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del Rio, A., & Navarro-Salas, J. (2014). Spacetime correlators of perturbations in slow-roll de Sitter inflation. Phys. Rev. D, 89(8), 084037–7pp.
Abstract: Two-point correlators and self-correlators of primordial perturbations in quasi-de Sitter spacetime backgrounds are considered. For large separations two-point correlators exhibit nearly scale invariance, while for short distances self-correlators need standard renormalization. We study the deformation of two-point correlators to smoothly match the self-correlators at coincidence. The corresponding angular power spectrum is evaluated in the Sachs-Wolfe regime of low multipoles. Scale invariance is maintained, but the amplitude of C(l)could change in a nontrivial way.
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del Rio, A., Navarro-Salas, J., & Torrenti, F. (2014). Renormalized stress-energy tensor for spin-1/2 fields in expanding universes. Phys. Rev. D, 90(8), 084017–15pp.
Abstract: We provide an explicit expression for the renormalized expectation value of the stress-energy tensor of a spin-1/2 field in a spatially flat Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker universe. Its computation is based on the extension of the adiabatic regularization method to fermion fields introduced recently in the literature. The tensor is given in terms of UV-finite integrals in momentum space, which involve the mode functions that define the quantum state. As illustrative examples of the method efficiency, we see how to compute the renormalized energy density and pressure in two interesting cosmological scenarios: a de Sitter spacetime and a radiation-dominated universe. In the second case, we explicitly show that the late-time renormalized stress-energy tensor behaves as that of classical cold matter. We also check that, if we obtain the adiabatic expansion of the scalar field mode functions with a similar procedure to the one used for fermions, we recover the well-known WKB-type expansion.
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del Rio, A., Sanchis-Gual, N., Mewes, V., Agullo, I., Font, J. A., & Navarro-Salas, J. (2020). Spontaneous Creation of Circularly Polarized Photons in Chiral Astrophysical Systems. Phys. Rev. Lett., 124(21), 211301–6pp.
Abstract: This work establishes a relation between chiral anomalies in curved spacetimes and the radiative content of the gravitational field. In particular, we show that a flux of circularly polarized gravitational waves triggers the spontaneous creation of photons with net circular polarization from the quantum vacuum. Using waveform catalogs, we identify precessing binary black holes as astrophysical configurations that emit such gravitational radiation and then solve the fully nonlinear Einstein's equations with numerical relativity to evaluate the net effect. The quantum amplitude for a merger is comparable to the Hawking emission rate of the final black hole and small to be directly observed. However, the implications for the inspiral of binary neutron stars could be more prominent, as argued on symmetry grounds.
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Sanchis-Gual, N., & del Rio, A. (2023). Precessing binary black holes as engines of electromagnetic helicity. Phys. Rev. D, 108, 044052–11pp.
Abstract: We show that binary black hole mergers with precessing evolution can potentially excite photons from the quantum vacuum in such a way that total helicity is not preserved in the process. Helicity violation is allowed by quantum fluctuations that spoil the electric-magnetic duality symmetry of the classical Maxwell theory without charges. We show here that precessing binary black hole systems in astrophysics generate a flux of circularly polarized gravitational waves which, in turn, provides the required helical background that triggers this quantum effect. Solving the fully nonlinear Einstein’s equations with numerical relativity we explore the parameter space of binary systems and extract the detailed dependence of the quantum effect with the spins of the two black holes. We also introduce a set of diagrammatic techniques that allows us to predict when a binary black hole merger can or cannot emit circularly polarized gravitational radiation, based on mirror-symmetry considerations. This framework allows to understand and to interpret correctly the numerical results, and to predict the outcomes in potentially interesting astrophysical systems.
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