arXiv subjects

Roberto Casadio

Publications and source records attributed to Roberto Casadio.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Newtonian approximation in (1 + 1) dimensions

We study the possible existence of a Newtonian regime of gravity in $1+1$ dimensions, considering metrics in both the Kerr-Schild and conformal forms. In the former case, the metric gives the exact solution of the Poisson equation in flat space, but the weak-field limit of the solutions and the non-relativistic regime of geodesic motion are not trivial. We show that using harmonic coordinates, the metric is conformally flat and a weak-field expansion is straightforward. An analysis of the non-relativistic regime of geodesic motion remains non-trivial and the weak-field potential only satisfies the flat space Poisson equation approximately.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

Orbits in bootstrapped Newtonian gravity

Bootstrapped Newtonian gravity is a non-linear version of Newton's law which can be lifted to a fully geometric theory of gravity starting from a modified potential. Here, we study geodesics in the bootstrapped Newtonian effective metric in vacuum and obtain bounds on a free parameter from Solar System data and S-star orbits near our Galaxy centre. These bounds make vacuum bootstrapped Newtonian gravity experimentally indistinguishable from General Relativity.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

Covariant singularities: a brief review

The Hawking-Penrose theorem is not covariant under field redefinitions. Should the invariance under such transformations be a true principle in Nature, spacetime singularities become dubious objects. We here review the concept of covariant singularities, that is, singularities that are invariant under both spacetime diffeomorphisms and field redefinitions.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Quantum fields in teleparallel gravity: renormalization at one-loop

We consider the quantization of matter fields in a background described by the teleparallel equivalent to general relativity. The presence of local Lorentz and gauge symmetries gives rise to different coupling prescriptions, which we analyse separately. As expected, quantum matter fields produce divergences that cannot be absorbed by terms in the background action of teleparallel equivalent to general relativity. Nonetheless, the formulation of teleparallel gravity allows one to find out the source of the problem. By imposing local Lorentz invariance after quantization, we show that a modified teleparallel gravity, in which the coefficients in the action are replaced by free parameters, can be renormalized at one-loop order without introducing higher-order terms. This precludes the appearance of ghosts in the theory.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

A quantum state for the late Universe

We consider the quantum description of a toy model universe in which the Schwarzschild-de Sitter geometry emerges from the coherent state of a massless scalar field. Although highly idealised, this simple model allows us to find clear hints supporting the conclusion that the reaction of the de Sitter background to the presence of matter sources induces i) a modified Newtonian dynamics at galactic scales and ii) different values measured for the present Hubble parameter. Both effects stem from the conditions required to have a normalisable quantum state.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

A quantum bound on the compactness

We present a simple quantum description of the gravitational collapse of a ball of dust which excludes those states whose width is arbitrarily smaller than the gravitational radius of the matter source and supports the conclusion that black holes are macroscopic extended objects. We also comment briefly on the relevance of this result for the ultraviolet self-completion of gravity and the corpuscular picture of black holes.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Absence of covariant singularities in pure gravity

The assumptions of the Hawking-Penrose singularity theorem are not covariant under field redefinitions. Thus we propose to study singularities in field space, where the spacetime metric is treated as a coordinate along with any other fields. We show that the field-space Kretschmann scalar for a certain choice of the DeWitt field-space metric is everywhere finite. This fact could be interpreted as an indication that no singularities actually exist in pure gravity for any gravitational action. In particular, all vacuum singularities of General Relativity result from an unhappy choice of field variables. The extension to the case in which matter fields are present, as required by singularity theorems, is left for future development.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Covariant singularities in Quantum Field Theory and Quantum Gravity

It is rather well-known that spacetime singularities are not covariant under field redefinitions. A manifestly covariant approach to singularities in classical gravity was proposed in arXiv:2008.09387. In this paper, we start to extend this analysis to the quantum realm. We identify two types of covariant singularities in field space corresponding to geodesic incompleteness and ill-defined path integrals (hereby dubbed functional singularities). We argue that the former might not be harmful after all, whilst the latter makes all observables undefined. We show that the path-integral measure is regular in any four-dimensional theory of gravity without matter or in any theory in which gravity is either absent or treated semi-classically. This might suggest the absence of functional singularities in these cases, however it can only be confirmed with a thorough analysis, case by case, of the path integral. We provide a topological and model-independent classification of functional singularities using homotopy groups and we discuss examples of theories with and without such singularities.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Bootstrapped Newtonian cosmology and the cosmological constant problem

Bootstrapped Newtonian gravity was developed with the purpose of estimating the impact of quantum physics in the nonlinear regime of the gravitational interaction, akin to corpuscular models of black holes and inflation. In this work, we set the ground for extending the bootstrapped Newtonian picture to cosmological spaces. We further discuss how such models of quantum cosmology can lead to a natural solution of the cosmological constant problem.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Effective metric outside bootstrapped Newtonian sources

We determine the complete space-time metric from the bootstrapped Newtonian potential generated by a static spherically symmetric source in the surrounding vacuum. This metric contains post-Newtonian parameters which can be further used to constrain the complete underlying dynamical theory. For values of the post-Newtonian parameters within experimental bounds, the reconstructed metric appears very close to the Schwarzschild solution of General Relativity in the whole region outside the event horizon. The latter is however larger in size for the same value of the mass compared to the Schwarzschild case.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Compact sources and cosmological horizons in lower dimensional bootstrapped Newtonian gravity

We study the bootstrapped Newtonian potential generated by a localised source in one and two spatial dimensions, and show that both cases naturally lead to finite spatial extensions of the outer vacuum. We speculate that this implies the necessary existence of a cosmological (particle) horizon associated with compact sources. In view of the possible dimensional reduction occurring in ultra-high energy processes - like scatterings at Planckian energies, the gravitational collapse of compact objects or the end-point of black hole evaporation - one can consider such lower-dimensional "bubbles" immersed in our Universe as describing (typically Planckian size) baby universes relevant to those dynamics.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

Polytropic stars in bootstrapped Newtonian gravity

We study self-gravitating stars in the bootstrapped Newtonian picture for polytropic equations of state. We consider stars that span a wide range of compactness values. Both matter density and pressure are sources of the gravitational potential. Numerical solutions show that the density profiles can be well approximated by Gaussian functions. Later we assume Gaussian density profiles to investigate the interplay between the compactness of the source, the width of the Gaussian density profile and the polytropic index. We also dedicate a section to comparing the pressure and density profiles of the bootstrapped Newtonian stars to the corresponding General Relativistic solutions. We also point out that no Buchdahl limit is found, which means that the pressure can in principle support a star of arbitrarily large compactness. In fact, we find solutions representing polytropic stars with compactness above the Buchdhal limit.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

Revisiting the minimum length in the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism

The existence of a minimum length in quantum gravity is investigated by computing the in-in expectation value of the proper distance in the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism. No minimum geometrical length is found for arbitrary gravitational theories to all orders in perturbation theory. Using non-perturbative techniques, we also show that neither the conformal sector of general relativity nor higher-derivative gravity features a minimum length. A minimum length scale, on the other hand, seems to always be present when one considers in-out amplitudes, from which one could extract the energy scale of scattering processes.

hep-th↗

arXiv2020

Quantum corrected equations of motion in the interior and exterior Schwarzschild spacetime

In this paper we derive the leading quantum gravitational corrections to the geodesics and the equations of motion for a scalar field in the spacetime containing a constant density star. It is shown that these corrections can be calculated in quantum gravity reliably and in a model independent way. Furthermore, we find that quantum gravity gives rise to an additional redshift that results from the gradient instead of the amplitude of the density profile.

hep-th↗

arXiv2020

Singularities in Quantum Corrected Space-times

In this paper we consider a static and regular fluid generating a locally spherically symmetric and time-independent space-time and calculate the leading quantum corrections to the metric to first order in curvature. Starting from a singularity free classical solution of general relativity, we show that singularities can be introduced in the curvature invariants by quantum gravitational corrections calculated using an effective field theory approach to quantum gravity. We identify non-trivial conditions that ensure that curvature invariants remain singularity free to leading order in the curvature expansion of the effective action.

hep-th↗

arXiv2020

Bootstrapped Newtonian quantum gravity

We compute quantum corrections for the gravitational potential obtained by including a derivative self-coupling in its classical dynamics as a toy model for analysing quantum gravity in the strong field regime. In particular, we focus on quantum corrections to the classical solutions in the vacuum outside localised matter sources.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

On the mass of bootstrapped Newtonian sources

We show that the bootstrapped Newtonian potential generated by a uniform and isotropic source does not depend on the one-loop correction for the matter coupling to gravity. The latter however affects the relation between the proper mass and the ADM mass and, consequently, the pressure needed to keep the configuration stable.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

Gravitational antiscreening in stellar interiors

A new class of relativistic stellar structure equations which include the effects of an energy-dependent Newton coupling is presented. Significant modifications in the mass-radius relation for neutron stars are possible only if the running of the Newton coupling due to quantum gravity occurs at low energies. A new Buchdahl limit is derived and its physical implications are discussed. In particular, sub-Planckian self-gravitating objects with arbitrarily small radii are possible.

gr-qc↗