arXiv subjects

Houwen Wu

Publications and source records attributed to Houwen Wu.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Observational Appearance of a Freely-falling Star in an Asymmetric Thin-shell Wormhole

It has been recently reported that, at late times, the total luminosity of a star freely falling in black holes decays exponentially with time, and one or two series of flashes with decreasing intensity are seen by a specific observer, depending on the number of photon spheres. In this paper, we examine observational appearances of an infalling star in a reflection-asymmetric wormhole, which has two photon spheres, one on each side of the wormhole. We find that the late-time total luminosity measured by distant observers gradually decays with time or remains roughly constant due to the absence of the event horizon. Moreover, a specific observer would detect a couple of light flashes in a bright background at late times. These observations would offer a new tool to distinguish wormholes from black holes, even those with multiple photon spheres.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

Appearance of an Infalling Star in Black Holes with Multiple Photon Spheres

Photon spheres play a pivotal role in the imaging of luminous objects near black holes. In this paper, we examine observational appearances of a star freely falling in hairy black holes, which can possess one or two photon spheres outside the event horizon. When there exists a single photon sphere, the total luminosity measured by distant observers decreases exponentially with time at late times. Due to successive arrivals of photons orbiting around the photon sphere different times, a specific observer would see a series of light flashes with decreasing intensity, which share a similar frequency content. Whereas in the case with two photon spheres, photons temporarily trapped between the photon spheres can cause a peak of the total luminosity, which is followed by a slow exponential decay, at late times. In addition, these photons lead to one more series of light flashes seen by the specific observer.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

Connections between reflected entropies and hyperbolic string vertices

In this paper, we establish connections between reflected entropies of multipartite mixed states in CFT$_{2}$ and hyperbolic string vertices of closed string field theory (CSFT). We show that the reflected surfaces, which are bulk duals of the reflected entropies, share the same Riemann surfaces with the hyperbolic string vertices. This observation enables us to build quantitative relations between the reflected entropies and hyperbolic string vertices. We illustrate the connections with several examples. Consequently, we propose that spacetime structure could be directly generated from the hyperbolic string vertices. The advantage of the hyperbolic string vertices approach is that we have a dynamical equation, the Batalin-Vilkoviski master equation, to control the generating process.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Gravitational Lensing by Black Holes with Multiple Photon Spheres

We study gravitational lensing of light by hairy black holes, which, in a certain parameter regime, can possess two photon spheres of different size outside the event horizon. In particular, we focus on higher-order images of a point-like light source and a luminous celestial sphere produced by strong gravitational lensing near photon spheres. Two photon spheres usually triple the number of high-order images of a point-like light source. When a hairy black hole is illuminated by a celestial sphere, two photon spheres would give rise to two critical curves in the black hole image, and the smaller critical curve coincides with the shadow edge. In addition to a set of higher-order images of the celestial sphere outside the shadow edge, two more sets of higher-order images are observed inside and outside the larger critical curve, respectively.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

Echoes from Hairy Black Holes

We study the waveforms of time signals produced by scalar perturbations in static hairy black holes, in which the perturbations can be governed by a double-peak effective potential. The inner potential peak would give rise to echoes, which provide a powerful tool to test the Kerr hypothesis. The waveforms are constructed in the time and frequency domains, and we find that the late-time waveforms are determined by the long-lived and sub-long-lived quasinormal modes, which are trapped in the potential valley and near the smaller peak, respectively. When the distance between the peaks is significantly larger than the width of the peaks, a train of decaying echo pulses is produced by the superposition of the long-lived and sub-long-lived modes. In certain cases, the echoes can vanish and then reappear. When the peaks are close enough, one detects far fewer echo signals and a following sinusoid tail, which is controlled by the long-lived or sub-long-lived mode and hence decays very slowly.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

Quasinormal Modes of Black Holes with Multiple Photon Spheres

For a static and spherically symmetric black hole, a photon sphere is composed of circular null geodesics of fixed radius, and plays an important role in observing the black hole. Recently, in an Einstein-Maxwell-scalar model with a non-minimal coupling between the scalar and electromagnetic fields, a class of hairy black holes has been found to possess two unstable and one stable circular null geodesics on the equatorial plane, corresponding to three photon spheres outside the event horizon. In this paper, we study quasinormal modes of the scalar field, which are associated with these circular null geodesics, in the hairy black hole spacetime. In the eikonal regime with $l\gg1$, the real part of the quasinormal modes is determined by the angular velocity of the corresponding circular geodesics. The imaginary part of the quasinormal modes associated with the unstable circular null geodesics encodes the information about the Lyapunov exponent of the corresponding circular geodesics. Interestingly, we find long-lived and sub-long-lived modes, which are associated with the stable and one of the unstable circular null geodesics, respectively. Due to tunneling through potential barriers, the damping times of the long-lived and sub-long-lived modes can be exponentially and logarithmically large in terms of $l$, respectively.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Testing Kerr Black Hole Mimickers with Quasi-Periodic Oscillations from GRO J1655-40

The measurements of quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) provide a quite powerful tool to test the nature of astrophysical black hole candidates in the strong gravitational field regime. In this paper, we use QPOs within the relativistic precession model to test a recently proposed family of rotating black hole mimickers, which reduce to the Kerr metric in a limiting case, and can represent traversable wormholes or regular black holes with one or two horizons, depending on the values of the parameters. In particular, assuming that the compact object of GRO J1655-40 is described by a rotating black hole mimicker, we perform a $χ$-square analysis to fit the parameters of the mimicker with two sets of observed QPO frequencies from GRO J1655-40. Our results indicate that although the metric around the compact object of GRO J1655-40 is consistent with the Kerr metric, a regular black hole with one horizon is favored by the observation data of GRO J1655-40.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Thermodynamics and Phase Structure of an Einstein-Maxwell-scalar Model in Extended Phase Space

In this paper, we study thermodynamics and phase structure of asymptotically AdS hairy and Reissner-Nordström-AdS (RNAdS) black holes in the extended phase space, where the cosmological constant is interpreted as a thermal pressure. The RNAdS and hairy black holes are black hole solutions of an Einstein-Maxwell-scalar (EMS) model with a non-minimal coupling between the scalar and electromagnetic fields. The Smarr relation, the first law of thermodynamics and the free energy are derived for black hole solutions in the EMS model. Moreover, the phase structure of the RNAdS and hairy black holes is investigated in canonical and grand canonical ensembles. Interestingly, RNAdS BH/hairy BH/RNAdS BH reentrant phase transitions, consisting of zeroth-order and second-order phase transitions, are found in both ensembles.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Photon Ring and Observational Appearance of a Hairy Black Hole

Recently, the image of a Schwarzschild black hole with an accretion disk has been revisited, and it showed that the "photon ring", defined as highly bent light rays that intersect the disk plane more than twice, is extremely narrow and makes a negligible contribution to the total brightness. In this paper, we investigate the observational appearance of an optically and geometrically thin accretion disk around a hairy black hole in an Einstein-Maxwell-scalar model. Intriguingly, we find that in a certain parameter regime, due to an extra maximum or an "ankle-like" structure in the effective potential for photons, the photon ring can be remarkably wide, thus making a notable contribution to the flux of the observed image. In particular, there appears a wide and bright annulus, which comprises multiple concentric bright thin rings with different luminosity, in the high resolution image.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Derive Lovelock Gravity from String Theory in Cosmological Background

It was proved more than three decades ago, that the first order $α'$ correction of string effective theory could be written as the Gauss-Bonnet term, which is the quadratic term of Lovelock gravity. In cosmological background, with an appropriate field redefinition, we reorganize the infinite $α'$ corrections of string effective action into a finite term expression for any specific dimension. This finite term expression matches Lovelock gravity exactly and thus fix the couplings of Lovelock gravity by the coefficients of string effective action. This result thus provides a strong support to string theory.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Photon Spheres and Spherical Accretion Image of a Hairy Black Hole

In this paper, we first consider null geodesics of a class of charged, spherical and asymptotically flat hairy black holes in an Einstein-Maxwell-scalar theory with a non-minimal coupling for the scalar and electromagnetic fields. Remarkably, we show that there are two unstable circular orbits for a photon in a certain parameter regime, corresponding to two unstable photon spheres of different sizes outside the event horizon. To illustrate the optical appearance of photon spheres, we then consider a simple spherical model of optically thin accretion on the hairy black hole, and obtain the accretion image seen by a distant observer. In the single photon sphere case, only one bright ring appears in the image, and is identified as the edge of the black hole shadow. Whereas in the case with two photon spheres, there can be two concentric bright rings of different radii in the image, and the smaller one serves as the boundary of the shadow, whose radius goes to zero at the critical charge.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Validity of Thermodynamic Laws and Weak Cosmic Censorship for AdS Black Holes and Black Holes in a Cavity

By throwing a test charged particle into a Reissner-Nordstrom (RN) black hole, we test the validity of the first and second laws of thermodynamics and weak cosmic censorship conjecture (WCCC) with two types of boundary conditions, i.e., the asymptotically anti-de Sitter (AdS) space and a Dirichlet cavity wall placed in the asymptotically at space. For the RN-AdS black hole, the second law of thermodynamics is satisfied, and the WCCC is violated for both extremal and nearextremal black holes. For the RN black hole in a cavity, the entropy can either increase or decrease depending on the change in the charge, and WCCC is satisfied/violated for the extremal/nearextremal black hole. Our results indicate that there may be a connection between the black hole thermodynamics and the boundary condition imposed on the black hole.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Scalarized Einstein-Maxwell-scalar Black Holes in Anti-de Sitter Spacetime

In this paper, we study spontaneous scalarization of asymptotically anti-de Sitter charged black holes in the Einstein-Maxwell-scalar model with a non-minimal coupling between the scalar and Maxwell fields. In this model, Reissner-Nordström-AdS (RNAdS) black holes are scalar-free black hole solutions, and may induce scalarized black holes due to the presence of a tachyonic instability of the scalar field near the event horizon. For RNAdS and scalarized black hole solutions, we investigate the domain of existence, perturbative stability against spherical perturbations and phase structure. In a micro-canonical ensemble, scalarized solutions are always thermodynamically preferred over RNAdS black holes. However, the system has much rich phase structure and phase transitions in a canonical ensemble. In particular, we report a RNAdS BH/scalarized BH/RNAdS BH reentrant phase transition, which is composed of a zeroth-order phase transition and a second-order one.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Scalarized Einstein-Born-Infeld-scalar Black Holes

The phenomenon of spontaneous scalarization of Reissner-Nordström (RN) black holes has recently been found in an Einstein-Maxwell-scalar (EMS) model due to a non-minimal coupling between the scalar and Maxwell fields. Non-linear electrodynamics, e.g., Born-Infeld (BI) electrodynamics, generalizes Maxwell's theory in the strong field regime. Non-minimally coupling the BI field to the scalar field, we study spontaneous scalarization of an Einstein-Born-Infeld-scalar (EBIS) model in this paper. It shows that there are two types of scalarized black hole solutions, i.e., scalarized RN-like and Schwarzschild-like solutions. Although the behavior of scalarized RN-like solutions in the EBIS model is quite similar to that of scalarize solutions in the EMS model, we find that there exist significant differences between scalarized Schwarzschild-like solutions in the EBIS model and scalarized solutions in the EMS model. In particular, the domain of existence of scalarized Schwarzschild-like solutions possesses a certain region, which is composed of two branches. The branch of larger horizon area is a family of disconnected scalarized solutions, which do not bifurcate from scalar-free black holes. However, the branch of smaller horizon area may or may not bifurcate from scalar-free black holes depending on the parameters. Additionally, these two branches of scalarized solutions can be both entropically disfavored over comparable scalar-free black holes in some parameter region.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

Fix the dual geometries of $T\bar{T}$ deformed CFT$_2$ and highly excited states of CFT$_2$

In previous works, we have developed an approach to fix the leading behaviors of the pure AdS$_3$ and BTZ black hole from the entanglement entropies of the free CFT$_2$ and finite temperature CFT$_2$, respectively. We exclusively use holographic principle only and make no restriction about the bulk geometry, not only the kinematics but also the dynamics. In order to verify the universality and correctness of our method, in this paper, we apply it to the $T\bar{T}$ deformed CFT$_2$, which breaks the conformal symmetry. In terms of the physical arguments of the $T\bar{T}$ deformed CFT$_2$, the derived metric is a deformed BTZ black hole. The requirement that the CFT$_2$ lives on a conformally flat boundary leads to $r_{c}^{2}=\ 6R_{AdS}^{4}/(πcμ)$ naturally, in perfect agreement with previous conjectures in literature. The energy spectum and propagation speed calculated with this deformed BTZ metric are the same as these derived from $T\bar{T}$ deformed CFT$_2$. We furthermore fix the dual geometry of highly excited states with our approach. The result contains the descriptions for the conical defect and BTZ black hole.

hep-th↗

arXiv2020

Extended Phase Space Thermodynamics for Black Holes in a Cavity

In this paper, we extend the phase space of black holes enclosed by a spherical cavity of radius $r_{B}$ to include $V\equiv4πr_{B}^{3}/3$ as a thermodynamic volume. The thermodynamic behavior of Schwarzschild and Reissner-Nordstrom (RN) black holes is then investigated in the extended phase space. In a canonical ensemble at constant pressure, we find that the aforementioned thermodynamic behavior is remarkably similar to that of the anti-de Sitter (AdS) counterparts with the cosmological constant being interpreted as a pressure. Specifically, a first-order Hawking-Page-like phase transition occurs for a Schwarzschild black hole in a cavity. The phase structure of a RN black hole in a cavity shows a strong resemblance to that of the van der Waals fluid. Our results may provide a new perspective for the extended thermodynamics of AdS black holes by analogy with black holes in a cavity.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

Construct $α^{\prime}$ corrected or loop corrected solutions without curvature singularities

For the bosonic gravi-dilaton system, we provide systematical approaches to construct non-perturbative string cosmological solutions without curvature singularities, which can match the perturbative solution to any order in $α^{\prime}$ expansion. When higher order $α^{\prime}$ corrections are calculated, they can be straightforwardly plugged in to generate compatible non-perturbative evolutions without curvature singularities. We also give a (phenomenological) map between $α^{\prime}$ corrected EOM and loop corrected EOM. This map enables us to easily generate a loop corrected solution from an $α^{\prime}$ corrected solution, and vice versa, therefore substantially enlarges the solution space.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

Strong cosmic censorship for a scalar field in an Einstein-Maxwell-Gauss-Bonnet-de Sitter black hole

It has been shown that the Christodoulou version of the Strong Cosmic Censorship (SCC) conjecture can be violated for a scalar field in a near-extremal Reissner-Nordstrom-de Sitter black hole. In this paper, we investigate the effects of higher derivative corrections to the Einstein-Hilbert action on the validity of SCC, by considering a neutral massless scalar perturbation in 5- and 6-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell-Gauss-Bonnet-de Sitter black holes. Our numerical results exhibit that the higher derivative term plays a different role in the d = 5 case than it does in the d = 6 case. For d = 5, the SCC violation region increases as the strength of the higher derivative term increases. For d = 6, the SCC violation region first increases and then decreases as the higher derivative correction becomes stronger, and SCC can always be restored for a black hole with a fixed charge ratio when the higher derivative correction is strong enough. Finally, we find that the C2 version of SCC is respected in the d = 6 case, but can be violated in some near-extremal regime in the d = 5 case.

gr-qc↗