Boundary Conditions for Kerr-AdS Perturbations

The Teukolsky master equation and its associated spin-weighted spheroidal harmonic decomposition simplify considerably the study of linear gravitational perturbations of the Kerr(-AdS) black hole. However, the formulation of the problem is not complete before we assign the physically relevant boundary conditions. We find a set of two Robin boundary conditions (BCs) that must be imposed on the Teukolsky master variables to get perturbations that are asymptotically global AdS, i.e. that asymptotes to the Einstein Static Universe. In the context of the AdS/CFT correspondence, these BCs allow a non-zero expectation value for the CFT stress-energy tensor while keeping fixed the boundary metric. When the rotation vanishes, we also find the gauge invariant differential map between the Teukolsky and the Kodama-Ishisbashi (Regge-Wheeler-Zerilli) formalisms. One of our Robin BCs maps to the scalar sector and the other to the vector sector of the Kodama-Ishisbashi decomposition. The Robin BCs on the Teukolsky variables will allow for a quantitative study of instability timescales and quasinormal mode spectrum of the Kerr-AdS black hole. As a warm-up for this programme, we use the Teukolsky formalism to recover the quasinormal mode spectrum of global AdS-Schwarzschild, complementing previous analysis in the literature.Comment: 33 pages, 6 figure

Ages and metallicities of star clusters: new calibrations and diagnostic diagrams from visible integrated spectra

We present homogeneous scales of ages and metallicities for star clusters from very young objects, through intermediate-age ones up to the oldest known clusters. All the selected clusters have integrated spectra in the visible range, as well as reliable determinations of their ages and metallicities. From these spectra equivalent widths (EWs) of KCaII, Gband(CH) and MgI metallic, and Hdelta, Hgamma and Hbeta Balmer lines have been measured homogeneously. The analysis of these EWs shows that the EW sums of the metallic and Balmer H lines, separately, are good indicators of cluster age for objects younger than 10 Gyr, and that the former is also sensitive to cluster metallicity for ages greater than 10 Gyr. We propose an iterative procedure for estimating cluster ages by employing two new diagnostic diagrams and age calibrations based on the above EW sums. For clusters older than 10 Gyr, we also provide a calibration to derive their overall metal contents.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, accepted by A&

Localised AdS5×S5\bf{AdS_5\times S^5} Black Holes

We numerically construct asymptotically global $\mathrm{AdS}_5\times \mathrm{S}^5$ black holes that are localised on the $\mathrm{S}^5$. These are solutions to type IIB supergravity with $\mathrm S^8$ horizon topology that dominate the theory in the microcanonical ensemble at small energies. At higher energies, there is a first-order phase transition to $\mathrm{AdS}_5$-Schwarzschild$\times \mathrm{S}^5$. By the AdS/CFT correspondence, this transition is dual to spontaneously breaking the $SO(6)$ R-symmetry of $\mathcal N=4$ super Yang-Mills down to $SO(5)$. We extrapolate the location of this phase transition and compute the expectation value of the resulting scalar operators in the low energy phase.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

Lumpy AdS5×\bf{_5\times} S5\bf{^5} Black Holes and Black Belts

Sufficiently small Schwarzschild black holes in global AdS$_5\times$S$^5$ are Gregory-Laflamme unstable. We construct new families of black hole solutions that bifurcate from the onset of this instability and break the full SO$(6)$ symmetry group of the S$^5$ down to SO$(5)$. These new "lumpy" solutions are labelled by the harmonics $\ell$. We find evidence that the $\ell = 1$ branch never dominates the microcanonical/canonical ensembles and connects through a topology-changing merger to a localised black hole solution with S$^8$ topology. We argue that these S$^8$ black holes should become the dominant phase in the microcanonical ensemble for small enough energies, and that the transition to Schwarzschild black holes is first order. Furthermore, we find two branches of solutions with $\ell = 2$. We expect one of these branches to connect to a solution containing two localised black holes, while the other branch connects to a black hole solution with horizon topology $\mathrm S^4\times\mathrm S^4$ which we call a "black belt".Comment: 20 pages (plus 17 pages for Appendix on Kaluza-Klein Holography), 14 figure

Spectral evolution of star clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud: I. Blue concentrated clusters in the age range 40-300 Myr

Integrated spectroscopy of a sample of 17 blue concentrated Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) clusters is presented and its spectral evolution studied. The spectra span the range ~3600-6800A with a resolution of ~14A FWHM, being used to determine cluster ages and, in connection with their spatial distribution, to explore the LMC structure and cluster formation history. Cluster reddening values were estimated by interpolation, using the available extinction maps. We used two methods to derive cluster ages: (i) template matching, in which line strengths and continuum distribution of the cluster spectra were compared and matched to those of template clusters with known astrophysical properties, and (ii) equivalent width (EW) method, in which new age/metallicity calibrations were used together with diagnostic diagrams involving the sum of EWs of selected spectral lines (KCaII, G band (CH), MgI, Hdelta, Hgamma and Hbeta). The derived cluster ages range from 40Myr (NGC2130 and SL237) to 300Myr (NGC1932 and SL709), a good agreement between the results of the two methods being obtained. Combining the present sample with additional ones indicates that cluster deprojected distances from the LMC center are related to age in the sense that inner clusters tend to be younger. Spectral libraries of star clusters are useful datasets for spectral classifications and extraction of parameter information for target star clusters and galaxies. The present cluster sample complements previous ones, in an effort to gather a spectral library with several clusters per age bin.Comment: 13 pages, 22 figures. Accepted for publication in A&

Static, spherically symmetric solutions with a scalar field in Rastall gravity

Rastall's theory belongs to the class of non-conservative theories of gravity. In vacuum, the only non-trivial static, spherically symmetric solution is the Schwarzschild one, except in a very special case. When a canonical scalar field is coupled to the gravity sector in this theory, new exact solutions appear for some values of the Rastall parameter $a$. Some of these solutions describe the same space-time geometry as the recently found solutions in the $k$-essence theory with a power function for the kinetic term of the scalar field. There is a large class of solutions (in particular, those describing wormholes and regular black holes) whose geometry coincides with that of solutions of GR coupled to scalar fields with nontrivial self-interaction potentials; the form of these potentials, however, depends on the Rastall parameter $a$. We also note that all solutions of GR with a zero trace of the energy-momentum tensor, including black-hole and wormhole ones, may be re-interpreted as solutions of Rastall's theory.Comment: Latex file, 18 pages. To fit published versio

Quasinormal modes of asymptotically flat rotating black holes

We study the main properties of general linear perturbations of rotating black holes in asymptotically flat higher-dimensional spacetimes. In particular, we determine the quasinormal mode (QNM) spectrum of singly spinning and equal angular momenta Myers-Perry black holes (MP BHs). Emphasis is also given to the timescale of the ultraspinning and bar-mode instabilities in these two families of MP BHs. For the bar-mode instabilities in the singly spinning MP BH, we find excellent agreement with our linear analysis and the non-linear time evolution of Shibata and Yoshino for d=6,7 spacetime dimensions. We find that d=5 singly spinning BHs are linearly stable. In the context of studying general relativity in the large dimension limit, we obtain the QNM spectrum of Schwarzschild BHs and rotating MP BHs for large dimensions. We identify two classes of modes. For large dimensions, we find that in the limit of zero rotation, unstable modes of the MP BHs connect to a class of Schwarzschild QNMs that saturate to finite values.Comment: 52 pages. 25 figure

Coherent State Path Integrals in the Weyl Representation

We construct a representation of the coherent state path integral using the Weyl symbol of the Hamiltonian operator. This representation is very different from the usual path integral forms suggested by Klauder and Skagerstan in \cite{Klau85}, which involve the normal or the antinormal ordering of the Hamiltonian. These different representations, although equivalent quantum mechanically, lead to different semiclassical limits. We show that the semiclassical limit of the coherent state propagator in Weyl representation is involves classical trajectories that are independent on the coherent states width. This propagator is also free from the phase corrections found in \cite{Bar01} for the two Klauder forms and provides an explicit connection between the Wigner and the Husimi representations of the evolution operator.Comment: 23 page