Search results for " relativity"
showing 10 items of 1158 documents
A weakly random Universe?
2010
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation is characterized by well-established scales, the 2.7 K temperature of the Planckian spectrum and the $10^{-5}$ amplitude of the temperature anisotropy. These features were instrumental in indicating the hot and equilibrium phases of the early history of the Universe and its large scale isotropy, respectively. We now reveal one more intrinsic scale in CMB properties. We introduce a method developed originally by Kolmogorov, that quantifies a degree of randomness (chaos) in a set of numbers, such as measurements of the CMB temperature in some region. Considering CMB as a composition of random and regular signals, we solve the inverse problem of …
Observational constraints on the LLTB model
2010
We directly compare the concordance LCDM model to the inhomogeneous matter-only alternative represented by LTB void models. To achieve a "democratic" confrontation we explore LLTB models with non-vanishing cosmological constant and perform a global likelihood analysis in the parameter space of cosmological constant and void radius. In our analysis we carefully consider SNe, Hubble constant, CMB and BAO measurements, marginalizing over spectral index, age of the universe and background curvature. We find that the LCDM model is not the only possibility compatible with the observations, and that a matter-only void model is a viable alternative to the concordance model only if the BAO constrain…
More about a successful vector-tensor theory of gravitation
2016
The vector-tensor (VT) theory of gravitation revisited in this article was studied in previous papers, where it was proved that VT works and deserves attention. New observational data and numerical codes have motivated further development which is presented here. New research has been planed with the essential aim of proving that current cosmological observations, including Planck data, baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO), and so on, may be explained with VT, a theory which accounts for a kind of dark energy which has the same equation of state as vacuum. New versions of the codes CAMB and COSMOMC have been designed for applications to VT, and the resulting versions have been used to get the…
On the viability of a certain vector-tensor theory of gravitation
2010
A certain vector-tensor theory is revisited. Our attention is focused on cosmology. Against previous suggestions based on preliminary studies, it is shown that, if the energy density of the vector field is large enough to play the role of the dark energy and its fluctuations are negligible, the theory is not simultaneously compatible with current observations on: supernovae, the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy, and the power spectrum of the energy density fluctuations. However, for small enough energy densities of the vector field, the theory becomes compatible with all the above observations and, moreover, it leads to an interesting evolution of the so-called vector cosmologic…
Induced gravity and the attractor dynamics of dark energy/dark matter
2010
Attractor solutions that give dynamical reasons for dark energy to act like the cosmological constant, or behavior close to it, are interesting possibilities to explain cosmic acceleration. Coupling the scalar field to matter or to gravity enlarges the dynamical behavior; we consider both couplings together, which can ameliorate some problems for each individually. Such theories have also been proposed in a Higgs-like fashion to induce gravity and unify dark energy and dark matter origins. We explore restrictions on such theories due to their dynamical behavior compared to observations of the cosmic expansion. Quartic potentials in particular have viable stability properties and asymptotica…
A dynamical systems study of the inhomogeneous Lambda-CDM model
2010
We consider spherically symmetric inhomogeneous dust models with a positive cosmological constant, $\Lambda$, given by the Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi metric. These configurations provide a simple but useful generalization of the Lambda-CDM model describing cold dark matter (CDM) and a Lambda term, which seems to fit current cosmological observations. The dynamics of these models can be fully described by scalar evolution equations that can be given in the form of a proper dynamical system associated with a 4-dimensional phase space whose critical points and invariant subspaces are examined and classified. The phase space evolution of various configurations is studied in detail by means of two 2-…
Running couplings from adiabatic regularization
2019
We extend the adiabatic regularization method by introducing an arbitrary mass scale $\mu$ in the construction of the subtraction terms. This allows us to obtain, in a very robust way, the running of the coupling constants by demanding $\mu$-invariance of the effective semiclassical (Maxwell-Einstein) equations. In particular, we get the running of the electric charge of perturbative quantum electrodynamics. Furthermore, the method brings about a renormalization of the cosmological constant and the Newtonian gravitational constant. The running obtained for these dimensionful coupling constants has new relevant (non-logarithmic) contributions, not predicted by dimensional regularization.
Bounds on Neutrino-Scalar Yukawa Coupling
2015
General neutrino-scalar couplings appear in many extensions of Standard Model. We can probe these neutrino-scalar couplings by leptonic decay of mesons and from heavy neutrino search. Our analysis improves the present limits to $|g_e|^2<1.9\times 10^{-6}$ and $|g_\mu|^2<1.9\times 10^{-7}$ at 90\% C.L. for massless scalars. For massive scalars we found for the first time the constraints for $g^2_{\alpha}$ couplings to be $10^{-6}-10^{-1}$ respectively for scalar masses between below 1 MeV and for 300 MeV.
Fully Covariant and Conformal Formulation of the Z4 System Compared to the BSSN Formulation in Spherical Symmetry
2014
We have generalized a covariant and conformal version of the Z4 system of the Einstein equations by adopting a reference metric approach, that we denote as fCCZ4, well suited for curvilinear as well as Cartesian coordinates. We implement this formalism in spherical polar coordinates under the assumption of spherical symmetry using a partially-implicit Runge-Kutta (PIRK) method, without using any regularization scheme, and show that our code can evolve both vacuum and non-vacuum spacetimes without encountering instabilities. We have performed several tests and compared the Hamiltonian constraint violations of the fCCZ4 system, for different choices of certain free parameters, with these of B…
Stationary models of magnetized viscous tori around a Schwarzschild black hole
2020
We present stationary solutions of magnetized, viscous thick accretion disks around a Schwarzschild black hole. We assume that the tori are not self-gravitating, are endowed with a toroidal magnetic field, and obey a constant angular momentum law. Our study focuses on the role of the black hole curvature in the shear viscosity tensor and in their potential combined effect on the stationary solutions. Those are built in the framework of a causality-preserving, second-order gradient expansion scheme of relativistic hydrodynamics in the Eckart frame description which gives rise to hyperbolic equations of motion. The stationary models are constructed by numerically solving the general relativis…