The purpose of this review it to present a renewed perspective of the problem of self-gravitating elastic bodies under spherical symmetry. It is also a companion to the papers (2022 Phys. Rev. D 105 044025, 2022 Phys. Rev. D 106 L041502) and (arXiv:2306.16584 [gr-qc]), where we introduced a new definition of spherically symmetric elastic bodies in general relativity, and applied it to investigate the existence and physical viability, including radial stability, of static self-gravitating elastic balls. We focus on elastic materials that generalize fluids with polytropic, linear, and affine equations of state, and discuss the symmetries of the energy density function, including homogeneity and the resulting scale invariance of the TOV equations. By introducing invariant characterizations of physically admissible initial data, we numerically construct mass-radius-compactness diagrams, and conjecture about the maximum compactness of stable physically admissible elastic balls.
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Classical and Quantum Gravity is an established journal for physicists, mathematicians and cosmologists in the fields of gravitation and the theory of spacetime. The journal is now the acknowledged world leader in classical relativity and all areas of quantum gravity.
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Artur Alho et al 2024 Class. Quantum Grav. 41 073002
Jared Fuchs et al 2024 Class. Quantum Grav. 41 095013
Warp drives are exotic solutions of general relativity that offer novel means of transportation. In this study, we present a solution for a constant-velocity subluminal warp drive that satisfies all of the energy conditions. The solution involves combining a stable matter shell with a shift vector distribution that closely matches well-known warp drive solutions such as the Alcubierre metric. We generate the spacetime metric numerically, evaluate the energy conditions, and confirm that the shift vector distribution cannot be reduced to a coordinate transformation. This study demonstrates that classic warp drive spacetimes can be made to satisfy the energy conditions by adding a regular matter shell with a positive ADM mass.
Oliver James et al 2015 Class. Quantum Grav. 32 065001
Interstellar is the first Hollywood movie to attempt depicting a black hole as it would actually be seen by somebody nearby. For this, our team at Double Negative Visual Effects, in collaboration with physicist Kip Thorne, developed a code called Double Negative Gravitational Renderer (DNGR) to solve the equations for ray-bundle (light-beam) propagation through the curved spacetime of a spinning (Kerr) black hole, and to render IMAX-quality, rapidly changing images. Our ray-bundle techniques were crucial for achieving IMAX-quality smoothness without flickering; and they differ from physicists' image-generation techniques (which generally rely on individual light rays rather than ray bundles), and also differ from techniques previously used in the film industry's CGI community. This paper has four purposes: (i) to describe DNGR for physicists and CGI practitioners, who may find interesting and useful some of our unconventional techniques. (ii) To present the equations we use, when the camera is in arbitrary motion at an arbitrary location near a Kerr black hole, for mapping light sources to camera images via elliptical ray bundles. (iii) To describe new insights, from DNGR, into gravitational lensing when the camera is near the spinning black hole, rather than far away as in almost all prior studies; we focus on the shapes, sizes and influence of caustics and critical curves, the creation and annihilation of stellar images, the pattern of multiple images, and the influence of almost-trapped light rays, and we find similar results to the more familiar case of a camera far from the hole. (iv) To describe how the images of the black hole Gargantua and its accretion disk, in the movie Interstellar, were generated with DNGR—including, especially, the influences of (a) colour changes due to doppler and gravitational frequency shifts, (b) intensity changes due to the frequency shifts, (c) simulated camera lens flare, and (d) decisions that the film makers made about these influences and about the Gargantua's spin, with the goal of producing images understandable for a mass audience. There are no new astrophysical insights in this accretion-disk section of the paper, but disk novices may find it pedagogically interesting, and movie buffs may find its discussions of Interstellar interesting.
Eleonora Di Valentino et al 2021 Class. Quantum Grav. 38 153001
The simplest ΛCDM model provides a good fit to a large span of cosmological data but harbors large areas of phenomenology and ignorance. With the improvement of the number and the accuracy of observations, discrepancies among key cosmological parameters of the model have emerged. The most statistically significant tension is the 4σ to 6σ disagreement between predictions of the Hubble constant, H0, made by the early time probes in concert with the 'vanilla' ΛCDM cosmological model, and a number of late time, model-independent determinations of H0 from local measurements of distances and redshifts. The high precision and consistency of the data at both ends present strong challenges to the possible solution space and demands a hypothesis with enough rigor to explain multiple observations—whether these invoke new physics, unexpected large-scale structures or multiple, unrelated errors. A thorough review of the problem including a discussion of recent Hubble constant estimates and a summary of the proposed theoretical solutions is presented here. We include more than 1000 references, indicating that the interest in this area has grown considerably just during the last few years. We classify the many proposals to resolve the tension in these categories: early dark energy, late dark energy, dark energy models with 6 degrees of freedom and their extensions, models with extra relativistic degrees of freedom, models with extra interactions, unified cosmologies, modified gravity, inflationary models, modified recombination history, physics of the critical phenomena, and alternative proposals. Some are formally successful, improving the fit to the data in light of their additional degrees of freedom, restoring agreement within 1–2σ between Planck 2018, using the cosmic microwave background power spectra data, baryon acoustic oscillations, Pantheon SN data, and R20, the latest SH0ES Team Riess, et al (2021 Astrophys. J.908 L6) measurement of the Hubble constant (H0 = 73.2 ± 1.3 km s−1 Mpc−1 at 68% confidence level). However, there are many more unsuccessful models which leave the discrepancy well above the 3σ disagreement level. In many cases, reduced tension comes not simply from a change in the value of H0 but also due to an increase in its uncertainty due to degeneracy with additional physics, complicating the picture and pointing to the need for additional probes. While no specific proposal makes a strong case for being highly likely or far better than all others, solutions involving early or dynamical dark energy, neutrino interactions, interacting cosmologies, primordial magnetic fields, and modified gravity provide the best options until a better alternative comes along.
Germain Tobar and Fabio Costa 2020 Class. Quantum Grav. 37 205011
The theory of general relativity predicts the existence of closed time-like curves (CTCs), which theoretically would allow an observer to travel back in time and interact with their past self. This raises the question of whether this could create a grandfather paradox, in which the observer interacts in such a way to prevent their own time travel. Previous research has proposed a framework for deterministic, reversible, dynamics compatible with non-trivial time travel, where observers in distinct regions of spacetime can perform arbitrary local operations with no contradiction arising. However, only scenarios with up to three regions have been fully characterised, revealing only one type of process where the observers can verify to both be in the past and future of each other. Here we extend this characterisation to an arbitrary number of regions and find that there exist several inequivalent processes that can only arise due to non-trivial time travel. This supports the view that complex dynamics is possible in the presence of CTCs, compatible with free choice of local operations and free of inconsistencies.
B P Abbott et al 2020 Class. Quantum Grav. 37 055002
The LIGO Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo Collaboration have cataloged eleven confidently detected gravitational-wave events during the first two observing runs of the advanced detector era. All eleven events were consistent with being from well-modeled mergers between compact stellar-mass objects: black holes or neutron stars. The data around the time of each of these events have been made publicly available through the gravitational-wave open science center. The entirety of the gravitational-wave strain data from the first and second observing runs have also now been made publicly available. There is considerable interest among the broad scientific community in understanding the data and methods used in the analyses. In this paper, we provide an overview of the detector noise properties and the data analysis techniques used to detect gravitational-wave signals and infer the source properties. We describe some of the checks that are performed to validate the analyses and results from the observations of gravitational-wave events. We also address concerns that have been raised about various properties of LIGO–Virgo detector noise and the correctness of our analyses as applied to the resulting data.
Andrzej Dragan et al 2023 Class. Quantum Grav. 40 025013
We develop an extension of special relativity in dimensional spacetime to account for superluminal inertial observers and show that such an extension rules out the conventional dynamics of mechanical point-like particles and forces one to use a field-theoretic framework. Therefore we show that field theory can be viewed as a direct consequence of extended special relativity.
Lucas Lombriser 2023 Class. Quantum Grav. 40 155005
Theoretical and observational challenges to standard cosmology such as the cosmological constant problem and tensions between cosmological model parameters inferred from different observations motivate the development and search of new physics. A less radical approach to venturing beyond the standard model is the simple mathematical reformulation of our theoretical frameworks underlying it. While leaving physical measurements unaffected, this can offer a reinterpretation and even solutions of these problems. In this spirit, metric transformations are performed here that cast our Universe into different geometries. Of particular interest thereby is the formulation of cosmology in Minkowski space. Rather than an expansion of space, spatial curvature, and small-scale inhomogeneities and anisotropies, this frame exhibits a variation of mass, length and time scales across spacetime. Alternatively, this may be interpreted as an evolution of fundamental constants. As applications of this reframed cosmological picture, the naturalness of the cosmological constant is reinspected and promising candidates of geometric origin are explored for dark matter, dark energy, inflation and baryogenesis. An immediate observation thereby is the apparent absence of the cosmological constant problem in the Minkowski frame. The formalism is also applied to identify new observable signatures of conformal inhomogeneities, which have been proposed as simultaneous solution of the observational tensions in the Hubble constant, the amplitude of matter fluctuations, and the gravitational lensing amplitude of cosmic microwave background anisotropies. These are found to enhance redshifts to distant galaxy clusters and introduce a mass bias with cluster masses inferred from gravitational lensing exceeding those inferred kinematically or dynamically.
Martin Bojowald and Erick I Duque 2024 Class. Quantum Grav. 41 095008
A complete canonical formulation of general covariance makes it possible to construct new modified theories of gravity that are not of higher-curvature form, as shown here in a spherically symmetric setting. The usual uniqueness theorems are evaded by using a crucial and novel ingredient, allowing for fundamental fields of gravity distinct from an emergent space-time metric that provides a geometrical structure to all solutions. As specific examples, there are new expansion-shear couplings in cosmological models, a form of modified Newtonian dynamics can appear in a space-time covariant theory without introducing extra fields, and related effects help to make effective models of canonical quantum gravity fully consistent with general covariance.
Aaron Beyen et al 2024 Class. Quantum Grav. 41 095012
We revisit and improve the analytic study (Gregory et al 2018 Class. Quantum. Grav.35 155008) of spherically symmetric but dynamical black holes in Einstein's gravity coupled to a real scalar field. We introduce a series expansion in a small parameter ε that implements slow time dependence. At the leading order (LO), the generic solution is a quasi-stationary Schwarzschild–de Sitter (SdS) metric, i.e. one where time-dependence enters only through the mass and cosmological constant parameters of SdS. The two coupled ODEs describing the LO time dependence are solved up to quadrature for an arbitrary scalar potential. Higher order corrections can be consistently computed, as we show by explicitly solving the Einstein equations at the next to LO as well. We comment on how the quasi-stationary expansion we introduce here is equivalent to the non-relativistic expansion.
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Rituparna Mandal and Soma Sanyal 2024 Class. Quantum Grav. 41 135001
We investigate the quantum modified cosmological dynamical equations in a Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker universe filled with a barotropic fluid and a general non-canonical scalar field characterized by a Lagrangian similar to k-essence model but with a potential term. Quantum corrections are incorporated by considering the running of the gravitational and potential couplings, employing the functional renormalization group approach. Covariant conservation of the non-canonical scalar field and the background barotropic fluid is considered separately, imposing a constraint resulting from the Bianchi identity. This constraint determines the evolution of the cut-off scale with the scale factor and also reveals the cosmic fixed points, depending on whether the flow ceases or continues to evolve. We explore how the general non-canonical scalar field parameter affects the different types of cosmic fixed points and how it differs from the canonical case. Furthermore, we establish a bound on the ratio of the renormalization group parameters involving the non-canonical parameter for which the universe may exhibit accelerated expansion for mixed fixed points. This bound indicates the non-canonical scalar field includes larger sets of asymptotically safe renormalization group fixed point which may give rise to an accelerated universe.
Orlando Luongo and Hernando Quevedo 2024 Class. Quantum Grav. 41 125011
We evaluate the effects of repulsive gravity using first order geometric invariants, i.e. the Ricci scalar and the eigenvalues of the Riemann curvature tensor, for three regular black holes, namely the Bardeen, Hayward, and Dymnikova spacetimes. To examine the repulsive effects, we calculate their respective onsets and regions of repulsive gravity. Afterwards, we compare the repulsive regions obtained from these metrics among themselves and then with the predictions got from the Reissner–Nordström and Schwarzschild–de Sitter. A notable characteristic, observed in all these metrics, is that the repulsive regions appear to be unaffected by the mass that generates the regular black hole. This property emerges due to the invariants employed in our analysis, which do not change sign through linear combinations of the mass and the free coefficients of the metrics. As a result, gravity can change sign independently of the specific values acquired by the mass. This conclusion suggests a potential incompleteness of regular solutions, particularly in terms of their repulsive effects. To further highlight this finding, we numerically compute, for the Reissner–Nordström and Schwarzschild–de Sitter solutions, the values of mass, M, that emulate the repulsive effects found in the Bardeen and Hayward spacetimes. These selected values of M provide evidence that regular black holes do not incorporate repulsive effects by means of the masses used to generate the solutions themselves. Implications and physical consequences of these results are then discussed in detail.
Ilkka Mäkinen 2024 Class. Quantum Grav. 41 125010
We introduce a master constraint operator on the kinematical Hilbert space of loop quantum gravity representing a set of gauge conditions which classically fix the densitized triad to be diagonal. We argue that the master constraint approach provides a natural and systematic way of carrying out the quantum gauge-fixing procedure which underlies the model known as quantum-reduced loop gravity. The Hilbert space of quantum-reduced loop gravity is obtained as a particular space of solutions of the gauge-fixing master constraint operator. We give a concise summary of the fundamental structure of the quantum-reduced framework, and consider several possible extensions thereof, for which the master constraint formulation provides a convenient starting point. In particular, we propose a generalization of the standard Hilbert space of quantum-reduced loop gravity, which may be relevant in the application of the quantum-reduced model to physical situations in which the Ashtekar connection is not diagonal.
Samarjit Chakraborty et al 2024 Class. Quantum Grav. 41 127003
We investigate the status of the gravitational arrow of time in the case of a spherical collapse of a fluid that conducts heat and radiates energy. In particular, we examine the results obtained by W. B. Bonnor in his 1985 paper where he found that the gravitational arrow of time was opposite to the thermodynamic arrow of time. The measure of gravitational epoch function P used by Bonnor was given by the ratio of the Weyl square to the Ricci square. In this paper, we have assumed the measure of gravitational entropy (GE) P1 to be given by the ratio of the Weyl scalar to the Kretschmann scalar. Our analysis indicates that Bonnor's result seems to be validated, i.e. the gravitational arrow and the thermodynamic arrow of time point in opposite directions. This strengthens the opinion that the Weyl proposal of GE applies only to the Universe as a whole (provided that we exclude the white holes).
András László and Zsigmond Tarcsay 2024 Class. Quantum Grav. 41 125009
In nonperturbative formulation of quantum field theory, the vacuum state is characterized by the Wilsonian renormalization group (RG) flow of Feynman type field correlators. Such a flow is a parametric family of ultraviolet (UV) regularized field correlators, the parameter being the strength of the UV regularization, and the instances with different strength of UV regularizations are linked by the renormalization group equation. Important RG flows are those which reach out to any UV regularization strengths. In this paper it is shown that for these flows a natural, mathematically rigorous generally covariant definition can be given, and that they form a topological vector space which is Hausdorff, locally convex, complete, nuclear, semi-Montel, Schwartz. That is, they form a generalized function space having favorable properties, similar to multivariate distributions. The other theorem proved in the paper is that for Wilsonian RG flows reaching out to all UV regularization strengths, a simple factorization formula holds in case of bosonic fields over flat (affine) spacetime: the flow always originates from a regularization-independent distributional correlator, and its running satisfies an algebraic ansatz. The conjecture is that this factorization theorem should generically hold, which is worth future investigations.
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Artur Alho et al 2024 Class. Quantum Grav. 41 073002
The purpose of this review it to present a renewed perspective of the problem of self-gravitating elastic bodies under spherical symmetry. It is also a companion to the papers (2022 Phys. Rev. D 105 044025, 2022 Phys. Rev. D 106 L041502) and (arXiv:2306.16584 [gr-qc]), where we introduced a new definition of spherically symmetric elastic bodies in general relativity, and applied it to investigate the existence and physical viability, including radial stability, of static self-gravitating elastic balls. We focus on elastic materials that generalize fluids with polytropic, linear, and affine equations of state, and discuss the symmetries of the energy density function, including homogeneity and the resulting scale invariance of the TOV equations. By introducing invariant characterizations of physically admissible initial data, we numerically construct mass-radius-compactness diagrams, and conjecture about the maximum compactness of stable physically admissible elastic balls.
Ellery Ames and Håkan Andréasson 2024 Class. Quantum Grav. 41 073001
The purpose of this work is to review the status about stationary solutions of the axially symmetric Einstein–Vlasov system with a focus on open problems of both analytical and numerical nature. For the latter we emphasize that the code used to construct stationary solutions in Ames et al (2016 Class. Quantum Grav.33 155008; 2019 Phys. Rev. D 99 024012) is open source, see Ames and Logg (2023 J. Open Source Softw.8 5979). In the analytical setting the open problems include establishing methods for proving existence of axisymmetric stationary solutions which are far from spherically symmetric, both in the general case and for certain special classes of solutions pointed out in the text. In the numerical setting there are intriguing properties of highly relativistic solutions that demand further attention, such as whether a sequence of such stationary solutions can approach a Kerr black hole, or if they necessarily approach the thin ring limit reminiscent of cosmic strings. The question of whether stationary solutions include states with thin-disk like morphologies as seen in many galaxies is also open. Finally, there are opportunities to extend this research to new settings such as the case of massless particles and coupled black hole-matter systems. We believe that some of the open problems highlighted here are of central importance for the understanding of nature.
Fabian Gittins 2024 Class. Quantum Grav. 41 043001
Rotating neutron stars that support long-lived, non-axisymmetric deformations known as mountains have long been considered potential sources of gravitational radiation. However, the amplitude from such a source is very weak and current gravitational-wave interferometers have yet to witness such a signal. The lack of detections has provided upper limits on the size of the involved deformations, which are continually being constrained. With expected improvements in detector sensitivities and analysis techniques, there is good reason to anticipate an observation in the future. This review concerns the current state of the theory of neutron-star mountains. These exotic objects host the extreme regimes of modern physics, which are related to how they sustain mountains. We summarise various mechanisms that may give rise to asymmetries, including crustal strains built up during the evolutionary history of the neutron star, the magnetic field distorting the star's shape and accretion episodes gradually constructing a mountain. Moving beyond the simple rotating model, we also discuss how precession affects the dynamics and modifies the gravitational-wave signal. We describe the prospects for detection and the challenges moving forward.
Chen-Te Ma 2024 Class. Quantum Grav. 41 023001
We review the various aspects of the 3D Einstein gravity theory with a negative cosmological constant and its boundary description. We also explore its connections to conformal field theories (CFTs), modular symmetry, and holography. It is worth noting that this particular theory is topological in nature, which means that all the physical degrees of freedom are located on the boundary. Additionally, we can derive the boundary description on a torus, which takes the form of a 2D Schwarzian theory. This observation suggests that the relevant degrees of freedom for the theory can be described using this 2D theory. Because of the renormalizability of the 3D gravity theory, one can probe the quantum regime. This suggests that it is possible to investigate quantum phenomena. Unlike the conventional CFTs, when considering the AdS3 background, the boundary theory loses modular symmetry. This represents a departure from the usual behavior of CFT and is quite intriguing. The Weyl transformation induces anomaly in CFTs, and we indicate that applying this transformation to the 2D Schwarzian theory leads to similar results. Summing over all geometries with the asymptotic AdS3 boundary condition is equivalent to summing over a modular group. The partition function is one-loop exact and therefore an analytical expression from the summation. This theory holds potential applications in Quantum Information and is a recurring theme in the study of holography, where gravitational theories are connected with CFTs.
Leonardo Abbrescia and Jared Speck 2023 Class. Quantum Grav. 40 243001
In this article, we provide notes that complement the lectures on the relativistic Euler equations and shocks that were given by the second author at the program Mathematical Perspectives of Gravitation Beyond the Vacuum Regime, which was hosted by the Erwin Schrödinger International Institute for Mathematics and Physics in Vienna in February 2022. We set the stage by introducing a standard first-order formulation of the relativistic Euler equations and providing a brief overview of local well-posedness in Sobolev spaces. Then, using Riemann invariants, we provide the first detailed construction of a localized subset of the maximal globally hyperbolic developments of an open set of initially smooth, shock-forming isentropic solutions in 1D, with a focus on describing the singular boundary and the Cauchy horizon that emerges from the singularity. Next, we provide an overview of the new second-order formulation of the 3D relativistic Euler equations derived in Disconzi and Speck (2019 Ann. Henri Poincare20 2173–270), its rich geometric and analytic structures, their implications for the mathematical theory of shock waves, and their connection to the setup we use in our 1D analysis of shocks. We then highlight some key prior results on the study of shock formation and related problems. Furthermore, we provide an overview of how the formulation of the flow derived in Disconzi and Speck (2019 Ann. Henri Poincare20 2173–270) can be used to study shock formation in multiple spatial dimensions. Finally, we discuss various open problems tied to shocks.
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Chahboun et al
This work presents a novel approach to address the longstanding challenge posed by the rotation curves of galaxies and the associated missing mass problem. Utilizing the 4-dimensional modified gravity framework of Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet, we develop a new model that integrates the concept of dark matter featuring negative mass due to the Gauss-Bonnet term. Our methodology involves using the action of Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet with boundary terms to derive the Israel junction condition, allowing the formulation of a model featuring a spherical dark halo. The mass expression of this dark halo exhibits a remarkable proportionality to the radius r at large distances, forming the basis for subsequent analyses. The model's implications extend to the dynamics of the early universe, where we introduce a dynamic scalar field classified as Chameleon. Posting this scalar field as the origin of dark matter effects, we establish a crucial link between the coupling constant α and the scalar field through Z2 symmetry breaking via the effective potential. This connection enables a subtle description of velocity, reminiscent of the MOND, providing insights into the gravitational interplay and dark matter dynamics. A pivotal aspect of our study involves a particular comparison of the model's predictions with observational data sourced from SPARC datasets. The alignment of our theoretical outcomes with empirical evidence underscores the model's efficiency and its potential contribution to our understanding of galactic rotation dynamics.
Cattaneo et al
We study a family of (possibly non topological) deformations of BF theory for the Lie algebra obtained by quadratic extension of so(3, 1) by an orthogonal module. The resulting theory, called quadratically extended General Relativity (qeGR), is shown to be classically equivalent to certain models of gravity with dynamical torsion. The classical equivalence is shown to promote to a stronger notion of equivalence within the Batalin–Vilkovisky formalism. In particular, both Palatini–Cartan gravity and a deformation thereof by a dynamical torsion term, called (quadratic) generalised Holst theory, are recovered from the standard Batalin–Vilkovisky formulation of qeGR by elimination of generalised auxiliary fields.
Le Floch et al
To construct asymptotically-Euclidean Einstein's initial data sets, we introduce the localized seed-to-solution method, which projects from approximate to exact solutions of the Einstein constraints. The method enables us to glue together initial data sets in multiple asymptotically-conical regions, and in particular construct data sets that exhibit the gravity shielding phenomenon, specifically that are localized in a cone and exactly Euclidean outside of it. We achieve optimal shielding in the sense that the metric and extrinsic curvature are controlled at a super-harmonic rate, regardless of how slowly they decay (even beyond the standard ADM formalism), and the gluing domain can be a collection of arbitrarily narrow nested cones. We also uncover several notions of independent interest: silhouette functions, localized ADM modulator, and relative energy-momentum vector. An axisymmetric example is provided numerically.
Harada
A gauge-invariant formulation for the gravitational wave equations is presented. Using this approach, weak, plane wave solutions in a vacuum are derived in various theories. These include general relativity with two modes of polarization with helicity ±2, Yang's theory with three modes of polarization with helicity ±2 and 0, and so-called "general metric theories" with six modes of polarization with helicity ±2, ±1, and two 0's. To identify the polarizations of gravitational waves, it is explicitly demonstrated how the gauge-invariant approach reproduces the earlier results.
Helmling-Cornell et al
The extreme sensitivity required for direct observation of gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO detectors means that environmental noise is increasingly likely to contaminate Advanced LIGO gravitational wave signals if left unaddressed. Consequently, environmental monitoring efforts have been undertaken and novel noise mitigation techniques have been developed which have reduced environmental coupling and made it possible to analyze environmental artifacts with potential to affect the 90 gravitational wave events detected from 2015–2020 by the Advanced LIGO detectors. So far, there is no evidence for environmental contamination in gravitational wave detections. However, automated, rapid ways to monitor and assess the degree of environmental coupling between gravitational wave detectors and their surroundings are needed as the rate of detections continues to increase. We introduce a computational tool, PEMcheck, for quantifying the degree of environmental coupling present in gravitational wave signals using data from the extant collection of environmental monitoring sensors at each detector. We study its performance when applied to 79 gravitational waves detected in LIGO's third observing run and test its performance in the case of extreme environmental contamination of gravitational wave data. We find that PEMcheck's automated analysis identifies only a small number of gravitational waves that merit further study by environmental noise experts due to possible contamination, a substantial improvement over the manual vetting that occurred for every gravitational wave candidate in the first two observing runs. Building on a first attempt at automating environmental coupling assessments used in the third observing run, this tool represents an improvement in accuracy and interpretability of coupling assessments, reducing the time needed to validate gravitational wave candidates. With the validation provided herein; PEMcheck will play a critical role in event validation during LIGO's fourth observing run as an integral part of the data quality report produced for each gravitational wave candidate.
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Open all abstracts, in this tab
A S Cattaneo et al 2024 Class. Quantum Grav.
We study a family of (possibly non topological) deformations of BF theory for the Lie algebra obtained by quadratic extension of so(3, 1) by an orthogonal module. The resulting theory, called quadratically extended General Relativity (qeGR), is shown to be classically equivalent to certain models of gravity with dynamical torsion. The classical equivalence is shown to promote to a stronger notion of equivalence within the Batalin–Vilkovisky formalism. In particular, both Palatini–Cartan gravity and a deformation thereof by a dynamical torsion term, called (quadratic) generalised Holst theory, are recovered from the standard Batalin–Vilkovisky formulation of qeGR by elimination of generalised auxiliary fields.
Adrian Helmling-Cornell et al 2024 Class. Quantum Grav.
The extreme sensitivity required for direct observation of gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO detectors means that environmental noise is increasingly likely to contaminate Advanced LIGO gravitational wave signals if left unaddressed. Consequently, environmental monitoring efforts have been undertaken and novel noise mitigation techniques have been developed which have reduced environmental coupling and made it possible to analyze environmental artifacts with potential to affect the 90 gravitational wave events detected from 2015–2020 by the Advanced LIGO detectors. So far, there is no evidence for environmental contamination in gravitational wave detections. However, automated, rapid ways to monitor and assess the degree of environmental coupling between gravitational wave detectors and their surroundings are needed as the rate of detections continues to increase. We introduce a computational tool, PEMcheck, for quantifying the degree of environmental coupling present in gravitational wave signals using data from the extant collection of environmental monitoring sensors at each detector. We study its performance when applied to 79 gravitational waves detected in LIGO's third observing run and test its performance in the case of extreme environmental contamination of gravitational wave data. We find that PEMcheck's automated analysis identifies only a small number of gravitational waves that merit further study by environmental noise experts due to possible contamination, a substantial improvement over the manual vetting that occurred for every gravitational wave candidate in the first two observing runs. Building on a first attempt at automating environmental coupling assessments used in the third observing run, this tool represents an improvement in accuracy and interpretability of coupling assessments, reducing the time needed to validate gravitational wave candidates. With the validation provided herein; PEMcheck will play a critical role in event validation during LIGO's fourth observing run as an integral part of the data quality report produced for each gravitational wave candidate.
Orlando Luongo and Hernando Quevedo 2024 Class. Quantum Grav. 41 125011
We evaluate the effects of repulsive gravity using first order geometric invariants, i.e. the Ricci scalar and the eigenvalues of the Riemann curvature tensor, for three regular black holes, namely the Bardeen, Hayward, and Dymnikova spacetimes. To examine the repulsive effects, we calculate their respective onsets and regions of repulsive gravity. Afterwards, we compare the repulsive regions obtained from these metrics among themselves and then with the predictions got from the Reissner–Nordström and Schwarzschild–de Sitter. A notable characteristic, observed in all these metrics, is that the repulsive regions appear to be unaffected by the mass that generates the regular black hole. This property emerges due to the invariants employed in our analysis, which do not change sign through linear combinations of the mass and the free coefficients of the metrics. As a result, gravity can change sign independently of the specific values acquired by the mass. This conclusion suggests a potential incompleteness of regular solutions, particularly in terms of their repulsive effects. To further highlight this finding, we numerically compute, for the Reissner–Nordström and Schwarzschild–de Sitter solutions, the values of mass, M, that emulate the repulsive effects found in the Bardeen and Hayward spacetimes. These selected values of M provide evidence that regular black holes do not incorporate repulsive effects by means of the masses used to generate the solutions themselves. Implications and physical consequences of these results are then discussed in detail.
Ilkka Mäkinen 2024 Class. Quantum Grav. 41 125010
We introduce a master constraint operator on the kinematical Hilbert space of loop quantum gravity representing a set of gauge conditions which classically fix the densitized triad to be diagonal. We argue that the master constraint approach provides a natural and systematic way of carrying out the quantum gauge-fixing procedure which underlies the model known as quantum-reduced loop gravity. The Hilbert space of quantum-reduced loop gravity is obtained as a particular space of solutions of the gauge-fixing master constraint operator. We give a concise summary of the fundamental structure of the quantum-reduced framework, and consider several possible extensions thereof, for which the master constraint formulation provides a convenient starting point. In particular, we propose a generalization of the standard Hilbert space of quantum-reduced loop gravity, which may be relevant in the application of the quantum-reduced model to physical situations in which the Ashtekar connection is not diagonal.
András László and Zsigmond Tarcsay 2024 Class. Quantum Grav. 41 125009
In nonperturbative formulation of quantum field theory, the vacuum state is characterized by the Wilsonian renormalization group (RG) flow of Feynman type field correlators. Such a flow is a parametric family of ultraviolet (UV) regularized field correlators, the parameter being the strength of the UV regularization, and the instances with different strength of UV regularizations are linked by the renormalization group equation. Important RG flows are those which reach out to any UV regularization strengths. In this paper it is shown that for these flows a natural, mathematically rigorous generally covariant definition can be given, and that they form a topological vector space which is Hausdorff, locally convex, complete, nuclear, semi-Montel, Schwartz. That is, they form a generalized function space having favorable properties, similar to multivariate distributions. The other theorem proved in the paper is that for Wilsonian RG flows reaching out to all UV regularization strengths, a simple factorization formula holds in case of bosonic fields over flat (affine) spacetime: the flow always originates from a regularization-independent distributional correlator, and its running satisfies an algebraic ansatz. The conjecture is that this factorization theorem should generically hold, which is worth future investigations.
Pasquale Bosso et al 2024 Class. Quantum Grav.
In a previous work we studied the interior of the Schwarzschild black hole implementing an effective minimal length, by applying a modification to the Poisson brackets of the theory. In this work we perform a proper quantization of such a system. Specifically, we quantize the interior of the Schwarzschild black hole in two ways: once by using the standard quantum theory, and once by following a minimal uncertainty approach. Then, we compare the obtained results from the two approaches. We show that, as expected, the wave function in the standard approach diverges in the region where classical singularity is located and the expectation value of the Kretschmann scalar also blows up on this state in that region. On the other hand, by following a minimal uncertainty quantization approach, we obtain 5 new and important results as follows. 1) All the interior states remain well-defined and square-integrable. 2) The expectation value of the Kretschmann scalar on the states remains finite over the whole interior region, particularly where used to be the classical singularity, therefore signaling the resolution of the black hole singularity. 3) A new quantum number is found which plays a crucial role in determining the convergence of the norm of states, as well as the convergence and finiteness of the expectation value of the Kretschmann scalar. 4) A minimum for the radius of the (2-spheres in the) black holes is found 5) By demanding square-integrability of states in the whole interior region, an exact relation between the Barbero-Immirzi parameter and the minimal uncertainty scale is found.
Kacper Dębski et al 2024 Class. Quantum Grav.
Time dilation is a difference in measured time between two clocks that either move with different velocities or experience different gravitational potentials. Both of these effects stem from the theory of relativity and are usually associated with classically defined trajectories, characterized by position, momentum, and acceleration. However, when spatial degrees of freedom are treated in a quantum way and a clock is allowed to be in a coherent superposition of either two momenta or two heights, additional quantum corrections to classical time dilation appear, called kinematic and gravitational quantum time dilations, respectively. We show that similarly to its classical counterpart, kinematic quantum time dilation is universal for any clock mechanism, while gravitational
quantum time dilation is not. We also show that although both of these effects reduce to incoherent averaging of different classical time dilation contributions, there exists an additional quantum time dilation effect that has no classical analog and can be extracted from higher-order corrections to the system's Hamiltonian.
Pablo Bueno et al 2024 Class. Quantum Grav.
In this note we revisit the analysis performed in [Phys. Lett. B 843 (2023) 138047] of odd-parity perturbations around static and spherically symmetric black holes in Einsteinian Cubic Gravity (ECG). We show that the additional propagating modes always have masses much above the cutoff of the theory. Therefore, contrary to what is claimed in that paper, the ECG black holes remain stable within the effective field theory regime. We consider the same analysis for a general cubic theory, showing that the ECG results are not special in this regard. We use the occasion to make some clarifications on the role, uses and limitations of ECG and its generalizations.
Lydia Bieri and Alexander Polnarev 2024 Class. Quantum Grav.
In this article, we compare in detail the linear and nonlinear approach to the Gravitational Waves Displacement and Velocity Memory (GWDM and GWVM) effects. We consider astrophysical situations that give rise to gravitational waves with GWVM effect, i.e. with a residual velocity (the so-called ``velocity-coded memory") and discuss the possibility of future detection of the GWVM effect. 
D Diksha et al 2024 Class. Quantum Grav. 41 125006
One of the main noise sources in current gravitational-wave detectors is the thermal noise of the high-reflectivity coatings on the main interferometer optics. Coating thermal noise is dominated by the mechanical loss of the high-refractive index material within the coating stacks, mixed with . For upgrades to room-temperature detectors, a mixture of and is an interesting alternative candidate coating material. While the rather low refractive index of GeO2 increases with increasing content, a higher content results in a lower threshold temperature before heat treatment leads to crystallisation, and potentially to a degradation of optical properties. For future cryogenic detectors, on the other hand, a higher content is beneficial as the TiO2 suppresses the low-temperature mechanical loss peak of GeO2. In this paper, we present the optical properties of coatings—produced by plasma-assisted ion-beam evaporation—with high TiO2 content at 1550 nm, a laser wavelength considered for cryogenic gravitational-wave detectors, as a function of heat-treatment temperature. For comparison, the absorption of pure GeO2 was also measured. Furthermore, results at the currently-used wavelength of 1064 nm are presented.