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Emmanuele Battista

Publications and source records attributed to Emmanuele Battista.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
arXiv2020

Poynting-Robertson effect as a dissipative system in general relativity

We determine for the first time in the literature the analytic form of the Rayleigh potential of the general relativistic Poynting-Robertson effect. The employed procedure is based on the use of an integrating factor and a new integration strategy where the test particle's dissipated energy represents the fundamental variable. The obtained results and their implications are discussed. Finally, concluding remarks and future projects are drawn.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2019

Dissipative systems in metric theories of gravity. Foundations and applications of the energy formalism

In this paper we introduce a new procedure, termed by us \emph{energy formalism}, to deal with dissipative systems in metric theories of gravity. This approach aims at determining the analytic expression of Rayleigh dissipation function in the context of the inverse problem in the calculus of variations. We describe our method in detail, presenting a simple example. After, we consider as first extensive application the general relativistic Poynting-Robertson effect. The obtained results and future implications are discussed.

hep-th↗
arXiv2019

Three-dimensional general relativistic Poynting-Robertson effect II: Radiation field from a rigidly rotating spherical source

We investigate the three-dimensional, general relativistic Poynting-Robertson effect in the case of rigidly rotating spherical source which emits radiation radially in the local comoving frame. Such radiation field is meant to approximate the field produced by the surface of a rotating neutron star, or by the central radiating hot corona of accreting black holes; it extends the purely radial radiation field that we considered in a previous study. Its angular momentum is expressed in terms of the rotation frequency and radius of the emitting source. For the background we adopt a Kerr spacetime geometry. We derive the equations of motion for test particles influenced by such radiation field, recovering the classical and weak-field approximation for slow rotation. We concentrate on solutions consisting of particles orbiting along circular orbits off and parallel to the equatorial plane, which are stabilized by the balance between gravitational attraction, radiation force and PR drag. Such solutions are found to lie on a critical hypersurface, whose shape may morph from prolate to oblate depending on the Kerr spin parameter and the luminosity, rotation and radius of the radiating sphere. For selected parameter ranges, the critical hypersurface intersects the radiating sphere giving rise to a bulging equatorial region or, alternatively, two lobes above the poles. We calculate the trajectories of test particles in the close vicinity of the critical hypersurface for a selected set of initial parameters and analyze the spatial and angular velocity of test particles captured on the critical hypersurface.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2019

The three-dimensional general relativistic Poynting-Robertson effect I: radial radiation field

In this paper we investigate the three-dimensional (3D) motion of a test particle in a stationary, axially symmetric spacetime around a central compact object, under the influence of a radiation field. To this aim we extend the two-dimensional (2D) version of the Poynting-Robertson effect in General Relativity (GR) that was developed in previous studies. The radiation flux is modeled by photons which travel along null geodesics in the 3D space of a Kerr background and are purely radial with respect to the zero angular momentum observer (ZAMO) frames. The 3D general relativistic equations of motion that we derive are consistent with the classical (i.e. non-GR) description of the Poynting-Robertson effect in 3D. The resulting dynamical system admits a critical hypersurface, on which radiation force balances gravity. Selected test particle orbits are calculated and displayed, and their properties described. It is found that test particles approaching the critical hypersurface at a finite latitude and with non-zero angular moment are subject to a latitudinal drift and asymptotically reach a circular orbit on the equator of the critical hypersurface, where they remain at rest with respect to the ZAMO. On the contrary, test particles that have lost all their angular momentum by the time they reach the critical hypersurface do not experience this latitudinal drift and stay at rest with respects to the ZAMO at fixed non-zero latitude.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2018

Lagrangian formulation of the general relativistic Poynting-Robertson effect

We propose the Lagrangian formulation for describing the motion of a test particle in a general relativistic, stationary, and axially symmetric spacetime. The test particle is also affected by a radiation field, modeled as a coherent flux of photons traveling along the null geodesics of the background spacetime, including the general relativistic Poynting-Robertson effect. The innovative part of this work is to prove the existence of the potential linked to the dissipative action caused by the Poynting-Robertson effect in General Relativity through the help of an integrating factor, depending on the energy of the system. Generally such kinds of inverse problems involving dissipative effects might not admit a Lagrangian formulation, especially in General Relativity there are no examples of such attempts in literature so far. We reduce this general relativistic Lagrangian formulation to the classic case in the weak field limit. This approach facilitates further studies in improving the treatment of the radiation field and it contains for example some implications for a deeper comprehension of the gravitational waves.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2018

Looking for a new test of general relativity in the solar system

This paper discusses three matter-of-principle methods for measuring the general relativity correction to the Newtonian values of the position of collinear Lagrangian points L1 and L2 of the Sun-Earth-satellite system. All approaches are based on time measurements. The first approach exploits a pulsar emitting signals and two receiving antennas located at L1 and L2, respectively. The second method is based on a relativistic positioning system based on the Lagrangian points themselves. These first two methods depend crucially on the synchronization of clocks at L1 and L2. The third method combines a pulsar and an artificial emitter at the stable points L4 or L5 forming a basis for the positioning of the collinear points L1 and L2. Further possibilities are mentioned and the feasibility of the measurements is considered.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2018

Spin, torsion and violation of null energy condition in traversable wormholes

The static spherically symmetric traversable wormholes are analysed in the Einstein- Cartan theory of gravitation. In particular, we computed the torsion tensor for matter fields with different spin S = 0; 1/2; 1; 3/2. Interestingly, only for certain values of the spin the torsion contribution to Einstein-Cartan field equation allows one to satisfy both faring-out condition and Null Energy Condition. In this scenario traversable wormholes can be produced by using usual (non-exotic) spinning matter.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2017

On the foundations of general relativistic celestial mechanics

Towards the end of nineteenth century, Celestial Mechanics provided the most powerful tools to test Newtonian gravity in the solar system, and led also to the discovery of chaos in modern science. Nowadays, in light of general relativity, Celestial Mechanics leads to a new perspective on the motion of satellites and planets. The reader is here introduced to the modern formulation of the problem of motion, following what the leaders in the field have been teaching since the nineties. In particular, the use of a global chart for the overall dynamics of N bodies and N local charts describing the internal dynamics of each body. The next logical step studies in detail how to split the N-body problem into two sub-problems concerning the internal and external dynamics, how to achieve the effacement properties that would allow a decoupling of the two sub-problems, how to define external-potential-effacing coordinates and how to generalize the Newtonian multipole and tidal moments. The review paper ends with an assessment of the nonlocal equations of motion obtained within such a framework, a description of the modifications induced by general relativity of the theoretical analysis of the Newtonian three-body problem, and a mention of the potentialities of the analysis of solar-system metric data carried out with the Planetary Ephemeris Program.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2017

Quantum time delay in the gravitational field of a rotating mass

We examine quantum corrections of time delay arising in the gravitational field of a spinning oblate source. Low-energy quantum effects occurring in Kerr geometry are derived within a framework where general relativity is fully seen as an effective field theory. By employing such a pattern, gravitational radiative modifications of Kerr metric are derived from the energy-momentum tensor of the source, which at lowest order in the fields is modelled as a point mass. Therefore, in order to describe a quantum corrected version of time delay in the case in which the source body has a finite extension, we introduce a hybrid scheme where quantum fluctuations affect only the monopole term occurring in the multipole expansion of the Newtonian potential. The predicted quantum deviation from the corresponding classical value turns out to be too small to be detected in the next future, showing that new models should be examined in order to test low-energy quantum gravity within the solar system.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2016

Solar system dynamics in general relativity

Recent work in the literature has advocated using the Earth-Moon-planetoid Lagrangian points as observables, in order to test general relativity and effective field theories of gravity in the solar system. However, since the three-body problem of classical celestial mechanics is just an approximation of a much more complicated setting, where all celestial bodies in the solar system are subject to their mutual gravitational interactions, while solar radiation pressure and other sources of nongravitational perturbations also affect the dynamics, it is conceptually desirable to improve the current understanding of solar system dynamics in general relativity, as a first step towards a more accurate theoretical study of orbital motion in the weak-gravity regime. For this purpose, starting from the Einstein equations in the de Donder-Lanczos gauge, this paper arrives first at the Levi-Civita Lagrangian for the geodesic motion of celestial bodies, showing in detail under which conditions the effects of internal structure and finite extension get cancelled in general relativity to first post-Newtonian order. The resulting nonlinear ordinary differential equations for the motion of planets and satellites are solved for the Earth's orbit about the Sun, written down in detail for the Sun-Earth-Moon system, and investigated for the case of planar motion of a body immersed in the gravitational field produced by the other bodies (e.g. planets with their satellites). At this stage, we prove an exact property, according to which the fourth-order time derivative of the original system leads to a linear system of ordinary differential equations. This opens an interesting perspective on forthcoming research on planetary motions in general relativity within the solar system, although the resulting equations remain a challenge for numerical and qualitative studies.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2016

Extreme Regimes in Quantum Gravity

The thesis is divided into two parts. In the first part the low-energy limit of quantum gravity is analysed, whereas in the second we deal with the high-energy domain. In the first part, by applying the effective field theory point of view to the quantization of general relativity, detectable, though tiny, quantum effects in the position of Newtonian Lagrangian points of the Earth-Moon system are found. In order to make more realistic the quantum corrected model proposed, the full three-body problem where the Earth and the Moon interact with a generic massive body and the restricted four-body problem involving the perturbative effects produced by the gravitational presence of the Sun in the Earth-Moon system are also studied. After that, a new quantum theory having general relativity as its classical counterpart is analysed. By exploiting this framework, an innovative interesting prediction involving the position of Lagrangian points within the context of general relativity is described. Furthermore, the new pattern provides quantum corrections to the relativistic coordinates of Earth-Moon libration points of the order of few millimetres. The second part of the thesis deals with the Riemannian curvature characterizing the boosted form assumed by the Schwarzschild-de Sitter metric. The analysis of the Kretschmann invariant and the geodesic equation shows that the spacetime possesses a "scalar curvature singularity" within a 3-sphere and that it is possible to define what we here call "boosted horizon", a sort of elastic wall where all particles are surprisingly pushed away, suggesting that such "boosted geometries" are ruled by a sort of "antigravity effect". Eventually, the equivalence with the coordinate shift method is invoked in order to demonstrate that all $δ^2$ terms appearing in the Riemann curvature tensor give vanishing contribution in distributional sense.

hep-th↗
arXiv2016

Earth-Moon Lagrangian points as a testbed for general relativity and effective field theories of gravity

In the restricted four-body problem consisting of the Earth, the Moon and the Sun as the primaries and a spacecraft as the planetoid, we take into account the solar perturbation in the description of the motion of a spacecraft in the vicinity of the stable Earth-Moon libration points L4 and L5 both in the classical regime and in the context of effective field theories of gravity. We then evaluate the location of all Lagrangian points in the Earth-Moon system within the framework of general relativity. For the points L4 and L5, the corrections of coordinates are of order a few millimeters. After that, we set up a scheme where the theory which is quantum corrected has as its classical counterpart the Einstein theory, instead of the Newtonian one. By virtue of the effective-gravity correction to the longdistance form of the potential among two point masses, all terms involving the ratio between the gravitational radius of the primary and its separation from the planetoid get modified. Within this framework, for the Lagrangian points of stable equilibrium, we find quantum corrections of order two millimeters, whereas for Lagrangian points of unstable equilibrium we find quantum corrections below a millimeter. Finally, general relativity corrections to Newtonian position of collinear Lagrangian points turn out to be below the millimiter, whereas on stable equilibrium points they are of order of a few millimiters.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2015

Boosted Horizon of a Boosted Space-Time Geometry

We apply the ultrarelativistic boosting procedure to map the metric of Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetime into a metric describing de Sitter spacetime plus a shock-wave singularity located on a null hypersurface, by exploiting the picture of the embedding of an hyperboloid in a five-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. After reverting to the usual four-dimensional formalism, we also solve the geodesic equation and evaluate the Riemann curvature tensor of the boosted Schwarzschild-de Sitter metric by means of numerical calculations, which make it possible to reach the ultrarelativistic regime gradually by letting the boost velocity approach the speed of light. Eventually, the analysis of the Kretschmann invariant (and of the geodesic equation) shows the global structure of space- time, as we demonstrate the presence of a "scalar curvature singularity" within a 3-sphere and find that it is also possible to define what we have called "boosted horizon", a sort of elastic wall where all particles are surprisingly pushed away. This seems to suggest that such "boosted geometries" are ruled by a sort of "antigravity effect" since all geodesics seem to refuse entering the "boosted horizon" and are "reflected" by it, even though their initial conditions are aimed at driving the particles towards the "boosted horizon" itself.

hep-th↗
arXiv2015

Riemann curvature of a boosted spacetime geometry

The ultrarelativistic boosting procedure had been applied in the literature to map the metric of Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetime into a metric describing de Sitter spacetime plus a shock-wave singularity located on a null hypersurface. This paper evaluates the Riemann curvature tensor of the boosted Schwarzschild-de Sitter metric by means of numerical calculations, which make it possible to reach the ultrarelativistic regime gradually by letting the boost velocity approach the speed of light. Thus, for the first time in the literature, the singular limit of curvature through Dirac's delta distribution and its derivatives is numerically evaluated for this class of spacetimes. Eventually, the analysis of the Kretschmann invariant and the geodesic equation show that the spacetime possesses a scalar curvature singularity within a 3-sphere and it is possible to define what we here call boosted horizon, a sort of elastic wall where all particles are surprisingly pushed away, as numerical analysis demonstrates. This seems to suggest that boosted geometries are ruled by a sort of antigravity effect since all geodesics seem to refuse to enter the boosted horizon, even though their initial conditions are aimed at driving the particles towards the boosted horizon.

hep-th↗
arXiv2015

Quantum Effects on all Lagrangian Points and Prospects to Measure Them in the Earth-Moon System

The one-loop long distance quantum corrections to the Newtonian potential imply tiny but observable effects in the restricted three-body problem of celestial mechanics, i.e., both at the Lagrangian points of stable equilibrium and at those of unstable equilibrium the Newtonian values of planetoid's coordinates are changed by a few millimetres in the Earth-Moon system. First, we find that the equations governing the position of both noncollinear and collinear quantum libration points are algebraic fifth degree and ninth degree equations, respectively. Second, we discuss the prospects to measure, with the help of laser ranging, the above departure from the equilateral triangle picture, which is a challenging task. On the other hand, a modern version of the planetoid is the solar sail, and much progress has been made, in recent years, on the displaced periodic orbits of solar sails at all libration points. By taking into account the quantum corrections to the Newtonian potential, displaced periodic orbits of the solar sail at libration points are again found to exist.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2015

Quantum effects on Lagrangian points and displaced periodic orbits in the Earth-Moon system

Recent work in the literature has shown that the one-loop long distance quantum corrections to the Newtonian potential imply tiny but observable effects in the restricted three-body problem of celestial mechanics, i.e., at the Lagrangian libration points of stable equilibrium the planetoid is not exactly at equal distance from the two bodies of large mass, but the Newtonian values of its coordinates are changed by a few millimeters in the Earth-Moon system. First, we assess such a theoretical calculation by exploiting the full theory of the quintic equation, i.e., its reduction to Bring-Jerrard form and the resulting expression of roots in terms of generalized hypergeometric functions. By performing the numerical analysis of the exact formulas for the roots, we confirm and slightly improve the theoretical evaluation of quantum corrected coordinates of Lagrangian libration points of stable equilibrium. Second, we prove in detail that also for collinear Lagrangian points the quantum corrections are of the same order of magnitude in the Earth-Moon system. Third, we discuss the prospects to measure, with the help of laser ranging, the above departure from the equilateral triangle picture, which is a challenging task. On the other hand, a modern version of the planetoid is the solar sail, and much progress has been made, in recent years, on the displaced periodic orbits of solar sails at all libration points, both stable and unstable. The present paper investigates therefore, eventually, a restricted three-body problem involving Earth, Moon and a solar sail. By taking into account the one-loop quantum corrections to the Newtonian potential, displaced periodic orbits of the solar sail at libration points are again found to exist.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2015

Bicharacteristics and Fourier integral operators in Kasner spacetime

The scalar wave equation in Kasner spacetime is solved, first for a particular choice of Kasner parameters, by relating the integrand in the wave packet to the Bessel functions. An alternative integral representation is also displayed, which relies upon the method of integration in the complex domain for the solution of hyperbolic equations with variable coefficients. In order to study the propagation of wave fronts, we integrate the equations of bicharacteristics which are null geodesics, and we are able to express them, for the first time in the literature, with the help of elliptic integrals for another choice of Kasner parameters. For generic values of the three Kasner parameters, the solution of the Cauchy problem is built through a pair of integral operators, where the amplitude and phase functions in the integrand solve a coupled system of partial differential equations. The first is the so-called transport equation, whereas the second is a nonlinear equation that reduces to the eikonal equation if the amplitude is a slowly varying function. Remarkably, the analysis of such a coupled system is proved to be equivalent to building first an auxiliary covariant vector having vanishing divergence, while all nonlinearities are mapped into solving a covariant generalization of the Ermakov-Pinney equation for the amplitude function. Last, from a linear set of equations for the gradient of the phase one recovers the phase itself. This is the parametrix construction that relies upon Fourier-Maslov integral operators, but with a novel perspective on the nonlinearities in the dispersion relation. Furthermore, the Adomian method for nonlinear partial differential equations is applied to generate a recursive scheme for the evaluation of the amplitude function in the parametrix.

gr-qc↗