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Beltran Jimenez, J., Heisenberg, L., Olmo, G. J., & Rubiera-Garcia, D. (2018). Born-Infeld inspired modifications of gravity. Phys. Rep., 727, 1–129.
Abstract: General Relativity has shown an outstanding observational success in the scales where it has been directly tested. However, modifications have been intensively explored in the regimes where it seems either incomplete or signals its own limit of validity. In particular, the breakdown of unitarity near the Planck scale strongly suggests that General Relativity needs to be modified at high energies and quantum gravity effects are expected to be important. This is related to the existence of spacetime singularities when the solutions of General Relativity are extrapolated to regimes where curvatures are large. In this sense, Born-Infeld inspired modifications of gravity have shown an extraordinary ability to regularise the gravitational dynamics, leading to non-singular cosmologies and regular black hole spacetimes in a very robust manner and without resorting to quantum gravity effects. This has boosted the interest in these theories in applications to stellar structure, compact objects, inflationary scenarios, cosmological singularities, and black hole and wormhole physics, among others. We review the motivations, various formulations, and main results achieved within these theories, including their observational viability, and provide an overview of current open problems and future research opportunities.
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Bejarano, C., Olmo, G. J., & Rubiera-Garcia, D. (2017). What is a singular black hole beyond general relativity? Phys. Rev. D, 95(6), 064043–18pp.
Abstract: Exploring the characterization of singular black hole spacetimes, we study the relation between energy density, curvature invariants, and geodesic completeness using a quadratic f(R) gravity theory coupled to an anisotropic fluid. Working in a metric-affine approach, our models and solutions represent minimal extensions of general relativity (GR) in the sense that they rapidly recover the usual Reissner-Nordstrm solution from near the inner horizon outwards. The anisotropic fluid helps modify only the innermost geometry. Depending on the values and signs of two parameters on the gravitational and matter sectors, a breakdown of the correlations between the finiteness/ divergence of the energy density, the behavior of curvature invariants, and the (in) completeness of geodesics is obtained. We find a variety of configurations with and without wormholes, a case with a de Sitter interior, solutions that mimic nonlinear models of electrodynamics coupled to GR, and configurations with up to four horizons. Our results raise questions regarding what infinities, if any, a quantum version of these theories should regularize.
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Sepehri, A., Pincak, R., & Olmo, G. J. (2017). M-theory, graphene-branes and superconducting wormholes. Int. J. Geom. Methods Mod. Phys., 14(11), 1750167–32pp.
Abstract: Exploiting an M-brane system whose structure and symmetries are inspired by those of graphene (what we call a graphene-brane), we propose here a similitude between two layers of graphene joined by a nanotube and wormholes scenarios in the brane world. By using the symmetries and mathematical properties of the M-brane system, we show here how to possibly increase its conductivity, to the point of making it as a superconductor. The questions of whether and under which condition this might point to the corresponding real graphene structures becoming superconducting are briefly outlined.
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Olmo, G. J., & Rubiera-Garcia, D. (2015). The quantum, the geon and the crystal. Int. J. Mod. Phys. D, 24(9), 1542013–15pp.
Abstract: Effective geometries arising from a hypothetical discrete structure of spacetime can play an important role in the understanding of the gravitational physics beyond General Relativity (GR). To discuss this question, we make use of lessons from crystalline systems within solid state physics, where the presence of defects in the discrete microstructure of the crystal determine the kind of effective geometry needed to properly describe the system in the macroscopic continuum limit. In this work, we study metric-affine theories with nonmetricity and torsion, which are the gravitational analog of crystalline structures with point defects and dislocations. We consider a crystal-motivated gravitational action and show the presence of topologically nontrivial structures (wormholes) supported by an electromagnetic field. Their existence has important implications for the quantum foam picture and the effective gravitational geometries. We discuss how the dialogue between solid state physics systems and modified gravitational theories can provide useful insights on both sides.
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Beltran Jimenez, J., Delhom, A., Olmo, G. J., & Orazi, E. (2021). Born-Infeld gravity: Constraints from light-by-light scattering and an effective field theory perspective. Phys. Lett. B, 820, 136479–6pp.
Abstract: By using a novel technique that establishes a correspondence between general relativity and metric-affine theories based on the Ricci tensor, we are able to set stringent constraints on the free parameter of Born-Infeld gravity from the ones recently obtained for Born-Infeld electrodynamics by using light-by light scattering data from ATLAS. We also discuss how these gravity theories plus matter fit within an effective field theory framework.
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Agullo, I., Navarro-Salas, J., Olmo, G. J., & Parker, L. (2010). Acceleration radiation, transition probabilities and trans-Planckian physics. New J. Phys., 12, 095017–18pp.
Abstract: An important question in the derivation of the acceleration radiation, which also arises in Hawking's derivation of black hole radiance, is the need to invoke trans-Planckian physics in describing the creation of quanta. We point out that this issue can be further clarified by reconsidering the analysis in terms of particle detectors, transition probabilities and local two-point functions. By writing down separate expressions for the spontaneous-and induced-transition probabilities of a uniformly accelerated detector, we show that the bulk of the effect comes from the natural (non-trans-Planckian) scale of the problem, which largely diminishes the importance of the trans-Planckian sector. This is so, at least, when trans-Planckian physics is defined in a Lorentz-invariant way. This analysis also suggests how one can define and estimate the role of trans-Planckian physics in the Hawking effect itself.
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Delhom, A., Lobo, I. P., Olmo, G. J., & Romero, C. (2019). A generalized Weyl structure with arbitrary non-metricity. Eur. Phys. J. C, 79(10), 878–9pp.
Abstract: A Weyl structure is usually defined by an equivalence class of pairs (g, omega) related by Weyl transformations, which preserve the relation del g = omega circle times g, where g and omega denote the metric tensor and a 1-form field. An equivalent way of defining such a structure is as an equivalence class of conformally related metrics with a unique affine connection Gamma((omega)), which is invariant under Weyl transformations. In a standard Weyl structure, this unique connection is assumed to be torsion-free and have vectorial non-metricity. This second view allows us to present two different generalizations of standard Weyl structures. The first one relies on conformal symmetry while allowing for a general non-metricity tensor, and the other comes from extending the symmetry to arbitrary (disformal) transformations of the metric.
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Capozziello, S., Harko, T., Koivisto, T. S., Lobo, F. S. N., & Olmo, G. J. (2013). Cosmology of hybrid metric-Palatini f(X)-gravity. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 04(4), 011–25pp.
Abstract: A new class of modified theories of gravity, consisting of the superposition of the metric Einstein-Hilbert Lagrangian with an f(R) term constructed a la Palatini was proposed recently. The dynamically equivalent scalar-tensor representation of the model was also formulated, and it was shown that even if the scalar field is very light, the theory passes the Solar System observational constraints. Therefore the model predicts the existence of a long-range scalar field, modifying the cosmological and galactic dynamics. An explicit model that passes the local tests and leads to cosmic acceleration was also obtained. In the present work, it is shown that the theory can be also formulated in terms of the quantity X equivalent to kappa T-2 + R, where T and R are the traces of the stress-energy and Ricci tensors, respectively. The variable X represents the deviation with respect to the field equation trace of general relativity. The cosmological applications of this hybrid metric-Palatini gravitational theory are also explored, and cosmological solutions coming from the scalar-tensor representation of f(X)-gravity are presented. Criteria to obtain cosmic acceleration are discussed and the field equations are analyzed as a dynamical system. Several classes of dynamical cosmological solutions, depending on the functional form of the effective scalar field potential, describing both accelerating and decelerating Universes are explicitly obtained. Furthermore, the cosmological perturbation equations are derived and applied to uncover the nature of the propagating scalar degree of freedom and the signatures these models predict in the large-scale structure.
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Bazeia, D., Losano, L., Olmo, G. J., Rubiera-Garcia, D., & Sanchez-Puente, A. (2015). Classical resolution of black hole singularities in arbitrary dimension. Phys. Rev. D, 92(4), 044018–15pp.
Abstract: A metric-affine approach is employed to study higher-dimensional modified gravity theories involving different powers and contractions of the Ricci tensor. It is shown that the field equations are always second-order, as opposed to the standard metric approach, where this is only achieved for Lagrangians of the Lovelock type. We point out that this property might have relevant implications for the AdS/CFT correspondence in black hole scenarios. We illustrate these aspects by considering the case of Born-Infeld gravity in d dimensions, where we work out exact solutions for electrovacuum configurations. Our results put forward that black hole singularities in arbitrary dimensions can be cured in a purely classical geometric scenario governed by second-order field equations.
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Olmo, G. J. (2012). Birkhoff's theorem and perturbations in f(R) theories. Ann. Phys.-Berlin, 524(5), 87–88.
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