arXiv subjects

Juan Carlos Degollado

Publications and source records attributed to Juan Carlos Degollado.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Gravitational waves from binary black hole mergers surrounded by scalar field clouds: Numerical simulations and observational implications

We show how gravitational-wave observations of binary black hole (BBH) mergers can constrain the physical characteristics of a scalar field cloud parameterized by mass $\tildeμ$ and strength $ϕ_0$ that may surround them. We numerically study the inspiraling equal-mass, non-spinning BBH systems dressed in such clouds, focusing especially on the gravitational-wave signals emitted by their merger-ringdown phase. These waveforms clearly reveal that larger values of $\tildeμ$ or $ϕ_0$ cause bigger changes in the amplitude and frequency of the scalar-field-BBH ringdown signals. We show that the numerical waveforms of scalar-field-BBHs can be modelled as chirping sine-Gaussians, with matches in excess of 95%. This observation enables one to employ computationally expensive Bayesian studies for estimating the parameters of such binaries. Using our chirping sine-Gaussian signal model we establish that observations of BBH mergers at a distance of 450 Mpc will allow to distinguish BBHs without any scalar field from those with a field strength $ϕ_0 \gtrsim 5.5\times 10^{-3}$, at any fixed value of $\tilde μ\in [0.3,0.8]$, with 90% confidence or better, in single detectors with Advanced LIGO/Virgo type sensitivities. This provides hope for the possibility of determining or constraining the mass of ultra-light bosons with gravitational-wave observations of BBH mergers.

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arXiv2020

On the formation of "supermassive" neutron stars and dynamical transition to spontaneous scalarization

It is well known that neutron stars can undergo a phase transition under a certain class of Scalar Tensor Theories of gravity (STT's) where a new order parameter, the {\it scalar charge}, appears within the star. This is the well known phenomenon of spontaneous scalarization (SC) discovered by Damour and Esposito-Farèse in 1993. Under such mechanism neutron stars can afford in principle a maximum mass larger than in general relativity (GR) for a given equation of state without taking into account additional observational constraints (e.g. binary systems). This opens the possibility that neutron stars might be formed with masses as large as $\sim 2 M_\odot$ without the need of stiff, or more exotic, equations of state for the nuclear matter. Thus, STT's through SC may account for compact objects with large masses observed recently in the sky in the form of pulsars (PSR J0348+0432 with $M= 2.01 M_\pm 0.04\odot$ observed in 2013, PSR J1614-2230 with $M= 1.97\pm 0.04 M_\odot$ observed in 2010 or J0740+6620 $M= 2.14^{+0.10}_{-0.09} M_\odot$ observed in 2019). However, we argue that even if that was possible such maximum mass models within STT cannot be formed solely from the dynamic transition of an initial "isolated" unscalarized neutron star whose mass cannot exceed the maximum mass in GR. This is because SC, being an energetic-preferred configuration, produces a final static star with a mass lower that the initial one with a fixed baryon mass. The mass difference between the initial and final configurations is radiated away in the form of a scalar-field. Thus, maximum mass models of scalarized neutron stars, if present in nature, must have formed by a different process, perhaps of cosmological origin or by the subsequent accretion of additional scalar charge and mass.

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arXiv2020

Dynamical formation and stability of fermion-boson stars

Gravitationally bound structures composed by fermions and scalar particles known as fermion-boson stars are regular and static configurations obtained by solving the coupled Einstein-Klein-Gordon-Euler (EKGE) system. In this work, we discuss one possible scenario through which these fermion-boson stars may form by solving numerically the EKGE system under the simplifying assumption of spherical symmetry. Our initial configurations assume an already existing neutron star surrounded by an accreting cloud of a massive and complex scalar field. The results of our simulations show that once part of the initial scalar field is expelled via gravitational cooling the system gradually oscillates around an equilibrium configuration that is asymptotically consistent with a static solution of the system. The formation of fermion-boson stars for large positive values of the coupling constant in the self-interaction term of the scalar-field potential reveal the presence of a node in the scalar field. This suggests that a fermionic core may help stabilize configurations with nodes in the bosonic sector, as happens for purely boson stars in which the ground state and the first excited state coexist.

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arXiv2020

Dynamical $\ell$-boson stars: generic stability and evidence for non-spherical solutions

$\ell$-boson stars are static, spherical, multi-field self-gravitating solitons. They are asymptotically flat, finite energy solutions of Einstein's gravity minimally coupled to an odd number of massive, complex scalar fields. A previous study assessed the stability of $\ell$-boson stars under spherical perturbations, finding that there are both stable and unstable branches of solutions, as for single-field boson stars ($\ell=0$). In this work we probe the stability of $\ell$-boson stars against non-spherical perturbations by performing numerical evolutions of the Einstein-Klein-Gordon system, with a 3D code. For the timescales explored, the $\ell$-boson stars belonging to the spherical stable branch do not exhibit measurable growing modes. We find, however, evidence of zero modes; that is, non-spherical perturbations that neither grow nor decay. This suggests the branching off towards a larger family of equilibrium solutions: we conjecture that $\ell$-boson stars are the enhanced isometry point of a larger family of static (and possibly stationary), non-spherical multi-field self-gravitating solitons.

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arXiv2019

Traversable $\ell$-wormholes supported by ghost scalar fields

We present new, asymptotically flat, static, spherically symmetric and traversable wormhole solutions in General Relativity which are supported by a family of ghost scalar fields with quartic potential. This family consists of a particular composition of the scalar field modes, in which each mode is characterized by the same value of the angular momentum number $\ell$, yet the composition yields a spherically symmetric stress-energy-momentum and metric tensor. For $\ell = 0$ our solutions reduce to wormhole configurations which had been reported previously in the literature. We discuss the effects of the new parameter $\ell$ on the wormhole geometry including the motion of free-falling test particles.

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arXiv2019

Dynamical evolutions of $\ell$-boson stars in spherical symmetry

In previous work, we have found new static, spherically symmetric boson star solutions which generalize the standard boson stars by allowing a particular superposition of scalar fields in which each of the fields is characterized by a fixed value of its non-vanishing angular momentum number $\ell$. We call such solutions "$\ell$-boson stars". Here, we perform a series of fully non-linear dynamical simulations of perturbed $\ell$-boson stars in order to study their stability, and the final fate of unstable configurations. We show that for each value of $\ell$, the configuration of maximum mass separates the parameter space into stable and unstable regions. Stable configurations, when perturbed, oscillate around the unperturbed solution and very slowly return to a stationary configuration. Unstable configurations, in contrast, can have three different final states: collapse to a black hole, migration to the stable branch, or explosion (dissipation) to infinity. Just as it happens with $\ell=0$ boson stars, migration to the stable branch or dissipation to infinity depends on the sign of the total binding energy of the star: bound unstable stars collapse to black holes or migrate to the stable branch, whereas unbound unstable stars either collapse to a black hole or explode to infinity. Thus, the parameter $\ell$ allows us to construct a new set of stable configurations. All our simulations are performed in spherical symmetry, leaving a more detailed stability analysis including non-spherical perturbations for future work.

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arXiv2019

Geodesic structure of a rotating regular black hole

We examine the dynamics of particles around a rotating regular black hole. In particular we focus on the effects of the characteristic length parameter of the spinning black hole on the motion of the particles by solving the equation of orbital motion. We have found that there is a fourth constant of motion that determines the dynamics of orbits out the equatorial plane similar as in the Kerr black hole. Through detailed analyses of the corresponding effective potentials for massive particles the possible orbits are numerically simulated. A comparison with the trajectories in a Kerr spacetime shows that the differences appear when the black holes rotate slowly for large values of the characteristic length parameter.

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arXiv2018

$\ell$-Boson stars

We present new, fully nonlinear numerical solutions to the static, spherically symmetric Einstein-Klein-Gordon system for a collection of an arbitrary odd number $N$ of complex scalar fields with an internal $U(N)$ symmetry and no self-interactions. These solutions, which we dub $\ell$-boson stars, are parametrized by an angular momentum number $\ell=(N-1)/2$, an excitation number $n$, and a continuous parameter representing the amplitude of the fields. They are regular at every point and possess a finite total mass. For $\ell = 0$ the standard spherically symmetric boson stars are recovered. We determine their generalizations for $\ell > 0$, and show that they give rise to a large class of new static configurations which might have a much larger compactness ratio than $\ell=0$ stars.

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arXiv2018

Effective stability against superradiance of Kerr black holes with synchronised hair

Kerr black holes with synchronised hair [arXiv:1403.2757, arXiv:1603.02687] are a counter example to the no hair conjecture, in General Relativity minimally coupled to simple matter fields (with mass $μ$) obeying all energy conditions. Since these solutions have, like Kerr, an ergoregion it has been a lingering possibility that they are afflicted by the superradiant instability, the same process that leads to their dynamical formation from Kerr. A recent breakthrough [arXiv:1711.08464] confirmed this instability and computed the corresponding timescales for a sample of solutions. We discuss how these results and other observations support two conclusions: $1)$ starting from the Kerr limit, the increase of hair for fixed coupling $μM$ (where $M$ is the BH mass) increases the timescale of the instability; $2)$ there are hairy solutions for which this timescale, for astrophysical black hole masses, is larger than the age of the Universe. The latter conclusion introduces the limited, but physically relevant concept of effective stability. The former conclusion, allows us to identify an astrophysically viable domain of such effectively stable hairy black holes, occurring, conservatively, for $Mμ\lesssim 0.25$. These are hairy BHs that form dynamically, from the superradiant instability of Kerr, within an astrophysical timescale, but whose own superradiant instability occurs only in a cosmological timescale.

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arXiv2017

Bose-Einstein Condensates in Charged Black-Hole Spacetimes

We analyze Bose-Einstein condensates on three types of spherically symmetric and static charged black-hole spacetimes: The Reissner-Nordström spacetime, Hoffmann's Born-Infeld black-hole spacetime, and the regular Ayón-Beato-García spacetime. The Bose-Einstein condensate is modeled in terms of a massive scalar field that satisfies a Klein-Gordon equation with a self-interaction term. The scalar field is assumed to be uncharged and not self-gravitating. If the mass parameter of the scalar field is chosen sufficiently small, there are quasi-bound states of the scalar field that may be interpreted as dark matter clouds. We estimate the size and the total energy of such clouds around charged supermassive black holes and we investigate if their observable features can be used for discriminating between the different types of charged black holes.

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arXiv2017

Quasistationary solutions of scalar fields around collapsing self-interacting boson stars

There is increasing numerical evidence that scalar fields can form long-lived quasi-bound states around black holes. Recent perturbative and numerical relativity calculations have provided further confirmation in a variety of physical systems, including both static and accreting black holes, and collapsing fermionic stars. In this work we investigate this issue yet again in the context of gravitationally unstable boson stars leading to black hole formation. We build a large sample of spherically symmetric initial models, both stable and unstable, incorporating a self-interaction potential with a quartic term. The three different outcomes of unstable models, namely migration to the stable branch, total dispersion, and collapse to a black hole, are also present for self-interacting boson stars. Our simulations show that for black-hole-forming models, a scalar-field remnant is found outside the black-hole horizon, oscillating at a different frequency than that of the original boson star. This result is in good agreement with recent spherically symmetric simulations of unstable Proca stars collapsing to black holes.

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arXiv2017

Self-gravitating black hole scalar wigs

It has long been known that no static, spherically symmetric, asymptotically flat Klein-Gordon scalar field configuration surrounding a nonrotating black hole can exist in general relativity. In a series of previous papers we proved that, at the effective level, this no-hair theorem can be circumvented by relaxing the staticity assumption: for appropriate model parameters there are quasi-bound scalar field configurations living on a fixed Schwarzschild background which, although not being strictly static, have a larger lifetime than the age of the universe. This situation arises when the mass of the scalar field distribution is much smaller than the black hole mass, and following the analogies with the hair in the literature we dubbed these long-lived field configurations wigs. Here we extend our previous work to include the gravitational backreaction produced by the scalar wigs. We derive new approximate solutions of the spherically symmetric Einstein-Klein-Gordon system which represent self-gravitating scalar wigs surrounding black holes. These configurations interpolate between boson star configurations and Schwarzschild black holes dressed with the long-lived scalar test field distributions discussed in previous papers. Nonlinear numerical evolutions of initial data sets extracted from our approximate solutions support the validity of our approach. Arbitrarily large lifetimes are still possible, although for the parameter space that we analyze in this paper they seem to decay faster than the quasi-bound states. Finally, we speculate about the possibility that these configurations could describe the innermost regions of dark matter halos.

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arXiv2017

Numerical evolutions of spherical Proca stars

Vector boson stars, or $\textit{Proca stars}$, have been recently obtained as fully non-linear numerical solutions of the Einstein-(complex)-Proca system. These are self-gravitating, everywhere non-singular, horizonless Bose-Einstein condensates of a massive vector field, which resemble in many ways, but not all, their scalar cousins, the well-known (scalar) $\textit{boson stars}$. In this paper we report fully-non linear numerical evolutions of Proca stars, focusing on the spherically symmetric case, with the goal of assessing their stability and the end-point of the evolution of the unstable stars. Previous results from linear perturbation theory indicate the separation between stable and unstable configurations occurs at the solution with maximal ADM mass. Our simulations confirm this result. Evolving numerically unstable solutions, we find, depending on the sign of the binding energy of the solution and on the perturbation, three different outcomes: $(i)$ migration to the stable branch, $(ii)$ total dispersion of the scalar field, or $(iii)$ collapse to a Schwarzschild black hole. In the latter case, a long lived Proca field remnant -- a $\textit{Proca wig}$ -- composed by quasi-bound states, may be seen outside the horizon after its formation, with a life-time that scales inversely with the Proca mass. We comment on the similarities/differences with the scalar case as well as with neutron stars.

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arXiv2016

Gravitational and electromagnetic signatures of accretion into a charged black hole

We present the derivation and the solutions to the coupled electromagnetic and gravitational perturbations with sources in a charged black hole background. We work in the so called ghost gauge and consider as source of the perturbations the infall of radial currents. In this way, we study a system in which it is provoked a response involving both, gravitational and electromagnetic waves, which allows us to analyze the dependence between them. We solve numerically the wave equations that describe both signals, characterize the waveforms and study the relation between the input parameters of the infalling matter with those of the gravitational and electromagnetic responses.

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arXiv2016

Dynamical formation of a hairy black hole in a cavity from the decay of unstable solitons

Recent numerical relativity simulations within the Einstein--Maxwell--(charged-)Klein-Gordon (EMcKG) system have shown that the non-linear evolution of a superradiantly unstable Reissner-Nordström black hole (BH) enclosed in a cavity, leads to the formation of a BH with scalar hair. Perturbative evidence for the stability of such hairy BHs has been independently established, confirming they are the true endpoints of the superradiant instability. The same EMcKG system admits also charged scalar soliton-type solutions, which can be either stable or unstable. Using numerical relativity techniques, we provide evidence that the time evolution of some of these $\textit{unstable}$ solitons leads, again, to the formation of a hairy BH. In some other cases, unstable solitons evolve into a (bald) Reissner-Nordström BH. These results establish that the system admits two distinct channels to form hairy BHs at the threshold of superradiance: growing hair from an unstable (bald) BH, or growing a horizon from an unstable (horizonless) soliton. Some parallelism with the case of asymptotically flat boson stars and Kerr BHs with scalar hair is drawn.

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arXiv2016

Dynamical formation of a Reissner-Nordström black hole with scalar hair in a cavity

In a recent letter, we presented numerical relativity simulations, solving the full Einstein--Maxwell--Klein-Gordon equations, of superradiantly unstable Reissner-Nordström black holes (BHs), enclosed in a cavity. Low frequency, spherical perturbations of a charged scalar field, trigger this instability. The system's evolution was followed into the non-linear regime, until it relaxed into an equilibrium configuration, found to be a $\textit{hairy}$ BH: a charged horizon in equilibrium with a scalar field condensate, whose phase is oscillating at the (final) critical frequency. Here, we investigate the impact of adding self-interactions to the scalar field. In particular, we find sufficiently large self-interactions suppress the exponential growth phase, known from linear theory, and promote a non-monotonic behaviour of the scalar field energy. Furthermore, we discuss in detail the influence of the various parameters in this model: the initial BH charge, the initial scalar perturbation, the scalar field charge, mass, and the position of the cavity's boundary (mirror). We also investigate the "explosive" non-linear regime previously reported to be akin to a bosenova. A mode analysis shows that the "explosions" can be interpreted as the decay into the BH of modes that exit the superradiant regime.

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arXiv2016

Quasistationary solutions of scalar fields around accreting black holes

Massive scalar fields can form long-lived configurations around black holes. These configurations, dubbed quasi-bound states, have been studied both in the linear and nonlinear regimes. In this paper we show that quasi-bound states can form in a dynamical scenario in which the mass of the black hole grows significantly due to the capture of infalling matter. We solve the Klein-Gordon equation numerically in spherical symmetry, mimicking the evolution of the spacetime through a sequence of analytic Schwarzschild black hole solutions of increasing mass. It is found that the frequency of oscillation of the quasi-bound states decreases as the mass of the black hole increases. In addition, accretion leads to a significative increase of the exponential decay of the scalar field energy due to the presence of terms of order higher than linear in the exponent. We compare the black hole mass growth rates used in our study with estimates from observational surveys and extrapolate our results to values of the scalar field masses consistent with models that propose scalar fields as dark matter in the universe. We show that even for unrealistically large mass accretion rates, quasi-bound states around accreting black holes can survive for cosmological timescales. Our results provide further support to the intriguing possibility of the existence of dark matter halos based on (ultra-light) scalar fields surrounding supermassive black holes in galactic centers.

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arXiv2016

Black holes in nonlinear electrodynamics: quasi-normal spectra and parity splitting

We discuss the quasi-normal oscillations of black holes which are sourced by a nonlinear electrodynamic field. While previous studies have focused on the computation of quasi-normal frequencies for the wave or higher spin equation on a fixed background geometry described by such black holes, here we compute for the first time the quasi-normal frequencies for the coupled electromagnetic-gravitational linear perturbations. To this purpose, we consider a parametrized family of Lagrangians for the electromagnetic field which contains the Maxwell Lagrangian as a special case. In the Maxwell case, the unique spherically symmetric black hole solutions are described by the Reissner-Nordström family and in this case it is well-known that the quasi-normal spectra in the even- and odd-parity sectors are identical to each other. However, when moving away from the Maxwell case, we obtain deformed Reissner-Nordström black holes, and we show that in this case there is a parity splitting in the quasi-normal mode spectra. A partial explanation for this phenomena is provided by considering the eikonal (high-frequency) limit.

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