Bombacigno, F., Moretti, F., Boudet, S., & Olmo, G. J. (2023). Landau damping for gravitational waves in parity-violating theories. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 02(2), 009–29pp.
Abstract: We discuss how tensor polarizations of gravitational waves can suffer Landau damping in the presence of velocity birefringence, when parity symmetry is explicitly broken. In particular, we analyze the role of the Nieh-Yan and Chern-Simons terms in modified theories of gravity, showing how the gravitational perturbation in collisionless media can be characterized by a subluminal phase velocity, circumventing the well-known results of General Relativity and allowing for the appearance of the kinematic damping. We investigate in detail the connection between the thermodynamic properties of the medium, such as temperature and mass of the particles interacting with the gravitational wave, and the parameters ruling the parity violating terms of the models. In this respect, we outline how the dispersion relations can give rise in each model to different regions of the wavenumber space, where the phase velocity is subluminal, superluminal or does not exist. Quantitative estimates on the considered models indicate that the phenomenon of Landau damping is not detectable given the sensitivity of present-day instruments.
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Magalhaes, R. B., Maso-Ferrando, A., Olmo, G. J., & Crispino, L. C. B. (2023). Asymmetric wormholes in Palatini f (R) gravity: Energy conditions, absorption, and quasibound states. Phys. Rev. D, 108(2), 024063–20pp.
Abstract: We investigate the scalar absorption spectrum of wormhole solutions constructed via the recently developed thin-shell formalism for Palatini f(R) gravity. Such wormholes come from the matching of two Reissner-Nordstrom spacetimes at a timelike hypersurface (shell), which, according to the junction conditions in Palatini f(R), can be stable and have either positive or negative energy density. In particular, we identified a new physically interesting configuration made out of two overcharged Reissner-Nordstrom spacetimes, whose absorption profile departs from that of black holes and other previously considered wormholes in the whole range of frequencies. Unlike in symmetric wormhole solutions, the asymmetry of the effective potential causes the dilution of the resonances associated to the quasibound states for the high -frequency regime. Therefore, slight asymmetries in wormhole space-times could have a dramatic impact on the observable features associated to resonant states.
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Agullo, I., Navarro-Salas, J., Olmo, G. J., & Parker, L. (2010). Hawking Radiation by Kerr Black Holes and Conformal Symmetry. Phys. Rev. Lett., 105(21), 211305–4pp.
Abstract: The exponential blueshift associated with the event horizon of a black hole makes conformal symmetry play a fundamental role in accounting for its thermal properties. Using a derivation based on two-point functions, we show that the full spectrum of thermal radiation of scalar particles by Kerr black holes can be explicitly derived on the basis of a conformal symmetry arising in the wave equation near the horizon. The simplicity of our approach emphasizes the depth of the connection between conformal symmetry and black hole radiance.
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Bazeia, D., Losano, L., Menezes, R., Olmo, G. J., & Rubiera-Garcia, D. (2015). Robustness of braneworld scenarios against tensorial perturbations. Class. Quantum Gravity, 32(21), 215011–10pp.
Abstract: Inspired by the peculiarities of the effective geometry of crystalline structures, we reconsider thick brane scenarios from a metric-affine perspective. We show that for a rather general family of theories of gravity, whose Lagrangian is an arbitrary function of the metric and the Ricci tensor, the background and scalar field equations can be written in first-order form, and tensorial perturbations have a non negative definite spectrum, which makes them stable under linear perturbations regardless of the form of the gravity Lagrangian. We find, in particular, that the tensorial zero modes are exactly the same as predicted by Einstein's theory regardless of the scalar field and gravitational Lagrangians.
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Olmo, G. J., & Rubiera-Garcia, D. (2020). Junction conditions in Palatini f(R) gravity. Class. Quantum Gravity, 37(21), 215002–11pp.
Abstract: We work out the junction conditions for f(R) gravity formulated in metric-affine (Palatini) spaces using a tensor distributional approach. These conditions are needed for building consistent models of gravitating bodies with an interior and exterior regions matched at some hypersurface. Some of these conditions depart from the standard Darmois-Israel ones of general relativity and from their metric f(R) counterparts. In particular, we find that the trace of the stress-energy momentum tensor in the bulk must be continuous across the matching hypersurface, though its normal derivative need not to. We illustrate the relevance of these conditions by considering the properties of stellar surfaces in polytropic models, showing that the range of equations of state with potentially pathological effects is shifted beyond the domain of physical interest. This confirms, in particular, that neutron stars and white dwarfs can be safely modelled within the Palatini f(R) framework.
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Alfonso, V. I., Bejarano, C., Beltran Jimenez, J., Olmo, G. J., & Orazi, E. (2017). The trivial role of torsion in projective invariant theories of gravity with non-minimally coupled matter fields. Class. Quantum Gravity, 34(23), 235003–20pp.
Abstract: We study a large family of metric-affine theories with a projective symmetry, including non-minimally coupled matter fields which respect this invariance. The symmetry is straightforwardly realised by imposing that the connection only enters through the symmetric part of the Ricci tensor, even in the matter sector. We leave the connection completely free (including torsion), and obtain its general solution as the Levi-Civita connection of an auxiliary metric, showing that the torsion only appears as a projective mode. This result justifies the widely used condition of setting vanishing torsion in these theories as a simple gauge choice. We apply our results to some particular cases considered in the literature, including the so-called Eddington-inspired-Born-Infeld theories among others. We finally discuss the possibility of imposing a gauge fixing where the connection is metric compatible, and comment on the genuine character of the non-metricity in theories where the two metrics are not conformally related.
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Olmo, G. J., Rubiera-Garcia, D., & Sanchis-Alepuz, H. (2014). Geonic black holes and remnants in Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld gravity. Eur. Phys. J. C, 74(3), 2804–6pp.
Abstract: We show that electrically charged solutions within the Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld theory of gravity replace the central singularity by a wormhole supported by the electric field. As a result, the total energy associated with the electric field is finite and similar to that found in the Born-Infeld electromagnetic theory. When a certain charge-to-mass ratio is satisfied, in the lowest part of the mass and charge spectrum the event horizon disappears, yielding stable remnants. We argue that quantum effects in the matter sector can lower the mass of these remnants from the Planck scale down to the TeV scale.
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Olmo, G. J., Rubiera-Garcia, D., & Sanchez-Puente, A. (2016). Classical resolution of black hole singularities via wormholes. Eur. Phys. J. C, 76(3), 143–6pp.
Abstract: In certain extensions of General Relativity, wormholes generated by spherically symmetric electric fields can resolve black hole singularities without necessarily removing curvature divergences. This is shown by studying geodesic completeness, the behavior of time-like congruences going through the divergent region, and by means of scattering of waves off the wormhole. This provides an example of the logical independence between curvature divergences and space-time singularities, concepts very often identified with each other in the literature.
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Afonso, V. I., Mora-Perez, G., Olmo, G. J., Orazi, E., & Rubiera-Garcia, D. (2022). An infinite class of exact rotating black hole metrics of modified gravity. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 03(3), 052–14pp.
Abstract: We build an infinite class of exact axisymmetric solutions of a metric-affine gravity theory, namely, Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld gravity, coupled to an anisotropic fluid as a matter source. The solution-generating method employed is not unique of this theory but can be extended to other Ricci-Based Gravity theories (RBGs), a class of theories built out of contractions of the Ricci tensor with the metric. This method exploits a correspondence between the space of solutions of General Relativity and that of RBGs, and is independent of the symmetries of the problem. For the particular case in which the fluid is identified with non-linear electromagnetic fields we explicitly derive the corresponding axisymmetric solutions. Finally, we use this result to work out the counterpart of the Kerr-Newman black hole when Maxwell electrodynamics is set on the metric-affine side. Our results open up an exciting new avenue for testing new gravitational phenomenology in the fields of gravitational waves and shadows out of rotating black holes.
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Agullo, I., Navarro-Salas, J., Olmo, G. J., & Parker, L. (2010). Revising the observable consequences of slow-roll inflation. Phys. Rev. D, 81(4), 043514–14pp.
Abstract: We study the generation of primordial perturbations in a (single-field) slow-roll inflationary Universe. In momentum space, these (Gaussian) perturbations are characterized by a zero mean and a nonzero variance Delta(2) (k, t). However, in position space the variance diverges in the ultraviolet. The requirement of a finite variance in position space forces one to regularize Delta(2) (k, t). This can (and should) be achieved by proper renormalization in an expanding Universe in a unique way. This affects the predicted scalar and tensorial power spectra (evaluated when the modes acquire classical properties) for wavelengths that today are at observable scales. As a consequence, the imprint of slow-roll inflation on the cosmic microwave background anisotropies is significantly altered. We find a nontrivial change in the consistency condition that relates the tensor-to-scalar ratio r to the spectral indices. For instance, an exact scale-invariant tensorial power spectrum, n(t) = 0, is now compatible with a nonzero ratio r approximate to 0.12 +/- 0.06, which is forbidden by the standard prediction (r = -8n(t)). The influence of relic gravitational waves on the cosmic microwave background may soon come within the range of planned measurements, offering a nontrivial test of the new predictions.
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