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Argelia Bernal

Publications and source records attributed to Argelia Bernal.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Noble gravitational atoms: Self-gravitating black hole scalar wigs with angular momentum number

We present new spherically symmetric solutions of the Einstein-Klein-Gordon equations in a quasi-stationary approximation that describe self-gravitating scalar field configurations around a black hole, including angular momentum number $\ell$. An approach analogous to the one which gives rise to $\ell$-boson stars is used here to construct self-gravitating ``gravitational atoms" with $\ell\ge0$. We refer to these new solutions as {\it noble gravitational atoms}, by analogy with noble atoms, which are characterized by closed electron shells. We show that, in the proper limit, noble gravitational atoms approach $\ell$-boson stars globally, displaying noticeable differences only in a region very close to the event horizon. Noble gravitational atoms with $\ell>0$ sometimes present density maxima located at relatively large radii, with small density close to the horizon for $\ell>1$. Furthermore, they do not always present the typical density spike at the event horizon if $\ell > 0$; on the contrary, they sometimes exhibit a small dip there. When $\ell=0$, a spike can appear, but its contribution to the total mass density is always negligible. The size, density, and lifetime of these objects vary significantly depending on the parameters, being in some cases as large as galaxies, as dilute as dark matter, and as long-lived as the Universe itself.

gr-qc

Gravitational confinement of ghost scalar fields in neutron stars

We investigate the effects, stability, and nonlinear dynamics of ghost scalar matter modeled as a field with a negative kinetic term confined within the cores of neutron stars. To this end, we analyze static configurations of the coupled Einstein-Euler-(ghost, complex) Klein-Gordon system and then we perform fully dynamical numerical evolutions of illustrative cases. Our results demonstrate that neutron stars can gravitationally confine a finite amount of ghost matter and support continuous families of equilibrium solutions, indicating that these configurations are not the result of fine tuning. We analyze the properties of the final states and find that the neutron star undergoes a persistent pulse-like oscillatory motion. In particular, we explicitly compute the frequency synchronization between the stellar fluid oscillation modes and those of the ghost scalar sector.

gr-qc

Probing a minimal dark gauge sector via microlensing of compact dark objects

We introduce a minimal Dark Standard Model (DSM) consisting of a single spin-0 particle with dark $U(1)$ gauge symmetry, and completely decoupled from the visible sector. Characterized only by the scalar mass $μ$ and the dark charge $q$, this framework naturally gives rise to a rich phenomenology, including stable solitonic configurations that behave as dark "mini-MACHOs". We numerically build and evolve these gauged scalar-field solitons, derive their mass-radius relations, and identify a critical charge beyond which no gravitationally bound configurations exist. By combining these results with microlensing surveys that exclude compact objects heavier than the asteroid-mass scale ($M\lesssim 10^{-11}M_\odot$), we obtain the constraint $μ\gtrsim 10\,\rm eV$ for viable configurations, depending on $q$. Our results represent a step forward in showing that purely gravitational observations can constrain the internal parameters of a dark gauge sector, and provide a framework for exploring broader DSM scenarios through future probes such as gravitational wave detections.

hep-ph

Gravitational atoms beyond the test field limit: The case of Sgr A* and ultralight dark matter

We construct gravitational atoms including self-gravity, obtaining solutions of the Einstein-Klein-Gordon equations for a scalar field surrounding a non-rotating black hole in a quasi-stationary approximation. We resolve the region near the horizon as well as the far field region. Our results are relevant in a wide range of masses, from ultralight to MeV scalar fields and for black holes ranging from primordial to supermassive. For instance, a system with a scalar field consistent with ultralight dark matter and a black hole mass comparable to that of Sagittarius A* can be modeled. A density spike near the event horizon, although present, is negligible, contrasting with the prediction in [P. Gondolo and Silk, Phys. Rev. Lett., 83:1719-1722, 1999] for cold dark matter.

gr-qc

Thermodynamics sheds light on the nature of dark matter galactic halos

In spherical symmetry, the gravitational potential is uniquely determined by the rotational velocity profile. Numerous galaxies exhibit a universal velocity profile from which a universal gravitational profile is inferred. When treating dark matter as either an ideal gas, a Fermi gas, or a Bose gas, only the latter can produce a gravitational profile consistent with observations, along with a temperature profile that decreases outward. This requires the mass of the boson to be below a certain threshold of $43\mbox{ eV}/c^2$. Additionally, ensuring that the speed of sound is less than the speed of light yields a lower bound on the boson's mass.

astro-ph.GA

Constrains on dark matter cross section with standard model particles from the orbital period decay of binary pulsars

It is shown that the data from the orbital period decay of binary pulsars give strong constraints on the dark matter-nucleons cross section. The limits are robust and competitive because this new method for testing dark matter interactions with standard model particles has a minimal number of assumptions combined with the extremely high accuracy on the measurement of the decay rate of the orbital period of binary systems. Our results exclude (with 95% confidence) spin independent interactions with cross sections greater that 3.1x10-31 cm2 for a dark matter particle with mass mc2 = 1 keV and 3.7x10-31 cm2 for mc2= 1 TeV which improves by several orders of magnitude previous constraints.

astro-ph.HE

Preliminary Study on Dark Matter-Dominated Systems: Further Analysis for galactic dark matter halos with Pressure

Low surface brightness galaxies are an excellent laboratory where stars and baryonic matter act as tracers of the gravitational potential of the dark matter halo. If dark matter is modeled as a perfect fluid, then spherically symmetric and static dark matter halos in hydrostatic equilibrium demand that dark matter should have an intrinsic pressure that counteracts the gravitational attraction that the dark matter halo exerts on itself. This static fluid (dark matter-dominated system, where the presence of baryons is negligible) has a specific equation of state for each rotational velocity profile of the stars in galaxies. In this work, we study the dark matter equation of state needed for the self-gravitating object to produce a gravitational potential such that the tracers follow the Universal Rotational Velocity Profile for stars of spiral galaxies proposed by Persic et al. (1996) and analyze the properties of the self-gravitating structures that emerge from this equation of state.The resulting configurations explaining the observed rotational speeds are found to be unstable. We conclude that the halo is not in hydrostatic equilibrium, it is nonspherically symmetric, or it is not static if the universal velocity profile should be valid for fitting the rotational velocity curve of the galaxies.

astro-ph.GA

Bayesian analysis for rotational curves with $\ell$-boson stars as a dark matter component

Using Low Brightness Surface Galaxies (LBSG) rotational curves we inferred the free parameters of $\ell$-boson stars as a dark matter component. The $\ell$-boson stars are numerical solutions to the non-relativistic limit of the Einstein-Klein-Gordon system, the Schrödinger-Poisson (SP) system. These solutions are parametrized by an angular momentum number $\ell = (N-1)/2$ and an excitation number $n$. We perform a bayesian analysis by modifying the SimpleMC code to perform the parameter inference, for the cases with $\ell = 0$, $\ell = 1$ and multi-states of $\ell$-boson stars. We used the Akaike information criterion (AIC), Bayesian information criterion and the Bayes factor to compare the excited state ($\ell$=1) and the multi-state case with the ground state ($\ell$=0) as the base model due to its simplicity. We found that the data in most galaxies in the sample favours the multi-states case and that the scalar field mass tends to be slightly bigger than the ground state case.

astro-ph.CO

Boson stars and their relatives in semiclassical gravity

We construct boson star configurations in quantum field theory using the semiclassical gravity approximation. Restricting our attention to the static case, we show that the semiclassical Einstein-Klein-Gordon system for a {\it single real quantum} scalar field whose state describes the excitation of $N$ {\it identical particles}, each one corresponding to a given energy level, can be reduced to the Einstein-Klein-Gordon system for $N$ {\it complex classical} scalar fields. Particular consideration is given to the spherically symmetric static scenario, where energy levels are labeled by quantum numbers $n$, $\ell$ and $m$. When all particles are accommodated in the ground state $n=\ell=m=0$, one recovers the standard static boson star solutions, that can be excited if $n\neq 0$. On the other hand, for the case where all particles have fixed radial and total angular momentum numbers $n$ and $\ell$, with $\ell\neq 0$, but are homogeneously distributed with respect to their magnetic number $m$, one obtains the $\ell$-boson stars, whereas when $\ell=m=0$ and $n$ takes multiple values, the multi-state boson star solutions are obtained. Further generalizations of these configurations are presented, including the multi-$\ell$ multi-state boson stars, that constitute the most general solutions to the $N$-particle, static, spherically symmetric, semiclassical real Einstein-Klein-Gordon system, in which the total number of particles is definite. In spite of the fact that the same spacetime configurations also appear in multi-field classical theories, in semiclassical gravity they arise naturally as the quantum fluctuations associated with the state of a single field describing a many-body system. Our results could have potential impact on direct detection experiments in the context of ultralight scalar field/fuzzy dark matter candidates.

gr-qc

Self-interacting scalar field distributions around Schwarzschild black holes

Long-lived configurations of massive scalar fields around black holes may form if the coupling between the mass of the scalar field and the mass of the black hole is very small. In this work we analyze the effect of self-interaction in the distribution of the long-lived cloud surrounding a static black hole. We consider both attractive and repulsive self-interactions. By solving numerically the Klein Gordon equation on a fixed background in the frequency domain, we find that the spatial distribution of quasi stationary states may be larger as compared to the non interacting case. We performed a time evolution to determine the effect of the self-interaction on the life time of the configurations our findings indicate that the contribution of the self-interaction is subdominant.

gr-qc

Head-on collisions of $\ell$-boson stars

Fully non-linear numerical evolutions of the Einstein-(multi)--Klein-Gordon equations are performed to study head-on collisions of $\ell$-boson stars. Despite being spherically symmetric, $\ell$-boson stars have a (hidden) frame of reference, used in defining their individual multipolar fields. To assess the impact of their relative orientation, we perform simulations with different angles between the axes of the two colliding stars. Additionally, two scenarios are considered for the colliding stars: that they are composites of either the same or different scalar fields. Despite some model-specific behaviours, the simulations generically indicate that: 1) the collision of two sufficiently (and equally) massive stars leads to black hole formation; 2) below a certain mass threshold the end result of the evolution is a bound state of the composite scalar fields, that neither disperses nor collapses into a black hole within the simulation time; 3) this end product (generically) deviates from spherical symmetry and the equipartition of the number of bosonic particles between the different scalar fields composing the initial boson stars is lost, albeit not dramatically. This last observation indicates, albeit without being conclusive, that the end result of these collisions belongs to the previously reported larger family of equilibrium multi-field boson stars, generically non-spherical, and of which $\ell$-boson stars are a symmetry enhanced point. We also extract and discuss the waveforms from the collisions studied.

gr-qc

Extreme $\ell$-boson stars

A new class of complex scalar field objects, which generalize the well known boson stars, was recently found as solutions to the Einstein-Klein-Gordon system. The generalization consists in incorporating some of the effects of angular momentum, while still maintaining the spacetime's spherical symmetry. These new solutions depend on an (integer) angular parameter $\ell$, and hence were named $\ell$-boson stars. Like the standard $\ell=0$ boson stars these configurations admit a stable branch in the solution space; however, contrary to them they have a morphology that presents a shell-like structure with a "hole" in the internal region. In this article we perform a thorough exploration of the parameter space, concentrating particularly on the extreme cases with large values of $\ell$. We show that the shells grow in size with the angular parameter, doing so linearly for large values, with the size growing faster than the thickness. Their mass also increases with $\ell$, but in such a way that their compactness, while also growing monotonically, converges to a finite value corresponding to about one half of the Buchdahl limit for stable configurations. Furthermore, we show that $\ell$-boson stars can be highly anisotropic, with the radial pressure diminishing relative to the tangential pressure for large $\ell$, reducing asymptotically to zero, and with the maximum density also approaching zero. We show that these properties can be understood by analyzing the asymptotic limit $\ell\rightarrow\infty$ of the field equations and their solutions. We also analyze the existence and characteristics of both timelike and null circular orbits, especially for very compact solutions.

gr-qc

On the linear stability of $\ell$-boson stars with respect to radial perturbations

In previous work we constructed new boson star solutions consisting of a family of massive complex scalar fields minimally coupled to gravity in which the individual fields have angular momentum, yet the configuration as a whole is static and spherically symmetric. In the present article we study the linear stability of these $\ell$-boson stars with respect to time-dependent, radial perturbations. The pulsation equations, governing the dynamics of such perturbations are derived, generalizing previous work initiated by M. Gleiser, and shown to give rise to a two-channel Schrödinger operator. Using standard tools from the literature, we show that for each fixed value $\ell$ of the angular momentum number, there exists a family of $\ell$-boson stars which are linearly stable with respect to radial fluctuations; in this case the perturbations oscillate in time with given characteristic frequencies which are computed and compared with the results from a nonlinear numerical simulation. Further, there is also a family of $\ell$-boson stars which are linearly unstable. The two families are separated by the configuration with maximum mass. These results are qualitatively similar to the corresponding stability results of the standard boson stars with $\ell=0$, and they imply the existence of new stable configurations that are more massive and compact than usual boson stars.

gr-qc

Dynamical $\ell$-boson stars: generic stability and evidence for non-spherical solutions

$\ell$-boson stars are static, spherical, multi-field self-gravitating solitons. They are asymptotically flat, finite energy solutions of Einstein's gravity minimally coupled to an odd number of massive, complex scalar fields. A previous study assessed the stability of $\ell$-boson stars under spherical perturbations, finding that there are both stable and unstable branches of solutions, as for single-field boson stars ($\ell=0$). In this work we probe the stability of $\ell$-boson stars against non-spherical perturbations by performing numerical evolutions of the Einstein-Klein-Gordon system, with a 3D code. For the timescales explored, the $\ell$-boson stars belonging to the spherical stable branch do not exhibit measurable growing modes. We find, however, evidence of zero modes; that is, non-spherical perturbations that neither grow nor decay. This suggests the branching off towards a larger family of equilibrium solutions: we conjecture that $\ell$-boson stars are the enhanced isometry point of a larger family of static (and possibly stationary), non-spherical multi-field self-gravitating solitons.

gr-qc

Dynamical evolutions of $\ell$-boson stars in spherical symmetry

In previous work, we have found new static, spherically symmetric boson star solutions which generalize the standard boson stars by allowing a particular superposition of scalar fields in which each of the fields is characterized by a fixed value of its non-vanishing angular momentum number $\ell$. We call such solutions "$\ell$-boson stars". Here, we perform a series of fully non-linear dynamical simulations of perturbed $\ell$-boson stars in order to study their stability, and the final fate of unstable configurations. We show that for each value of $\ell$, the configuration of maximum mass separates the parameter space into stable and unstable regions. Stable configurations, when perturbed, oscillate around the unperturbed solution and very slowly return to a stationary configuration. Unstable configurations, in contrast, can have three different final states: collapse to a black hole, migration to the stable branch, or explosion (dissipation) to infinity. Just as it happens with $\ell=0$ boson stars, migration to the stable branch or dissipation to infinity depends on the sign of the total binding energy of the star: bound unstable stars collapse to black holes or migrate to the stable branch, whereas unbound unstable stars either collapse to a black hole or explode to infinity. Thus, the parameter $\ell$ allows us to construct a new set of stable configurations. All our simulations are performed in spherical symmetry, leaving a more detailed stability analysis including non-spherical perturbations for future work.

gr-qc

$\ell$-Boson stars

We present new, fully nonlinear numerical solutions to the static, spherically symmetric Einstein-Klein-Gordon system for a collection of an arbitrary odd number $N$ of complex scalar fields with an internal $U(N)$ symmetry and no self-interactions. These solutions, which we dub $\ell$-boson stars, are parametrized by an angular momentum number $\ell=(N-1)/2$, an excitation number $n$, and a continuous parameter representing the amplitude of the fields. They are regular at every point and possess a finite total mass. For $\ell = 0$ the standard spherically symmetric boson stars are recovered. We determine their generalizations for $\ell > 0$, and show that they give rise to a large class of new static configurations which might have a much larger compactness ratio than $\ell=0$ stars.

gr-qc

Diffuse neutrino supernova background as a cosmological test

The future detection and measurement of the diffuse neutrino supernova background will shed light on the rate of supernovae events in the Universe, the star formation rate and the neutrino spectrum from each supernova. Little has been said about what those measurements will tell us about the expansion history of the universe. The purpose of this article is to show that the detection of the diffuse supernova neutrino background will be a complementary tool for the study and possible discrimination of cosmological models. In particular, we study three different cosmological models: the $Λ$ Cold Dark Matter model, the Logotropic universe and a bulk viscous matter-dominated universe. By fitting the free parameters of each model with the supernova Ia probe, we found that the predicted number of events computed with the best fit parameters for the $Λ$-Cold dark matter model and with the Logotropic model are the same, while a bulk viscous matter-dominated cosmological model predicts $\sim 3$ times more events. We show that the current limit set by Super-Kamiokande on the diffuse supernova neutrino background flux gives complementary constraints on the free parameters of a bulk viscous matter-dominated universe. Furthermore, this limit implies, within a $Λ$ Cold Dark Matter model, that the universe should be expanding with $H_0 > 21.5 ~\rm{Km/sec/Mpc}$ independently of the content of dark matter $Ω_m$.

astro-ph.CO

Self-gravitating black hole scalar wigs

It has long been known that no static, spherically symmetric, asymptotically flat Klein-Gordon scalar field configuration surrounding a nonrotating black hole can exist in general relativity. In a series of previous papers we proved that, at the effective level, this no-hair theorem can be circumvented by relaxing the staticity assumption: for appropriate model parameters there are quasi-bound scalar field configurations living on a fixed Schwarzschild background which, although not being strictly static, have a larger lifetime than the age of the universe. This situation arises when the mass of the scalar field distribution is much smaller than the black hole mass, and following the analogies with the hair in the literature we dubbed these long-lived field configurations wigs. Here we extend our previous work to include the gravitational backreaction produced by the scalar wigs. We derive new approximate solutions of the spherically symmetric Einstein-Klein-Gordon system which represent self-gravitating scalar wigs surrounding black holes. These configurations interpolate between boson star configurations and Schwarzschild black holes dressed with the long-lived scalar test field distributions discussed in previous papers. Nonlinear numerical evolutions of initial data sets extracted from our approximate solutions support the validity of our approach. Arbitrarily large lifetimes are still possible, although for the parameter space that we analyze in this paper they seem to decay faster than the quasi-bound states. Finally, we speculate about the possibility that these configurations could describe the innermost regions of dark matter halos.

gr-qc