arXiv subjects

George M. Fuller

Publications and source records attributed to George M. Fuller.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Effects of Bound Diprotons and Enhanced Nuclear Reaction Rates on Stellar Evolution

Deuterium represents the only bound isotope in the universe with atomic mass number $A=2$. Motivated by the possibility of other universes, where the strong force could be stronger, this paper considers the effects of bound diprotons and dineutrons on stars. We find that the existence of additional stable nuclei with $A=2$ has relatively modest effects on the universe. Previous work indicates that Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) produces more deuterium, but does not lead to catastrophic heavy element production. This paper revisits BBN considerations and confirms that the universe is left with an ample supply of hydrogen and other light nuclei for typical cosmological parameters. Using the $MESA$ numerical package, we carry out stellar evolution calculations for universes with stable diprotons, with nuclear cross sections enhanced by large factors $X$. This work focuses on $X=10^{15}-10^{18}$, but explores the wider range $X$ = $10^{-3}-10^{18}$. For a given stellar mass, the presence of stable diprotons leads to somewhat brighter stars, with the radii and photospheric temperatures roughly comparable to thoese of red giants. The central temperature decreases from the characteristic value of $T_c\approx1.5\times10^7$ K for hydrogen burning down to the value of $T_c\approx10^6$ K characteristic of deuterium burning. The stellar lifetimes are smaller for a given mass, but with the extended possible mass range, the smallest stars live for trillions of years, far longer than the current cosmic age. Finally, the enhanced cross sections allow for small, partially degenerate objects with mass $M_\ast=1-10M_J$ to produce significant steady-state luminosity and thereby function as stars.

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arXiv2021

Test for the Origin of Solar Mass Black Holes

Solar-mass black holes with masses in the range of $\sim 1-2.5 M_{\odot}$ are not expected from conventional stellar evolution, but can be produced naturally via neutron star (NS) implosions induced by capture of small primordial black holes (PBHs) or from accumulation of some varieties of particle dark matter. We argue that a unique signature of such "transmuted" solar-mass BHs is that their mass distribution would follow that of the NSs. This would be distinct from the mass function of black holes in the solar-mass range predicted either by conventional stellar evolution or early Universe PBH production. We propose that analysis of the solar-mass BH population mass distribution in a narrow mass window of $\sim 1-2.5\,{\rm M}_\odot$ can provide a simple yet powerful test of the origin of these BHs. Recent LIGO/VIRGO gravitational wave (GW) observations of the binary merger events GW190425 and GW190814 are consistent with a BH mass in the range $\sim 1.5-2.6~M_{\odot}$. Though these results have fueled speculation on dark matter-transmuted solar-mass BHs, we demonstrate that it is unlikely that the origin of these particular events stems from NS implosions. Data from upcoming GW observations will be able to distinguish between solar-mass BHs and NSs with high confidence. This capability will facilitate and enhance the efficacy of our proposed test.

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arXiv2020

Probing dark photons in the early universe with big bang nucleosynthesis

We perform calculations of dark photon production and decay in the early universe for ranges of dark photon masses and vacuum coupling with standard model photons. Simultaneously and self-consistently with dark photon production and decay, our calculations include a complete treatment of weak decoupling and big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) physics. These calculations incorporate all relevant weak, electromagnetic, and strong nuclear reactions, including charge-changing (isospin-changing) lepton capture and decay processes. They reveal a rich interplay of dark photon production, decay, and associated out-of-equilibrium transport of entropy into the decoupling neutrino seas. Most importantly, the self-consistent nature of our simulations allows us to capture the magnitude and phasing of entropy injection and dilution. Entropy injection-induced alteration of the time-temperature-scale factor relation during weak decoupling and BBN leads to changes in the light element abundance yields and the total radiation content (as parametrized by $N_{\rm eff}$). These changes suggest ways to extend previous dark photon BBN constraints. However, our calculations also identify ranges of dark photon mass and couplings not yet constrained, but perhaps accessible and probable, in future Stage-4 cosmic microwave background experiments and future high precision primordial deuterium abundance measurements.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2020

Fast oscillations, collisionless relaxation, and spurious evolution of supernova neutrino flavor

Mounting evidence indicates that neutrinos likely undergo fast flavor conversion (FFC) in at least some core-collapse supernovae. Outcomes of FFC, however, remain highly uncertain. Here we study the cascade of flavor-field power from large angular scales in momentum space down to small ones, showing that FFC enhances this process and thereby hastens relaxation. Cascade also poses a computational challenge, which is present even if the flavor field is stable: When power reaches the smallest angular scale of the calculation, error from truncating the angular-moment expansion propagates back to larger scales, to disastrous effect on the overall evolution. Essentially the same issue has prompted extensive work in the context of plasma kinetics. This link suggests new approaches to averting spurious evolution, a problem that presently puts severe limitations on the feasibility of realistic oscillation calculations.

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arXiv2020

Inference offers a metric to constrain dynamical models of neutrino flavor transformation

The multi-messenger astrophysics of compact objects presents a vast range of environments where neutrino flavor transformation may occur and may be important for nucleosynthesis, dynamics, and a detected neutrino signal. Development of efficient techniques for surveying flavor evolution solution spaces in these diverse environments, which augment and complement existing sophisticated computational tools, could leverage progress in this field. To this end we continue our exploration of statistical data assimilation (SDA) to identify solutions to a small-scale model of neutrino flavor transformation. SDA is a machine learning (ML) formula wherein a dynamical model is assumed to generate any measured quantities. Specifically, we use an optimization formulation of SDA wherein a cost function is extremized via the variational method. Regions of state space in which the extremization identifies the global minimum of the cost function will correspond to parameter regimes in which a model solution can exist. Our example study seeks to infer the flavor transformation histories of two mono-energetic neutrino beams coherently interacting with each other and with a matter background. We require that the solution be consistent with measured neutrino flavor fluxes at the point of detection, and with constraints placed upon the flavor content at various locations along their trajectories, such as the point of emission, and the locations of the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) resonances. We show how the procedure efficiently identifies solution regimes and rules out regimes where solutions are infeasible. Overall, results intimate the promise of this "variational annealing" methodology to efficiently probe an array of fundamental questions that traditional numerical simulation codes render difficult to access.

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arXiv2020

Time of Flight and Supernova Progenitor Effects on the Neutrino Halo

We argue that the neutrino halo, a population of neutrinos that have undergone direction-changing scattering in the stellar envelope of a core-collapse supernova (CCSNe), is sensitive to neutrino emission history through time of flight. We show that the constant time approximation, commonly used in calculating the neutrino halo, does not capture the spatiotemporal evolution of the halo neutrino population and that correcting for time of flight can produce conditions which may trigger fast neutrino flavor conversion. We also find that there exists a window of time early in all CCSNe where the neutrino halo population is sufficiently small that it may be negligible. This suggests that collective neutrino oscillation calculations which neglect the Halo may be well founded at sufficiently early times.

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arXiv2020

Consequences of neutrino self interactions for weak decoupling and big bang nucleosynthesis

We calculate and discuss the implications of neutrino self-interactions for the physics of weak decoupling and big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) in the early universe. In such neutrino-sector extensions of the standard model, neutrinos may not free-stream, yet can stay thermally coupled to one another. Nevertheless, the neutrinos exchange energy and entropy with the photon, electron-positron, and baryon component of the early universe only through the ordinary weak interaction. We examine the effects of neutrino self-interaction for the primordial helium and deuterium abundances and $N_{\rm eff}$, a measure of relativistic energy density at photon decoupling. These quantities are determined in, or may be influenced by, the physics in the weak decoupling epoch. Self interacting neutrinos have been invoked to address a number of anomalies, including as a possible means of ameliorating tension in the Hubble parameter. Our calculations show that surprisingly subtle changes in BBN accompany some of these neutrino self-interaction schemes. Such minute signals require high-precision measurements, making deuterium the best abundance for BBN constraints in the models explored here.

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arXiv2020

Neutrino oscillations in supernovae: angular moments and fast instabilities

Recent theoretical work indicates that the neutrino radiation in core-collapse supernovae may be susceptible to flavor instabilities that set in far behind the shock, grow extremely rapidly, and have the potential to profoundly affect supernova dynamics and composition. Here we analyze the nonlinear collective oscillations that are prefigured by these instabilities. We demonstrate that a zero-crossing in $n_{ν_e} - n_{\barν_e}$ as a function of propagation angle is not sufficient to generate instability. Our analysis accounts for this fact and allows us to formulate complementary criteria. Using Fornax simulation data, we show that fast collective oscillations qualitatively depend on how forward-peaked the neutrino angular distributions are.

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arXiv2019

Self-interacting sterile neutrino dark matter: the heavy-mediator case

For active-sterile mixing to be responsible for the full relic abundance of dark matter additional new physics is needed beyond the keV-scale sterile neutrino itself. The extra ingredient we consider here is the presence of self-interactions among the sterile neutrinos. We examine whether active-to-sterile conversion is amplified enough in this scenario that the observed abundance of dark matter can be obtained with a subconstraint mixing angle. This turns out never to be the case in the region we explore: either self-interactions have too small an impact and cannot escape bounds on the mass and mixing angle, or they have too great an impact and cause dark matter to be overproduced. The sharp transition from marginal to excessive effectiveness occurs because a resonance criterion is met in the effective in-medium mixing angle. Once the system goes resonant the game is as good as over, as nonlinearity in the Boltzmann equation leads to runaway production of sterile neutrinos, beginning at a plasma temperature of a few hundred MeV and typically ending at a few tens of MeV. The scenario is therefore ruled out largely by its own dynamics. In this study we focus exclusively on mediators heavier than $\sim 1$ GeV; future work will extend the analysis to lighter mediators, allowing for contact to be made with the kinds of scenarios motivated by issues of small-scale structure.

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arXiv2019

Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and Neutrino Cosmology

There exist a range of exciting scientific opportunities for Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) in the coming decade. BBN, a key particle astrophysics "tool" for decades, is poised to take on new capabilities to probe beyond standard model (BSM) physics. This development is being driven by experimental determination of neutrino properties, new nuclear reaction experiments, advancing supercomputing/simulation capabilities, the prospect of high-precision next-generation cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations, and the advent of 30m class telescopes.

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arXiv2019

CMB-HD: An Ultra-Deep, High-Resolution Millimeter-Wave Survey Over Half the Sky

A millimeter-wave survey over half the sky, that spans frequencies in the range of 30 to 350 GHz, and that is both an order of magnitude deeper and of higher-resolution than currently funded surveys would yield an enormous gain in understanding of both fundamental physics and astrophysics. By providing such a deep, high-resolution millimeter-wave survey (about 0.5 uK-arcmin noise and 15 arcsecond resolution at 150 GHz), CMB-HD will enable major advances. It will allow 1) the use of gravitational lensing of the primordial microwave background to map the distribution of matter on small scales (k~10/hMpc), which probes dark matter particle properties. It will also allow 2) measurements of the thermal and kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effects on small scales to map the gas density and gas pressure profiles of halos over a wide field, which probes galaxy evolution and cluster astrophysics. In addition, CMB-HD would allow us to cross critical thresholds in fundamental physics: 3) ruling out or detecting any new, light (< 0.1eV), thermal particles, which could potentially be the dark matter, and 4) testing a wide class of multi-field models that could explain an epoch of inflation in the early Universe. Such a survey would also 5) monitor the transient sky by mapping the full observing region every few days, which opens a new window on gamma-ray bursts, novae, fast radio bursts, and variable active galactic nuclei. Moreover, CMB-HD would 6) provide a census of planets, dwarf planets, and asteroids in the outer Solar System, and 7) enable the detection of exo-Oort clouds around other solar systems, shedding light on planet formation. CMB-HD will deliver this survey in 5 years of observing half the sky, using two new 30-meter-class off-axis cross-Dragone telescopes to be located at Cerro Toco in the Atacama Desert. The telescopes will field about 2.4 million detectors (600,000 pixels) in total.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2019

Positrons and 511 keV radiation as tracers of recent binary neutron star mergers

Neutron-rich material ejected from neutron star-neutron star (NS-NS) and neutron star-black hole (NS-BH) binary mergers is heated by nuclear processes to temperatures of a few hundred keV, resulting in a population of electron-positron pairs. Some of the positrons escape from the outer layers of the ejecta. We show that the population of low-energy positrons produced by NS-NS and NS-BH mergers in the Milky Way can account for the observed 511-keV line from the Galactic center (GC). Moreover, we suggest how positrons and the associated 511-keV emission can be used as tracers of recent mergers. Recent discovery of 511 keV emission from the ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Reticulum II, consistent with a rare NS-NS merger event, provides a smoking-gun signature of our proposal.

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arXiv2019

Science from an Ultra-Deep, High-Resolution Millimeter-Wave Survey

Opening up a new window of millimeter-wave observations that span frequency bands in the range of 30 to 500 GHz, survey half the sky, and are both an order of magnitude deeper (about 0.5 uK-arcmin) and of higher-resolution (about 10 arcseconds) than currently funded surveys would yield an enormous gain in understanding of both fundamental physics and astrophysics. In particular, such a survey would allow for major advances in measuring the distribution of dark matter and gas on small-scales, and yield needed insight on 1.) dark matter particle properties, 2.) the evolution of gas and galaxies, 3.) new light particle species, 4.) the epoch of inflation, and 5.) the census of bodies orbiting in the outer Solar System.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2018

FRIB and the GW170817 Kilonova

In July 2018 an FRIB Theory Alliance program was held on the implications of GW170817 and its associated kilonova for r-process nucleosynthesis. Topics of discussion included the astrophysical and nuclear physics uncertainties in the interpretation of the GW170817 kilonova, what we can learn about the astrophysical site or sites of the r process from this event, and the advances in nuclear experiment and theory most crucial to pursue in light of the new data. Here we compile a selection of scientific contributions to the workshop, broadly representative of progress in r-process studies since the GW170817 event.

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arXiv2018

Neutrino Burst-Generated Gravitational Radiation From Collapsing Supermassive Stars

We estimate the gravitational radiation signature of the electron/positron annihilation-driven neutrino burst accompanying the asymmetric collapse of an initially hydrostatic, radiation-dominated supermassive object suffering the Feynman-Chandrasekhar instability. An object with a mass $5\times10^4\,M_\odot $ 5, we estimate that collapse of a $\sim 5\times10^4\,M_\odot$ supermassive star could produce a neutrino burst-generated gravitational radiation signature detectable to redshift $z\lesssim7$. With the envisioned ultimate DECIGO design sensitivity, we estimate that the linear memory signal from these events could be detectable with SNR $> 5$ to $z \lesssim13$.

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arXiv2018

Strange mechanics of the neutrino flavor pendulum

We identify in the flavor transformation of astrophysical neutrinos a new class of phenomena, a common outcome of which is the suppression of flavor conversion. Appealing to the equivalence between a bipolar neutrino system and a gyroscopic pendulum, we find that these phenomena have rather striking interpretations in the mechanical picture: in one instance, the gyroscopic pendulum initially precesses in one direction, then comes to a halt and begins to precess in the opposite direction---a counterintuitive behavior that we analogize to the motion of a toy known as a rattleback. We analyze these behaviors in the early universe, wherein a chance connection to sterile neutrino dark matter emerges, and we briefly suggest how they might manifest in compact-object environments.

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arXiv2017

Neutrino Spectra from Nuclear Weak Interactions in $sd$-Shell Nuclei Under Astrophysical Conditions

We present shell model calculations of nuclear neutrino energy spectra for 70 $sd$-shell nuclei over the mass number range $A=21-35$. Our calculations include nuclear excited states as appropriate for the hot and dense conditions characteristic of pre-collapse massive stars. We consider neutrinos produced by charged lepton captures and decays and, for the first time in tabular form, neutral current nuclear deexcitation, providing neutrino energy spectra on the Fuller-Fowler-Newman temperature-density grid for these interaction channels for each nucleus. We use the full $sd$-shell model space to compute initial nuclear states up to 20 MeV excitation with transitions to final states up to 35-40 MeV, employing a modification of the Brink-Axel hypothesis to handle high temperature population factors and the nuclear partition functions.

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arXiv2017

Insights into neutrino decoupling gleaned from considerations of the role of electron mass

We present calculations showing how electron rest mass influences entropy flow, neutrino decoupling, and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) in the early universe. To elucidate this physics and especially the sensitivity of BBN and related epochs to electron mass, we consider a parameter space of rest mass values larger and smaller than the accepted vacuum value. Electromagnetic equilibrium, coupled with the high entropy of the early universe, guarantees that significant numbers of electron-positron pairs are present, and dominate over the number of ionization electrons to temperatures much lower than the vacuum electron rest mass. Scattering between the electrons-positrons and the neutrinos largely controls the flow of entropy from the plasma into the neutrino seas. Moreover, the number density of electron-positron-pair targets can be exponentially sensitive to the effective in-medium electron mass. This entropy flow influences the phasing of scale factor and temperature, the charged current weak-interaction-determined neutron-to-proton ratio, and the spectral distortions in the relic neutrino energy spectra. Our calculations show the sensitivity of the physics of this epoch to three separate effects: finite electron mass, finite-temperature quantum electrodynamic (QED) effects on the plasma equation of state, and Boltzmann neutrino energy transport. The ratio of neutrino to plasma component energy scales manifests in Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) observables, namely the baryon density and the radiation energy density, along with the primordial helium and deuterium abundances. Our results demonstrate how the treatment of in-medium electron mass (i.e., QED effects) could translate into an important source of uncertainty in extracting neutrino and beyond-standard-model physics limits from future high-precision CMB data.

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