Shadow of black hole surrounded by magnetized plasma: Axion-plasmon cloud

By exploiting the extreme environment of the black hole (BH) as a potential place for axion-photon interaction, we use an axion-producing model of the magnetized plasma to study the shadow of an asymptotically flat rotating BH immersed into an axion-plasmon cloud. By aiming to reveal footprints of axion in the dark shadow of BH, we in this paper explore the influence of the fixed axion-plasmon background on the motion of incident photons around the rotating BH. Under some free parameter settings, we find that axion-plasmon cloud around rotating BH affects the shape and size of the shadow in such a way that its role is distinguishable from non-magnetized plasma and standard vacuum solutions. By being limited to high rotation BH, we show that the size of the BH shadow increases as the axion-plasmon coupling gets strong. Interestingly, our analysis indicates that as the mass of axion gets heavier, it can leave a subtle imprint of itself on the shadow. Conversely, in the non-rotating limit (Schwarzschild), by recovering the spherical symmetry of the shadow shape of BH, its size decreases. In coordination with the trend of change in shadow size, the investigation of the energy emission from the BH surrounded by the magnetized plasma shows that the maximal energy emission rate from the rotating BH in the presence of axion-plasmon cloud increases compared to the non-magnetized plasma and the vacuum solutions. Subsequently, by relaxing the rotation, the axion-plasmon cloud causes a decrease in the energy emission rate from the BH.Comment: 23 pages, 15 figures, for publication in " Nuclear Physics B

Probing the Lorentz Symmetry Violation Using the First Image of Sagittarius A*: Constraints on Standard-Model Extension Coefficients

Thanks to unparalleled near-horizon images of the shadows of Messier 87* (M87*) and Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) delivered by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), two amazing windows opened up to us for the strong-field test of the gravity theories as well as fundamental physics. Information recently published from EHT about the Sgr A*'s shadow lets us have a novel possibility of exploration of Lorentz symmetry violation (LSV) within the Standard-Model Extension (SME) framework. Despite the agreement between the shadow image of Sgr A* and the prediction of the general theory of relativity, there is still a slight difference which is expected to be fixed by taking some fundamental corrections into account. We bring up the idea that the recent inferred shadow image of Sgr A* is explicable by a minimal SME-inspired Schwarzschild metric containing the Lorentz violating (LV) terms obtained from the post-Newtonian approximation. The LV terms embedded in Schwarzschild metric are dimensionless spatial coefficients ${\bar s}^{jk}$ associated with the field responsible for LSV in the gravitational sector of the minimal SME theory. In this way, one can control Lorentz invariance violation in the allowed sensitivity level of the first shadow image of Sgr A*. Actually, using the bounds released within $1\sigma$ uncertainty for the shadow size of Sgr A* and whose fractional deviation from standard Schwarzschild, we set upper limits for the two different combinations of spatial diagonal coefficients and the time-time coefficient of the SME, as well. The best upper bound is at the $10^{-2}$ level, which should be interpreted differently from those constraints previously extracted from well-known frameworks since unlike standard SME studies it is not obtained from a Sun-centered celestial frame but comes from probing the black hole horizon scale.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures. v3:discussion improved, references added, figures revised; matches the version accepted for publication in PR

Lifetime of scalar cloud formation around a rotating regular black hole

Does circumventing the curvature singularity of the Kerr black hole affects the timescale of the scalar cloud formation around it? By definition, the scalar cloud, forms a gravitational atom with hydrogen-like bound states, lying on the threshold of a massive scalar field's superradiant instability regime (time-growing quasi-bound states) and beyond (time-decaying quasi-bound states). By taking a novel type of rotating hollow regular black hole proposed by Simpson and Visser which unlike its standard rivals has an asymptotically Minkowski core, we address this question. The metric has a minimal extension relative to the standard Kerr, originating from a single regularization parameter $\ell$, with length dimension. We show with the inclusion of the regularization length scale $\ell$ into the Kerr spacetime, without affecting the standard superradiant instability regime, the timescale of scalar cloud formation gets shorter. Since the scalar cloud after its formation, via energy dissipation, can play the role of a continuum source for gravitational waves, such a reduction in the instability growth time improves the phenomenological detection prospects of new physics because the shorter the time, the more astrophysically important.Comment: 13 pages (two column), 6 figures, 1 tabl

Black holes with scalar hair in light of the Event Horizon Telescope

Searching for violations of the no-hair theorem (NHT) is a powerful way to test gravity, and more generally fundamental physics, particularly with regards to the existence of additional scalar fields. The first observation of a black hole (BH) shadow by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has opened a new direct window onto tests of gravity in the strong-field regime, including probes of violations of the NHT. We consider two scenarios described by the Einstein-Maxwell equations of General Relativity and electromagnetism, to which we add a scalar field. In the first case we consider a minimally-coupled scalar field with a potential, whereas in the second case the field is conformally-coupled to curvature. In both scenarios we construct charged BH solutions, which are found to carry primary scalar hair. We then compute the shadows cast by these two BHs as a function of their electric charge and scalar hair parameter. Comparing these shadows to the shadow of M87* recently imaged by the EHT collaboration, we set constraints on the amount of scalar hair carried by these two BHs. The conformally-coupled case admits a regime for the hair parameter, compatible with EHT constraints, describing a so-called mutated Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m BH: this solution was recently found to effectively mimic a wormhole. Our work provides novel constraints on fundamental physics, and in particular on violations of the no-hair theorem and the existence of additional scalar fields, from the shadow of M87*.Comment: 33 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, references added, version accepted for publication in JCA

Constraining the Lorentz-Violating Bumblebee Vector Field with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and Gravitational Baryogenesis

By keeping the cosmological principle i.e., an isotropic and homogeneous universe, we consider the cosmology of a vector-tensor theory of gravitation known as the \textit{bumblebee} model. In this model a single Lorentz-violating timelike vector field with a nonzero vacuum expectation value (VEV) couples to the Ricci tensor and scalar, as well. Taking the ansatz $B(t)\sim t^\beta$ for the time evolution of the vector field we derive the relevant dynamic equations of the Universe, where $\beta$ is a free parameter. In particular, by employing observational data coming from the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) and the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the Baryogenesis era, we impose some constraints on the VEV of the bumblebee timelike vector field i.e., $\xi b^2$, and the exponent parameter $\beta$. The former and the latter limit the size of Lorentz violation, and the rate of the time evolution of the background Lorentz-violating bumblebee field, respectively.Comment: 18 pages (two columns), 8 figures.v2: discussion and analysis improved, some references and figures added, version accepted in EPJ

Evolution of Spherical Overdensities in Energy-Momentum-Squared Gravity

Employing the spherical collapse (SC) formalism, we investigate the linear evolution of the matter over-density for energy-momentum-squared gravity (EMSG), which in practical phenomenological terms, one may imagine as an extension of the {\Lambda}CDM model of cosmology. The underlying model, while still having a cosmological constant, is a non-linear material extension of the general theory of relativity (GTR) and includes correction terms that are dominant in the high-energy regime, the early universe. Considering the Friedman{Robertson{Walker (FRW) background in the presence of a cosmological constant, we find the effects of the modifications arising from EMSG on the growth of perturbations at the early stages of the universe. Considering both possible negative and positive values of the model parameter of EMSG, we discuss its role in the evolution of the matter density contrast and growth function in the level of linear perturbations. While EMSG leaves imprints distinguishable from {\Lambda}CDM, we find that the negative range of the ESMG model parameter is not well-behaved, indicating an anomaly in the parameter space of the model. In this regard, for the evaluation of the galaxy cluster number count in the framework of EMSG, we equivalently provide an analysis of the number count of the gravitationally collapsed objects (or the dark matter halos). We show that the galaxy cluster number count decreases compared to the {\Lambda}CDM model. In agreement with the hierarchical model of structure formation, in EMSG cosmology the more massive structures are less abundant, meaning that form at later times.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures. v3: version accepted for publication in PRD: the title change