arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Robert B. Mann.
Eguchi-Hanson solitons are odd-dimensional generalizations of the four-dimensional Eguchi-Hanson metric and are asymptotic to AdS$_5$\mathbb{Z}_p$ when the cosmological constant is either positive or negative. We find soliton solutions to Lovelock gravity in 5 dimensions that are generalizations of these objects.
We point out that the metrics recently proposed by K. Balasubramanian and J. McGreevy \cite{BalaMcGreevyLifshitz} as gravitational duals to Lifshitz Chern-Simons gauge theories contain both a hidden null singularity and a region of closed timelike curves accessible to asymptotic observers. Like the singularity in the original Liftshitz spacetime given by Kachru, Liu, and Mulligan, this singularity does not include large $α'$ or $g_s$ corrections and hence appears to be singular in string theory as well as classically.
We construct a new 2-parameter family of static topological solitons in 5D minimal supergravity which are endowed with magnetic charge and mass. The solitons are asymptotically ${\mathbb R}^4\times S^1$, where the radius of the $S^1$ has a lower bound $R_s\ge R_{min}$. Setting up initial data on a Cauchy slice at a moment of time symmetry, we demonstrate that if $R_s>R_{min}$ these solitons correspond to a perturbatively stable "small" static bubble as well as an unstable "large" static bubble, whereas if $R_s<R_{min}$ there are no static bubbles. The energetics and thermodynamics of the magnetic black string are then discussed and it is shown that the locally stable bubble is the end point of a phase transition for an appropriate range of black string parameters.
We argue that the recent measurement of the neutrino velocity to be higher than the velocity of light could be due to violation of Lorentz invariance by the muon neutrinos. This result need not undermine special-relativistic foundational notions of causality.
We investigate the pair creation of noncommutative black holes in a background with positive cosmological constant. As a first step we derive the noncommutative geometry inspired Schwarzschild deSitter solution. By varying the mass and the cosmological constant parameters, we find several spacetimes compatible with the new solution: positive mass spacetimes admit one cosmological horizon and two, one or no black hole horizons, while negative mass spacetimes have just a cosmological horizon. These new black holes share the properties of the corresponding asymptotically flat solutions, including the non-singular core and thermodynamic stability in the final phase of the evaporation. As a second step we determine the action which generates the matter sector of gravitational field equations and we construct instantons describing the pair production of black holes and the other admissible topologies. As a result we find that for current values of the cosmological constant the deSitter background is quantum mechanically stable according to experience. However positive mass noncommutative black holes and solitons would have plentifully been produced during inflationary times for Planckian values of the cosmological constant. As a special result we find that, in these early epochs of the universe, Planck size black holes production would have been largely disfavoured. We also find a potential instability for production of negative-mass solitons.
We consider the behaviour of bipartite and tripartite non-locality between fermionic entangled states shared by observers, one of whom uniformly accelerates. We find that while fermionic entanglement persists for arbitrarily large acceleration, the Bell/CHSH inequalities cannot be violated for sufficiently large but finite acceleration. However the Svetlichny inequality, which is a measure of genuine tripartite non-locality, can be violated for any finite value of the acceleration.
We conduct numerical simulations in Painlevé-Gullstrand coordinates of a variety of K-essence-type scalar fields under spherically symmetric gravitational collapse. We write down generic conditions on the K-essence lagrangian that can be used to determine whether superluminality and Cauchy breakdown are possible. Consistent with these conditions, for specific choices of K-essence-type fields we verify the presence of superluminality during collapse, while for other type we do not. We also demonstrate that certain choices of K-essence scalar fields present issues under gravitational collapse in Painlevé-Gullstrand coordinates, such as a breakdown of the Cauchy problem.
In classical general relativity the Cauchy horizon within a two-horizon black hole is unstable via a phenomenon known as mass inflation, in which the mass parameter (and the spacetime curvature) of the black hole diverges at the Cauchy horizon. Here we study this effect for loop black holes -- quantum gravitationally corrected black holes from loop quantum gravity -- whose construction alleviates the $r=0$ singularity present in their classical counterparts. We use a simplified model of mass inflation, which makes use of the generalized DTR relation, to conclude that the Cauchy horizon of loop black holes indeed results in a curvature singularity similar to that found in classical black holes. The DTR relation is of particular utility in the loop black hole because it does not directly rely upon Einstein's field equations. We elucidate some of the interesting and counterintuitive properties of the loop black hole, and corroborate our results using an alternate model of mass inflation due to Ori.
Non-commutative geometries have been proposed as an approach to quantum gravity and have led to the construction of non-commutative black holes, whose interior singularities are purportedly eliminated due to quantum effects. Here we find evidence that these black holes are in fact unstable, with infalling matter near the Cauchy (inner) horizon being subject to an infinite blueshift of the type that has been repeatedly demonstrated for the Reissner-Nordstr\(\ddot{\text{o}}\)m black hole. This instability is present even when an ultraviolet cutoff (induced by anticipated non-commutative geometric effects) to a field propagating in that spacetime is included. We demonstrate this by following an analogous argument made for Reissner-Nordstr\(\ddot{\text{o}}\)m black holes, and conclude that stability is dependent on the surface gravities \(κ_-\) and \(κ_+\) of the inner and outer horizons respectively. In general if \(κ_- > κ_+\), as we show to be the case here, then the stability of the Cauchy horizon becomes highly questionable, contrary to recent claims.
We study the properties of 5-dimensional black objects by using the renormalized boundary stress-tensor for locally asymptotically flat spacetimes. This provides a more refined form of the quasilocal formalism which is useful for a holographic interpretation of asymptotically flat gravity. We apply this technique to examine the thermodynamic properties of black holes, black rings, and black strings. The advantage of using this method is that we can go beyond the `thin ring' approximation and compute the boundary stress tensor for any general (thin or fat) black ring solution. We argue that the boundary stress tensor encodes the necessarily information to distinguish between black objects with different horizon topologies in the bulk. We also study in detail the susy black ring and clarify the relation between the asymptotic charges and the charges defined at the horizon. Furthermore, we obtain the balance condition for `thin' dipole black rings.
We describe a number of striking features of a class of smooth solitons in gauged and ungauged minimal supergravity in five dimensions. The solitons are globally asymptotically flat or asymptotically AdS without any Kaluza-Klein directions but contain a minimal sphere formed when a cycle pinches off in the interior of the spacetime. The solutions carry a local magnetic charge and many have rather unusual ergosurfaces. Perhaps most strikingly, many of the solitons have more electric charge or, in the asymptotically AdS case, more electric charge and angular momentum than is allowed by the usual BPS bound. We comment on, but do not resolve, the new puzzle this raises for AdS/CFT.
A variational principle is constructed for gravity coupled to an asymptotically linear dilaton and a p-form field strength. This requires the introduction of appropriate surface terms -- also known as `boundary counterterms' -- in the action. The variation of the action with respect to the boundary metric yields a boundary stress tensor, which is used to construct conserved charges that generate the asymptotic symmetries of the theory. In most cases a minimal set of assumptions leads to a unique set of counterterms. However, for certain examples we find families of actions that depend on one or more continuous parameters. We show that the conserved charges and the value of the on-shell action are always independent of these parameters.
It is shown that accelerated projective measurements on the vacuum of a free Dirac spinor field results in an entangled state for an inertial observer. The physical mechanism at work is the Davies-Unruh effect. The produced state is always entangled and its entanglement increases as a function of the acceleration, reaching maximal entanglement in the asymptotic limit of infinite acceleration where Bell states are produced.
We study the gravitational collapse problem of rotating shells in three-dimensional Einstein gravity with and without a cosmological constant. Taking the exterior and interior metrics to be those of stationary metrics with asymptotically constant curvature, we solve the equations of motion for the shells from the Darmois-Israel junction conditions in the "co-rotating" frame. We study various collapse scenarios with "arbitrary" angular momentum for a variety of geometric configurations, including anti-de Sitter, de Sitter, and flat spaces. We find that the collapsing shells can form a BTZ black hole, a three-dimensional Kerr-dS spacetime, and an horizonless geometry of point masses under certain initial conditions. For pressureless dust shells, the curvature singularity is "not" formed due to the angular momentum barrier near the origin. However when the shell pressure is nonvanishing, we find that for all types of shells with polytropic-type equations of state (including the perfect fluid and the generalized Chaplygin gas), collapse to a naked singularity is "possible" under generic initial conditions. We conclude that in three dimensions angular momentum does not in general guard against violation of cosmic censorship.
We introduce the notion of a rigid quasilocal frame (RQF) as a geometrically natural way to define a "system" in general relativity. An RQF is defined as a two-parameter family of timelike worldlines comprising the worldtube boundary of the history of a finite spatial volume, with the rigidity conditions that the congruence of worldlines is expansion-free (constant size) and shear-free (constant shape). This definition of a system is anticipated to yield simple, exact geometrical insights into the problem of motion in general relativity. It begins by answering the questions what is in motion (a rigid two-dimensional system boundary), and what motions of this rigid boundary are possible. Nearly a century ago Herglotz and Noether showed that a three-parameter family of timelike worldlines in Minkowski space satisfying Born's 1909 rigidity conditions has only three degrees of freedom instead of the six we are familiar with from Newtonian mechanics. We argue that in fact we can implement Born's notion of rigid motion in both flat spacetime (this paper) and arbitrary curved spacetimes containing sources (subsequent papers) - with precisely the expected three translational and three rotational degrees of freedom - provided the system is defined quasilocally as the two-dimensional set of points comprising the boundary of a finite spatial volume, rather than the three-dimensional set of points within the volume.
Black hole radiation of gravitinos is investigated as the classically forbidden tunneling of spin-3/2 fermions through an event horizon. We show that all four spin states of the gravitino yield the same emission temperature, and retrieve the Unruh temperature in a Rindler spacetime as well as the Hawking temperature for a Kerr-Newman charged rotating black hole.
We consider electroweak singlet dark matter with a mass comparable to the Higgs mass. The singlet is assumed to couple to standard matter through a perturbative coupling to the Higgs particle. The annihilation of a singlet with a mass comparable to the Higgs mass is dominated by proximity to the W, Z and Higgs peaks in the annihilation cross section. We find that the continuous photon spectrum from annihilation of a perturbatively coupled singlet in the galactic halo can reach a level of several per mil of the EGRET diffuse gamma ray flux.
We develop a careful definition of energy for nonsupersymmetric warped product asymptotically $AdS_d \times M_q$ solutions which include a nonzero p-form. In the case of an electric p-form extending along all the AdS directions, and in particular in the case of self-dual fields like those used in the Freund-Rubin construction, the Hamiltonian is well defined only if a particular asymptotic gauge for the p-form is used. Rather surprisingly, asymptotically this gauge is time dependent, despite the fact the field and metric are not. We then consider a freely orbifolded $AdS_5 \times S_5$ and demonstrate that the standard boundary conditions allow states of arbitrarily negative energy. The states consist of time symmetric initial data describing bubbles that are regular up to singularities due to smeared D3-branes. We discuss the evolution of this data and point out that if the usual boundary conditions are enforced such bubbles may never reach infinity.