arXiv subjects

Lavinia Heisenberg

Publications and source records attributed to Lavinia Heisenberg.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

Observational constraints on generalized Proca theories

In a model of the late-time cosmic acceleration within the framework of generalized Proca theories, there exists a de Sitter attractor preceded by the dark energy equation of state $w_{\rm DE}=-1-s$, where $s$ is a positive constant. We run the Markov-Chain-Monte-Carlo code to confront the model with the observational data of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), baryon acoustic oscillations, supernovae type Ia, and local measurements of the Hubble expansion rate for the background cosmological solutions and obtain the bound $s=0.254^{{}+ 0.118}_{{}-0.097}$ at 95% confidence level (CL). Existence of the additional parameter $s$ to those in the $Λ$-Cold-Dark-Matter ($Λ$CDM) model allows to reduce tensions of the Hubble constant $H_0$ between the CMB and the low-redshift measurements. Including the cosmic growth data of redshift-space distortions in the galaxy power spectrum and taking into account no-ghost and stability conditions of cosmological perturbations, we find that the bound on $s$ is shifted to $s=0.16^{+0.08}_{-0.08}$ (95 % CL) and hence the model with $s>0$ is still favored over the $Λ$CDM model. Apart from the quantities $s, H_0$ and the today's matter density parameter $Ω_{m0}$, the constraints on other model parameters associated with perturbations are less stringent, reflecting the fact that there are different sets of parameters that give rise to a similar cosmic expansion and growth history.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2017

Black holes in vector-tensor theories

We study static and spherically symmetric black hole (BH) solutions in second-order generalized Proca theories with nonminimal vector field derivative couplings to the Ricci scalar, the Einstein tensor, and the double dual Riemann tensor. We find concrete Lagrangians which give rise to exact BH solutions by imposing two conditions of the two identical metric components and the constant norm of the vector field. These exact solutions are described by either Reissner-Nordström (RN), stealth Schwarzschild, or extremal RN solutions with a non-trivial longitudinal mode of the vector field. We then numerically construct BH solutions without imposing these conditions. For cubic and quartic Lagrangians with power-law couplings which encompass vector Galileons as the specific cases, we show the existence of BH solutions with the difference between two non-trivial metric components. The quintic-order power-law couplings do not give rise to non-trivial BH solutions regular throughout the horizon exterior. The sixth-order and intrinsic vector-mode couplings can lead to BH solutions with a secondary hair. For all the solutions, the vector field is regular at least at the future or past horizon. The deviation from General Relativity induced by the Proca hair can be potentially tested by future measurements of gravitational waves in the nonlinear regime of gravity.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2017

Born-Infeld inspired modifications of gravity

General Relativity has shown an outstanding observational success in the scales where it has been directly tested. However, modifications have been intensively explored in the regimes where it seems either incomplete or signals its own limit of validity. In particular, the breakdown of unitarity near the Planck scale strongly suggests that General Relativity needs to be modified at high energies and quantum gravity effects are expected to be important. This is related to the existence of spacetime singularities when the solutions of General Relativity are extrapolated to regimes where curvatures are large. In this sense, Born-Infeld inspired modifications of gravity have shown an extraordinary ability to regularise the gravitational dynamics, leading to non-singular cosmologies and regular black hole spacetimes in a very robust manner and without resorting to quantum gravity effects. This has boosted the interest in these theories in applications to stellar structure, compact objects, inflationary scenarios, cosmological singularities, and black hole and wormhole physics, among others. We review the motivations, various formulations, and main results achieved within these theories, including their observational viability, and provide an overview of current open problems and future research opportunities.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2017

Generalised Proca Theories

In this work we will summarise the recent progress made in constructing consistent theories for a massive vector field with derivative self-interactions. The construction is such that only the three desired polarisations of the Proca field propagate. We apply a systematic construction of the interactions by using the anti-symmetric Levi-Civita tensors. This finite family of allowed derivative self-interactions can be also obtained from the decoupling limit by imposing that the Stückelberg field only contains second derivatives both with itself and with the transverse modes. These interactions can be generalised to curved backgrounds, which relies on the presence of non-minimal couplings and constitutes a general family of vector-tensor interactions. We discuss also some extensions of these interactions by alleviating the restriction of second order nature of the equations or by imposing global symmetries. We will also comment on their interesting cosmological applications.

hep-th↗

arXiv2017

Instabilities in Horndeski Yang-Mills inflation

A non-abelian $SU(2)$ gauge field with a non-minimal Horndeski coupling to gravity gives rise to a de Sitter solution followed by a graceful exit to a radiation-dominated epoch. In this Horndeski Yang-Mills (HYM) theory we derive the second-order action for tensor perturbations on the homogeneous and isotropic quasi de Sitter background. We find that the presence of the Horndeski non-minimal coupling to the gauge field inevitably introduces ghost instabilities in the tensor sector during inflation. Moreover, we also find Laplacian instabilities for the tensor perturbations deep inside the Hubble radius during inflation. Thus, we conclude that the HYM theory does not provide a consistent inflationary framework due to the presence of ghosts and Laplacian instabilities.

hep-th↗

arXiv2017

Dipolar Dark Matter as an Effective Field Theory

Dipolar Dark Matter (DDM) is an alternative model motivated by the challenges faced by the standard cold dark matter model to describe the right phenomenology at galactic scales. A promising realisation of DDM was recently proposed in the context of massive bigravity theory. The model contains dark matter particles, as well as a vector field coupled to the effective composite metric of bigravity. This model is completely safe in the gravitational sector thanks to the underlying properties of massive bigravity. In this work we investigate the exact decoupling limit of the theory, including the contribution of the matter sector, and prove that it is free of ghosts in this limit. We conclude that the theory is acceptable as an Effective Field Theory below the strong coupling scale.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2016

Absence of solid angle deficit singularities in beyond-generalized Proca theories

In Gleyzes-Langlois-Piazza-Vernizzi (GLPV) scalar-tensor theories, which are outside the domain of second-order Horndeski theories, it is known that there exists a solid angle deficit singularity in the case where the parameter $α_{\rm H}$ characterizing the deviation from Horndeski theories approaches a non-vanishing constant at the center of a spherically symmetric body. Meanwhile, it was recently shown that second-order generalized Proca theories with a massive vector field $A^μ$ can be consistently extended to beyond-generalized Proca theories, which recover shift-symmetric GLPV theories in the scalar limit $A^μ \to \nabla^μ χ$. In beyond-generalized Proca theories up to quartic-order Lagrangians, we show that solid angle deficit singularities are generally absent due to the existence of a temporal vector component. We also derive the vector-field profiles around a compact object and show that the success of the Vainshtein mechanism operated by vector Galileons is not prevented by new interactions in beyond generalized Proca theories.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2016

Derivative self-interactions for a massive vector field

In this work we revisit the construction of theories for a massive vector field with derivative self-interactions such that only the 3 desired polarizations corresponding to a Proca field propagate. We start from the decoupling limit by constructing healthy interactions containing second derivatives of the Stueckelberg field with itself and also with the transverse modes. The resulting interactions can then be straightforwardly generalized beyond the decoupling limit. We then proceed to a systematic construction of the interactions by using the Levi-Civita tensors. Both approaches lead to a finite family of allowed derivative self-interactions for the Proca field. This construction allows us to show that some higher order terms recently introduced as new interactions trivialize in 4 dimensions by virtue of the Cayley-Hamilton theorem. Moreover, we discuss how the resulting derivative interactions can be written in a compact determinantal form, which can also be regarded as a generalization of the Born-Infeld lagrangian for electromagnetism. Finally, we generalize our results for a curved background and give the necessary non-minimal couplings guaranteeing that no additional polarizations propagate even in the presence of gravity.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

Generalized multi-Proca fields

We extend previous results on healthy derivative self-interactions for a Proca field to the case of a set of massive vector fields. We obtain non-gauge invariant derivative self-interactions for the vector fields that maintain the appropriate number of propagating degrees of freedom. In view of the potential cosmological applications, we restrict to interactions with an internal rotational symmetry. We provide a systematical construction order by order in derivatives of the fields and making use of the antisymmetric Levi-Civita tensor. We then compare with the one single vector field case and show that the interactions can be broadly divided into two groups, namely the ones obtained from a direct extension of the generalized Proca terms and genuine multi-Proca interactions with no correspondence in the single Proca case. We also discuss the curved spacetime version of the interactions to include the necessary non-minimal couplings to gravity. Finally, we explore the cosmological applications and show that there are three different vector fields configurations giving rise to isotropic solutions. Two of them have already been considered in the literature and the third one, representing a combination of the first two, is new and offers unexplored cosmological scenarios.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

Beyond generalized Proca theories

We consider higher-order derivative interactions beyond second-order generalized Proca theories that propagate only the three desired polarizations of a massive vector field besides the two tensor polarizations from gravity. These new interactions follow the similar construction criteria to those arising in the extension of scalar-tensor Horndeski theories to Gleyzes-Langlois-Piazza-Vernizzi (GLPV) theories. On the isotropic cosmological background, we show the existence of a constraint with a vanishing Hamiltonian that removes the would-be Ostrogradski ghost. We study the behavior of linear perturbations on top of the isotropic cosmological background in the presence of a matter perfect fluid and find the same number of propagating degrees of freedom as in generalized Proca theories (two tensor polarizations, two transverse vector modes, and two scalar modes). Moreover, we obtain the conditions for the avoidance of ghosts and Laplacian instabilities of tensor, vector, and scalar perturbations. We observe key differences in the scalar sound speed, which is mixed with the matter sound speed outside the domain of generalized Proca theories.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

Effective gravitational couplings for cosmological perturbations in generalized Proca theories

We consider the finite interactions of the generalized Proca theory including the sixth-order Lagrangian and derive the full linear perturbation equations of motion on the flat Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker background in the presence of a matter perfect fluid. By construction, the propagating degrees of freedom (besides the matter perfect fluid) are two transverse vector perturbations, one longitudinal scalar, and two tensor polarizations. The Lagrangians associated with intrinsic vector modes neither affect the background equations of motion nor the second-order action of tensor perturbations, but they do give rise to non-trivial modifications to the no-ghost condition of vector perturbations and to the propagation speeds of vector and scalar perturbations. We derive the effective gravitational coupling $G_{\rm eff}$ with matter density perturbations under a quasi-static approximation on scales deep inside the sound horizon. We find that the existence of intrinsic vector modes allows a possibility for reducing $G_{\rm eff}$. In fact, within the parameter space, $G_{\rm eff}$ can be even smaller than the Newton gravitational constant $G$ at the late cosmological epoch, with a peculiar phantom dark energy equation of state (without ghosts). The modifications to the slip parameter $η$ and the evolution of growth rate $fσ_8$ are discussed as well. Thus, dark energy models in the framework of generalized Proca theories can be observationally distinguished from the $Λ$CDM model according to both cosmic growth and expansion history. Furthermore, we study the evolution of vector perturbations and show that outside the vector sound horizon the perturbations are nearly frozen and start to decay with oscillations after the horizon entry.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2016

Anisotropic cosmological solutions in massive vector theories

In beyond-generalized Proca theories including the extension to theories higher than second order, we study the role of a spatial component $v$ of a massive vector field on the anisotropic cosmological background. We show that, as in the case of the isotropic cosmological background, there is no additional ghostly degrees of freedom associated with the Ostrogradski instability. In second-order generalized Proca theories we find the existence of anisotropic solutions on which the ratio between the anisotropic expansion rate $Σ$ and the isotropic expansion rate $H$ remains nearly constant in the radiation-dominated epoch. In the regime where $Σ/H$ is constant, the spatial vector component $v$ works as a dark radiation with the equation of state close to $1/3$. During the matter era, the ratio $Σ/H$ decreases with the decrease of $v$. As long as the conditions $|Σ| \ll H$ and $v^2 \ll ϕ^2$ are satisfied around the onset of late-time cosmic acceleration, where $ϕ$ is the temporal vector component, we find that the solutions approach the isotropic de Sitter fixed point ($Σ=0=v$) in accordance with the cosmic no-hair conjecture. In the presence of $v$ and $Σ$ the early evolution of the dark energy equation of state $w_{\rm DE}$ in the radiation era is different from that in the isotropic case, but the approach to the isotropic value $w_{\rm DE}^{\rm (iso)}$ typically occurs at redshifts $z$ much larger than 1. Thus, apart from the existence of dark radiation, the anisotropic cosmological dynamics at low redshifts is similar to that in isotropic generalized Proca theories. In beyond-generalized Proca theories the only consistent solution to avoid the divergence of a determinant of the dynamical system corresponds to $v=0$, so $Σ$ always decreases in time.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2016

Cosmology in generalized Proca theories

We consider a massive vector field with derivative interactions that propagates only the 3 desired polarizations (besides two tensor polarizations from gravity) with second-order equations of motion in curved space-time. The cosmological implications of such generalized Proca theories are investigated for both the background and the linear perturbation by taking into account the Lagrangian up to quintic order. In the presence of a matter fluid with a temporal component of the vector field, we derive the background equations of motion and show the existence of de Sitter solutions relevant to the late-time cosmic acceleration. We also obtain conditions for the absence of ghosts and Laplacian instabilities of tensor, vector, and scalar perturbations in the small-scale limit. Our results are applied to concrete examples of the general functions in the theory, which encompass vector Galileons as a specific case. In such examples, we show that the de Sitter fixed point is always a stable attractor and study viable parameter spaces in which the no-ghost and stability conditions are satisfied during the cosmic expansion history.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2016

Doubly coupled matter fields in massive bigravity

In the context of massive (bi-)gravity non-minimal matter couplings have been proposed. These couplings are special in the sense that they are free of the Boulware-Deser ghost below the strong coupling scale and can be used consistently as an effective field theory. Furthermore, they enrich the phenomenology of massive gravity. We consider these couplings in the framework of bimetric gravity and study the cosmological implications for background and linear tensor, vector, and scalar perturbations. Previous works have investigated special branch of solutions. Here we perform a complete perturbation analysis for the general background equations of motion completing previous analysis.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

Cosmology and Fundamental Physics with the Euclid Satellite

Euclid is a European Space Agency medium class mission selected for launch in 2020 within the Cosmic Vision 2015 2025 program. The main goal of Euclid is to understand the origin of the accelerated expansion of the universe. Euclid will explore the expansion history of the universe and the evolution of cosmic structures by measuring shapes and redshifts of galaxies as well as the distribution of clusters of galaxies over a large fraction of the sky. Although the main driver for Euclid is the nature of dark energy, Euclid science covers a vast range of topics, from cosmology to galaxy evolution to planetary research. In this review we focus on cosmology and fundamental physics, with a strong emphasis on science beyond the current standard models. We discuss five broad topics: dark energy and modified gravity, dark matter, initial conditions, basic assumptions and questions of methodology in the data analysis. This review has been planned and carried out within Euclid's Theory Working Group and is meant to provide a guide to the scientific themes that will underlie the activity of the group during the preparation of the Euclid mission.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2016

Screening fifth forces in generalized Proca theories

For a massive vector field with derivative self-interactions, the breaking of the gauge invariance allows the propagation of a longitudinal mode in addition to the two transverse modes. We consider generalized Proca theories with second-order equations of motion in a curved space-time and study how the longitudinal scalar mode of the vector field gravitates on a spherically symmetric background. We show explicitly that cubic-order self-interactions lead to the suppression of the longitudinal mode through the Vainshtein mechanism. Provided that the dimensionless coupling of the interaction is not negligible, this screening mechanism is sufficiently efficient to give rise to tiny corrections to gravitational potentials consistent with solar-system tests of gravity. We also study the quartic interactions with the presence of non-minimal derivative coupling with the Ricci scalar and find the existence of solutions where the longitudinal mode completely vanishes. Finally, we discuss the case in which the effect of the quartic interactions dominates over the cubic one and show that local gravity constraints can be satisfied under a mild bound on the parameters of the theory.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2016

Cosmology in doubly coupled massive gravity: constraints from SNIa, BAO and CMB

Massive gravity in the presence of doubly coupled matter field via en effective composite metric yields an accelerated expansion of the universe. It has been recently shown that the model admits stable de Sitter attractor solutions and could be used as a dark energy model. In this work, we perform a first analysis of the constraints imposed by the SNIa, BAO and CMB data on the massive gravity model with the effective composite metric and show that all the background observations are mutually compatible at the one sigma level with the model.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2016

Cosmology in massive gravity with effective composite metric

This paper is dedicated to scrutinizing the cosmology in massive gravity. A matter field of the dark sector is coupled to an effective composite metric while a standard matter field couples to the dynamical metric in the usual way. For this purpose, we study the dynamical system of cosmological solutions by using phase analysis, which provides an overview of the class of cosmological solutions in this setup. This also permits us to study the critical points of the cosmological equations together with their stability. We show the presence of stable attractor de Sitter critical points relevant to the late-time cosmic acceleration. Furthermore, we study the tensor, vector and scalar perturbations in the presence of standard matter fields and obtain the conditions for the absence of ghost and gradient instabilities. Hence, massive gravity in the presence of the effective composite metric can accommodate interesting dark energy phenomenology, that can be observationally distinguished from the standard model according to the expansion history and cosmic growth.

gr-qc↗