Oscillon formation during inflationary preheating with general relativity

We study the non-perturbative evolution of inflationary fluctuations during preheating using fully non-linear general-relativistic field-theory simulations. We choose a single-field inflationary model that is consistent with observational constraints and start the simulations at the end of inflation with fluctuations both in the field and its conjugate momentum. Gravity enhances the growth of density perturbations, which then collapse and virialize, forming long-lived stable oscillon-like stars that reach compactnesses $\mathcal{C}\equiv GM/R \sim 10^{-3}-10^{-2}$. We find that $\mathcal{C}$ increases for larger field models, until it peaks due to the interplay between the overdensity growth and Hubble expansion rates. Whilst gravitational effects can play an important role in the formation of compact oscillons during preheating, the objects are unlikely to collapse into primordial black holes without an additional enhancement of the initial inflationary fluctuations.Comment: 7 pages. 4 figures. Movie: https://youtu.be/vTl9agMfPB0. Matches version published in PR

Cosmic String Loop Collapse in Full General Relativity

We present the first fully general relativistic dynamical simulations of Abelian Higgs cosmic strings using 3+1D numerical relativity. Focusing on cosmic string loops, we show that they collapse due to their tension and can either (i) unwind and disperse or (ii) form a black hole, depending on their tension $G\mu$ and initial radius. We show that these results can be predicted using an approximate formula derived using the hoop conjecture, and argue that it is independent of field interactions. We extract the gravitational waveform produced in the black hole formation case and show that it is dominated by the $l=2$ and $m=0$ mode. We also compute the total gravitational wave energy emitted during such a collapse, being $0.5\pm 0.2~ \%$ of the initial total cosmic string loop mass, for a string tension of $G\mu=1.6\times 10^{-2}$ and radius $R=100~M_{pl}^{-1}$. We use our results to put a bound on the production rate of planar cosmic strings loops as $N \lesssim 10^{-2}~\mathrm{Gpc}^{-3}~\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$.Comment: Movies: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSkfizpQDrcaAxkuQ3BtjILn_tJu-jXx

Coherent Gravitational Waveforms and Memory from Cosmic String Loops

We construct, for the first time, the time-domain gravitational wave strain waveform from the collapse of a strongly gravitating Abelian Higgs cosmic string loop in full general relativity. We show that the strain exhibits a large memory effect during merger, ending with a burst and the characteristic ringdown as a black hole is formed. Furthermore, we investigate the waveform and energy emitted as a function of string width, loop radius and string tension $G\mu$. We find that the mass normalized gravitational wave energy displays a strong dependence on the inverse of the string tension $E_{\mathrm{GW}}/M_0\propto 1/G\mu$, with $E_{\mathrm{GW}}/M_0 \sim {\cal O}(1)\%$ at the percent level, for the regime where $G\mu\gtrsim10^{-3}$. Conversely, we show that the efficiency is only weakly dependent on the initial string width and initial loop radii. Using these results, we argue that gravitational wave production is dominated by kinematical instead of geometrical considerations.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figures, 2 YouTube movies: https://youtu.be/-dhYA2788LA https://youtu.be/0sSH54gXu4

Revisiting the cosmic string origin of GW190521

For the first time we analyse gravitational-wave strain data using waveforms constructed from strong gravity simulations of cosmic string loops collapsing to Schwarzschild black holes; a previously unconsidered source. Since the expected signal is dominated by a black-hole ringdown, it can mimic the observed gravitational waves from high-mass binary black hole mergers. To illustrate this, we consider GW190521, a short duration gravitational-wave event observed in the third LIGO– Virgo–KAGRA observing run. We show that describing this event as a collapsing cosmic string loop is favoured over previous cosmic string analyses by an approximate log Bayes factor of 22. The binary black hole hypothesis is still preferred, mostly because the cosmic string remnant is non-spinning. It remains an open question whether a spinning remnant could form from loops with angular momentum, but if possible, it would likely bring into contention the binary black hole preference. Finally, we suggest that searches for ringdown-only waveforms would be a viable approach for identifying collapsing cosmic string events. This work opens up an important new direction for the cosmic-string and gravitational-wave communities

Spinning primordial black holes formed during a matter-dominated era

We study the formation of spinning primordial black holes during an early matter-dominated era. Using non-linear 3+1D general relativistic simulations, we compute the efficiency of mass and angular momentum transfer in the process -- which we find to be $\mathcal{O}(10\%)$ and $\mathcal{O}(5\%)$, respectively. We show that subsequent evolution is important due to the seed PBH accreting non-rotating matter from the background, which decreases the dimensionless spin. Unless the matter era is short, we argue that the final dimensionless spin will be negligible.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures. 1 YouTube video $\href{https://youtu.be/CC4xBLol4aE}{here}

GRDzhadzha: A code for evolving relativistic matter on analytic metric backgrounds

GRDzhadzha is an open-source code for relativistic simulations of matter fields on curved spacetimes that admit an analytic description (e.g. stationary black holes). It is based on the publicly available 3+1D numerical relativity code GRChombo. Such a description is valid where the density of the matter is small compared to the curvature scale of the spacetime, which is the case for many physical scenarios - for example, dark matter environments. The approach offers significant savings on memory and speed compared to running full numerical relativity simulations, since the metric variables and their derivatives are calculated analytically, and therefore are not evolved or stored on the grid. This brief paper introduces the code and gives details of some applications for which it has already been used.Comment: Submitted for review in the Journal of Open Source Software; Comments welcome; The code can be found at https://github.com/GRChombo/GRDzhadzha.gi

GRChombo: An adaptable numerical relativity code for fundamental physics

GRChombo is an open-source code for performing Numerical Relativity time evolutions, built on top of the publicly available Chombo software for the solution of PDEs. Whilst GRChombo uses standard techniques in NR, it focusses on applications in theoretical physics where adaptability, both in terms of grid structure, and in terms of code modification, are key drivers

CTTK: A new method to solve the initial data constraints in numerical relativity

In numerical relativity simulations with non-trivial matter configurations, one must solve the Hamiltonian and momentum constraints of the ADM formulation for the metric variables in the initial data. We introduce a new scheme based on the standard Conformal Transverse-Traceless (CTT) decomposition, in which instead of solving the Hamiltonian constraint as a 2nd order elliptic equation for a choice of mean curvature $K$, we solve an algebraic equation for $K$ for a choice of conformal factor. By doing so, we evade the existence and uniqueness problem of solutions of the Hamiltonian constraint without using the usual conformal rescaling of the source terms. This is particularly important when the sources are fundamental fields, as reconstructing the fields' configurations from the rescaled quantities is potentially problematic. Using an iterative multigrid solver, we show that this method provides rapid convergent solutions for several initial conditions that have not yet been studied in numerical relativity; namely (i) periodic inhomogeneous spacetimes with large random Gaussian scalar field perturbations and (ii) asymptotically flat black hole spacetimes with rotating scalar clouds.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, 1 appendix. Comments welcom