arXiv subjects

Piero Nicolini

Publications and source records attributed to Piero Nicolini.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Superradiance in Modified Gravity (MOG)

We consider the case of rotating black holes in a dark-matter-emulating theory of gravity called MOG. The latter introduces a gravitational vector field with an associated gravitational charge proportional to the black hole mass and a scalar field in place of the gravitational constant. The resulting black hole metrics resemble the Kerr-Newman geometry and enjoy superradiant scattering. MOG, however, presents important new features. By studying the scattering of a scalar field, we show that there is a marked reduction of the critical frequency of mode amplification. This corresponds to saying that the superradiance peak frequency is red shifted. Analyses of the reflected energy flux also show that MOG black holes are fainter with respect to the standard ones. The proposed results pave the way for testing MOG against astronomical observations.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

GUP Hawking fermions from MGD black holes

We derive the Hawking spectrum of fermions emitted by a minimally geometric deformed (MGD) black hole. The MGD naturally describes quantum effects on the geometry in the form of a length scale related, for instance, to the existence of extra dimensions. The dynamics of the emitted fermions is described in the context of the generalised uncertainty principle and likewise contains a length scale associated with the quantum nature of space-time. We then show that the emission is practically indistinguishable from the Hawking thermal spectrum for large black hole masses, but the total flux can vanish for small and finite black hole mass. This suggests the possible existence of black hole remnants with a mass determined by the two length scales.

hep-th↗

arXiv2018

Theories with maximal acceleration

Maximal accelerations are related to the existence of a minimal time for a given physical system. Such a minimal time can be either an intrinsic time scale of the system or connected to a quantum gravity induced ultraviolet cut off. In this paper we pedagogically introduce the four major formulations for kinematics accounting for a maximal acceleration. Some phenomenological repercussion are offered as hints for future investigations.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

Planckian charged black holes in ultraviolet self-complete quantum gravity

We present an analysis of the role of the charge within the self-complete quantum gravity paradigm. By studying the classicalization of generic ultraviolet improved charged black hole solutions around the Planck scale, we showed that the charge introduces important differences with respect to the neutral case. First, there exists a family of black hole parameters fulfilling the particle-black hole condition. Second, there is no extremal particle-black hole solution but quasi extremal charged particle-black holes at the best. We showed that the Hawking emission disrupts the condition of particle-black hole. By analyzing the Schwinger pair production mechanism, the charge is quickly shed and the particle-black hole condition can ultimately be restored in a cooling down phase towards a zero temperature configuration, provided non-classical effects are taken into account.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2017

Black Holes and High Energy Physics: From Astrophysics to Large Extra Dimensions

Up to now, Einstein's general theory of relativity has passed all experimental tests. But yet we know that it is not a fundamental theory and that it is incompatible with quantum theory. While several extended and improved gravitational theories on classical and quantum level are nowadays available, it is a great challenge to find experimental setups to check their signatures. We discuss recent developments in direct observation of black holes comprising gravitational waves from black hole mergers, radio interferometry images of black hole shadows, and Hawking radiation of black holes in particle accelerators. These investigations cover the full black hole mass range from microscopic to stellar and supermassive black holes. We comment on the associated strong-field tests of Einstein's general theory of relativity and implications for quantum gravity. Special emphasis lies upon the physics of large extra dimensions and black hole evaporation, the existence of a minimal black hole mass, and the cross sections of higher-dimensional black holes. We complete this short review with the latest experimental constraints at the Large Hadron Collider.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2017

AdS/CFT far from equilibrium in a Vaidya setup

In this paper we apply the AdS/CFT correspondence to study a strongly coupled plasma far from equilibrium with a strong emphasis on the shear behavior. The plasma serves as a model for an electrically charged quark-gluon plasma. On the gravitational side, we use an ingoing Vaidya black brane spacetime. The highest rate of mass infall is confined to a short time interval.

hep-th↗

arXiv2017

Planck scale black holes - Theory vs. observations

In this paper we present the status of the physics of Planck scale black holes with particular reference to their conjectured production in particle accelerator experiments at the terascale. After reviewing some open issues of fundamental interactions and introducing the physics in the large extra-dimensional scenario, we present the expected signatures left by a microscopic black hole in a particle detector. The final part of the paper is devoted to the latest experimental bounds on the sought black hole signals.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

Remarks on regular black holes

Recently it has been claimed by Chinaglia and Zerbini that the curvature singularity is present even in the so-called regular black hole solutions of the Einstein equations. In this brief note we show that this criticism is devoid of any physical content.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2017

Unparticle Casimir effect

In this paper we present the un-Casimir effect, namely the study of the Casimir energy in the presence of an unparticle component in addition to the electromagnetic field contribution. The distinctive feature of the un-Casimir effect is a fractalization of metallic plates. This result emerges through a new dependence of the Casimir energy on the plate separation that scales with a continuous power controlled by the unparticle dimension. As long as the perfect conductor approximation is valid, we find bounds on the unparticle scale that are independent of the effective coupling constant between the scale invariant sector and ordinary matter. We find regions of the parameter space such that for plate distances around $5μ$m and larger the un-Casimir bound wins over the other bounds.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

Generalized uncertainty principle and extra dimensions

The generalized uncertainty principle (GUP) is a modification of standard quantum mechanics due to Planck scale effects. The GUP has recently been used to improve the short distance behaviour of classical black hole spacetimes by invoking nonlocal modifications of the gravity action. We present the problem of extending such a GUP scenario to higher dimensional spacetimes and we critically review the existing literature on the topic.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Gravity and Information

Various contenders for a complete theory of quantum gravity are at odds with each other. This is in particular seen in the ways they relate to information and black holes, and how to effectively treat quantization of the background spacetime. Modern perspectives on black hole evaporation suggest that quantum gravity effects in the near-horizon region can perturb the local geometry. The approaches differ, however, in the time scale on which one can expect these effects to become important. This panel session presents three points of view on these problems, and considers the ultimate prospect of observational tests in the near future.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

Geometric model of black hole quantum $N$-portrait, extradimensions and thermodynamics

Recently a short scale modified black hole metric, known as holographic metric, has been proposed in order to capture the self-complete character of gravity. In this paper we show that such a metric can reproduce some geometric features expected from the quantum $N$-portrait beyond the semi-classical limit. We show that for a generic $N$ this corresponds to having an effective energy momentum tensor in Einstein equations or, equivalently, non-local terms in the gravity action. We also consider the higher dimensional extension of the metric and the case of an AdS cosmological term. We provide a detailed thermodynamic analysis of both cases, with particular reference to the repercussions on the Hawking-Page phase transition.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2016

Unparticle contribution to the hydrogen atom ground state energy

In the present work we study the effect of unparticle modified static potentials on the energy levels of the hydrogen atom. By using Rayleigh-Schrödinger perturbation theory, we obtain the energy shift of the ground state and we compare it with experimental data. Bounds on the unparticle energy scale $Λ_\mathcal{U}$ as a function of the scaling dimension $d_\mathcal{U}$ and the coupling constant $λ$ are derived. We show that there exists a parameter region where bounds on $Λ_\mathcal{U}$ are stringent, signalling that unparticles could be tested in atomic physics experiments.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Sub-Planckian black holes and the Generalized Uncertainty Principle

The Black Hole Uncertainty Principle correspondence suggests that there could exist black holes with mass beneath the Planck scale but radius of order the Compton scale rather than Schwarzschild scale. We present a modified, self-dual Schwarzschild-like metric that reproduces desirable aspects of a variety of disparate models in the sub-Planckian limit, while remaining Schwarzschild in the large mass limit. The self-dual nature of this solution under $M \leftrightarrow M^{-1}$ naturally implies a Generalized Uncertainty Principle with the linear form $Δx \sim \frac{1}{Δp} + Δp$. We also demonstrate a natural dimensional reduction feature, in that the gravitational radius and thermodynamics of sub-Planckian objects resemble that of $(1+1)$-D gravity. The temperature of sub-Planckian black holes scales as $M$ rather than $M^{-1}$ but the evaporation of those smaller than $10^{-36}$g is suppressed by the cosmic background radiation. This suggests that relics of this mass could provide the dark matter.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2014

Connecting horizon pixels and interior voxels of a black hole

In this paper we discuss to what extent one can infer details of the interior structure of a black hole based on its horizon. Recalling that black hole thermal properties are connected to the non-classical nature of gravity, we circumvent the restrictions of the no hair theorem by postulating that the black hole interior is singularity free due to violations of the usual energy conditions. Further these conditions allow one to establish a one-to-one, holographic projection between Planckian areal "bits" on the horizon and "voxels", representing the gravitational degrees of freedom in the black hole interior. We illustrate the repercussions of this idea by discussing an example of the black hole interior consisting of a de Sitter core postulated to arise from the local graviton quantum vacuum energy. It is shown that the black hole entropy can emerge as the statistical entropy of a gas of voxels.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2014

Super-accelerating bouncing cosmology in asymptotically-free non-local gravity

Recently, evidence has been collected that a class of gravitational theories with certain non-local operators is renormalizable. We consider one such model which, at the linear perturbative level, reproduces the effective non-local action for the light modes of bosonic closed string-field theory. Using the property of asymptotic freedom in the ultraviolet and fixing the classical behavior of the scale factor at late times, an algorithm is proposed to find general homogeneous cosmological solutions valid both at early and late times. Imposing a power-law classical limit, these solutions (including anisotropic ones) display a bounce, instead of a big-bang singularity, and super-accelerate near the bounce even in the absence of an inflaton or phantom field.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2014

Minimum length effects in black hole physics

We review the main consequences of the possible existence of a minimum measurable length, of the order of the Planck scale, on quantum effects occurring in black hole physics. In particular, we focus on the ensuing minimum mass for black holes and how modified dispersion relations affect the Hawking decay, both in four space-time dimensions and in models with extra spatial dimensions. In the latter case, we briefly discuss possible phenomenological signatures.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Mini-review on mini-black holes from the mini-Big Bang

We review the basic ideas about man-made quantum mechanical black holes. We start by an overview of the proposed attempts to circumvent the hierarchy problem. We study the phenomenological implications of a strong gravity regime at the terascale and we focus on the issue of microscopic black holes. We provide the experimental bounds on relevant quantities as they emerge from major ongoing experiments. The experimental results exclude the production of black holes in collisions up to 8 TeV. We provide some possible explanations of such negative results in view of forthcoming investigations.

hep-th↗