36 research outputs found
Accretion disks around black holes in modified strong gravity
Stellar-mass black holes offer what is perhaps the best scenario to test
theories of gravity in the strong-field regime. In particular, f(R) theories,
which have been widely discuss in a cosmological context, can be constrained
through realistic astrophysical models of phenomena around black holes. We aim
at building radiative models of thin accretion disks for both Schwarzschild and
Kerr black holes in f(R) gravity. We study particle motion in
f(R)-Schwarzschild and Kerr space-times. We present the spectral energy
distribution of the accretion disk around constant Ricci scalar f(R) black
holes, and constrain specific f(R) prescriptions using features of these
systems. A precise determination of both the spin and accretion rate onto black
holes along with X-ray observations of their thermal spectrum might allow to
identify deviations of gravity from General Relativity. We use recent data on
the high-mass X-ray binary Cygnus X-1 to restrict the values of the parameters
of a class of f(R) models.Comment: 16 pages, 20 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Constraining f(R) theories with cosmography
A method to set constraints on the parameters of extended theories of
gravitation is presented. It is based on the comparison of two series
expansions of any observable that depends on H(z). The first expansion is of
the cosmographical type, while the second uses the dependence of H with z
furnished by a given type of extended theory. When applied to f(R) theories
together with the redshift drift, the method yields limits on the parameters of
two examples (the theory of Hu and Sawicki (2007), and the exponential gravity
introduced by Linder (2009)) that are compatible with or more stringent than
the existing ones, as well as a limit for a previously unconstrained parameter.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures; v2: modifications in title and presentation,
results unchange
Effective geometry in Astrophysics
The effective metric is introduced by means of two examples (non-linear
electromagnetism and hydrodynamics),along with applications in Astrophysics. A
sketch of the generality of the effect is also given.Comment: 9 pages, contributions for the proceedings of the First International
Workshop on Astronomy and Relativistic Astrophysics (IWARA 2003), Olinda
(Brazil
Cylindrically symmetric spinning Brans-Dicke spacetimes with closed timelike curves
We present here three new solutions of Brans-Dicke theory for a stationary
geometry with cylindrical symmetry in the presence of matter in rigid rotation
with . All the solutions have eternal closed timelike curves
in some region of the spacetime, the size of which depends on .
Moreover, two of them do not go over a solution of general relativity in the
limit .Comment: revtex, 10 pages, 1 figure in p
A Born-Infeld-like f(R) gravity
Several features of an theory in which there is a maximum value for
the curvature are analyzed. The theory admits the vaccuum solutions of GR, and
also the radiation evolution for the scale factor of the standard cosmological
model. Working in the Jordan frame, a complete analysis of the phase space is
performed, and its results supported with examples obtainted by numerical
integration. In particular, we showed that theory has nonsingular cosmological
solutions which after the bounce enter a phase of de Sitter expansion and
subsequently relax to a GR-like radiation-dominated evolution.Comment: Latex file, 14 pages, 7 figures (jpg format), including more detailed
discussions than previous version, accepted for publication in Physical
Review