Scalar Modes Research Articles

Polarization modes of gravitational waves in Palatini-Horndeski theory

In this paper, the polarization modes of gravitational waves in Horndeski gravity are studied under the Palatini formalism. After obtaining the linearized equation of perturbations in Minkowski background, we find that the polarization modes of gravitational waves depend on the selection of the theoretical parameters. The polarization modes can be divided into quite rich cases by parameters. In all cases of parameter selection, there are $+$ and $\times$ modes propagating at the speed of light but no vector modes. The only difference from general relativity is scalar modes, especially the scalar degrees of freedom can be 0, 1 or 2 in different cases. The appropriate parameter cases can be expected to be selected in the detection of gravitational wave polarization modes by Lisa, Taiji and TianQin in the future.

Sensitivity of third-generation interferometers to extra polarizations in the stochastic gravitational wave background

When modified theories of gravity are considered, at most six gravitational wave polarization modes are allowed and classified in tensor modes, the only ones predicted by General Relativity (GR), along with additional vector and scalar modes. Therefore, gravitational waves represent a powerful tool to test alternative theories of gravitation. In this paper, we forecast the sensitivity of third-generation ground-based interferometers, Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer, to non-GR polarization modes focusing on the stochastic gravitational wave background. We consider the latest technical specifications of the two independent detectors and the full network in order to estimate both the optimal signal-to-noise ratio and the detectable energy density limits relative to all polarization modes in the stochastic background for several locations on Earth and orientations of the two observatories. By considering optimal detector configurations, we find that in 5 years of observation the detection limit for tensor and extra polarization modes could reach $h_0^2\Omega^{T,V,S}_{GW} \approx 10^{-12}-10^{-11}$, depending on the network configuration and the stochastic background (i.e., if only one among vector and scalar modes exists or both are present). This means that the network sensitivity to different polarization modes can be approximately improved by a factor $10^3$ with respect to second-generation interferometers. We finally discuss the possibility of breaking the scalar modes degeneracy by considering both detectors angular responses to sufficiently high gravitational wave frequencies.

Axion-gauge field dynamics with backreaction

Phenomenological success of inflation models with axion and SU(2) gauge fields relies crucially on control of backreaction from particle production. Most of the previous study only demanded the backreaction terms in equations of motion for axion and gauge fields be small on the basis of order-of-magnitude estimation. In this paper, we solve the equations of motion with backreaction for a wide range of parameters of the spectator axion-SU(2) model. First, we find a new slow-roll solution of the axion-SU(2) system in the absence of backreaction. Next, we obtain accurate conditions for stable slow-roll solutions in the presence of backreaction. Finally, we show that the amplitude of primordial gravitational waves sourced by the gauge fields can exceed that of quantum vacuum fluctuations in spacetime by a large factor, without backreaction spoiling slow-roll dynamics. Imposing additional constraints on the power spectra of scalar and tensor modes measured at CMB scales, we find that the sourced contribution can be more than ten times the vacuum one. Imposing further a constraint of scalar modes non-linearly sourced by tensor modes, the two contributions can still be comparable.

No Evidence of Kinetic Screening in Simulations of Merging Binary Neutron Stars beyond General Relativity.

We have conducted fully relativistic simulations in a class of scalar-tensor theories with derivative self-interactions and screening of local scales. By using high-resolution shock-capturing methods and a nonvanishing shift vector, we have managed to avoid issues plaguing similar attempts in the past. We have first confirmed recent results by ourselves in spherical symmetry, obtained with an approximate approach and pointing at a partial breakdown of the screening in black-hole collapse. Then, we considered the late inspiral and merger of binary neutron stars. We found that screening tends to suppress the (subdominant) dipole scalar emission, but not the (dominant) quadrupole scalar mode. Our results point at quadrupole scalar signals as large as (or even larger than) in Fierz-Jordan-Brans-Dicke theories with the same conformal coupling, for strong-coupling scales in the MeV range that we can simulate.

Analysis of wall mass transfer in turbulent pipe flow combining extended proper orthogonal decomposition and Fukagata-Iwamoto-Kasagi identity

We analyze the coherent motions of the velocity and passive scalar field in a turbulent pipe flow. Using Extended Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (EPOD), we can identify the velocity modes most correlated with the scalar modes. We then apply the Fukagata-Iwamoto-Kasagi (FIK) identity to identify the contribution of each velocity and scalar mode on the time-average Sherwood number.

Interferometry of black holes with Hawking radiation

We investigate the wave optical imaging of black holes with Hawking radiation. The spatial correlation function of Hawking radiation is expressed in terms of transmission and reflection coefficients for scalar wave modes and evaluated by numerically summing over angular quantum numbers for the Unruh-Hawking state of the Kerr-de Sitter black hole. Then, wave optical images of an evaporating black hole are obtained by the Fourier transformation of the spatial correlation function. For short wavelength, the image of the black hole with the outgoing mode of the Unruh-Hawking state has the appearance of a star with its surface given by the photon sphere. It is found that interference between incoming modes from the cosmological horizon and reflected modes due to the scattering of the black hole can enhance brightness of images in the vicinity of the photon sphere. For a long wavelength, the entire field of view is bright, and the emission region of Hawking radiation cannot be identified.

Screening vs. gevolution: In chase of a perfect cosmological simulation code

We compare two competing relativistic approaches to the N-body simulation of the Universe large-scale structure. To this end, employing the corresponding alternative computer codes (“gevolution” and “screening”), we conduct a series of cosmological simulations in boxes of different sizes and calculate the power spectra of the scalar perturbation Φ, the frame-dragging vector potential B and the difference between scalar modes χ=Φ−Ψ. We demonstrate that the corresponding power spectra are in very good agreement between the compared schemes. For example, the relative difference of the power spectra for Φ is 0.04% maximum. Since the perturbed Einstein equations have much simpler form in the screening approach, the simulation with this code consumes less computational time, saving almost 40% of CPU hours.

Scalar and Dirac quasinormal modes of scalar-tensor-Gauss-Bonnet black holes * *Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC) (11805166), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

This study explores the scalar and Dirac quasinormal modes pertaining to a class of black hole solutions in the scalar-tensor-Gauss-Bonnet theory. The black hole metrics in question are novel analytic solutions recently derived in the extended version of the theory, which effectively follows at the level of the action of string theory. Owing to the existence of a nonlinear electromagnetic field, the black hole solution possesses a nonvanishing magnetic charge. In particular, the metric is capable of describing black holes with distinct characteristics by assuming different values of the ADM mass and the magnetic charge. This study investigates the scalar and Dirac perturbations in these black hole spacetimes; in particular, we focus on two different types of solutions, based on distinct horizon structures. The properties of the complex frequencies of the obtained dissipative oscillations are investigated, and the stability of the metric is subsequently addressed. We also elaborate on the possible implications of this study.

Linearized dispersion relations in viscous relativistic hydrodynamics

We compute the dispersion relations for scalar, vector and tensor modes of a viscous relativistic fluid, linearized around an equilibrium solution, for a divergence type theory (which, in the linearized theory, includes Israel-Stewart theory and anisotropic hydrodynamics as particular cases) and contrast them to the corresponding results derived from kinetic theory under the relaxation time approximation, and from causal first order theories. We conclude that all approaches give similar dynamics for the scalar and vector modes, while the particular divergence type theory presented here also contains propagating damped tensor waves, in agreement with kinetic theory. Nonhydrodynamic tensor modes are also a feature of holographic fluids. These results support the application of hydrodynamics in problems involving the interaction between fluids and gravitational waves.

Spatially covariant gravity with 2 degrees of freedom: Perturbative analysis

We revisit the problem of building the Lagrangian of a large class of metric theories that respect spatial covariance, which propagate at most two degrees of freedom and in particular no scalar mode. The Lagrangians are polynomials built of the spatially covariant geometric quantities. By expanding the Lagrangian around a cosmological background and focusing on the scalar modes only, we find the conditions for the coefficients of the monomials in order to eliminate the scalar mode at the linear order in perturbations. We find the conditions up to $d=4$ with $d$ the total number of derivatives in the monomials and determine the explicit Lagrangians for the cases of $d=2$, $d=3$ as well as the combination of $d=2$ and $d=3$. We also expand the Lagrangian of $d=2$ to the cubic order in perturbations, and find additional conditions for the coefficients such that the scalar mode is eliminated up to the cubic order. This perturbative analysis can be performed order by order, and one expects to determine the final Lagrangian at some finite order such that the scalar mode is fully eliminated. Our analysis provides an alternative and complimentary approach to building spatially covariant gravity with only tensorial degrees of freedom. The resulting theories can be used as alternatives to the general relativity to describe the tensorial gravitational waves in a cosmological setting.

Non-tensorial gravitational wave background in NANOGrav 12.5-year data set

We perform the first search for an isotropic non-tensorial gravitational-wave background (GWB) allowed in general metric theories of gravity in the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) 12.5-year data set. By modeling the GWB as a power-law spectrum, we find strong Bayesian indication for a spatially correlated process with scalar transverse (ST) correlations whose Bayes factor versus the spatially uncorrelated common-spectrum process is 107 ± 7, but no statistically significant evidence for the tensor transverse, vector longitudinal, and scalar longitudinal polarization modes. The median and the 90% equal-tail amplitudes of ST mode are $$\cal{A}_{\text{ST}}=1.06_{-0.28}^{+0.35}\times10^{-15}$$ , or equivalently the energy density parameter per logarithm frequency is $$\Omega_{\text{GW}}^{\text{ST}}=1.54_{-0.71}^{+1.21}\times10^{-9}$$ , at frequency of 1/year.

Palatini approach and large-scale magnetogenesis

Large-scale magnetogenesis is analyzed within the Palatini approach when the gravitational action is supplemented by a contribution that is nonlinear in the Einstein-Hilbert term. While the addition of the nonlinear terms does not affect the scalar modes of the geometry during the inflationary phase, the tensor-to-scalar ratio is nonetheless suppressed. In this context it is plausible to have a stiff phase following the standard inflationary stage provided the potential has a quintessential form. The large-scale magnetic fields can even be a fraction of the nG over typical length scales of the order of the Mpc prior to the gravitational collapse of the protogalaxy.

Pseudospectrum of Reissner-Nordström black holes: Quasinormal mode instability and universality

Black hole spectroscopy is a powerful tool to probe the Kerr nature of astrophysical compact objects and their environment. The observation of multiple ringdown modes in gravitational waveforms could soon lead to high-precision gravitational spectroscopy, so it is critical to understand if the quasinormal mode spectrum is stable against perturbations. It was recently shown that the pseudospectrum can shed light on the spectral stability of black hole quasinormal modes. We study the pseudospectrum of Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetimes and we find a spectral instability of scalar and gravitoelectric quasinormal modes in subextremal and extremal black holes, extending similar findings for the Schwarzschild spacetime. The asymptotic structure of pseudospectral contour levels is the same for scalar and gravitoelectric perturbations. By making different gauge choices in the hyperboloidal slicing of the spacetime, we find that the broad features of the pseudospectra are remarkably gauge-independent. The gravitational-led and electromagnetic-led quasinormal modes of extremal Reissner-Nordstr\"om black holes exhibit "strong" isospectrality: not only their spectrum coincides, but the whole pseudospectrum is the same for both classes of perturbations. We observe that a conformal duality between the extremal horizon and spacetime boundaries at infinity is responsible for such "strong" isospectrality property.

B modes from postinflationary gravitational waves sourced by axionic instabilities at cosmic reionization

We show that axion-like particles that only couple to invisible dark photons can generate visible B-mode signals around the reionization epoch. The axion field starts rolling shortly before reionization, resulting in a tachyonic instability for the dark photons. This generates an exponential growth of the dark photon quanta sourcing both scalar metric modes and gravitational waves that leave an imprint on the reionized baryons. The tensor modes modify the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization at reionization, generating visible B-mode signatures for the next generation of CMB experiments for parameter ranges that satisfy the current experimental constraints.

Scalar quasinormal modes for $$2+1$$-dimensional Coulomb-like AdS black holes from nonlinear electrodynamics

We study the propagation of scalar fields in the background of $2+1$-dimensional Coulomb like AdS black holes, and we show that such propagation is stable under Dirichlet boundary conditions. Then, we solve the Klein-Gordon equation by using the pseudospectral Chevyshev method, and we find the quasinormal frequencies. Mainly, we find that the quasinormal frequencies are purely imaginary for a null angular number and they are complex and purely imaginary for a non null value of the angular number, which depend on the black hole charge, angular number and overtone number. On the other hand, the effect of the inclusion of a Coulomb like field from non lineal electrodynamics to General Relativity for a vanishing angular number is the emergence of two branches of quasinormal frequencies in contrast with the static BTZ black hole.

Model independent prediction of the spectral index of primordial quantum fluctuations

One of the most important achievements of inflationary cosmology is to predict a departure from scale invariance of the power spectrum for cosmological scalar perturbations. This tilt is understood as a consequence of a quasi de Sitter classical equation of state describing the inflationary dark energy dominated era. Here, following previous work, we find a departure of scale invariance for the quantum Fisher information associated to de Sitter vacuum for scalar quantum spectator modes. This gives rise to a purely quantum cosmological tilt with a well defined dependence on energy scale. This quantum tilt is imprinted, in a scale dependent energy uncertainty for the spectator modes. The effective quasi de Sitter description of this model independent energy uncertainty uniquely sets the effective quasi de Sitter parameters (i.e., the small deviation from the cosmological constant equation of state) at all energy scales. In particular, in the slow-roll regime characterized by an almost constant ϵ, the quantum Fisher — model independent — prediction for the spectral index is n s = 0.9672. Moreover, the energy scale dependence of the quantum cosmological tilt implies the existence of a cosmological phase transition at energies higher than the CMB scale and of the order of 1 Mpc-1 where the tilt goes from red into blue. This strongly suggest the existence of a pre-inflationary phase where the effective scalaron contributes to the spectral index as normal relativistic matter and where the corresponding growth of the power spectrum can result in dark matter in the form of small mass primordial black holes. The source and features of the quantum cosmological tilt leading to these predictions are determined by the entanglement features of the de Sitter α- vacuum states.

Erratum: Gravitational waves from the quasicircular inspiral of compact binaries in Einstein-aether theory [Phys. Rev. D 101 , 044002 (2020)

We study gravitational waves emitted by a binary system of non-spinning bodies in a quasi-circular inspiral within the framework of Einstein-aether theory. In particular, we compute explicitly and analytically the expressions for the time-domain and frequency-domain waveforms, gravitational wave polarizations, and response functions for both ground- and space-based detectors in the post-Newtonian approximation. We find that, when going beyond leading-order in the post-Newtonian approximation, the non-Einsteinian polarization modes contain terms that depend on both the first and the second harmonics of the orbital phase. We also calculate analytically the corresponding parameterized post-Einsteinian parameters, generalizing the existing framework to allow for different propagation speeds among scalar, vector and tensor modes, without assumptions about the magnitude of its coupling parameters, and meanwhile allowing the binary system to have relative motions with respect to the aether field. Such results allow for the easy construction of Einstein-aether templates that could be used in Bayesian tests of General Relativity in the future.

Correlation analysis for isotropic stochastic gravitational wave backgrounds with maximally allowed polarization degrees

We study correlation analysis for monopole components of stochastic gravitational wave backgrounds, including the maximally allowed polarization degrees. We show that, for typical detector networks, the correlation analysis can probe virtually five spectra: three for the intensities of the tensor, vector, and scalar modes and two for the chiral asymmetries of the tensor and vector modes. The chiral asymmetric signal for the vector modes has been left untouched so far. In this paper, we derive the overlap reduction function for this signal and thus complete the basic ingredients required for widely dealing with polarization degrees. We comprehensively analyze the geometrical properties of all the five overlap reduction functions. In particular, we point out the importance of reflection transformations for configuring preferable networks in the future.

Slowly rotating black holes and their scalarization

We study scalarization of slowly rotating black holes in the Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet (GB)-Chern-Simons (CS) theory. In the slow rotation approximation of $a\ll1$ with rotation parameter $a$, the GB term is given by a term for Schwarzschild black hole, whereas the CS term takes a linear term of $a$. The tachyonic instability for slowly rotating black holes represents the onset of spontaneous scalarization. We use the (2+1)-dimensional hyperboloidal foliation method to show the tachyonic instability for slowly rotating black holes by considering the time evolution of a spherically symmetric scalar mode. A threshold (existence) curve is obtained from the constant scalar modes under time evolution, which means the boundary between stable and unstable black holes. It is found that the slowly rotating black holes turn out to be unstable against a spherically symmetric scalar-mode propagation for positive coupling $\alpha$. However, we could not find tachyonic instability and any $a$-bound for scalarization for negative coupling $\alpha$.

Thermal effects and scalar modes in the cosmological propagation of gravitational waves

We consider thermal effects in the propagation of gravitational waves on a cosmological background. In particular, we consider scalar field cosmologies and study gravitational modes near cosmological singularities. We point out that the contribution of thermal radiation can heavily affect the dynamics of gravitational waves giving enhancement or dissipation effects both at quantum and classical level. These effects are considered both in General Relativity and in modified theories like F ( R ) gravity which can be easily reduced to scalar–tensor cosmology. The possible detection and disentanglement of standard and scalar gravitational modes on the stochastic background are also discussed.