arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Miguel Megevand.
In previous work, we introduced the $\ell$-boson stars, a generalization of standard boson stars, which are parameterized by an angular momentum number $\ell$, while still preserving the spacetime's spherical symmetry. In this article, we present and study the properties of $\ell$-boson stars in spacetimes with a negative cosmological constant, such that they are asymptotically anti-de Sitter.
We present new spherically symmetric solutions of the Einstein-Klein-Gordon equations in a quasi-stationary approximation that describe self-gravitating scalar field configurations around a black hole, including angular momentum number $\ell$. An approach analogous to the one which gives rise to $\ell$-boson stars is used here to construct self-gravitating ``gravitational atoms" with $\ell\ge0$. We refer to these new solutions as {\it noble gravitational atoms}, by analogy with noble atoms, which are characterized by closed electron shells. We show that, in the proper limit, noble gravitational atoms approach $\ell$-boson stars globally, displaying noticeable differences only in a region very close to the event horizon. Noble gravitational atoms with $\ell>0$ sometimes present density maxima located at relatively large radii, with small density close to the horizon for $\ell>1$. Furthermore, they do not always present the typical density spike at the event horizon if $\ell > 0$; on the contrary, they sometimes exhibit a small dip there. When $\ell=0$, a spike can appear, but its contribution to the total mass density is always negligible. The size, density, and lifetime of these objects vary significantly depending on the parameters, being in some cases as large as galaxies, as dilute as dark matter, and as long-lived as the Universe itself.
We construct gravitational atoms including self-gravity, obtaining solutions of the Einstein-Klein-Gordon equations for a scalar field surrounding a non-rotating black hole in a quasi-stationary approximation. We resolve the region near the horizon as well as the far field region. Our results are relevant in a wide range of masses, from ultralight to MeV scalar fields and for black holes ranging from primordial to supermassive. For instance, a system with a scalar field consistent with ultralight dark matter and a black hole mass comparable to that of Sagittarius A* can be modeled. A density spike near the event horizon, although present, is negligible, contrasting with the prediction in [P. Gondolo and Silk, Phys. Rev. Lett., 83:1719-1722, 1999] for cold dark matter.
We construct boson star configurations in quantum field theory using the semiclassical gravity approximation. Restricting our attention to the static case, we show that the semiclassical Einstein-Klein-Gordon system for a {\it single real quantum} scalar field whose state describes the excitation of $N$ {\it identical particles}, each one corresponding to a given energy level, can be reduced to the Einstein-Klein-Gordon system for $N$ {\it complex classical} scalar fields. Particular consideration is given to the spherically symmetric static scenario, where energy levels are labeled by quantum numbers $n$, $\ell$ and $m$. When all particles are accommodated in the ground state $n=\ell=m=0$, one recovers the standard static boson star solutions, that can be excited if $n\neq 0$. On the other hand, for the case where all particles have fixed radial and total angular momentum numbers $n$ and $\ell$, with $\ell\neq 0$, but are homogeneously distributed with respect to their magnetic number $m$, one obtains the $\ell$-boson stars, whereas when $\ell=m=0$ and $n$ takes multiple values, the multi-state boson star solutions are obtained. Further generalizations of these configurations are presented, including the multi-$\ell$ multi-state boson stars, that constitute the most general solutions to the $N$-particle, static, spherically symmetric, semiclassical real Einstein-Klein-Gordon system, in which the total number of particles is definite. In spite of the fact that the same spacetime configurations also appear in multi-field classical theories, in semiclassical gravity they arise naturally as the quantum fluctuations associated with the state of a single field describing a many-body system. Our results could have potential impact on direct detection experiments in the context of ultralight scalar field/fuzzy dark matter candidates.
Fully non-linear numerical evolutions of the Einstein-(multi)--Klein-Gordon equations are performed to study head-on collisions of $\ell$-boson stars. Despite being spherically symmetric, $\ell$-boson stars have a (hidden) frame of reference, used in defining their individual multipolar fields. To assess the impact of their relative orientation, we perform simulations with different angles between the axes of the two colliding stars. Additionally, two scenarios are considered for the colliding stars: that they are composites of either the same or different scalar fields. Despite some model-specific behaviours, the simulations generically indicate that: 1) the collision of two sufficiently (and equally) massive stars leads to black hole formation; 2) below a certain mass threshold the end result of the evolution is a bound state of the composite scalar fields, that neither disperses nor collapses into a black hole within the simulation time; 3) this end product (generically) deviates from spherical symmetry and the equipartition of the number of bosonic particles between the different scalar fields composing the initial boson stars is lost, albeit not dramatically. This last observation indicates, albeit without being conclusive, that the end result of these collisions belongs to the previously reported larger family of equilibrium multi-field boson stars, generically non-spherical, and of which $\ell$-boson stars are a symmetry enhanced point. We also extract and discuss the waveforms from the collisions studied.
A new class of complex scalar field objects, which generalize the well known boson stars, was recently found as solutions to the Einstein-Klein-Gordon system. The generalization consists in incorporating some of the effects of angular momentum, while still maintaining the spacetime's spherical symmetry. These new solutions depend on an (integer) angular parameter $\ell$, and hence were named $\ell$-boson stars. Like the standard $\ell=0$ boson stars these configurations admit a stable branch in the solution space; however, contrary to them they have a morphology that presents a shell-like structure with a "hole" in the internal region. In this article we perform a thorough exploration of the parameter space, concentrating particularly on the extreme cases with large values of $\ell$. We show that the shells grow in size with the angular parameter, doing so linearly for large values, with the size growing faster than the thickness. Their mass also increases with $\ell$, but in such a way that their compactness, while also growing monotonically, converges to a finite value corresponding to about one half of the Buchdahl limit for stable configurations. Furthermore, we show that $\ell$-boson stars can be highly anisotropic, with the radial pressure diminishing relative to the tangential pressure for large $\ell$, reducing asymptotically to zero, and with the maximum density also approaching zero. We show that these properties can be understood by analyzing the asymptotic limit $\ell\rightarrow\infty$ of the field equations and their solutions. We also analyze the existence and characteristics of both timelike and null circular orbits, especially for very compact solutions.
In previous work we constructed new boson star solutions consisting of a family of massive complex scalar fields minimally coupled to gravity in which the individual fields have angular momentum, yet the configuration as a whole is static and spherically symmetric. In the present article we study the linear stability of these $\ell$-boson stars with respect to time-dependent, radial perturbations. The pulsation equations, governing the dynamics of such perturbations are derived, generalizing previous work initiated by M. Gleiser, and shown to give rise to a two-channel Schrödinger operator. Using standard tools from the literature, we show that for each fixed value $\ell$ of the angular momentum number, there exists a family of $\ell$-boson stars which are linearly stable with respect to radial fluctuations; in this case the perturbations oscillate in time with given characteristic frequencies which are computed and compared with the results from a nonlinear numerical simulation. Further, there is also a family of $\ell$-boson stars which are linearly unstable. The two families are separated by the configuration with maximum mass. These results are qualitatively similar to the corresponding stability results of the standard boson stars with $\ell=0$, and they imply the existence of new stable configurations that are more massive and compact than usual boson stars.
The present paper is a follow-up of our previous paper that derives a slightly simplified model equation for the Klein-Gordon equation, describing the propagation of a scalar field of mass $μ$ in the background of a rotating black hole and, among others, supports the instability of the field down to $a/M \approx 0.97$. The latter result was derived numerically. This paper gives corresponding rigorous results, supporting instability of the field down to $a/M \approx 0.979796$.
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.
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.
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.
Due to the numerical complexities of studying evolution in an anisotropic quantum spacetime, in comparison to the isotropic models, the physics of loop quantized anisotropic models has remained largely unexplored. In particular, robustness of bounce and the validity of effective dynamics have so far not been established. Our analysis fills these gaps for the case of vacuum Bianchi-I spacetime. To efficiently solve the quantum Hamiltonian constraint we perform an implementation of the Cactus framework which is conventionally used for applications in numerical relativity. Using high performance computing, numerical simulations for a large number of initial states with a wide variety of fluctuations are performed. Big bang singularity is found to be replaced by anisotropic bounces for all the cases. We find that for initial states which are sharply peaked at the late times in the classical regime and bounce at a mean volume much greater than the Planck volume, effective dynamics is an excellent approximation to the underlying quantum dynamics. Departures of the effective dynamics from the quantum evolution appear for the states probing deep Planck volumes. A detailed analysis of the behavior of this departure reveals a non-monotonic and subtle dependence on fluctuations of the initial states. We find that effective dynamics in almost all of the cases underestimates the volume and hence overestimates the curvature at the bounce, a result in synergy with earlier findings in isotropic case. The expansion and shear scalars are found to be bounded throughout the evolution.
In recent years, numerical simulations with Gaussian initial states have demonstrated the existence of a quantum bounce in loop quantum cosmology in various models. A key issue pertaining to the robustness of the bounce and the associated physics is to understand the quantum evolution for more general initial states which may depart significantly from Gaussianity and may have no well defined peakedness properties. The analysis of such states, including squeezed and highly non-Gaussian states, has been computationally challenging until now. In this manuscript, we overcome these challenges by using the Chimera scheme for the spatially flat, homogeneous and isotropic model sourced with a massless scalar field. We demonstrate that the quantum bounce in this model occurs even for states which are highly squeezed or are non-Gaussian with multiple peaks and with little resemblance to semi-classical states. The existence of the bounce is found to be robust, being independent of the properties of the states. The evolution of squeezed and non-Gaussian states turns out to be qualitatively similar to that of Gaussian states, and satisfies strong constraints on the growth of the relative fluctuations across the bounce. We also compare the results from the effective dynamics and find that, although it captures the qualitative aspects of the evolution for squeezed and highly non-Gaussian states, it always underestimates the bounce volume. We show that various properties of the evolution, such as the energy density at the bounce, are in excellent agreement with the predictions from an exactly solvable loop quantum cosmological model for arbitrary states.
Using the Green's function representation technique, the late time behavior of localized scalar field distributions on Schwarzschild spacetimes is studied. Assuming arbitrary initial data we perform a spectral analysis, computing the amplitude of each excited quasi-bound mode without the necessity of performing dynamical evolutions. The resulting superposition of modes is compared with a traditional numerical evolution with excellent agreement; therefore, we have an efficient way to determine final black hole wigs. The astrophysical relevance of the quasi-bound modes is discussed in the context of scalar field dark matter models and the axiverse.
The current early stage in the investigation of the stability of the Kerr metric is characterized by the study of appropriate model problems. Particularly interesting is the problem of the stability of the solutions of the Klein-Gordon equation, describing the propagation of a scalar field of mass $μ$ in the background of a rotating black hole. Rigorous results proof the stability of the reduced, by separation in the azimuth angle in Boyer-Lindquist coordinates, field for sufficiently large masses. Some, but not all, numerical investigations find instability of the reduced field for rotational parameters $a$ extremely close to 1. Among others, the paper derives a model problem for the equation which supports the instability of the field down to $a/M \approx 0.97$.
We study the evolution of a massive scalar field surrounding a Schwarzschild black hole and find configurations that can survive for arbitrarily long times, provided the black hole or the scalar field mass is small enough. In particular, both ultra-light scalar field dark matter around supermassive black holes and axion-like scalar fields around primordial black holes can survive for cosmological times. Moreover, these results are quite generic, in the sense that fairly arbitrary initial data evolves, at late times, as a combination of those long-lived configurations.
Classical scalar fields have been proposed as possible candidates for the dark matter component of the universe. Given the fact that super-massive black holes seem to exist at the center of most galaxies, in order to be a viable candidate for the dark matter halo a scalar field configuration should be stable in the presence of a central black hole, or at least be able to survive for cosmological time-scales. In the present work we consider a scalar field as a test field on a Schwarzschild background, and study under which conditions one can obtain long-lived configurations. We present a detailed study of the Klein-Gordon equation in the Schwarzschild spacetime, both from an analytical and numerical point of view, and show that indeed there exist quasi-stationary solutions that can remain surrounding a black hole for large time-scales.
We simulate the possible emission from a disk perturbed by a recoiling super-massive black hole. To this end, we study radiation transfer from the system incorporating bremsstrahlung emission from a Maxwellian plasma and absorption given by Kramer's opacity law modified to incorporate blackbody effects. We employ this model in the radiation transfer integration to compute the luminosity at several frequencies, and compare with previous bremsstrahlung luminosity estimations from a transparent limit (in which the emissivity is integrated over the computational domain and over all frequencies) and with a simple thermal emission model. We find close agreement between the radiation transfer results and the estimated bremsstrahlung luminosity from previous work for electromagnetic signals above $10^{14}$ Hz. For lower frequencies, we find a self-eclipsing behavior in the disk, resulting in a strong intensity variability connected to the orbital period of the disk.