Search results for "General Relativity"
showing 10 items of 1057 documents
"Mariage des Maillages": A new numerical approach for 3D relativistic core collapse simulations
2004
We present a new 3D general relativistic hydrodynamics code for simulations of stellar core collapse to a neutron star, as well as pulsations and instabilities of rotating relativistic stars. It uses spectral methods for solving the metric equations, assuming the conformal flatness approximation for the three-metric. The matter equations are solved by high-resolution shock-capturing schemes. We demonstrate that the combination of a finite difference grid and a spectral grid can be successfully accomplished. This "Mariage des Maillages" (French for grid wedding) approach results in high accuracy of the metric solver and allows for fully 3D applications using computationally affordable resour…
Minimum main sequence mass in quadratic Palatini $f(\mathcal{R})$ gravity
2019
General Relativity yields an analytical prediction of a minimum required mass of roughly $\sim 0.08-0.09 M_{\odot}$ for a star to stably burn sufficient hydrogen to fully compensate photospheric losses and, therefore, to belong to the main sequence. Those objects below this threshold (brown dwarfs) eventually cool down without any chance to stabilize their internal temperature. In this work we consider quadratic Palatini $f(\mathcal{R})$ gravity and show that the corresponding newtonian hydrostatic equilibrium equation contains a new term whose effect is to introduce a weakening/strenghtening of the gravitational interaction inside astrophysical bodies. This fact modifies the General Relati…
Ricci Reheating
2019
We present a model for viable gravitational reheating involving a scalar field directly coupled to the Ricci curvature scalar. Crucial to the model is a period of kination after inflation, which causes the Ricci scalar to change sign thus inducing a tachyonic effective mass $m^{2} \propto -H^2$ for the scalar field. The resulting tachyonic growth of the scalar field provides the energy for reheating, allowing for temperatures high enough for thermal leptogenesis. Additionally, the required period of kination necessarily leads to a blue-tilted primordial gravitational wave spectrum with the potential to be detected by future experiments. We find that for reheating temperatures $T_{\rm RH} \l…
Coupled dark matter-dark energy in light of near Universe observations
2010
Cosmological analysis based on currently available observations are unable to rule out a sizeable coupling among the dark energy and dark matter fluids. We explore a variety of coupled dark matter-dark energy models, which satisfy cosmic microwave background constraints, in light of low redshift and near universe observations. We illustrate the phenomenology of different classes of dark coupling models, paying particular attention in distinguishing between effects that appear only on the expansion history and those that appear in the growth of structure. We find that while a broad class of dark coupling models are effectively models where general relativity (GR) is modified - and thus can b…
Robust constraint on Lorentz violation using Fermi-LAT gamma-ray burst data
2018
Models of quantum gravity suggest that the vacuum should be regarded as a medium with quantum structure that may have non-trivial effects on photon propagation, including the violation of Lorentz invariance. Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) observations of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are sensitive probes of Lorentz invariance, via studies of energy-dependent timing shifts in their rapidly-varying photon emissions. In this paper we analyze the Fermi-LAT measurements of high-energy gamma rays from GRBs with known redshifts, allowing for the possibility of energy-dependent variations in emission times at the sources as well as a possible non-trivial refractive index in vacuo for photons. We use st…
Universe made of baryonic gravitating particles behaves as a \Lambda CDM Universe
2014
Using an approximate solution to the $N$-body problem in general relativity, and the \emph{principle of local isotropy at any point}, we construct a cosmological model, with zero curvature, for a universe composed uniquely by collision-less gravitating point-particles. The result is not, as currently thought, a null pressure Friedman model, but one that reproduces quite well the dark phenomena. We assume that there exist three consecutive ages with this property, formed by free atoms, stars and galaxies, respectively. Certainly, we are using a highly idealized view of the very complicated process going from uncoupled atoms to galaxies, but it allows us to obtain that the energy density at e…
GRAVITATIONAL WAVE SIGNATURES IN BLACK HOLE FORMING CORE COLLAPSE
2013
We present numerical simulations in general relativity of collapsing stellar cores. Our initial model consists of a low metallicity rapidly-rotating progenitor which is evolved in axisymmetry with the latest version of our general relativistic code CoCoNuT, which allows for black hole formation and includes the effects of a microphysical equation of state (LS220) and a neutrino leakage scheme to account for radiative losses. The motivation of our study is to analyze in detail the emission of gravitational waves in the collapsar scenario of long gamma-ray bursts. Our simulations show that the phase during which the proto-neutron star (PNS) survives before ultimately collapsing to a black hol…
Relativistic positioning systems: Perspectives and prospects
2013
Relativistic positioning systems are interesting {\em technical objects} for applications around the Earth and in the Solar system. But above all else, they are basic {\em scientific objects} allowing developing relativity from its own concepts. Some past and future features of relativistic positioning systems, with special attention to the developments that they suggest for an {\em epistemic relativity} (relativistic experimental approach to physics), are analyzed. This includes {\em relativistic stereometry}, which, together with relativistic positioning systems, allows to introduce the general relativistic notion of (finite) {\em laboratory} (space-time region able to perform experiments…
Are pulsars born with a hidden magnetic field?
2015
The observation of several neutron stars in the center of supernova remnants and with significantly lower values of the dipolar magnetic field than the average radio-pulsar population has motivated a lively debate about their formation and origin, with controversial interpretations. A possible explanation requires the slow rotation of the proto-neutron star at birth, which is unable to amplify its magnetic field to typical pulsar levels. An alternative possibility, the hidden magnetic field scenario, considers the accretion of the fallback of the supernova debris onto the neutron star as responsible for the submergence (or screening) of the field and its apparently low value. In this paper …
Towards asteroseismology of core-collapse supernovae with gravitational-wave observations – I. Cowling approximation
2017
Gravitational waves from core-collapse supernovae are produced by the excitation of different oscillation modes in the protoneutron star (PNS) and its surroundings, including the shock. In this work we study the relationship between the post-bounce oscillation spectrum of the PNS–shock system and the characteristic frequencies observed in gravitational-wave signals from core-collapse simulations. This is a fundamental first step in order to develop a procedure to infer astrophysical parameters of the PNS formed in core-collapse supernovae. Our method combines information from the oscillation spectrum of the PNS, obtained through linear perturbation analysis in general relativity of a backgr…