arXiv subjects

Alfio Bonanno

Publications and source records attributed to Alfio Bonanno.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2025

Effective Quantum Spacetimes from Functional Renormalization Group

Using the Functional Renormalization Group approach we construct effective quantum spacetime geometries by self-consistently deforming the classical Schwarzschild-de Sitter black-hole solution. This involves studying how quantum corrections, driven by the running of the Newton's and cosmological constants modify the solution across the infrared and ultraviolet regimes. We show that these quantum modifications replace the Schwarzschild singularity with a milder conical one. Moreover, two new features emerge in the ultraviolet regime. First, we identify a phase transition between Anti-de Sitter/de Sitter spacetime occurring when the object's mass exceeds a first critical threshold. Second, we predict the formation of horizons once the object's mass exceeds a second threshold. Both thresholds are of the order of the Planck mass. Finally, we investigate the role of the anomalous dimension in the conformal sector of the theory.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

Path integral measures and diffeomorphism invariance

Much like the action, diffeomorphism invariance can be used to fix the form of the path integral measure in quantum gravity. Moreover, since there is a redundancy between what constitutes "the action" and what constitutes "the measure" one can always pick a minimal form of the latter. However, the authors of the recent papers arXiv:2412.14108, arXiv:2412.10194 have advocated a form of the path integral measure for quantum gravity, proposed long ago by Fradkin and Vilkovisky, that is not invariant. This is easily seen since it depends explicitly on the $g^{00}$ component of the inverse metric without being contracted to form a scalar. An equally non-invariant measure was proposed in arXiv:2009.00728. As noted by their proponents, when these measures are used, certain divergences that typically appear are absent. However, the divergences that remain with the proposed measures are, unsurprisingly, neither diffeomorphism-invariant nor is the regulated effective action. We demonstrate this explicitly by computing the free scalar field contribution to the divergent part of the gravitational effective action using different measures and a proper-time cutoff. We support our findings with a thorough discussion of the path integral measure. In particular, we see how the contributions from the measure, obtained in a canonical setting, could be reinterpreted in a relational way compatible with diffeomorphism invariance.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Magnetic activity evolution of solar-like stars: II. $S_{\rm ph}$-Ro evolution of Kepler main-sequence targets

There is now a large sample of stars observed by the Kepler satellite with measured rotation periods and photometric activity index $S_{\rm ph}$. We use this data, in conjunction with stellar interiors models, to explore the interplay of magnetism, rotation, and convection. Stellar activity proxies other than $S_{\rm ph}$ are correlated with the Rossby number, $Ro$, or ratio of rotation period to convective overturn timescale. We compute the latter using the Yale Rotating Evolution Code stellar models. We observe different $S_{\rm ph}$-$Ro$ relationships for different stellar spectral types. Though the overall trend of decreasing magnetic activity versus $Ro$ is recovered, we find a localized dip in $S_{\rm ph}$ around $Ro/Ro_{\odot} \sim$\,0.3 for the G and K dwarfs. F dwarfs show little to no dependence of $S_{\rm ph}$ on $Ro$ due to their shallow convective zones; further accentuated as $T_{\rm eff}$ increases. The dip in activity for the G and K dwarfs corresponds to the intermediate rotation period gap, suggesting that the dip in $S_{\rm ph}$ could be associated with the redistribution of angular momentum between the core and convective envelope inside stars. For G-type stars, we observe enhanced magnetic activity above solar $Ro$. Compared to other Sun-like stars with similar effective temperature and metallicity, we find that the Sun's current level of magnetic activity is comparable to its peers and lies near the transition to increasing magnetic activity at high $Ro$. We confirm that metal-rich stars have a systematically larger $S_{\rm ph}$ level than metal-poor stars, which is likely a consequence of their deeper convective zones.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2024

Extending the Asteroseismic Calibration of the Stellar Rossby Number

The stellar Rossby number (Ro) is a dimensionless quantity that is used in the description of fluid flows. It characterizes the relative importance of Coriolis forces on convective motions, which is central to understanding magnetic stellar evolution. Here we present an expanded sample of Kepler asteroseismic targets to help calibrate the relation between Ro and Gaia color, and we extend the relation to redder colors using observations of the mean activity levels and rotation periods for a sample of brighter stars from the Mount Wilson survey. Our quadratic fit to the combined sample is nearly linear between 0.55 < G_BP-G_RP < 1.2, and can be used to estimate Ro for stars with spectral types between F5 and K3. The strong deviation from linearity in the original calibration may reflect an observational bias against the detection of solar-like oscillations at higher activity levels for the coolest stars.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2024

Scalar Perturbations of Regular Black Holes derived from a Non-Singular Collapse Model in Asymptotic Safety

We investigate the massless scalar field perturbations, focusing on the quasinormal modes spectrum and the ringdown waveform of regular black hole spacetimes derived within the Asymptotic Safety program. In particular, we discuss the stability of a new class of AS black holes recently derived dynamically within a non-singular model of collapse and explore the possibility of detecting signatures of the horizon structure with high-order overtones.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Black holes at a crossroads: late-stage evaporation in quadratic gravity

In General Relativity black hole evaporation leads to sudden bursts of energy and loss of information. It can be argued that these phenomena happen in the final stages of evaporation, where the semiclassical approximation needs to be refined with quantum corrections also for the gravitational interaction. A natural way to describe gravity at high energies is to add quadratic curvature terms to the Einstein-Hilbert action, i.e. quadratic gravity. At the cosmological level it is known that its classical solutions can give rise to a model of inflation that matches observations strikingly well, while in an astrophysical context it allows for the possibility of non-Schwarzschild black holes at small masses. These solutions have very peculiar properties, due to the presence of a massive spin-2 particle corresponding to a ghost at the quantum level. The branch of non-Schwarzschild solutions crosses the one of Schwarzschild ones at a specific mass which could be between the one of an asteroid and the Planck mass, depending on the value of a slightly constrained free parameter. By analyzing their dynamical stability and thermodynamical properties, we investigate what could happen to a black hole that has evaporated to this crossing point. While this investigation might not solve the problem of the endpoint of evaporation, it can shed light on the directions it might take during its last moments.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Reply to "Comment" on "Regular evaporating black holes with stable cores"

We reply to the ``Comment'' on ``Regular evaporating black holes with stable cores'' by R. Carballo-Rubio, F. Di Filippo, S. Liberati, C. Pacilio, and M. Visser. As a key result, we show that the regime of mass-inflation identified in the comment connects smoothly to the late-time attractors discovered in our works [A. Bonanno et. al., Regular black holes with stable cores, Phys. Rev. D 103, 124027 (2021) and Regular evaporating black holes with stable cores, Phys. Rev. D 107, 024005 (2023)]. Hence, the late-time stability of regular black holes is not affected by this intermediate phase.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

The conformal sector of Quantum Einstein Gravity beyond the local potential approximation

The anomalous scaling of Newton's constant around the Reuter fixed point is dynamically computed using the functional flow equation approach. Specifically, we thoroughly analyze the flow of the most general conformally reduced Einstein-Hilbert action. Our findings reveal that, due to the distinctive nature of gravity, the anomalous dimension $η$ of the Newton's constant cannot be constrained to have one single value: the ultraviolet critical manifold is characterized by a line of fixed points $(g_\ast(η), λ_\ast (η))$, with a discrete (infinite) set of eigenoperators associated to each fixed point. More specifically, we find three ranges of $η$ corresponding to different properties of both fixed points and eigenoperators and, in particular, the range $ η< η_c \approx 0.96$ the ultraviolet critical manifolds has finite dimensionality.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Magnetic activity evolution of solar-like stars: I. S_ph-Age relation derived from Kepler observations

The ages of solar-like stars have been at the center of many studies such as exoplanet characterization or Galactic-archaeology. While ages are usually computed from stellar evolution models, relations linking ages to other stellar properties, such as rotation and magnetic activity, have been investigated. With the large catalog of 55,232 rotation periods, $P_{\rm rot}$, and photometric magnetic activity index, $S_{\rm ph}$ from Kepler data, we have the opportunity to look for such magneto-gyro-chronology relations. Stellar ages are obtained with two stellar evolution codes that include treatment of angular momentum evolution, hence using $P_{\rm rot}$ as input in addition to classical atmospheric parameters. We explore two different ways of predicting stellar ages on three subsamples with spectroscopic observations: solar analogs, late-F and G dwarfs, and K dwarfs. We first perform a Bayesian analysis to derive relations between $S_{\rm ph}$ and ages between 1 and 5 Gyr, and other stellar properties. For late-F and G dwarfs, and K dwarfs, the multivariate regression favors the model with $P_{\rm rot}$ and $S_{\rm ph}$ with median differences of 0.1%.and 0.2% respectively. We also apply Machine Learning techniques with a Random Forest algorithm to predict ages up to 14 Gyr with the same set of input parameters. For late-F, G and K dwarfs together, predicted ages are on average within 5.3% of the model ages and improve to 3.1% when including $P_{\rm rot}$. These are very promising results for a quick age estimation for solar-like stars with photometric observations, especially with current and future space missions.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2022

Stability properties of Regular Black Holes

Black holes encountered in general relativity are characterized by spacetime singularities hidden within an event horizon. These singularities provide a key motivation to go beyond general relativity and look for regular black holes where the spacetime curvature remains bounded everywhere. A prominent mechanism achieving this replaces the singularity by a regular patch of de Sitter space. The resulting regular geometries exhibit two horizons: the outer event horizon is supplemented by an inner Cauchy horizon. The latter could render the geometry unstable against perturbations through the so-called mass-inflation effect, i.e., an exponential growth of the mass function. This chapter reviews the mass-inflation effect for spherically symmetric black hole spacetimes contrasting the dynamics of the mass function for Reissner-Nordstöm and regular black holes. We also cover recent developments related to the late-time attractors induced by Hawking radiation which exorcise the exponential growth of the spacetime curvature encountered in the standard mass-inflation scenario. In order to make the exposition self-contained, we also briefly discuss basic properties of regular black holes including their thermodynamics.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

Regular black holes with stable cores

Non-singular black hole geometries typically come with two spacetime horizons: an (outer) event horizon and an (inner) Cauchy horizon. This nurtures the speculation that they may be subject to a mass-inflation effect which renders the Cauchy horizon unstable. We analyze the dynamics associated with spherically symmetric, regular black holes taking the full backreaction between the infalling matter and geometry into account. On this basis, we identify the crucial features taming the growth of the mass function and diminishing the curvature singularity at the Cauchy horizon. It is demonstrated explicitly that the regular black hole solutions proposed by Hayward and obtained from Asymptotic Safety satisfy these properties.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

On the origin of the dichotomy of stellar activity cycles

The presence of possible correlations between stellar rotation rate $Ω$ and the frequency of the activity cycle $ω_\mathrm{cyc}$ is still much debated. We implement a new Bayesian classification algorithm based on a simultaneous regression analysis of multiple scaling laws and we demonstrate the existence of two different scalings in the $\log_{10} ω_\mathrm{cyc}$ -- $\log_{10} Ω$ plane for an extended Mt.~Wilson sample of 67 stars. Thanks to metallicity measurements obtained from both ESA Gaia and high-resolution spectroscopy, we argue that the origin of this dichotomy is likely related to the chemical composition: stars whose magnetic cycle frequency increases with rotation rate are less metallic than stars whose magnetic cycle frequency decreases with stellar rotation rates. On the contrary, no clear difference in chromospheric magnetic activity indicators characterizes the two branches.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2022

Regular evaporating black holes with stable cores

A feature shared by many regular black hole spacetimes is the occurrence of a Cauchy horizon. It is then commonly believed that this renders the geometry unstable against perturbations through the mass-inflation effect. In this work, we perform the first dynamical study of this effect taking into account the mass-loss of the black hole due to Hawking radiation. It is shown that the time-dependence of the background leads to two novel types of late-time behavior whose properties are entirely determined by the Hawking flux. The first class of attractor-behavior is operative for regular black holes of the Hayward and renormalization group improved type and characterized by the square of the Weyl curvature growing as $v^6$ at asymptotically late times. This singularity is inaccessible to a radially free-falling observer though. The second class is realized by Reissner-Nordstr{ö}m black holes and regular black holes of the Bardeen type. In this case the curvature scalars remain finite as $v\rightarrow\infty$. Thus the Hawking flux has a profound effect on the mass-inflation instability, either weakening the effect significantly or even expelling it entirely.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

Structural aspects of FRG in quantum tunnelling computations

We probe both the unidimensional quartic harmonic oscillator and the double well potential through a numerical analysis of the Functional Renormalization Group flow equations truncated at first order in the derivative expansion. The two partial differential equations for the potential V_k(varphi) and the wave function renormalization Z_k(varphi), as obtained in different schemes and with distinct regulators, are studied down to k=0, and the energy gap between lowest and first excited state is computed, in order to test the reliability of the approach in a strongly non-perturbative regime. Our findings point out at least three ranges of the quartic coupling lambda, one with higher lambda where the lowest order approximation is already accurate, the intermediate one where the inclusion of the first correction produces a good agreement with the exact results and, finally, the one with smallest lambda where presumably the higher order correction of the flow is needed. Some details of the specifics of the infrared regulator are also discussed.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Non-symmetric wormholes and localized Big Rip singularities in Einstein-Weyl gravity

The inclusion of the Weyl squared term in the gravitational action is one of the most simple, yet non trivial modifications to General Relativity at high energies. Nevertheless the study of the spherically-symmetric vacuum solutions of this theory has received much attention only in recent times. A new type of asymptotically flat wormhole which does not match symmetrically at a finite radius with another sheet of the spacetime is presented. The outer spacetime is characterized by a newtonian potential with a Yukawa correction, and has gravitational properties that can be arbitrarily close to the ones of a Schwarzschild black hole. The internal spacetime instead possesses a singularity at $r=\infty$ with the topology of a 2-dimensional sphere. The expansion scalar of geodesics reaching this singularity diverges in a finite amount of proper time, with a striking resemblance with the future singularity of the Big Rip cosmological scenario. In terms of the external Yukawa hair and mass $M$, these new wormholes fill a large region of the two-dimensional parameter space of physical solutions with $M>0$. On the contrary black holes, both of Schwarzschild and non-Schwarzschild nature, are confined on a line. We argue that this type of wormholes are ideal black hole mimickers.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

Swiss-cheese cosmologies with variable $G$ and $Λ$ from the renormalization group

A convincing explanation for the nature of the dark energy and dark matter is still missing. In recent works a RG-improved swiss-cheese cosmology with an evolving cosmological constant dependent on the \sch radius has been proven to be a promising model to explain the observed cosmic acceleration. In this work we extend this model to consider the combined scaling of the Newton constant $G$ and the cosmological constant $Λ$ according to the IR-fixed point hypothesis. We shall show that our model easily generates the observed recent passage from deceleration to acceleration without need of extra energy scales, exotic fields or fine tuning. In order to check the generality of the concept, two different scaling relations have been analysed and we proved that both are in very good agreement with $Λ$CDM cosmology. We also show that our model satisfies the observational local constraints on $\dot{G}/G$.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Reconstructing the graviton

We reconstruct the Lorentzian graviton propagator in asymptotically safe quantum gravity from Euclidean data. The reconstruction is applied to both the dynamical fluctuation graviton and the background graviton propagator. We prove that the spectral function of the latter necessarily has negative parts similar to, and for the same reasons, as the gluon spectral function. In turn, the spectral function of the dynamical graviton is positive. We argue that the latter enters cross sections and other observables in asymptotically safe quantum gravity. Hence, its positivity may hint at the unitarity of asymptotically safe quantum gravity.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

The gravitational field of a star in quadratic gravity

The characterization of the gravitational field of isolated objects is still an open question in quadratic theories of gravity. We study static equilibrium solutions for a self-gravitating fluid in extensions of General Relativity including terms quadratic in the Weyl tensor $C_{μνρσ}$ and in the Ricci scalar $R$, as suggested by one-loop corrections to classical gravity. By the means of a shooting method procedure we link the total gravitational mass and the strength of the Yukawa corrections associated with the quadratic terms with the fluid properties at the center. It is shown that the inclusion of the $C_{μνρσ}C^{μνρσ}$ coupling in the lagrangian has a much stronger impact than the $R^2$ correction in the determination of the radius and of the maximum mass of a compact object. We also suggest that the ambiguity in the definition of mass in quadratic gravity theories can conveniently be exploited to detect deviations from standard General Relativity.

gr-qc↗