Searcharxiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2208.08107

Symmetry restoration in the vicinity of neutron stars with a nonminimal coupling

Masato Minamitsuji·Shinji Tsujikawa
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

We propose a new model of scalarized neutron stars (NSs) realized by a self-interacting scalar field $\phi$ nonminimally coupled to the Ricci scalar $R$ of the form $F(\phi)R$. The scalar field has a self-interacting potential and sits at its vacuum expectation value $\phi_v$ far away from the source. Inside the NS, the dominance of a positive nonminimal coupling over a negative mass squared of the potential leads to a symmetry restoration with the central field value $\phi_c$ close to $0$. This allows the existence of scalarized NS solutions connecting $\phi_v$ with $\phi_c$ whose difference is significant, whereas the field is located in the vicinity of $\phi=\phi_v$ for weak gravitational stars. The Arnowitt-Deser-Misner mass and radius of NSs as well as the gravitational force around the NS surface can receive sizable corrections from the scalar hair, while satisfying local gravity constraints in the Solar system. Unlike the original scenario of spontaneous scalarization induced by a negative nonminimal coupling, the catastrophic instability of cosmological solutions can be avoided. We also study the cosmological dynamics from the inflationary epoch to today and show that the scalar field $\phi$ finally approaches the asymptotic value $\phi_v$ without spoiling a successful cosmological evolution. After $\phi$ starts to oscillate about the potential minimum, the same field can also be the source for cold dark matter.

Explore related subjects

gr-qcastro-ph.COhep-phhep-th

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Masato Minamitsuji, Shinji Tsujikawa. 2022-08-17. Symmetry restoration in the vicinity of neutron stars with a nonminimal coupling. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2023.137869

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Electrovacuum Black Hole Uniqueness

We prove the black hole uniqueness conjecture in the axially symmetric, stationary, electrovacuum setting, subject to the refined asymptotic analysis of the associated singular harmonic maps, which includes an analyticity hypothesis at the axes. More precisely, it is shown that any asymptotically flat solution of the Einstein--Maxwell equations in this class, with more than one black hole horizon component is either: Majumdar--Papapetrou, up to a duality rotation, in which case all logarithmic angle defects vanish, or every finite axis rod logarithmic angle defect is strictly negative and hence every interaction force is strictly attractive. The proof extends the singular harmonic map method used for vacuum Kerr uniqueness in [18].

gr-qc↗
arXiv2026

Constraining Modified Mass-to-Horizon Cosmology Through Primordial Inflationary Observables

We investigate slow-roll inflation in a modified cosmological framework inspired by a generalized mass-to-horizon relation (MHR), $M=\gamma {c^2 L^n}/{G}$, where $n$ is a real parameter and $\gamma$ a dimensional constant. Using Padmanabhan's emergence paradigm, we derive the modified Friedmann equations for a flat FRW universe and analyze the dynamics of a canonical scalar field (inflaton) under the slow-roll approximation. We study the resulting inflationary phenomenology for power-law and Starobinsky potentials. For power-law potentials, the MHR modification fails to reconcile these models with current CMB constraints on $r$ and $n_s$. In contrast, Starobinsky inflation exhibits significant sensitivity to deviations from $n=1$. A perturbative analysis ($n=1+\Delta$) yields corrections to inflationary observables. We observe that the scalar power-spectrum normalization, under a fixed-Starobinsky prescription, imposes the stringent constraint $0.960 \lesssim n \lesssim 1.040$ for $N=60$ efolds. This is considerably tighter than spectral-index bounds. Our results establish inflation, particularly Starobinsky-like models, as a sensitive probe of generalized horizon thermodynamics and departures from standard MHR scaling.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2026

Improving the Sensitivity of Gravitational Wave Detection with Weighted Conformal Prediction

In the last decade, kilometre-scale interferometric gravitational-wave detectors have observed hundreds of compact binary mergers, the majority of which are binary black holes. However, the data are noise-dominated, and multiple independent search algorithms (pipelines) are used to enhance sensitivity and improve robustness. Rather than the standard approach of selecting the most significant pipeline output, we combine the outputs from all pipelines using a conformal prediction-based framework to provide statistically rigorous confidence estimates for candidate events. While combining pipelines improves sensitivity and ranking robustness, it requires a principled statistical framework that remains valid as data properties evolve across observing runs. A key challenge is distribution shifts between simulated datasets used for training and calibration and the real, unlabelled, observations used for testing, which can invalidate coverage guarantees and bias confidence estimates. In this work, we address this challenge by incorporating likelihood-ratio reweighting into our conformal prediction framework to account for covariate shift. Using mock datasets containing simulated signals, we demonstrate that weighted conformal prediction restores well-calibrated coverage under covariate shift and increases the confidence of events near the detection threshold, recovering true signals that would otherwise be missed.

gr-qc↗