Gravitational waves production from stellar encounters around massive black holes

The emission of gravitational waves from a system of massive objects interacting on elliptical, hyperbolic and parabolic orbits is studied in the quadrupole approximation. Analytical expressions are then derived for the gravitational wave luminosity, the total energy output and gravitational radiation amplitude. A crude estimate of the expected number of events towards peculiar targets (i.e. globular clusters) is also given. In particular, the rate of events per year is obtained for the dense stellar cluster at the Galactic Center.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures; Multifrequency Behaviour of High-Energy Cosmic Sources, Vulcano Workshop 200

Coalescing binaries as possible standard candles

Gravitational waves detected from well-localized inspiraling binaries would allow to determine, directly and independently, both binary luminosity and redshift. In this case, such systems could behave as "standard candles" providing an excellent probe of cosmic distances up to $z <0.1$ and thus complementing other indicators of cosmological distance ladder.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. accepted in Astroparticle Physic

Stochastic background of gravitational waves "tuned" by f(R)f(R) gravity

The cosmological background of gravitational waves can be tuned by Extended Theories of Gravity. In particular, it can be shown that assuming a generic function $f(R)$ of the Ricci scalar $R$ gives a parametric approach to control the evolution and the production mechanism of gravitational waves in the early Universe.Comment: 5 pages, to appear in the Proceedings of the 3rd Stueckelberg Workshop, July 2008, Pescara - Ital

First Order Extended Gravity and the Dark Side of the Universe: the General Theory

General Relativity is not the definitive theory of Gravitation due to several shortcomings which are coming out both from theoretical and experimental viewpoints. At large scales (astrophysical and cosmological scales) the attempts to match it with the today observational data lead to invoke Dark Energy and Dark Matter as the bulk components of the cosmic fluid. Since no final evidence, at fundamental level, exists for such ingredients, it is clear that General Relativity presents shortcomings at infrared scales. On the other hand, the attempts to formulate theories more general than the Einstein one give rise to mathematical difficulties that need workarounds which, in turn, generate problems from the interpretative viewpoint. We present here a completely new approach to the mathematical objects in terms of which a theory of Gravitation may be written in a first-order `a la Palatini formalism, and introduce the concept of Dark Metric which could completely bypass the introduction of disturbing concepts as Dark Energy and Dark Matter.Comment: Proceedings of the Conference "The Invisible Universe" Paris, June 29-July 3, 2009 10 page

The physical foundations for the geometric structure of relativistic theories of gravitation. From General Relativity to Extended Theories of Gravity through Ehlers-Pirani-Schild approach

We discuss in a critical way the physical foundations of geometric structure of relativistic theories of gravity by the so-called Ehlers-Pirani-Schild formalism. This approach provides a natural interpretation of the observables showing how relate them to General Relativity and to a large class of Extended Theories of Gravity. In particular we show that, in such a formalism, geodesic and causal structures of space-time can be safely disentangled allowing a correct analysis in view of observations and experiment. As specific case, we take into account the case of f(R) gravity.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure

Gravitational and electromagnetic emission by magnetized coalescing binary systems

We discuss the possibility to obtain an electromagnetic emission accompanying the gravitational waves emitted in the coalescence of a compact binary system. Motivated by the existence of black hole configurations with open magnetic field lines along the rotation axis, we consider a magnetic dipole in the system, the evolution of which leads to (i) electromagnetic radiation, and (ii) a contribution to the gravitational radiation, the luminosity of both being evaluated. Starting from the observations on magnetars, we impose upper limits for both the electromagnetic emission and the contribution of the magnetic dipole to the gravitational wave emission. Adopting this model for the evolution of neutron star binaries leading to short gamma ray bursts, we compare the correction originated by the electromagnetic field to the gravitational waves emission, finding that they are comparable for particular values of the magnetic field and of the orbital radius of the binary system. Finally we calculate the electromagnetic and gravitational wave energy outputs which result comparable for some values of magnetic field and radius.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Astroph. Sp.Scienc

MOND's acceleration scale as a fundamental quantity

Some quantum-cosmic scaling relations indicate that the MOND acceleration parameter a_0 could be a fundamental quantity ruling the self-gravitating structures, ranging from stars and globular clusters up to superclusters of galaxies and the whole observed universe. We discuss such coincidence relations starting from the Dirac quantization condition ruling the masses of primordial black holes.Comment: 6 page

Classifying and avoiding singularities in the alternative gravity dark energy models

The future finite-time singularities emerging in alternative gravity dark energy models are classified and studied in Jordan and Einstein frames. It is shown that such singularity may occur even in flat spacetime for the specific choice of the effective potential. The conditions for the avoidance of finite-time singularities are presented and discussed. The problem is reduced to the study of a scalar field evolving on an effective potential by using the conformal transformations. Some viable modified gravity models are analyzed in detail and the way to cure singularity is considered by introducing the higher-order curvature corrections. These results maybe relevant for the resolution of the conjectured problem in the relativistic star formation in such modified gravity where finite-time singularity is also manifested.Comment: 21 pages, 12 figures, published version in PR

Constraining f(R) gravity with PLANCK data on galaxy cluster profiles

Models of $f(R)$ gravity that introduce corrections to the Newtonian potential in the weak field limit are tested at the scale of galaxy clusters. These models can explain the dynamics of spiral and elliptical galaxies without resorting to dark matter. We compute the pressure profiles of 579 galaxy clusters assuming that the gas is in hydrostatic equilibrium within the potential well of the modified gravitational field. The predicted profiles are compared with the average profile obtained by stacking the data of our cluster sample in the Planck foreground clean map SMICA. We find that the resulting profiles of these systems fit the data without requiring a dominant dark matter component, with model parameters similar to those required to explain the dynamics of galaxies. Our results do not rule out that clusters are dynamically dominated by Dark Matter but support the idea that Extended Theories of Gravity could provide an explanation to the dynamics of self-gravitating systems and to the present period of accelerated expansion, alternative to the concordance cosmological model.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA