arXiv subjects

Leo C. Stein

Publications and source records attributed to Leo C. Stein.

68 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Prescriptions for measuring and transporting local angular momenta in general relativity

For observers in curved spacetimes, elements of the dual space of the set of linearized Poincaré transformations from an observer's tangent space to itself can be naturally interpreted as local linear and angular momenta. We present an operational procedure by which observers can measure such quantities using only information about the spacetime curvature at their location. When applied by observers near spacelike or null infinity in stationary, vacuum, asymptotically flat spacetimes, there is a sense in which the procedure yields the well-defined linear and angular momenta of the spacetime. We also describe a general method by which observers can transport local linear and angular momenta from one point to another, which improves previous prescriptions. This transport is not path independent in general, but becomes path independent for the measured momenta in the same limiting regime. The transport prescription is defined in terms of differential equations, but it can also be interpreted as parallel transport in a particular direct-sum vector bundle. Using the curvature of the connection on this bundle, we compute and discuss the holonomy of the transport law. We anticipate that these measurement and transport definitions may ultimately prove useful for clarifying the physical interpretation of the Bondi-Metzner-Sachs charges of asymptotically flat spacetimes.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2015

Challenging the Presence of Scalar Charge and Dipolar Radiation in Binary Pulsars

Corrections to general relativity that introduce long-ranged scalar fields which are non-minimally coupled to curvature typically predict that neutron stars possess a non-trivial scalar field profile. An observer far from a star is most sensitive to the spherically-symmetric piece of this profile that decays linearly with the inverse of the distance, the so-called scalar charge, which is related to the emission of dipolar radiation from compact binaries. The presence of dipolar radiation has the potential to very strongly constrain extended theories of gravity. These facts may lead people to believe that gravitational theories with long-ranged scalar fields have already been constrained strongly from binary pulsar observations. Here we challenge this "lore" by investigating the decoupling limit of Gauss-Bonnet gravity as an example, in which the scalar field couples linearly to the Gauss-Bonnet density in the action. We prove a theorem that neutron stars in this theory cannot possess a scalar charge. Thus Gauss-Bonnet gravity evades the strong binary pulsar constraints on dipole radiation. We discuss the astrophysical systems yielding the best constraints on Gauss-Bonnet gravity and related quadratic gravity theories. To achieve this we explicitly compute the scalar charge for slowly-rotating neutron stars in quadratic gravity theories. In generic case, either neutron star-binary or neutron star-black hole systems can be used to constrain the theory, but Gauss-Bonnet gravity evades the neutron star-binary constraints. However, black holes in Gauss-Bonnet gravity do anchor scalar charge. The best constraints on Gauss-Bonnet gravity will thus come from black hole observations, for example via pulsar-black hole binaries. We estimate these constraints to be ten times better than the current estimated bound, and also include estimated constraints on generic quadratic gravity theories.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2015

Testing General Relativity with Present and Future Astrophysical Observations

One century after its formulation, Einstein's general relativity has made remarkable predictions and turned out to be compatible with all experimental tests. Most of these tests probe the theory in the weak-field regime, and there are theoretical and experimental reasons to believe that general relativity should be modified when gravitational fields are strong and spacetime curvature is large. The best astrophysical laboratories to probe strong-field gravity are black holes and neutron stars, whether isolated or in binary systems. We review the motivations to consider extensions of general relativity. We present a (necessarily incomplete) catalog of modified theories of gravity for which strong-field predictions have been computed and contrasted to Einstein's theory, and we summarize our current understanding of the structure and dynamics of compact objects in these theories. We discuss current bounds on modified gravity from binary pulsar and cosmological observations, and we highlight the potential of future gravitational wave measurements to inform us on the behavior of gravity in the strong-field regime.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2015

Post-Newtonian, Quasi-Circular Binary Inspirals in Quadratic Modified Gravity

We consider a general class of quantum gravity-inspired, modified gravity theories, where the Einstein-Hilbert action is extended through the addition of all terms quadratic in the curvature tensor coupled to scalar fields with standard kinetic energy. This class of theories includes Einstein-Dilaton-Gauss-Bonnet and Chern-Simons modified gravity as special cases. We analytically derive and solve the coupled field equations in the post-Newtonian approximation, assuming a comparable-mass, spinning black hole binary source in a quasi-circular, weak-field/slow-motion orbit. We find that a naive subtraction of divergent piece associated with the point-particle approximation is ill-suited to represent compact objects in these theories. Instead, we model them by appropriate effective sources built so that known strong-field solutions are reproduced in the far-field limit. In doing so, we prove that black holes in Einstein-Dilaton-Gauss-Bonnet and Chern-Simons theory can have hair, while neutron stars have no scalar monopole charge, in diametrical opposition to results in scalar-tensor theories. We then employ techniques similar to the direct integration of the relaxed Einstein equations to obtain analytic expressions for the scalar field, metric perturbation, and the associated gravitational wave luminosity measured at infinity. We find that scalar field emission mainly dominates the energy flux budget, sourcing electric-type (even-parity) dipole scalar radiation and magnetic-type (odd-parity) quadrupole scalar radiation, correcting the General Relativistic prediction at relative -1PN and 2PN orders. Such modifications lead to corrections in the emitted gravitational waves that can be mapped to the parameterized post-Einsteinian framework. Such modifications could be strongly constrained with gravitational wave observations.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2015

Slimplectic Integrators: Variational Integrators for General Nonconservative Systems

Symplectic integrators are widely used for long-term integration of conservative astrophysical problems due to their ability to preserve the constants of motion; however, they cannot in general be applied in the presence of nonconservative interactions. In this Letter, we develop the "slimplectic" integrator, a new type of numerical integrator that shares many of the benefits of traditional symplectic integrators yet is applicable to general nonconservative systems. We utilize a fixed time-step variational integrator formalism applied to the principle of stationary nonconservative action developed in Galley, 2013; Galley, Tsang & Stein, 2014. As a result, the generalized momenta and energy (Noether current) evolutions are well-tracked. We discuss several example systems, including damped harmonic oscillators, Poynting-Robertson drag, and gravitational radiation reaction, by utilizing our new publicly available code to demonstrate the slimplectic integrator algorithm. Slimplectic integrators are well-suited for integrations of systems where nonconservative effects play an important role in the long-term dynamical evolution. As such they are particularly appropriate for cosmological or celestial N-body dynamics problems where nonconservative interactions, e.g. gas interactions or dissipative tides, can play an important role.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2014

The principle of stationary nonconservative action for classical mechanics and field theories

We further develop a recently introduced variational principle of stationary action for problems in nonconservative classical mechanics and extend it to classical field theories. The variational calculus used is consistent with an initial value formulation of physical problems and allows for time-irreversible processes, such as dissipation, to be included at the level of the action. In this formalism, the equations of motion are generated by extremizing a nonconservative action $\mathcal{S}$, which is a functional of a doubled set of degrees of freedom. The corresponding nonconservative Lagrangian contains a potential $K$ which generates nonconservative forces and interactions. Such a nonconservative potential can arise in several ways, including from an open system interacting with inaccessible degrees of freedom or from integrating out or coarse-graining a subset of variables in closed systems. We generalize Noether's theorem to show how Noether currents are modified and no longer conserved when $K$ is non-vanishing. Consequently, the nonconservative aspects of a physical system are derived solely from $K$. We show how to use the formalism with examples of nonconservative actions for discrete systems including forced damped harmonic oscillators, radiation reaction on an accelerated charge, and RLC circuits. We present examples for nonconservative classical field theories. Our approach naturally allows for irreversible thermodynamic processes to be included in an unconstrained variational principle. We present the nonconservative action for a Navier-Stokes fluid including the effects of viscous dissipation and heat diffusion, as well as an action that generates the Maxwell model for viscoelastic materials, which can be easily generalized to more realistic rheological models. We show that the nonconservative action can be derived as the classical limit of a more complete quantum theory.

math-ph↗

arXiv2014

Why I-Love-Q

Black holes are said to have no hair because all of their multipole moments can be expressed in terms of just their mass, charge and spin angular momentum. The recent discovery of approximately equation-of-state-independent relations among certain multipole moments in neutron stars suggests that they are also approximately bald. We here explore the yet unknown origin for this universality. First, we investigate which region of the neutron star's interior and of the equation of state is most responsible for the universality. We find that the universal relation between the moment of inertia and the quadrupole moment is dominated by the star's outer-core, a shell of width (50-95)% of the total radius, which corresponds to the density range $(10^{14}$-$10^{15})$g/cm$^3$. Second, we study the impact on the universality of approximating stellar isodensity contours as self-similar ellipsoids. An analytical calculation in the Newtonian limit reveals that the shape of the ellipsoids does not affect the universal relations, but relaxing the self-similarity assumption can completely destroy it. Third, we investigate the eccentricity profiles of rotating relativistic stars and find that the ellipticity is roughly constant, with variations of roughly (20-30)% in the region that matters to the universal relations. Fourth, we repeat the above analysis for non-compact, regular stars and find that the ellipticity is not constant, with variations that easily exceed 100% and universality is lost. These findings suggest that universality arises as an emergent approximate symmetry: as one flows in the stellar-structure phase space from non-compact star region to the relativistic star region, the eccentricity variation inside stars decreases, leading to approximate self-similarity in their isodensity contours, which then leads to the universal behavior observed in their exterior multipole moments.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2014

Rapidly rotating black holes in dynamical Chern-Simons gravity: Decoupling limit solutions and breakdown

Rapidly rotating black holes are a prime arena for understanding corrections to Einstein's theory of general relativity (GR). We construct solutions for rapidly rotating black holes in dynamical Chern-Simons (dCS) gravity, a useful and motivated example of a post-GR correction. We treat dCS as an effective theory and thus work in the decoupling limit, where we apply a perturbation scheme using the Kerr metric as the background solution. Using the solutions to the scalar field and the trace of the metric perturbation, we determine the regime of validity of our perturbative approach. We find that the maximal spin limit may be divergent, and the decoupling limit is strongly restricted for rapid rotation. Rapidly-rotating stellar-mass BHs can potentially be used to place strong bounds on the coupling parameter $\ell$ of dCS. In order for the black hole observed in GRO J1655-40 to be within the decoupling limit we need $\ell \lesssim 22$ km, a value 7 orders of magnitude smaller than present Solar System bounds on dynamical Chern-Simons gravity.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2014

Note on Legendre decomposition of the Pontryagin density in Kerr

In arXiv:1406.0957v1 ("Scalar field excited around a rapidly rotating black hole in Chern-Simons modified gravity"), Konno and Takahashi have recently developed some analytical results for the scalar field about a Kerr black hole in the decoupling limit of dynamical Chern-Simons gravity. This involved a decomposition of the source (the Pontryagin density) in terms of Legendre polynomials. Here we give a two-line expression for this decomposition which simplifies their quadruple sum. Our expressions are rational polynomials multiplying Legendre functions of the second kind, or equivalently rational polynomials multiplying hypergeometric functions.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2014

Three-Hair Relations for Rotating Stars: Nonrelativistic Limit

The gravitational field outside of astrophysical black holes is completely described by their mass and spin frequency, as expressed by the no-hair theorems. These theorems assume vacuum spacetimes, and thus they apply only to black holes and not to stars. Despite this, we analytically find that the gravitational potential of arbitrarily rapid rigidly rotating stars can still be described completely by only their mass, spin angular momentum, and quadrupole moment. Although these results are obtained in the nonrelativistic limit (to leading order in a weak-field expansion of general relativity, GR), they are also consistent with fully relativistic numerical calculations of rotating neutron stars. This description of the gravitational potential outside the source in terms of just three quantities is approximately universal (independent of equation of state). Such universality may be used to break degeneracies in pulsar and future gravitational wave observations to extract more physics and test GR in the strong-field regime.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2014

Parametrizing and constraining scalar corrections to general relativity

We parametrize a large class of corrections to general relativity which include a long-ranged gravitational scalar field as a dynamical degree of freedom in two ways: parametrizing the structure of the correction to the action, and parametrizing the scalar hair (multipole structure) that compact objects and black holes attain. The presence of this scalar hair violates the no-hair theorems present in general relativity, which leads to several important effects. The effects we consider are (i) the interaction between an isolated body and an external scalar field, (ii) the scalar multipole-multipole interaction between two bodies in a compact binary, (iii) the additional pericenter precession of a binary, (iv) the scalar radiation from a binary, and (v) the modification to the gravitational wave phase from a binary. We apply this framework to example theories including Einstein-dilaton-Gauss-Bonnet gravity and dynamical Chern-Simons gravity, and estimate the size of the effects. Finally, we estimate the bounds that can be placed on parameters of the theories from the precession of pulsar binaries and from gravitational waves.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2011

The Geometry of Hamiltonian Monte Carlo

With its systematic exploration of probability distributions, Hamiltonian Monte Carlo is a potent Markov Chain Monte Carlo technique; it is an approach, however, ultimately contingent on the choice of a suitable Hamiltonian function. By examining both the symplectic geometry underlying Hamiltonian dynamics and the requirements of Markov Chain Monte Carlo, we construct the general form of admissible Hamiltonians and propose a particular choice with potential application in Bayesian inference.

stat.ME↗

arXiv2011

Non-Spinning Black Holes in Alternative Theories of Gravity

We study two large classes of alternative theories, modifying the action through algebraic, quadratic curvature invariants coupled to scalar fields. We find one class that admits solutions that solve the vacuum Einstein equations and another that does not. In the latter, we find a deformation to the Schwarzschild metric that solves the modified field equations in the small coupling approximation. We calculate the event horizon shift, the innermost stable circular orbit shift, and corrections to gravitational waves, mapping them to the parametrized post-Einsteinian framework.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2011

Effective Gravitational Wave Stress-energy Tensor in Alternative Theories of Gravity

The inspiral of binary systems in vacuum is controlled by the stress-energy of gravitational radiation and any other propagating degrees of freedom. For gravitational waves, the dominant contribution is characterized by an effective stress-energy tensor at future null infinity. We employ perturbation theory and the short-wavelength approximation to compute this stress-energy tensor in a wide class of alternative theories. We find that this tensor is generally a modification of that first computed by Isaacson, where the corrections can dominate over the general relativistic term. In a wide class of theories, however, these corrections identically vanish at asymptotically flat, future, null infinity, reducing the stress-energy tensor to Isaacson's. We exemplify this phenomenon by first considering dynamical Chern-Simons modified gravity, which corrects the action via a scalar field and the contraction of the Riemann tensor and its dual. We then consider a wide class of theories with dynamical scalar fields coupled to higher-order curvature invariants, and show that the gravitational wave stress-energy tensor still reduces to Isaacson's. The calculations presented in this paper are crucial to perform systematic tests of such modified gravity theories through the orbital decay of binary pulsars or through gravitational wave observations.

gr-qc↗