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Francesca Vidotto

Publications and source records attributed to Francesca Vidotto.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Signatures of loop quantum gravity in primordial black hole cosmologies

The possibility that Dark Matter (DM) is partially or totally constituted by stable Planckian remnants of light Primordial Black Holes (PBHs), suggested for instance by Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG), is investigated. Distinct phenomenological regimes are identified, including scenarios that trigger an early matter-dominated epoch. New constraints are derived on the initial PBH and final remnant abundances. We show that a significant initial abundance of PBHs lighter than $10^3$ kg would overproduce Planckian relics, implying that any observational evidence for such PBHs would challenge models with quasi-stable remnants. Conversely, the products of Hawking radiation from PBHs with masses between $10^3$ and $10^{12}$ kg impose that Planckian relics could only be a highly subdominant DM component. We identify a PBH mass around $10^3$ kg for which Hawking evaporation naturally reheats the Universe while the remnants entirely constitute the present-day DM. Such a scenario does not require fine-tuning the initial abundance of PBH of this mass, which could range from $10^{-10}$ to order one. These early-Universe cosmologies yield distinct observational signatures: scalar-induced gravitational waves sourced by primordial or Poisson fluctuations that are amplified by the early PBH-dominated era. Current and future observations of LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA, the Einstein Telescope and LISA, as well as probes of the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom, can be used to probe and constrain the initial PBH abundance and the present-day abundance of Planckian relics.

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arXiv2025

Quasi-dust ekpyrotic scenario in Loop Quantum Cosmology

In the framework of Loop Quantum Cosmology, we study a cosmological bouncing model with two fields that reproduce the desired features of the primordial power spectra. The model combines the matter-bounce mechanism, that generates scale-invariant perturbations, with ekpyrotic contraction, that suppresses anisotropies leading to the bounce. The bounce that replaces the classical initial singularity is achieved thanks to the loop quantisation. The matter-bounce is enacted by a \textit{quasi-dust} scalar field, with a slightly-negative equation of state that accounts for a small positive cosmological constant, that generates a red-tilt in the perturbations' power spectra. A second field, endowed with an ekpyrotic potential, is introduced to tame the growth of anisotropies throughout the bouncing phase. The equations of motion of the scalar perturbations are non-trivially coupled, leading to rich phenomenology that cannot be inferred simply from their single-field counterpart. We study the evolution of scalar and tensor perturbations and compare the results to current observations, showing the viability of this model as a base for further investigations.

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arXiv2024

Taming Thiemann's Hamiltonian constraint in canonical loop quantum gravity: reversibility, eigenstates and graph-change analysis

The Hamiltonian constraint remains an elusive object in loop quantum gravity because its action on spinnetworks leads to changes in their corresponding graphs. As a result, calculations in loop quantum gravity are often considered unpractical, and neither the eigenstates of the Hamiltonian constraint, which form the physical space of states, nor the concrete effect of its graph-changing character on observables are entirely known. Much worse, there is no reference value to judge whether the commonly adopted graph-preserving approximations lead to results anywhere close to the non-approximated dynamics. Our work sheds light on many of these issues, by devising a new numerical tool that allows us to implement the action of the Hamiltonian constraint without the need for approximations and to calculate expectation values for geometric observables. To achieve that, we fill the theoretical gap left in the derivations of the action of the Hamiltonian constraint on spinnetworks: we provide the first complete derivation of such action for the case of 4-valent spinnetworks, while updating the corresponding derivation for 3-valent spinnetworks. Our derivations also include the action of the volume operator. By proposing a new approach to encode spinnetworks into functions of lists and the derived formulas into functionals, we implement both the Hamiltonian constraint and the volume operator numerically. We are able to transform spinnetworks with graph-changing dynamics perturbatively and verify that volume expectation values have rather different behavior from the approximated, graph-preserving results. Furthermore, using our tool we find a family of potentially relevant solutions of the Hamiltonian constraint. Our work paves the way to a new generation of calculations in loop quantum gravity, in which graph-changing results and their phenomenology can finally be accounted for and understood.

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arXiv2024

Computing the graph-changing dynamics of loop quantum gravity

In loop quantum gravity (LQG), states of the gravitational field are represented by labeled graphs called spin networks. Their dynamics can be described by a Hamiltonian constraint, { which acts on the spin network states modifying both spins and graphs.} Fixed-graph approximations of the dynamics have been extensively studied, but its full graph-changing action so far remains elusive. The latter, alongside the solutions of its constraint, are arguably the missing features { in canonical LQG to access phenomenology in all its richness}. Here, we discuss a recently developed numerical tool that, for the first time, implements graph-changing dynamics via the Hamiltonian constraint. We explain how it is used to find new solutions to that constraint and to show that some quantum geometric observables behave differently than in the graph-preserving truncation. We also point out that these new numerical methods can find applications in other domains.

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arXiv2024

Thermodynamics without Time

Our fundamental theories, i.e., the quantum theory and general relativity, are invariant under time reversal. Only when we treat system from the point of view of thermodynamics, i.e., averaging between many subsystem components, an arrow of time emerges. The relation between thermodynamic and the quantum theory has been fertile, deeply explored and still a source of new investigations. The relation between the quantum theory and gravity, while it has not yet brought an established theory of quantum gravity, has certainly sparkled in depth analysis and tentative new theories. On the other hand, the connection between gravity and thermodynamics is less investigated and more puzzling. I review a selection of results in covariant thermodynamics, such as the construction of a covariant notion of thermal equilibrium by considering tripartite systems. I discuss how such construction requires a relational take on thermodynamics, similarly of what happens in the quantum theory and in gravity

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2024

Tunneling of quantum geometries in spinfoams

Quantum gravitational tunneling effects are expected to give rise to a number of interesting observable phenomena, including, in particular, the evolution of black holes at the end of their existence or the emergence of the early universe from a quantum phase. Covariant Loop Quantum Gravity provides a framework to study these phenomena, yet a precise identification of tunneling processes is still not known. Motivated by this question, we consider a related, simpler case, that of Ponzano-Regge amplitudes: we find a surprising and detailed analogy of a class of simple transition amplitudes with tunneling processes in non-relativistic quantum mechanics.

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arXiv2024

Cosmological Dynamics from Covariant Loop Quantum Gravity with Scalar Matter

We study homogenous and isotropic quantum cosmology using the spinfoam formalism of Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG). We define a coupling of a scalar field to the 4-dimensional Lorentzian Engle-Pereira-Rovelli-Livine (EPRL) spinfoam model. We employ the numerical method of complex critical points to investigate the model on two different simplicial complexes: the triangulations of a single hypercube and two connected hypercubes. We find nontrivial implications for the effective cosmological dynamics. In the single-hypercube model, the numerical results suggest an effective Friedmann equation with a scalar density that contains higher-order derivatives and a scalar potential. The scalar potential plays a role similar to a positive cosmological constant and drives an accelerated expansion of the universe. The double-hypercubes model resembles a symmetric cosmic bounce, and a similar effective Friedmann equation emerges with higher-order derivative terms in the effective scalar density, whereas the scalar potential becomes negligible.

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arXiv2023

On the tensorial structure of general covariant quantum systems

The definition of a quantum system requires a Hilbert space, a way to define the dynamics, and an algebra of observables. The structure of the observable algebra is related to a tensor product decomposition of the Hilbert space and represents the composition of the system by subsystems. It has been remarked that the Hamiltonian may determine this tensor product structure. Here we observe that this fact may lead to questionable consequences in some cases, and does extend to the more general background-independent case, where the Hamiltonian is replaced by a Hamiltonian constraint. These observations reinforces the idea that specifying the observables and the way they interplay with the dynamics, is essential to define a quantum theory. We also reflect on the general role that system decomposition has in the quantum theory.

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arXiv2023

Primordial fluctuations from quantum gravity: 16-cell topological model

We present a numerical analysis of an Hartle-Hawking state for the early universe, in the deep quantum regime, computed using the covariant Loop Quantum Gravity formalism, in a truncation defined by 16-cell and in a simplified case where the dynamics is defined by SU(2) BF theory. We compute mean geometry, fluctuations and correlations. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that refining the triangulation does not affect the global physical picture substantially.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2023

Diffuse emission from black hole remnants

We point out that conservation of information implies that remnants produced at the end of black hole evaporation should radiate in the low-frequency spectrum. We model this emission and derive properties of the diffuse radiation emitted by an otherwise dark population of such objects. We show that for early universe black holes the frequency and energy density of this radiation, which are in principle measurable, suffice to estimate the remnant density.

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arXiv2022

Philosophical Foundations of Loop Quantum Gravity

Understanding the quantum aspects of gravity is not only a matter of equations and experiments. Gravity is intimately connected with the structure of space and time, and understanding quantum gravity requires us to find a conceptual structure appropriate to make sense of the quantum aspects of space and time. In the course of the last decades, an extensive discussion on this problem has led to a clear conceptual picture, that provides a coherent conceptual foundation of today's Loop Quantum Gravity. We review this foundation, addressing issues such as the sense in which space and time are emergent, the notion of locality, the role of truncation that enables physical computations on finite graphs, the problem of time, and the characterization of the observable quantities in quantum gravity.

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arXiv2022

Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods for graph refinement in Spinfoam Cosmology

We study the behaviour of the Lorentzian Engle-Pereira-Rovelli-Livine spinfoam amplitude with homogeneous boundary data, under a graph refinement going from five to twenty boundary tetrahedra. This can be interpreted as a wave function of the universe, for which we compute boundary geometrical operators, correlation functions and entanglement entropy. The numerical calculation is made possible by adapting the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm, along with recently developed computational methods appropriate for the deep quantum regime. We confirm that the transition amplitudes are stable against such refinement. We find that the average boundary geometry does not change, but the new degrees of freedom correct the quantum fluctuations of the boundary and the correlations between spatial patches. The expectation values are compatible with their geometrical interpretation and the correlations between neighbouring patches decay when computed across different spinfoam vertices.

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arXiv2022

Time, space and matter in the primordial universe

Time, space, and matter are categories of our reasoning, whose properties appear to be fundamental. However, these require a scrutiny as in the extreme regime of the primordial universe these present quantum properties. What does it mean for time to be quantum? What does it mean for space? Are space and time disappearing, or what is disappearing are simply the categories we have been using to understand them? Concepts such as the superposition of causal structures or the quantum granularity of space require our attention and should be clarified to understand the physics of the primordial universe. The novelty that this brings requires us to reflect on matter as well: How can matter be defined on a granular space? Is quantum gravity hinting us toward considering new types of matter? The answers to these questions, that touch the foundations of physics and the very concepts with which we organize our understanding of reality, require in the end of the journey to confront ourselves with empirical data. And for that, the universe itself provides us with the best of possible laboratories.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2022

Numerical analysis of the self-energy in covariant Loop Quantum Gravity

We study numerically the first order radiative corrections to the self-energy, in covariant loop quantum gravity. We employ the recently developed 'sl2cfoam-next' spinfoam amplitudes library, and some original numerical methods. We analyze the scaling of the divergence with the infrared cutoff, for which previous analytical estimates provided widely different lower and upper bounds. Our findings suggest that the divergence is approximately linear in the cutoff. We also investigate the role of the Barbero-Immirzi parameter in the asymptotic behavior, the dependence of the scaling on some boundary data and the expectation values of boundary operators.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2022

The relational ontology of contemporary physics

Quantum theory can be understood as pointing to an ontology of relations. I observe that this reading of quantum mechanics is supported by the ubiquity of relationality in contemporary fundamental physics, including in classical mechanics, gauge theories, general relativity, quantum field theory, and the tentative theories of quantum gravity.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2019

Primordial fluctuations from quantum gravity

We study fluctuations and correlations between spacial regions, generated by the primordial quantum gravitational phase of the universe. We do so by a numerical evaluation of Lorentzian amplitudes in Loop Quantum Gravity, in a non-semiclassical regime. We find that the expectation value of the quantum state of the geometry emerging from the early quantum phase of the universe is a homogeneous space but fluctuations are very large and correlations are strong, although not maximal. In particular, this suggests that early quantum gravitational effects could be sufficient to solve the cosmological horizon problem.

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arXiv2018

Quantum insights on Primordial Black Holes as Dark Matter

A recent understanding on how quantum effects may affect black-hole evolution opens new scenarios for dark matter, in connection with the presence of black holes in the very early universe. Quantum fluctuations of the geometry allow for black holes to decay into white holes via a tunnelling. This process yields to an explosion and possibly to a long remnant phase, that cures the information paradox. Primordial black holes undergoing this evolution constitute a peculiar kind of decaying dark matter, whose lifetime depends on their mass $M$ and can be as short as $M^2$. As smaller black holes explode earlier, the resulting signal have a peculiar fluence-distance relation. I discuss the different emission channels that can be expected from the explosion (sub-millimetre, radio, TeV) and their detection challenges. In particular, one of these channels produces an observed wavelength that scales with the redshift following a unique flattened wavelength-distance function, leaving a signature also in the resulting diffuse emission. I conclude presenting the first insights on the cosmological constraints, concerning both the explosive phase and the subsequent remnant phase.

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