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M. Novello

Publications and source records attributed to M. Novello.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

A Spinor Theory of Gravity and the Cosmological Framework

Recently we have presented a new formulation of the theory of gravity based on an implementation of the Einstein Equivalence Principle distinct from General Relativity. The kinetic part of the theory - that describes how matter is affected by the modified geometry due to the gravitational field - is the same as in General Relativity. However, we do not consider the metric as an independent field. Instead, it is an effective one, constructed in terms of two fundamental spinor fields $Ψ$ and $Υ$ and thus the metric does not have a dynamics of its own, but inherits its evolution through its relation with the fundamental spinors. In the first paper it was shown that the metric that describes the gravitational field generated by a compact static and spherically symmetric configuration is very similar to the Schwarzschild metric. In the present paper we describe the cosmological framework in the realm of the Spinor Theory of Gravity.

gr-qc↗

Nonlinear electrodynamics and the Pioneer 10/11 spacecraft anomaly

The occurrence of the phenomenon known as photon acceleration is a natural prediction of nonlinear electrodynamics (NLED). This would appear as an anomalous frequency shift in any modeling of the electromagnetic field that only takes into account the classical Maxwell theory. Thus, it is tempting to address the unresolved anomalous, steady; but time-dependent, blueshift of the Pioneer 10/11 spacecrafts within the framework of NLED. Here we show that astrophysical data on the strength of the magnetic field in both the Galaxy and the local (super)cluster of galaxies support the view on the major Pioneer anomaly as a consequence of the phenomenon of photon acceleration. If confirmed, through further observations or lab experiments, the reality of this phenomenon should prompt to take it into account in any forthcoming research on both cosmological evolution and origin and dynamical effects of primordial magnetic fields, whose seeds are estimated to be very weak.

astro-ph↗

Cosmological Effects of Nonlinear Electrodynamics

It will be shown that a given realization of nonlinear electrodynamics, used as source of Einstein's equations, generates a cosmological model with interesting features, namely a phase of current cosmic acceleration, and the absence of an initial singularity, thus pointing to a way to solve two important problems in cosmology.

gr-qc↗

Spinor Theory of Gravity

The proposal of this work is to provide an answer to the following question: is it possible to treat the metric of space-time - that in General Relativity (GR) describes the gravitational interaction - as an effective geometry? In other words, to obtain the dynamics of the metric tensor as a consequence of the dynamics of other fields. In this work we will use a slight modfication of the non-linear equation of motion of a spinor field proposed some years ago by Heisenberg, although in a completely distinct context, to obtain a field theory that provides a framework equivalent to the way GR represents the gravitational interaction. In particular we exhibit a solution of the equations of motion that represents the gravitational field of a compact object and compare it with the corresponding Schwarzschild solution of General Relativity.

gr-qc↗

A toy model of a fake inflation

Discontinuities in non linear field theories propagate through null geodesics in an effective metric that depends on its dynamics and on the background geometry. Once information of the geometry of the universe comes mostly from photons, one should carefully analyze the effects of possible nonlinearities on Electrodynamics in the cosmic geometry. Such phenomenon of induced metric is rather general and may occurs for any nonlinear theory independently of its spin properties. We limit our analysis here to the simplest case of non linear scalar field. We show that a class of theories that have been analyzed in the literature, having regular configuration in the Minkowski space-time background is such that the field propagates like free waves in an effective deSitter geometry. The observation of these waves would led us to infer, erroneously, that we live in a deSitter universe.

astro-ph↗

The mass of the graviton and the cosmological constant puzzle

We propose an interpretation of the cosmological constant puzzle - i.e., the enormous value of the ratio $ρ_{Pl}/ρ_{vac} \approx 10^{120} $- in terms of the total number of gravitons in the observable universe based on a recently discovered relationship between $Λ$ and the mass $m_{g}$ of the graviton.

astro-ph↗

Extended Born-Infeld Dynamics and Cosmology

We introduce an extension of the Born-Infeld action for a scalar field and show that it can act as unifying-dark-matter, providing an explanation for both structure formation and the accelerated expansion of the universe. We investigate the cosmological dynamics of this theory in a particular case, referred as the "Milne-Born-Infeld" (MBI) Lagrangian. We show that this model, whose equation of state has effectively a single free parameter, is consistent with recent type Ia supernovae data, providing a fit as good as for the $Λ$CDM model with the same number of degrees of freedom. Furthermore, this parameter is tightly constrained by current data, making the model easily testable with other observables. Contrary to previous candidates for unifying-dark-matter, the sound velocity of the MBI model is vanishing both close to the dark matter state as well as near the cosmological constant state. This could avoid the problems on the matter power spectrum that were present in previous adiabatic dark-matter/dark-energy unification models. We also present a short discussion on the causal propagation in nonlinear scalar field theories such as the one proposed here.

astro-ph↗

Non-linear electrodynamics and the acceleration of the universe

It is shown that the addition of a non-linear term to the Lagrangian of the electromagnetic field yields a fluid with an asymptotically super-negative equation of state, causing an accelerated expansion of the universe. Some general properties of nonlinear electromagnetism in cosmology are also discussed.

astro-ph↗

The stability of a bouncing universe

We investigate the stability of a spatially homogeneous and isotropic non-singular cosmological model. We show that the complete set of independent perturbations (the electric part of the perturbed Weyl tensor and the perturbed shear) are regular and well behaved functions which have no divergences, contrary to previous claims in the literature.

hep-th↗

Causality and charged spin-2 fields in an electromagnetic background

We show that, contrary to common belief, the propagation of a spin-2 field in an electromagnetic background is {\em causal}. The proof will be given in the Fierz formalism which, as we shall see, is free of the ambiguity present in the more usual Einstein representation. We shall also review the proof in this latter representation.

hep-th↗

Effective Geometry

We introduce the concept of effective geometry by studying several systems in which it arises naturally. As an example of the power and conciseness of the method, it is shown that a flowing dielectric medium with a linear response to an external electric field can be used to generate an analog geometry that has many of the formal properties of a \Sch black hole for light rays, in spite of birefringence. The surface gravity of this analog black hole has a contribution that depends only on the dielectric properties of the fluid (in addition to the usual term dependent on the acceleration). This term may be give a hint to a new mechanism to increase the temperature of Hawking radiation.

gr-qc↗

Analog black holes in flowing dielectrics

We show that a flowing dielectric medium with a linear response to an external electric field can be used to generate an analog geometry that has many of the formal properties of a Schwarzschild black hole for light rays, in spite of birefringence. We also discuss the possibility of generating these analog black holes in the laboratory.

gr-qc↗

Geometrical description of spin-2 fields

We show that the torsion of a Cartan geometry can be associated to two spin-2 fields. This structure allows a new approach to deal with the proposal of geometrization of spin-2 fields besides the traditional one dealt with in General Relativity. We use the associated Hilbert-Einstein Lagrangian $R$ for generating a dynamics for the fields.

gr-qc↗

The mass of the graviton and the cosmological constant

We show that the graviton acquires a mass in a de Sitter background given by $m_{g}^{2}=-{2/3}Λ.$ This is precisely the fine-tuning value required for the perturbed gravitational field to mantain its two degrees of freedom.

gr-qc↗

Analysis of static and spherically-symmetric solutions in NDL theory of gravitation

We investigate a static solution with spherical symmetry of a recently proposed field theory of gravitation. In this so-called NDL theory, matter interacts with gravity in accordance with the Weak Equivalence Principle, while gravitons have a nonlinear self-interaction. It is shown that the predictions of NDL agree with those of General Relativity in the three classic tests. However, there are potential differences in the strong-field limit, which we illustrate by proving that this theory does not allow the existence of static and spherically symmetric black holes.

gr-qc↗