5,596 research outputs found
Post-Newtonian gravitational radiation and equations of motion via direct integration of the relaxed Einstein equations. V. Evidence for the strong equivalence principle to second post-Newtonian order
Using post-Newtonian equations of motion for fluid bodies valid to the second
post-Newtonian order, we derive the equations of motion for binary systems with
finite-sized, non-spinning but arbitrarily shaped bodies. In particular we
study the contributions of the internal structure of the bodies (such as
self-gravity) that would diverge if the size of the bodies were to shrink to
zero. Using a set of virial relations accurate to the first post-Newtonian
order that reflect the stationarity of each body, and redefining the masses to
include 1PN and 2PN self-gravity terms, we demonstrate the complete
cancellation of a class of potentially divergent, structure-dependent terms
that scale as s^{-1} and s^{-5/2}, where s is the characteristic size of the
bodies. This is further evidence of the Strong Equivalence Principle, and
supports the use of post-Newtonian approximations to derive equations of motion
for strong-field bodies such as neutron stars and black holes. This extends
earlier work done by Kopeikin.Comment: 14 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev. D; small changes to coincide with
published versio
General Covariance in Quantum Gravity at a Lifshitz Point
In the minimal formulation of gravity with Lifshitz-type anisotropic scaling,
the gauge symmetries of the system are foliation-preserving diffeomorphisms of
spacetime. Consequently, compared to general relativity, the spectrum contains
an extra scalar graviton polarization. Here we investigate the possibility of
extending the gauge group by a local U(1) symmetry to "nonrelativistic general
covariance." This extended gauge symmetry eliminates the scalar graviton, and
forces the coupling constant in the kinetic term of the minimal
formulation to take its relativistic value, . The resulting theory
exhibits anisotropic scaling at short distances, and reproduces many features
of general relativity at long distances.Comment: 41 pages; v2: small clarifications, references adde
Testing Alternative Theories of Gravity using LISA
We investigate the possible bounds which could be placed on alternative
theories of gravity using gravitational wave detection from inspiralling
compact binaries with the proposed LISA space interferometer. Specifically, we
estimate lower bounds on the coupling parameter \omega of scalar-tensor
theories of the Brans-Dicke type and on the Compton wavelength of the graviton
\lambda_g in hypothetical massive graviton theories. In these theories,
modifications of the gravitational radiation damping formulae or of the
propagation of the waves translate into a change in the phase evolution of the
observed gravitational waveform. We obtain the bounds through the technique of
matched filtering, employing the LISA Sensitivity Curve Generator (SCG),
available online. For a neutron star inspiralling into a 10^3 M_sun black hole
in the Virgo Cluster, in a two-year integration, we find a lower bound \omega >
3 * 10^5. For lower-mass black holes, the bound could be as large as 2 * 10^6.
The bound is independent of LISA arm length, but is inversely proportional to
the LISA position noise error. Lower bounds on the graviton Compton wavelength
ranging from 10^15 km to 5 * 10^16 km can be obtained from one-year
observations of massive binary black hole inspirals at cosmological distances
(3 Gpc), for masses ranging from 10^4 to 10^7 M_sun. For the highest-mass
systems (10^7 M_sun), the bound is proportional to (LISA arm length)^{1/2} and
to (LISA acceleration noise)^{-1/2}. For the others, the bound is independent
of these parameters because of the dominance of white-dwarf confusion noise in
the relevant part of the frequency spectrum. These bounds improve and extend
earlier work which used analytic formulae for the noise curves.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Classical & Quantum Gravit
Probing Strong-Field Scalar-Tensor Gravity with Gravitational Wave Asteroseismology
We present an alternative way of tracing the existence of a scalar field
based on the analysis of the gravitational wave spectrum of a vibrating neutron
star. Scalar-tensor theories in strong-field gravity can potentially introduce
much greater differences in the parameters of a neutron star than the
uncertainties introduced by the various equations of state. The detection of
gravitational waves from neutron stars can set constraints on the existence and
the strength of scalar fields. We show that the oscillation spectrum is
dramatically affected by the presence of a scalar field, and can provide unique
confirmation of its existence.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure
Models of f(R) Cosmic Acceleration that Evade Solar-System Tests
We study a class of metric-variation f(R) models that accelerates the
expansion without a cosmological constant and satisfies both cosmological and
solar-system tests in the small-field limit of the parameter space.
Solar-system tests alone place only weak bounds on these models, since the
additional scalar degree of freedom is locked to the high-curvature
general-relativistic prediction across more than 25 orders of magnitude in
density, out through the solar corona. This agreement requires that the
galactic halo be of sufficient extent to maintain the galaxy at high curvature
in the presence of the low-curvature cosmological background. If the galactic
halo and local environment in f(R) models do not have substantially deeper
potentials than expected in LCDM, then cosmological field amplitudes |f_R| >
10^{-6} will cause the galactic interior to evolve to low curvature during the
acceleration epoch. Viability of large-deviation models therefore rests on the
structure and evolution of the galactic halo, requiring cosmological
simulations of f(R) models, and not directly on solar-system tests. Even small
deviations that conservatively satisfy both galactic and solar-system
constraints can still be tested by future, percent-level measurements of the
linear power spectrum, while they remain undetectable to cosmological-distance
measures. Although we illustrate these effects in a specific class of models,
the requirements on f(R) are phrased in a nearly model-independent manner.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Cosmological test of gravity with polarizations of stochastic gravitational waves around 0.1-1 Hz
In general relativity, a gravitational wave has two polarization modes
(tensor mode), but it could have additional polarizations (scalar and vector
modes) in the early stage of the universe, where the general relativity may not
strictly hold and/or the effect of higher-dimensional gravity may become
significant. In this paper, we discuss how to detect extra-polarization modes
of stochastic gravitational wave background (GWB), and study the separability
of each polarization using future space-based detectors such as BBO and DECIGO.
We specifically consider two plausible setups of the spacecraft constellations
consisting of two and four clusters, and estimate the sensitivity to each
polarization mode of GWBs. We find that a separate detection of each
polarization mode is rather sensitive to the geometric configuration and
distance between clusters and that the clusters should be, in general,
separated by an appropriate distance. This seriously degrades the signal
sensitivity, however, for suitable conditions, space-based detector can
separately detect scalar, vector and tensor modes of GWBs with energy density
as low as ~10^-15.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figure
The Evolution of Bias - Generalized
Fry (1996) showed that galaxy bias has the tendency to evolve towards unity,
i.e. in the long run, the galaxy distribution tends to trace that of matter.
Generalizing slightly Fry's reasoning, we show that his conclusion remains
valid in theories of modified gravity (or equivalently, complex clustered dark
energy). This is not surprising: as long as both galaxies and matter are
subject to the same force, dynamics would drive them towards tracing each
other. This holds, for instance, in theories where both galaxies and matter
move on geodesics. This relaxation of bias towards unity is tempered by cosmic
acceleration, however: the bias tends towards unity but does not quite make it,
unless the formation bias were close to unity. Our argument is extended in a
straightforward manner to the case of a stochastic or nonlinear bias. An
important corollary is that dynamical evolution could imprint a scale
dependence on the large scale galaxy bias. This is especially pronounced if
non-standard gravity introduces new scales to the problem: the bias at
different scales relaxes at different rates, the larger scales generally more
slowly and retaining a longer memory of the initial bias. A consistency test of
the current (general relativity + uniform dark energy) paradigm is therefore to
look for departure from a scale independent bias on large scales. A simple way
is to measure the relative bias of different populations of galaxies which are
at different stages of bias relaxation. Lastly, we comment on the possibility
of directly testing the Poisson equation on cosmological scales, as opposed to
indirectly through the growth factor.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures. References added. Accepted for publication in
Physical Review
Nonlocal Cosmology
We explore nonlocally modified models of gravity, inspired by quantum loop
corrections, as a mechanism for explaining current cosmic acceleration. These
theories enjoy two major advantages: they allow a delayed response to cosmic
events, here the transition from radiation to matter dominance, and they avoid
the usual level of fine tuning; instead, emulating Dirac's dictum, the required
large numbers come from the large time scales involved. Their solar system
effects are safely negligible, and they may even prove useful to the black hole
information problem.Comment: Expanded(!) version, to appear in Phys. Rev. Letter
Coexistence of black holes and a long-range scalar field in cosmology
The exactly solvable scalar hairy black hole model (originated from the
modern high-energy theory) is proposed. It turns out that the existence of
black holes (BH) is strongly correlated to global scalar field, in a sense that
they mutually impose bounds upon their physical parameters like the BH mass
(lower bound) or the cosmological constant (upper bound). We consider the same
model also as a cosmological one and show that it agrees with recent
experimental data; additionally, it provides a unified quintessence-like
description of dark energy and dark matter.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Latent solitons, black strings, black branes, and equations of state in Kaluza-Klein models
In Kaluza-Klein models with an arbitrary number of toroidal internal spaces,
we investigate soliton solutions which describe the gravitational field of a
massive compact object. We single out the physically interesting solution
corresponding to a point-like mass. For the general solution we obtain
equations of state in the external and internal spaces. These equations
demonstrate that the point-like mass soliton has dust-like equations of state
in all spaces. We also obtain the PPN parameters, which give the possibility to
obtain the formulas for perihelion shift, deflection of light and time delay of
radar echoes. Additionally, the gravitational experiments lead to a strong
restriction on the parameter of the model: . The point-like mass solution contradicts this restriction. The
condition satisfies the experimental limitation and defines a new
class of solutions which are indistinguishable from general relativity. We call
such solutions latent solitons. Black strings and black branes belong to this
class. Moreover, the condition of stability of the internal spaces singles out
black strings/branes from the latent solitons and leads uniquely to the black
string/brane equations of state , in the internal spaces and
to the number of the external dimensions . The investigation of
multidimensional static spherically symmetric perfect fluid with dust-like
equation of state in the external space confirms the above results.Comment: 8 pages, Revtex4, no figures, minor changes adde
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