arXiv subjects

Mikhail S. Volkov

Publications and source records attributed to Mikhail S. Volkov.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Stationary generalizations for the vacuum ring wormhole

The ring wormhole is the zero-mass limit of the Kerr metric. Its geometry is locally flat, but the topology is nontrivial, with a throat connecting two asymptotic regions and a distributional curvature singularity on the ring encircling the throat. We construct stationary generalizations of this static wormhole that are different from Kerr and invariant under reflections across the wormhole throat. The problem reduces to solving the vacuum Ernst equations subject to the corresponding symmetry conditions. The slowly rotating perturbative solutions were constructed previously, while we now present a detailed analysis of non-perturbative solutions obtained within a numerical framework. For slow rotation, they exhibit the non-relativistic relation $M\sim J^2$ between the mass and angular momentum, which transforms into the Regge relation $J=M^2$ in the fast-rotation regime, when $J\to\infty$ and the ring is stretched without bound by the centrifugal force. However, if the ring size in the static limit is sent to zero at the same time, then $M$ and $J$ remain bounded as the throat linear velocity approaches unity. The wormhole geometry then approaches the extremal Kerr solution, thus ``mimicking'' it. The wormholes carry a curvature singularity at the ring, but this can be removed by via simple ``scalarization'' procedure that promotes the vacuum solutions to regular wormholes with a phantom scalar field.

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arXiv2025

Chaos in Horndeski cosmologies

We analyze how a scalar field can affect the chaotic behaviour of homogeneous and isotropic Bianchi IX cosmologies. It is known that a massless, minimally coupled scalar field removes the chaos. However, in more general Horndeski theories, the situation is more complex. We find that in shift-symmetric $K$-essence theories, chaos persists if the scalar field contribution to the initial-value constraint is {\it subleading} compared to that of the anisotropies. In this case, solutions oscillate as they approach the singularity, just as in the vacuum case, and a similar behaviour is found when a non-minimal coupling is included. If the scalar field contribution is not subleading, then chaos is removed and the singularity is approached smoothly. An unusual and entirely new result appears when changing the sign in front of the scalar kinetic term, yielding the theory of a phantom scalar. If the scalar field is subleading, then solutions remain chaotic and oscillate when approaching the singularity, as before. However, if the scalar field is not subleading, solutions are also chaotic, but the spacetime singularity disappears, and the universe behaves as an apparently infinite sequence of anisotropic bounces. The spatial volume then oscillates within finite bounds, never reaching zero, while the amplitudes and positions of these oscillations appear completely random. To the best of our knowledge, this type of chaos has never been described.

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arXiv2025

Black holes with electroweak hair -- the detailed derivation

We present a very detailed derivation of solutions describing hairy black holes within the gravity-coupled Weinberg-Salam theory, which were previously reported in \href{https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.171402}{Phys.Rev.Lett. 133 (2024) 171402}. These black holes support a strong magnetic field that polarizes the electroweak vacuum and creates a condensate of massive fields carrying superconducting currents along the black hole horizon. The currents, in turn, generate a ``corona'' of magnetic vortex segments attached to the horizon at both ends. The condensate and corona together constitute the black hole hair. The extremal solutions approach, in the far field, the magnetic Reissner-Nordström configuration, with a total mass that is {\it lower} than the total charge, $M<|Q|$, due to the negative Zeeman energy of the condensate. This makes the removal of the hair energetically unfavorable. The maximally hairy black holes exhibit masses comparable to terrestrial values, with approximately 11\% of their total mass stored in the hair. Given that these solutions arise within a well-tested theoretical framework, they are likely to have physical relevance.

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arXiv2024

Black holes with electroweak hair

We construct static and axially symmetric magnetically charged hairy black holes in the gravity-coupled Weinberg-Salam theory. Large black holes merge with the Reissner-Nordström (RN) family, while the small ones are extremal and support a hair in the form of a ring-shaped electroweak condensate carrying superconducting W-currents and up to $22\%$ of the total magnetic charge. The extremal solutions are asymptotically RN with a mass {\it below} the total charge, $M<|Q|$, due to the negative Zeeman energy of the condensate interacting with the black hole magnetic field. Therefore, they cannot decay into RN black holes. As their charge increases, they show a phase transition when the horizon symmetry changes from spherical to oblate. At this point they have the mass typical for planetary size black holes of which $\approx 11\%$ is stored in the hair. Being obtained within a well-tested theory, our solutions are expected to be physically relevant.

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arXiv2022

Electroweak multi-monopoles

We construct the multi-charge generalizations for the electroweak magnetic monopole solution of Cho and Maison within a wide range of values of the magnetic charge. We use the same ansatz for the axially symmetric fields as the one previously employed to construct the electroweak sphalerons and compare the internal structure of monopoles with that of sphalerons. The monopoles have zero dipole moment but a finite quadrupole momentum that rapidly increases with growing magnetic charge. For large charges, the monopole configurations are strongly squashed and show inside a bubble of symmetric phase filled with a U(1) hypercharge field produced by a pointlike magnetic charge at the origin, strong enough to suppress all other fields and restore the full gauge symmetry. The bubble is surrounded by a large belt of broken phase containing a magnetically charged ring filled with a nonlinear W-condensate, squeezed between two superconducting rings of opposite electric currents. In the far field region there remains only the magnetic field supported by the total magnetic charge contained at the origin and in the magnetic ring. The axially symmetric monopoles are probably just a special case of more general monopole solutions not possessing any continuous symmetries. The Cho-Maison monopole is stable but the stability of its multi-charge generalizations is not yet confirmed. All electroweak monopoles have infinite energy due to the pointlike U(1) charge at the origin, but the energy is expected to become finite after taking gravity into account, which should provide a cutoff via creating an event horizon to shield the U(1) charge.

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arXiv2022

Electroweak monopoles and their stability

We apply a generalized field ansatz to describe the spherically symmetric sector of classical solutions of the electroweak theory. This sector contains Abelian magnetic monopoles labeled by their magnetic charge $n=\pm 1,\pm 2,\ldots$, the non-Abelian monopole for $n=\pm 2$ found previously by Cho and Maison (CM), and also the electric oscillating solutions. All magnetic monopoles have infinite energy. We analyze their perturbative stability and use the method of complex spacetime tetrad to separate variables and reduce the perturbation equations to multi-channel Schroedinger-type eigenvalue problems. The spectra of perturbations around the CM monopole do not contain negative modes hence this solution is stable. The $n=\pm 1$ Abelian monopole is also stable, but all monopoles with $|n|\geq 2$ are unstable with respect to perturbations with angular momentum $j=|n|/2-1$. The Abelian $|n|=2$ monopole is unstable only within the $j=0$ sector whereas the CM monopole also has $|n|=2$ and belongs to the same sector, hence it may be viewed as a stable remnant of the decay of the Abelian monopole. One may similarly conjecture that stable remnants exist also for monopoles with $|n|>2$, hence the CM monopole may be just the first member of a sequence of non-Abelian monopoles with higher magnetic charges. Only the CM monopole is spherically symmetric while all non-Abelian monopoles with $|n|>2$ are not rotationally invariant.

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arXiv2021

Stationary generalizations for the Bronnikov-Ellis wormhole and for the vacuum ring wormhole

We analyze possibilities to obtain a globally regular stationary generalization for the ultrastatic wormhole with a repulsive scalar field found by Bronnikov and by Ellis in 1973. The extreme simplicity of this static solution suggests that its stationary version could be obtainable analytically and should be globally regular, but no such generalization has been found. We analyze the problem and find that the difficulty originates in the vacuum theory, since the scalar field can be eliminated within the Eris-Gurses procedure. The problem then reduces to constructing the spinning generalization for the vacuum wormhole sourced by a thin ring of negative tension. Solving the vacuum Ernst equations determines the $g_{00}$, $g_{0φ}$ metric components and hence the AMD mass ${\rm M}$ and angular momentum ${\rm J}$, all of these being specified by the ring source. The scalar field can be included into consideration afterwords, but this only affects $g_{rr}$ and $g_{\vartheta\vartheta}$ without changing the rest. Within this approach, we analyze a number of exact stationary generalizations for the wormhole, but none of them are satisfactory. However, the perturbative expansion around the static vacuum background contains only bounded functions and presumably converges to an exact solution. Including the scalar field screens the singularity at the ring source and renders the geometry regular. This solution describes a globally regular spinning wormhole with two asymptotically flat regions. Even though the source itself is screened and not visible, the memory of it remains in $g_{00}$ and $g_{0φ}$ and accounts for the ${\rm M}\propto {\rm J}^2$ relation typical for a rotating extended source. Describing stationary spacetimes with an extended source is a complicated problem, which presumably explains the difficulty in finding the solution.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Anisotropic cosmological models in Horndeski gravity

It was found recently that the anisotropies in the homogeneous Bianchi I cosmology considered within the context of a specific Horndeski theory are damped near the initial singularity instead of being amplified. In this work we extend the analysis of this phenomenon to cover the whole of the Horndeski family. We find that the phenomenon is absent in the K-essence and/or Kinetic Gravity Braiding theories, where the anisotropies grow as one approaches the singularity. The anisotropies are damped at early times only in more general Horndeski models whose Lagrangian includes terms quadratic and cubic in second derivatives of the scalar field. Such theories are often considered as being inconsistent with the observations because they predict a non-constant speed of gravitational waves. However, the predicted value of the speed at present can be close to the speed of light with any required precision, hence the theories actually agree with the present time observations. We consider two different examples of such theories, both characterized by a late self-acceleration and an early inflation driven by the non-minimal coupling. Their anisotropies show a maximum at intermediate times and approach zero at early and late times. The early inflationary stage exhibits an instability with respect to inhomogeneous perturbations, suggesting that the initial state of the universe should be inhomogeneous. However, more general Horndeski models may probably be stable.

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arXiv2020

Asymptotically flat hairy black holes in massive bigravity

We study asymptotically flat black holes with massive graviton hair within the ghost-free bigravity theory. There have been contradictory statements in the literature about their existence -- such solutions were reported some time ago, but later a different group claimed the Schwarzschild solution to be the only asymptotically flat black hole in the theory. As a result, the controversy emerged. We have analyzed the issue ourselves and have been able to construct such solutions within a carefully designed numerical scheme. We find that for given parameter values there can be one or two asymptotically flat hairy black holes in addition to the Schwarzschild solution. We analyze their perturbative stability and find that they can be stable or unstable, depending on the parameter values. The masses of stable hairy black holes that would be physically relevant range form stellar values up to values typical for supermassive black holes. One of their two metrics is extremely close to Schwarzschild, while all their "hair" is hidden in the second metric that is not coupled to matter and not directly seen. If the massive bigravity theory indeed describes physics, the hair of such black holes should manifest themselves in violent processes like black hole collisions and should be visible in the structure of the signals detected by LIGO/VIRGO.

hep-th↗

arXiv2020

Anisotropy screening in Horndeski cosmologies

We consider anisotropic cosmologies in a particular shift-symmetric Horndeski theory containing the $G^{μν}\partial_μϕ\partial_νϕ$ coupling, where $G^{μν}$ is the Einstein tensor. This theory admits stable in the future self-accelerating cosmologies whose tensor perturbations propagate with the velocity very close to the speed of light such that the theory agrees with the gravity wave observations. Surprisingly, we find that the anisotropies within the Bianchi I homogeneous spacetime model are screened at early time by the scalar charge, whereas at late times they are damped in the usual way. Therefore, contrary to what one would normally expect, the early state of the universe in the theory cannot be anisotropic and (locally) homogeneous in the absence of spatial curvature. The early universe cannot be isotropic either, because it should then be unstable with respect to inhomogeneous perturbations. As a result, the early universe should be inhomogeneous. At the same time, we find that in the spatially curved Bianchi IX case the anisotropies can be strong at early times even in the presence of a scalar charge.

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arXiv2019

Varying the Horndeski Lagrangian within the Palatini approach

We analyse what happens when the Horndeski Lagrangian is varied within the Palatini approach by considering the metric and connection as independent variables. Assuming the connection to be torsionless, there can be infinitely many metric-affine versions $L_{\rm P}$ of the original Lagrangian which differ from each other by terms proportional to the non-metricity tensor. After integrating out the connection, each $L_{\rm P}$ defines a metric theory, which can either belong to the original Horndeski family, or it can be of a more general DHOST type, or it shows the Ostrogradsky ghost. We analyse in detail the subclass of the theory for which the equations are linear in the connection and find that its metric-affine version is ghost-free. We present a detailed classifications of homogeneous and isotropic cosmologies in these theories. Taking into consideration other pieces of the Horndeski Lagrangian which are non-linear in the connection leads to more complex metric-affine theories which generically show the ghost. In some special cases the ghost can be removed by carefully adjusting the non-metricity contribution, but it is unclear if this is always possible. Therefore, the metric-affine generalisations of the Horndeski theory can be ghost-free, but not all of them are ghost-free, neither are they the only metric-affine theories for a gravity-coupled scalar field which can be ghost-free.

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arXiv2019

A metric-affine version of the Horndeski theory

We study the metric-affine versions of scalar-tensor theories whose connection enters the action only algebraically. We show that the connection can be integrated out in this case, resulting in an equivalent metric theory. Specifically, we consider the metric-affine generalisations of the subset of the Horndeski theory whose action is linear in second derivatives of the scalar field. We determine the connection and find that it can describe a scalar-tensor Weyl geometry without a Riemannian frame. Still, as this connection enters the action algebraically, the theory admits the dynamically equivalent (pseudo)-Riemannian formulation in the form of an effective metric theory with an extra K-essence term. This may have interesting phenomenological applications.

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arXiv2018

The Ogievetsky-Polubarinov massive gravity and the benign Boulware-Deser mode

We present our analysis of the theory constructed in 1965 by Ogievetsky and Polubarinov (OP) -- the first ever theory of interacting massive gravitons. Its mass term is adjusted in such a way that the non-linear field equations imply as a consequence the linear Hilbert-Lorentz condition, which restricts the spin of states in the theory. Strikingly, for special parameter values this theory coincides with one of the "ghost-free" massive gravity models rediscovered only in 2010. For generic parameter values, however, it propagates 6 degrees of freedom and shows ghost around flat space. Surprizingly, we find that the de Sitter space remains stable for a large region of the parameter space, provided that the Hubble expansion rate is large enough, hence the Boulware-Deser mode is benign in this case. We study also other solutions and find that the Milne universe -- a sector of Minkowski space -- is stable in the UV limit. This presumably implies that at the non-linear level the ghost instability in flat space develops only for long waves, similarly to the classical Jeans instability.

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arXiv2018

Massive spin-2 field in arbitrary spacetimes -- the detailed derivation

We present the consistent theory of a free massive spin-2 field with 5 degrees of freedom propagating in spacetimes with an arbitrary geometry. We obtain this theory via linearizing the equations of the ghost-free massive gravity expressed in the tetrad formalism. The theory is parameterized by a non-symmetric rank-2 tensor whose 16 components fulfill 11 constraints implied by the equations. When restricted to Einstein spaces, the theory reproduces the standard description of massive gravitons. In generic spacetimes, the theory does not show the massless limit and always propagates five degrees of freedom, even for the vanishing mass parameter. We illustrate these features by an explicit calculation for a homogeneous and isotropic cosmological background. It turns out that the spin-2 particles are always stable if they are sufficiently massive, hence they may be a part of the Dark Mater.

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arXiv2017

Massive gravitons in arbitrary spacetimes

We present two different versions of the consistent theory of massive gravitons in arbitrary spacetimes which are simple enough for practical applications. The theory is described by a non-symmetric rank-2 tensor whose equations of motion imply six algebraic and five differential constraints reducing the number of independent components to five. The theory reproduces the standard description of massive gravitons in Einstein spaces. In generic spacetimes it does not show the massless limit and always propagates five degrees of freedom, even for the vanishing mass parameter. We illustrate these features by an explicit calculation for a homogeneous and isotropic cosmological background. We find that the gravitons are stable if they are sufficiently massive, hence they may be a part of Dark Matter at present. We discuss also other possible applications.

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arXiv2017

Zero mass limit of Kerr spacetime is a wormhole

We show that, contrary to what is usually claimed in the literature, the zero mass limit of Kerr spacetime is not flat Minkowski space but a spacetime whose geometry is only locally flat. This limiting spacetime, as the Kerr spacetime itself, contains two asymptotic regions and hence cannot be topologically trivial. It also contains a curvature singularity, because the power-law singularity of the Weyl tensor vanishes in the limit but there remains a distributional contribution of the Ricci tensor. This spacetime can be interpreted as a wormhole sourced by a negative tension ring. We also extend the discussion to similarly interpret the zero mass limit of the Kerr-(anti)-de Sitter spacetime.

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arXiv2017

Weyl metrics and wormholes

We study solutions obtained via applying dualities and complexifications to the vacuum Weyl metrics generated by massive rods and by point masses. Rescaling them and extending to complex parameter values yields axially symmetric vacuum solutions containing conical singularities along circles that can be viewed as singular matter sources. These solutions have wormhole topology with several asymptotic regions interconnected by throats and their sources can be viewed as thin rings of negative tension encircling the throats. For a particular value of the ring tension the geometry becomes exactly flat although the topology remains non-trivial, so that the rings literally produce holes in flat space. To create a single ring wormhole of one metre radius one needs a negative energy equivalent to the mass of Jupiter. Further duality transformations dress the rings with the scalar field, either conventional or phantom. This gives rise to large classes of static, axially symmetric solutions, presumably including all previously known solutions for a gravity-coupled massless scalar field, as for example the spherically symmetric Bronnikov-Ellis wormholes with phantom scalar. The multi-wormholes contain infinite struts along the symmetry axes, apart from solutions with locally flat geometry.

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arXiv2017

Anisotropic deformations of spatially open cosmology in massive gravity theory

We study anisotropic deformations of the spatially open homogeneous and isotropic cosmology in the ghost free massive gravity theory with flat reference metric. We find that if the initial perturbations are not too strong then the physical metric relaxes back to the isotropic de Sitter state. However, the dumping of the anisotropies is achieved at the expense of exciting the Stueckelberg fields in such a way that the reference metric changes and does not share anymore with the physical metric the same rotational and translational symmetries. As a result, the universe evolves towards a fixed point which does not coincide with the original solution, but for which the physical metric is still de Sitter. If the initial perturbation is strong, then its evolution generically leads to a singular anisotropic state or, for some parameter values, to a decay into flat spacetime. We also present an infinite dimensional family of new homogeneous and isotropic cosmologies in the theory.

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