arXiv subjects

Leonardo Gualtieri

Publications and source records attributed to Leonardo Gualtieri.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

Rotating proto-neutron stars: spin evolution, maximum mass and I-Love-Q relations

Shortly after its birth in a gravitational collapse, a proto-neutron star enters in a phase of quasi-stationary evolution characterized by large gradients of the thermodynamical variables and intense neutrino emission. In few tens of seconds the gradients smooth out while the star contracts and cools down, until it becomes a neutron star. In this paper we study this phase of the proto-neutron star life including rotation, and employing finite temperature equations of state. We model the evolution of the rotation rate, and determine the relevant quantities characterizing the star. Our results show that an isolated neutron star cannot reach, at the end of the evolution, the maximum values of mass and rotation rate allowed by the zero-temperature equation of state. Moreover, a mature neutron star evolved in isolation cannot rotate too rapidly, even if it is born from a proto-neutron star rotating at the mass-shedding limit. We also show that the I-Love-Q relations are violated in the first second of life, but they are satisfied as soon as the entropy gradients smooth out.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2014

Higher dimensional Numerical Relativity: code comparison

The nonlinear behavior of higher dimensional black hole spacetimes is of interest in several contexts, ranging from an understanding of cosmic censorship to black hole production in high-energy collisions. However, nonlinear numerical evolutions of higher dimensional black hole spacetimes are tremendously complex, involving different diagnostic tools and "dimensional reduction methods". In this work we compare two different successful codes to evolve Einstein's equations in higher dimensions, and show that the results of such different procedures agree to numerical precision, when applied to the collision from rest of two equal-mass black holes. We calculate the total radiated energy to be E/M=9x10^{-4} in five dimensions and E/M=8.1x10^{-4} in six dimensions.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

Constraining the equation of state of nuclear matter with gravitational wave observations: Tidal deformability and tidal disruption

We study how to extract information on the neutron star equation of state from the gravitational wave signal emitted during the coalescence of a binary system composed of two neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole. We use post-Newtonian templates which include the tidal deformability parameter and, when tidal disruption occurs before merger, a frequency cut-off. Assuming that this signal is detected by Advanced LIGO/Virgo or ET, we evaluate the uncertainties on these parameters using different data analysis strategies based on the Fisher matrix approach, and on recently obtained analytical fits of the relevant quantities. We find that the tidal deformability is more effective than the stellar compactness to discriminate among different possible equations of state.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

Equation-of-state-independent relations in neutron stars

Neutron stars are extremely relativistic objects which abound in our universe and yet are poorly understood, due to the high uncertainty on how matter behaves in the extreme conditions which prevail in the stellar core. It has recently been pointed out that the moment of inertia I, the Love number lambda and the spin-induced quadrupole moment Q of an isolated neutron star, are related through functions which are practically independent of the equation of state. These surprising universal I-lambda-Q relations pave the way for a better understanding of neutron stars, most notably via gravitational-wave emission. Gravitational-wave observations will probe highly-dynamical binaries and it is important to understand whether the universality of the I-lambda-Q relations survives strong-field and finite-size effects. We apply a Post-Newtonian-Affine approach to model tidal deformations in compact binaries and show that the I-lambda relation depends on the inspiral frequency, but is insensitive to the equation of state. We provide a fit for the universal relation, which is valid up to a gravitational wave frequency of ~900 Hz and accurate to within a few percent. Our results strengthen the universality of I-lambda-Q relations, and are relevant for gravitational-wave observations with advanced ground-based interferometers. We also discuss the possibility of using the Love-compactness relation to measure the neutron-star radius with an uncertainty of about 10% or smaller from gravitational-wave observations.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

Scalar, Electromagnetic and Gravitational Perturbations of Kerr-Newman Black Holes in the Slow-Rotation Limit

In Einstein-Maxwell theory, according to classic uniqueness theorems, the most general stationary black-hole solution is the axisymmetric Kerr-Newman metric, which is defined by three parameters: mass, spin and electric charge. The radial and angular dependence of gravitational and electromagnetic perturbations in the Kerr-Newman geometry do not seem to be separable. In this paper we circumvent this problem by studying scalar, electromagnetic and gravitational perturbations of Kerr-Newman black holes in the slow-rotation limit. We extend (and provide details of) the analysis presented in a recent Letter [arXiv:1304.1160]. Working at linear order in the spin, we present the first detailed derivation of the axial and polar perturbation equations in the gravito-electromagnetic case, and we compute the corresponding quasinormal modes for any value of the electric charge. Our study is the first self-consistent stability analysis of the Kerr-Newman metric, and in principle it can be extended to any order in the small rotation parameter. We find numerical evidence that the axial and polar sectors are isospectral at first order in the spin, and speculate on the possible implications of this result.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

Numerical simulations of single and binary black holes in scalar-tensor theories: circumventing the no-hair theorem

Scalar-tensor theories are a compelling alternative to general relativity and one of the most accepted extensions of Einstein's theory. Black holes in these theories have no hair, but could grow "wigs" supported by time-dependent boundary conditions or spatial gradients. Time-dependent or spatially varying fields lead in general to nontrivial black hole dynamics, with potentially interesting experimental consequences. We carry out a numerical investigation of the dynamics of single and binary black holes in the presence of scalar fields. In particular we study gravitational and scalar radiation from black-hole binaries in a constant scalar-field gradient, and we compare our numerical findings to analytical models. In the single black hole case we find that, after a short transient, the scalar field relaxes to static configurations, in agreement with perturbative calculations. Furthermore we predict analytically (and verify numerically) that accelerated black holes in a scalar-field gradient emit scalar radiation. For a quasicircular black-hole binary, our analytical and numerical calculations show that the dominant component of the scalar radiation is emitted at twice the binary's orbital frequency.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

Gravito-Electromagnetic Perturbations of Kerr-Newman Black Holes: Stability and Isospectrality in the Slow-Rotation Limit

The most general stationary black-hole solution of Einstein-Maxwell theory in vacuum is the Kerr-Newman metric, specified by three parameters: mass M, spin J and charge Q. Within classical general relativity, the most important and challenging open problem in black-hole perturbation theory is the study of gravitational and electromagnetic fields in the Kerr-Newman geometry, because of the indissoluble coupling of the perturbation functions. Here we circumvent this long-standing problem by working in the slow-rotation limit. We compute the quasinormal modes up to linear order in J for any value of Q and provide the first, fully-consistent stability analysis of the Kerr-Newman metric. For scalar perturbations the quasinormal modes can be computed exactly, and we demonstrate that the method is accurate within 3% for spins J/Jmax<~0.5, where Jmax is the maximum allowed spin for any value of Q. Quite remarkably, we find numerical evidence that the axial and polar sectors of the gravito-electromagnetic perturbations are isospectral to linear order in the spin. The extension of our results to nonasymptotically flat space-times could be useful in the context of gauge/gravity dualities and string theory.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

MG13 proceedings: On the validity of the adiabatic approximation in compact binary inspirals

We use the post-Newtonian-Affine model to assess the validity of the adiabatic approximation in modeling tidal effects in the phase evolution of compact binary systems. We compute the dynamical evolution of the tidal tensor, which we estimate at the 2 PN order, and of the quadrupole tensor, finding that their ratio, i.e. the tidal deformability, increases in the last phases of the inspiral. We derive the gravitational wave phase corrections due to this phenomenon and quantify how they affect gravitational wave detectability.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2012

Perturbations of slowly rotating black holes: massive vector fields in the Kerr metric

We discuss a general method to study linear perturbations of slowly rotating black holes which is valid for any perturbation field, and particularly advantageous when the field equations are not separable. As an illustration of the method we investigate massive vector (Proca) perturbations in the Kerr metric, which do not appear to be separable in the standard Teukolsky formalism. Working in a perturbative scheme, we discuss two important effects induced by rotation: a Zeeman-like shift of nonaxisymmetric quasinormal modes and bound states with different azimuthal number m, and the coupling between axial and polar modes with different multipolar index l. We explicitly compute the perturbation equations up to second order in rotation, but in principle the method can be extended to any order. Working at first order in rotation we show that polar and axial Proca modes can be computed by solving two decoupled sets of equations, and we derive a single master equation describing axial perturbations of spin s=0 and s=+-1. By extending the calculation to second order we can study the superradiant regime of Proca perturbations in a self-consistent way. For the first time we show that Proca fields around Kerr black holes exhibit a superradiant instability, which is significantly stronger than for massive scalar fields. Because of this instability, astrophysical observations of spinning black holes provide the tightest upper limit on the mass of the photon: mv<4x10^-20 eV under our most conservative assumptions. Spin measurements for the largest black holes could reduce this bound to mv<10^-22 eV or lower.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2012

Black-Hole Bombs and Photon-Mass Bounds

Generic extensions of the standard model predict the existence of ultralight bosonic degrees of freedom. Several ongoing experiments are aimed at detecting these particles or constraining their mass range. Here we show that massive vector fields around rotating black holes can give rise to a strong superradiant instability which extracts angular momentum from the hole. The observation of supermassive spinning black holes imposes limits on this mechanism. We show that current supermassive black hole spin estimates provide the tightest upper limits on the mass of the photon (mv<4x10^{-20} eV according to our most conservative estimate), and that spin measurements for the largest known supermassive black holes could further lower this bound to mv<10^{-22} eV. Our analysis relies on a novel framework to study perturbations of rotating Kerr black holes in the slow-rotation regime, that we developed up to second order in rotation, and that can be extended to other spacetime metrics and other theories.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2012

Light scalar field constraints from gravitational-wave observations of compact binaries

Scalar-tensor theories are among the simplest extensions of general relativity. In theories with light scalars, deviations from Einstein's theory of gravity are determined by the scalar mass m_s and by a Brans-Dicke-like coupling parameter ω_{BD}. We show that gravitational-wave observations of nonspinning neutron star-black hole binary inspirals can be used to set lower bounds on ω_{BD} and upper bounds on the combination m_s/\sqrt{ω_{BD}}$. We estimate via a Fisher matrix analysis that individual observations with signal-to-noise ratio ρwould yield (m_s/\sqrt{ω_{BD}})(ρ/10)<10^{-15}, 10^{-16} and 10^{-19} eV for Advanced LIGO, ET and eLISA, respectively. A statistical combination of multiple observations may further improve these bounds.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2012

Dynamics of black holes in de Sitter spacetimes

Nonlinear dynamics in cosmological backgrounds has the potential to teach us immensely about our universe, and also to serve as prototype for nonlinear processes in generic curved spacetimes. Here we report on dynamical evolutions of black holes in asymptotically de Sitter spacetimes. We focus on the head-on collision of equal mass binaries and for the first time compare analytical and perturbative methods with full blown nonlinear simulations. Our results include an accurate determination of the merger/scatter transition (consequence of an expanding background) for small mass binaries and a test of the Cosmic Censorship conjecture, for large mass binaries. We observe that, even starting from small separations, black holes in large mass binaries eventually lose causal contact, in agreement with the conjecture.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2012

NR/HEP: roadmap for the future

Physics in curved spacetime describes a multitude of phenomena, ranging from astrophysics to high energy physics. The last few years have witnessed further progress on several fronts, including the accurate numerical evolution of the gravitational field equations, which now allows highly nonlinear phenomena to be tamed. Numerical relativity simulations, originally developed to understand strong field astrophysical processes, could prove extremely useful to understand high-energy physics processes like trans-Planckian scattering and gauge-gravity dualities. We present a concise and comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art and important open problems in the field(s), along with guidelines for the next years. This writeup is a summary of the "NR/HEP Workshop" held in Madeira, Portugal from August 31st to September 3rd 2011.

hep-th↗

arXiv2011

Floating and sinking: the imprint of massive scalars around rotating black holes

We study the coupling of massive scalar fields to matter in orbit around rotating black holes. It is generally expected that orbiting bodies will lose energy in gravitational waves, slowly inspiralling into the black hole. Instead, we show that the coupling of the field to matter leads to a surprising effect: because of superradiance, matter can hover into "floating orbits" for which the net gravitational energy loss at infinity is entirely provided by the black hole's rotational energy. Orbiting bodies remain floating until they extract sufficient angular momentum from the black hole, or until perturbations or nonlinear effects disrupt the orbit. For slowly rotating and nonrotating black holes floating orbits are unlikely to exist, but resonances at orbital frequencies corresponding to quasibound states of the scalar field can speed up the inspiral, so that the orbiting body "sinks". These effects could be a smoking gun of deviations from general relativity.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2011

Higher-dimensional puncture initial data

We calculate puncture initial data, corresponding to single and binary black holes with linear momenta, which solve the constraint equations of D dimensional vacuum gravity. The data are generated by a modification of the pseudo-spectral code presented in arXiv:gr-qc/0404056 and made available as the TwoPunctures thorn inside the Cactus computational toolkit. As examples, we exhibit convergence plots, the violation of the Hamiltonian constraint as well as the initial data for D=4,5,6,7. These initial data are the starting point to perform high energy collisions of black holes in D dimensions.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2011

Gravitational waves from extreme mass-ratio inspirals in Dynamical Chern-Simons gravity

Dynamical Chern-Simons gravity is an interesting extension of General Relativity, which finds its way in many different contexts, including string theory, cosmological settings and loop quantum gravity. In this theory, the gravitational field is coupled to a scalar field by a parity-violating term, which gives rise to characteristic signatures. Here we investigate how Chern-Simons gravity would affect the quasi-circular inspiralling of a small, stellar-mass object into a large non-rotating supermassive black hole, and the accompanying emission of gravitational and scalar waves. We find the relevant equations describing the perturbation induced by the small object, and we solve them through the use of Green's function techniques. Our results show that for a wide range of coupling parameters, the Chern-Simons coupling gives rise to an increase in total energy flux, which translates into a fewer number of gravitational-wave cycles over a certain bandwidth. For space-based gravitational-wave detectors such as LISA, this effect can be used to constrain the coupling parameter effectively.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2011

Head-on collisions of unequal mass black holes in D=5 dimensions

We study head-on collisions of unequal mass black hole binaries in D=5 space-time dimensions, with mass ratios between 1:1 and 1:4. Information about gravitational radiation is extracted by using the Kodama-Ishibashi gauge-invariant formalism and details of the apparent horizon of the final black hole. For the first time, we present waveforms, total integrated energy and momentum for this process. Our results show surprisingly good agreement, within 5% or less, with those extrapolated from linearized, point-particle calculations. Our results also show that consistency with the area theorem bound requires that the same process in a large number of spacetime dimensions must display new features.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2010

Numerical relativity for D dimensional space-times: head-on collisions of black holes and gravitational wave extraction

Black objects in higher dimensional space-times have a remarkably richer structure than their four dimensional counterparts. They appear in a variety of configurations (e.g. black holes, black branes, black rings, black Saturns), and display complex stability phase diagrams. They might also play a key role in high energy physics: for energies above the fundamental Planck scale, gravity is the dominant interaction which, together with the hoop-conjecture, implies that the trans-Planckian scattering of point particles should be well described by black hole scattering. Higher dimensional scenarios with a fundamental Planck scale of the order of TeV predict, therefore, black hole production at the LHC, as well as in future colliders with yet higher energies. In this setting, accurate predictions for the production cross-section and energy loss (through gravitational radiation) in the formation of black holes in parton-parton collisions is crucial for accurate phenomenological modelling in Monte Carlo event generators. In this paper, we use the formalism and numerical code reported in arXiv:1001.2302 to study the head-on collision of two black holes. For this purpose we provide a detailed treatment of gravitational wave extraction in generic D-dimensional space-times, which uses the Kodama-Ishibashi formalism. For the first time, we present the results of numerical simulations of the head-on collision in five space-time dimensions, together with the relevant physical quantities. We show that the total radiated energy, when two black holes collide from rest at infinity, is approximately (0.089\pm 0.006)% of the centre of mass energy, slightly larger than the 0.055% obtained in the four dimensional case, and that the ringdown signal at late time is in very good agreement with perturbative calculations.

gr-qc↗