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Carlo Rovelli

Publications and source records attributed to Carlo Rovelli.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

On the Effective Metric of a Planck Star

Spacetime metrics describing `non-singular' black holes are commonly studied in the literature as effective modification to the Schwarzschild solution that mimic quantum gravity effects removing the central singularity. Here we point out that to be physically plausible, such metrics should also incorporate the 1-loop quantum corrections to the Newton potential and a non-trivial time delay between an observer at infinity and an observer in the regular center. We present a modification of the well-known Hayward metric that features these two properties. We discuss bounds on the maximal time delay imposed by conditions on the curvature, and the consequences for the weak energy condition, in general violated by the large transversal pressures introduced by the time delay.

gr-qc↗

A Casimir cannot cavity fly

The field inside a Casimir cavity has an effective negative mass, which acts as a buoyancy force in a gravitational field. Can this render the total mass of the cavity negative, making it "float" in the vacuum ? Recent theoretical arguments indicate that this is impossible. We provide support to this conclusion discussing a concrete simple model of cavity, with plane parallel metallic plates kept in mechanical equilibrium by a spring and placed in a weak gravitational field. We show that basic facts about the structure of matter imply that the total mass of the cavity is always positive. This has implications for the hypothetical relation between vacuum energy and cosmological constant.

gr-qc↗

Compact phase space, cosmological constant, discrete time

We study the quantization of geometry in the presence of a cosmological constant, using a discretiza- tion with constant-curvature simplices. Phase space turns out to be compact and the Hilbert space finite dimensional for each link. Not only the intrinsic, but also the extrinsic geometry turns out to be discrete, pointing to discreetness of time, in addition to space. We work in 2+1 dimensions, but these results may be relevant also for the physical 3+1 case.

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The Archimedes project: a feasibility study for weighing the vacuum energy

Archimedes is a feasibility study to a future experiment to ascertain the interaction of vacuum fluctuations with gravity. The future experiment should measure the force that the Earth's gravitational field exerts on a Casimir cavity by using a balance as the small force detector. The Archimedes experiment analyses the important parameters in view of the final measurement and experimentally explores solutions to the most critical problems.

gr-qc↗

Fast Radio Bursts and White Hole Signals

We estimate the size of a primordial black hole exploding today via a white hole transition, and the power in the resulting explosion, using a simple model. We point out that Fast Radio Bursts, strong signals with millisecond duration, probably extragalactic and having unknown source, have wavelength not far from the expected size of the exploding hole. We also discuss the possible higher energy components of the signal.

gr-qc↗

Lorentzian Connes Distance, Spectral Graph Distance and Loop Gravity

Connes' formula defines a distance in loop quantum gravity, via the spinfoam Dirac operator. A simple notion of spectral distance on a graph can be extended do the discrete Lorentzian context, providing a physically natural example of Lorentzian spectral geometry, with a neat space of Dirac operators. The Hilbert structure of the fermion space is Lorentz covariant rather than invariant.

gr-qc↗

From General Relativity to Quantum Gravity

In general relativity (GR), spacetime geometry is no longer just a background arena but a physical and dynamical entity with its own degrees of freedom. We present an overview of approaches to quantum gravity in which this central feature of GR is at the forefront. However, the short distance dynamics in the quantum theory are quite different from those of GR and classical spacetimes and gravitons emerge only in a suitable limit. Our emphasis is on communicating the key strategies, the main results and open issues. In the spirit of this volume, we focus on a few avenues that have led to the most significant advances over the past 2-3 decades.

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Aristotle's Physics: a Physicist's Look

I show that Aristotelian physics is a correct and non-intuitive approximation of Newtonian physics in the suitable domain (motion in fluids), in the same technical sense in which Newton theory is an approximation of Einstein's theory. Aristotelian physics lasted long not because it became dogma, but because it is a very good empirically grounded theory. The observation suggests some general considerations on inter-theoretical relations.

physics.hist-ph↗

Why are the effective equations of loop quantum cosmology so accurate?

We point out that the relative Heisenberg uncertainty relations vanish for non-compact spaces in homogeneous loop quantum cosmology. As a consequence, for sharply peaked states quantum fluctuations in the scale factor never become important, even near the bounce point. This shows why quantum back-reaction effects remain negligible and explains the surprising accuracy of the effective equations in describing the dynamics of sharply peaked wave packets. This also underlines the fact that minisuperspace models ---where it is global variables that are quantized--- do not capture the local quantum fluctuations of the geometry.

gr-qc↗

Why do we remember the past and not the future? The 'time oriented coarse graining' hypothesis

Phenomenological arrows of time can be traced to a past low-entropy state. Does this imply the universe was in an improbable state in the past? I suggest a different possibility: past low-entropy depends on the coarse-graining implicit in our definition of entropy. This, in turn depends on our physical coupling to the rest of the world. I conjecture that $any$ generic motion of a sufficiently rich system satisfies the second law of thermodynamics, in either direction of time, for $some$ choice of macroscopic observables. The low entropy of the past could then be due to the way we couple to the universe (a way needed for us doing what we do), hence to our natural macroscopic variables, rather than to a strange past microstate of the world at large.

hep-th↗

Black hole fireworks: quantum-gravity effects outside the horizon spark black to white hole tunneling

We show that there is a classical metric satisfying the Einstein equations outside a finite spacetime region where matter collapses into a black hole and then emerges from a white hole. We compute this metric explicitly. We show how quantum theory determines the (long) time for the process to happen. A black hole can thus quantum-tunnel into a white hole. For this to happen, quantum gravity should affect the metric also in a small region outside the horizon: we show that contrary to what is commonly assumed, this is not forbidden by causality or by the semiclassical approximation, because quantum effects can pile up over a long time. This scenario alters radically the discussion on the black hole information puzzle.

gr-qc↗

Towards weighing the condensation energy to ascertain the Archimedes force of vacuum

The force exerted by the gravitational field on a Casimir cavity in terms of Archimedes force of vacuum is discussed, the force that can be tested against observation is identified, and it is shown that the present technology makes it possible to perform the first experimental tests. The use of suitable high-Tc superconductors as modulators of Archimedes force is motivated. The possibility is analyzed of using gravitational wave interferometers as detectors of the force, transported through an optical spring from the Archimedes vacuum force apparatus to the gravitational interferometer test masses to maintain the two systems well separated. The use of balances to actuate and detect the force is also analyzed, the different solutions are compared, and the most important experimental issues are discussed.

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Planck star phenomenology

It is possible that black holes hide a core of Planckian density, sustained by quantum-gravitational pressure. As a black hole evaporates, the core remembers the initial mass and the final explosion occurs at macroscopic scale. We investigate possible phenomenological consequences of this idea. Under several rough assumptions, we estimate that up to several short gamma-ray bursts per day, around 10 MeV, with isotropic distribution, can be expected coming from a region of a few hundred light years around us.

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How many quanta are there in a quantum spacetime?

Following earlier insights by Livine and Terno, we develop a technique for describing quantum states of the gravitational field in terms of coarse grained spin networks. We show that the number of nodes and links and the values of the spin depend on the observables chosen for the description of the state. Hence the question in the title of this paper is ill posed, unless further information about what is been measured is given.

gr-qc↗

Planck stars

A star that collapses gravitationally can reach a further stage of its life, where quantum-gravitational pressure counteracts weight. The duration of this stage is very short in the star proper time, yielding a bounce, but extremely long seen from the outside, because of the huge gravitational time dilation. Since the onset of quantum-gravitational effects is governed by energy density ---not by size--- the star can be much larger than planckian in this phase. The object emerging at the end of the Hawking evaporation of a black hole can then be larger than planckian by a factor $(m/m_{\scriptscriptstyle P})^n$, where $m$ is the mass fallen into the hole, $m_{\scriptscriptstyle P}$ is the Planck mass, and $n$ is positive. We consider arguments for $n=1/3$ and for $n=1$. There is no causality violation or faster-than-light propagation. The existence of these objects alleviates the black-hole information paradox. More interestingly, these objects could have astrophysical and cosmological interest: they produce a detectable signal, of quantum gravitational origin, around the $10^{-14} cm$ wavelength.

gr-qc↗

Propagator with Positive Cosmological Constant in the 3D Euclidian Quantum Gravity Toy Model

We study the propagator on a single tetrahedron in a three dimensional toy model of quantum gravity with positive cosmological constant. The cosmological constant is included in the model via q-deformation of the spatial symmetry algebra, that is, we use the Tuarev-Viro amplitude. The expected repulsive effect of dark energy is recovered in numerical and analytic calculations of the propagator at large scales comparable to the infrared cutoff. However, due to the simplicity of the model we do not obtain the exact Newton limit of the propagator. This is a first step toward the similar calculation in the full 3+1 dimensional theory with larger numbers of simplicies.

gr-qc↗

Spacetime thermodynamics without hidden degrees of freedom

A celebrated result by Jacobson is the derivation of Einstein's equations from Unruh's temperature, the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy and the Clausius relation. This has been repeatedly taken as evidence for an interpretation of Einstein's equations as equations of state for unknown degrees of freedom underlying the metric. We show that a different interpretation of Jacobson result is possible, which does not imply the existence of additional degrees of freedom, and follows only from the quantum properties of gravity. We introduce the notion of quantum gravitational Hadamard states, which give rise to the full local thermodynamics of gravity.

gr-qc↗