Abstract: Since 2015 the LIGO and Virgo interferometers have detected gravitational waves from almost one hundred coalescences of compact objects (black holes and neutron stars). This article presents the results of a search performed with data from the ANTARES telescope to identify neutrino counterparts to the gravitational wave sources detected during the third LIGO/Virgo observing run and reported in the catalogues GWTC-2, GWTC-2.1, and GWTC-3. This search is sensitive to all-sky neutrinos of all flavours and of energies > 100 GeV, thanks to the inclusion of both track-like events (mainly induced by v μcharged -current interactions) and shower-like events (induced by other interaction types). Neutrinos are selected if they are detected within +/- 500 s from the GW merger and with a reconstructed direction compatible with its sky localisation. No significant excess is found for any of the 80 analysed GW events, and upper limits on the neutrino emission are derived. Using the information from the GW catalogues and assuming isotropic emission, upper limits on the total energy Etot,v emitted as neutrinos of all flavours and on the ratio fv = Etot,v/EGW between neutrino and GW emissions are also computed. Finally, a stacked analysis of all the 72 binary black hole mergers (respectively the 7 neutron star-black hole merger candidates) has been performed to constrain the typical neutrino emission within this population, leading to the limits: Etot,v < 4.0 x 1053 erg and fv < 0.15 (respectively, Etot,v < 3.2 x 1053 erg and fv < 0.88) for E-2 spectrum and isotropic emission. Other assumptions including softer spectra and non-isotropic scenarios have also been tested.

Abstract: In the context of the metric-affine Chern-Simons gravity endowed with projective invariance, we derive analytical solutions for torsion and nonmetricity in the homogeneous and isotropic cosmological case, described by a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric. We discuss in some details the general properties of the cosmological solutions in the presence of a perfect fluid, such as the dynamical stability and the emergence of big bounce points, and we examine the structure of some specific solutions reproducing de Sitter and power law behaviours for the scale factor. Then, we focus on first-order perturbations in the de Sitter scenario, and we study the propagation of gravitational waves in the adiabatic limit, looking at tensor and scalar polarizations. In particular, we find that metric tensor modes couple to torsion tensor components, leading to the appearance, as in the metric version of Chern-Simons gravity, of birefringence, characterized by different dispersion relations for the left and right circularized polarization states. As a result, the purely tensor part of torsion propagates like a wave, while nonmetricity decouples and behaves like a harmonic oscillator. Finally, we discuss scalar modes, outlining as they decay exponentially in time and do not propagate.

Abstract: We propose a minimal gauged U(1)(B-L) extension of the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) which resolves the cosmological moduli problem via thermal inflation, and realizes late-time Affleck-Dine leptogensis so as to generate the right amount of baryon asymmetry at the end of thermal inflation. The present relic density of dark matter can be explained by sneutrinos, MSSM neutralinos, axinos, or axions. Cosmic strings from U(1)(B-L) breaking are very thick, and so the expected stochastic gravitational wave background from cosmic string loops has a spectrum different from the one in the conventional Abelian-Higgs model, as would be distinguishable at least at LISA and DECIGO. The characteristic spectrum is due to a flat potential, and may be regarded as a hint of supersymmetry. Combined with the resolution of moduli problem, the expected signal of gravitational waves constrains the U(1)(B-L) breaking scale to be O(10(12-13)) GeV. Interestingly, our model provides a natural possibility for explaining the observed ultra-high-energy cosmic rays thanks to the fact that the core width of strings in our scenario is very large, allowing a large enhancement of particle emissions from the cusps of string loops. Condensation of LHu flat-direction inside of string cores arises inevitably and can also be the main source of the ultra-high-energy cosmic rays accompanied by ultra-high-energy lightest supersymmetric particles.