level S-matrix of pure Yang-Mills and gravity theories in arbitrary spacetime dimension. In this paper we show that a natural formulation also exists for a massless colored cubic scalar theory. In Yang-Mills, the formula is an integral over the space of n marked points on a sphere and has as integrand two factors. The first factor is a combination of Parke-Taylor-like terms dressed with U(N) color structures while the second is a Pfaffian. The S-matrix of a U(N)xU(N') cubic scalar theory is obtained by simply replacing the Pfaffian with a U(N') version of the previous U(N) factor. Given that gravity amplitudes are obtained by replacing the U(N) factor in Yang-Mills by a second Pfaffian, we are led to a natural color-kinematics correspondence. An expansion of the integrand of the scalar theory leads to sums over trivalent graphs and are directly related to the KLT matrix. We find a connection to the BCJ color-kinematics duality as well as a new proof of the BCJ doubling property that gives rise to gravity amplitudes. We end by considering a special kinematic point where the partial amplitude simply counts the number of color-ordered planar trivalent trees, which equals a Catalan number. The scattering equations simplify dramatically and are equivalent to a special Y-system with solutions related to roots of Chebyshev polynomials.

Peccei–Quinn symmetric pure gravity mediation

Successful models of Pure Gravity Mediation (PGM) with radiative electroweak symmetry breaking can be expressed with as few as two free parameters which can be taken as the gravitino mass and $\tan \beta$. These models easily support a 125-126 GeV Higgs mass at the expense of a scalar spectrum in the multi-TeV range and a much lighter wino as the lightest supersymmetric particle. In these models, it is also quite generic that the Higgs mixing mass parameter, $\mu$, which is determined by the minimization of the Higgs potential is also in the multi-TeV range. For $\mu > 0$, the thermal relic density of winos is too small to account for the dark matter. The same is true for $\mu < 0$ unless the gravitino mass is of order 500 TeV. Here, we consider the origin of a multi-TeV $\mu$ parameter arising from the breakdown of a Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry. A coupling of the PQ-symmetry breaking field, $P$, to the MSSM Higgs doublets, naturally leads to a value of $\mu \sim \langle P \rangle^2 /M_P \sim \mathcal{O}(100)$ TeV and of order that is required in PGM models. In this case, axions make up the dark matter or some fraction of the dark matter with the remainder made up from thermal or non-thermal winos. We also provide solutions to the problem of isocurvature fluctuations with axion dark matter in this context.

Generalized black holes in three-dimensional spacetime

Three-dimensional spacetime with a negative cosmological constant has proven to be a remarkably fertile ground for the study of gravity and higher spin fields. The theory is topological and, since there are no propagating field degrees of freedom, the asymptotic symmetries become all the more crucial. For pure (2+1) gravity they consist of two copies of the Virasoro algebra. There exists a black hole which may be endowed with all the corresponding charges. The pure (2+1) gravity theory may be reformulated in terms of two Chern-Simons connections for sl(2,R). An immediate generalization containing gravity and a finite number of higher spin fields may be achieved by replacing sl(2,R) by sl(3,R) or, more generally, by sl(N,R). The asymptotic symmetries are then two copies of the so-called W_N algebra, which contains the Virasoro algebra as a subalgebra. The question then arises as to whether there exists a generalization of the standard pure gravity (2+1) black hole which would be endowed with all the W_N charges. The original pioneering proposal of a black hole along this line for N=3 turns out, as shown in this paper, to actually belong to the so called "diagonal embedding" of sl(2,R) in sl(3,R), and it is therefore endowed with charges of lower rather than higher spins. In contradistinction, we exhibit herein the most general black hole which belongs to the "principal embedding". It is endowed with higher spin charges, and possesses two copies of W_3 as its asymptotic symmetries. The most general diagonal embedding black hole is studied in detail as well, in a way in which its lower spin charges are clearly displayed. The extension to N>3 is also discussed. A general formula for the entropy of a generalized black hole is obtained in terms of the on-shell holonomies.

Classification of boundary gravitons in AdS3 gravity

We revisit the description of the space of asymptotically AdS3 solutions of pure gravity in three dimensions with a negative cosmological constant as a collection of coadjoint orbits of the Virasoro group. Each orbit corresponds to a set of metrics related by diffeomorphisms which do not approach the identity fast enough at the boundary. Orbits contain more than a single element and this fact manifests the global degrees of freedom of AdS3 gravity, being each element of an orbit what we call boundary graviton. We show how this setup allows to learn features about the classical phase space that otherwise would be quite difficult. Most important are the proof of energy bounds and the characterization of boundary gravitons unrelated to BTZs and AdS3. In addition, it makes manifest the underlying mathematical structure of the space of solutions close to infinity. Notably, because of the existence of a symplectic form in each orbit, being this related with the usual Dirac bracket of the asymptotic charges, this approach is a natural starting point for the quantization of different sectors of AdS3 gravity. We finally discuss previous attempts to quantize coadjoint orbits of the Virasoro group and how this is relevant for the formulation of AdS3 quantum gravity.

Light-cone gravity in AdS4

We obtain a closed form expression for the Action describing pure gravity, in light-cone gauge, in a four-dimensional Anti-de Sitter background. We perform a perturbative expansion of this closed form result to extract the cubic interaction vertex in this gauge.

Topology and volume effects in quantum gravity: Wheeler–DeWitt theory

We consider the quantization of space-times which can possess different topologies within a symmetry reduced version of Wheeler–DeWitt theory. The quantum states are defined from a natural decomposition as an outer-product of a topological state, dictating the topology of the two-surfaces of the space-time, and a geometric state, which controls the geometry and is comprised of solutions to the Wheeler–DeWitt constraints. Within this symmetry reduced theory an eigenvalue equation is derived for the two-volume of space-time, which for spherical topology is fixed to a value of 4π. However, for the other topologies it is found that the spectrum can be discrete and hence the universe, if in one of these other topological states, may only possess certain possible values for the two-volume, whereas classically all values are allowed. We analyze this result in the context of pure gravity (black holes).

Clumping and quantum order: quantum gravitational dynamics of NUT charge

Gravitational instantons with NUT charge are magnetic monopoles upon dimensional reduction. We determine whether NUT charge can proliferate via the Polyakov mechanism and partially screen gravitational interactions. In semiclassical Einstein gravity, Taub-NUT instantons experience a universal attractive force in the path integral that prevents proliferation. This attraction further leads to semiclassical clumping instabilities, similar to the known instabilities of hot flat space and the Kaluza-Klein vacuum. Beyond pure Einstein gravity, NUT proliferation depends on the following question: is the mass of a gravitational instanton in the theory always greater than its NUT charge? Using spinorial methods we show that the answer to this question is `yes' if all matter fields obey a natural Euclidean energy condition. Therefore, the attractive force between instantons in the path integral wins out and gravity is dynamically protected against screening. Semiclassical gravity with a compactified circle can be self-consistently quantum ordered, at the cost of suffering from clumping instabilities.

An inverse scattering formalism for STU supergravity

STU supergravity becomes an integrable system for solutions that effectively only depend on two variables. This class of solutions includes the Kerr solution and its charged generalizations that have been studied in the literature. We here present an inverse scattering method that allows to systematically construct solutions of this integrable system. The method is similar to the one of Belinski and Zakharov for pure gravity but uses a different linear system due to Breitenlohner and Maison and here requires some technical modifications. We illustrate this method by constructing a four-charge rotating solution from flat space. A generalization to other set-ups is also discussed.

One-loop anomaly mediated scalar masses and $$(g-2)_\mu $$ ( g - 2 ) μ in pure gravity mediation

We consider the effects of non-universalities among sfermion generations in models of Pure Gravity Mediation (PGM). In PGM models and in many models with strongly stabilized moduli, the gravitino mass may be O(100) TeV, whereas gaugino masses, generated through anomalies at 1-loop, remain relatively light O(1) TeV. In models with scalar mass universality, input scalar masses are generally very heavy (m_0 \simeq m_{3/2}) resulting in a mass spectrum resembling that in split supersymmetry. However, if one adopts a no-scale or partial no-scale structure for the K\"ahler manifold, sfermion masses may vanish at the tree level. It is usually assumed that the leading order anomaly mediated contribution to scalar masses appears at 2-loops. However, there are at least two possible sources for 1-loop scalar masses. These may arise if Pauli-Villars fields are introduced as messengers of supersymmetry breaking. We consider the consequences of a spectrum in which the scalar masses associated with the third generation are heavy (order m_{3/2}) with 1-loop scalar masses for the first two generations. A similar spectrum is expected to arise in GUT models based on E_7/SO(10) where the first two generations of scalars act as pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons. Explicit breaking of this symmetry by the gauge couplings then generates one-loop masses for the first two generations. In particular, we show that it may be possible to reconcile the g_mu - 2 discrepancy with potentially observable scalars and gauginos at the LHC.

Asymptotically Safe Pure Gravity as the Source of Dark Energy of the Vacuum

Dark energy can be understood in terms of the asymptotic safety of pure gravity. The present short paper shows how pure gravity, quantum mechanics and fractal spacetime are different aspects of the same reality. Results and conclusions are subsequently reinforced and partially reproduced using different theories related to phase transition, Unruh temperature and ‘t Hooft renormalization.

Cosmic Dark Energy from ‘t Hooft’s Dimensional Regularization and Witten’s Topological Quantum Field Pure Gravity

We utilize two different theories to prove that cosmic dark energy density is the complimentary Legendre transformation of ordinary energy and vice versa as given by E(dark) = mc2 (21/22) and E(ordinary) = mc2/22. The first theory used is based on G ‘t Hooft’s remarkably simple renormalization procedure in which a neat mathematical maneuver is introduced via the dimensionality of our four dimensional spacetime. Thus, ‘t Hooft used instead of D = 4 and then took at the end of an intricate and subtle computation the limit to obtain the result while avoiding various problems including the pole singularity at D = 4. Here and in contradistinction to the classical form of dimensional and renormalization we set and do not take the limit where and is the theoretically and experimentally well established Hardy’s generic quantum entanglement. At the end we see that the dark energy density is simply the ratio of and the smooth disentangled D = 4, i.e. (dark) = (4 -k)/4 = 3.8196011/4 = 0.9549150275. Consequently where we have ignored the fine structure details by rounding 21 + k to 21 and 22 + k to 22 in a manner not that much different from of the original form of dimensional regularization theory. The result is subsequently validated by another equally ingenious approach due mainly to E. Witten and his school of topological quantum field theory. We notice that in that theory the local degrees of freedom are zero. Therefore, we are dealing essentially with pure gravity where are the degrees of freedom and is the corresponding dimension. The results and the conclusion of the paper are summarized in Figure 1-3, Table 1 and Flow Chart 1.

Electromagnetic—Pure Gravity Connection via Hardy’s Quantum Entanglement

Pure gravity in eight dimensional super space possesses twenty degrees of freedom. Gauging these generalized coordinates in terms of a single self entangled Hardy type quantum particle we retrieve one hundred and thirty seven isometries corresponding to the well known value of the inverse electromagnetic fine structure constant. The deep implications of this thought provoking result are discussed in a general physical context.

Einstein’s General Relativity and Pure Gravity in a Cosserat and De Sitter-Witten Spacetime Setting as the Explanation of Dark Energy and Cosmic Accelerated Expansion

Ordinary energy and dark energy density are determined using a Cosserat-Cartan and killing-Yano reinterpretation of Einstein’s special and general relativity. Thus starting from a maximally symmetric space with 528 killing vector fields corresponding to Witten’s five Branes model in eleven dimensional M-theory we reason that 504 of the 528 are essentially the components of the relevant killing-Yano tensor. In turn this tensor is related to hidden symmetries and torsional coupled stresses of the Cosserat micro-polar space as well as the Einstein-Cartan connection. Proceeding in this way the dark energy density is found to be that of Einstein’s maximal energy mc2 where m is the mass and c is the speed of light multiplied with a Lorentz factor equal to the ratio of the 504 killing-Yano tensor and the 528 states maximally symmetric space. Thus we have E (dark) = mc2 (504/528) = mc2 (21/22) which is about 95.5% of the total maximal energy density in astounding agreement with COBE, WMAP and Planck cosmological measurements as well as the type 1a supernova analysis. Finally theory and results are validated via a related theory based on the degrees of freedom of pure gravity, the theory of nonlocal elasticity as well as ‘t Hooft-Veltman renormalization method.

Asymptotically Lifshitz black hole solutions in F(R) gravity

We consider a class of spherically symmetric space–time to obtain some interesting solutions in F(R) gravity without matter field (pure gravity). We investigate the geometry of the solutions and find that there is an essential singularity at the origin. In addition, we show that there is an analogy between obtained solutions with the black holes of Einstein-Λ-power Maxwell invariant theory. Furthermore, we find that these solutions are equivalent to the asymptotically Lifshitz black holes. Also, we calculate d2F/dR2 to examine the Dolgov–Kawasaki stability criterion.