arXiv subjects

Toshifumi Noumi

Publications and source records attributed to Toshifumi Noumi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Extremal Love: tidal/electromagnetic deformability, logarithmic running and the weak gravity conjecture

In General Relativity, the tidal Love numbers of black holes vanish, implying they are resistant to tidal deformation. This "rigidity" is easily broken in the presence of higher-derivative corrections. Focusing on extremal charged black holes in Einstein-Maxwell EFT, we compute the static linear response for both the vector ($\ell=1$) and parity-odd tensor ($\ell \ge 2$) sectors. We find that the resulting tidal Love numbers are non-zero and exhibit logarithmic running, a hallmark of quantum corrections. Crucially, we show that the sign of these deformations is not arbitrary; the induced electric and magnetic susceptibilities and their log runnings in the $\ell=1$ sector are constrained by unitarity and the Weak Gravity Conjecture. Furthermore, due to gravito-electromagnetic mixing, we find the cross log runnings and show that they are the same, which we explain through the worldline effective field theory.

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arXiv2026

Magnetic Catalysis and Fermion Mass Generation in de Sitter Spacetime

We consider the dynamics of a charged fermion in de Sitter space in the presence of a uniform background magnetic field, and discuss magnetic catalysis of chiral symmetry breaking using the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model. We evaluate the mode functions of the charged fermion field in this background by imposing the Bunch--Davies vacuum condition. The gap equation is solved in the mean-field approximation. We derive analytic expressions for the gap in several limiting regimes, such as the large-magnetic-field and large-curvature limits. We find that the curvature effect restores chiral symmetry, whereas the magnetic field enhances chiral symmetry breaking through the conventional mechanism of magnetic catalysis. The phase structure associated with chiral symmetry breaking is revealed by numerical calculations.

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arXiv2026

Gravitational waves from self-resonance during reheating with a quantum-corrected inflaton potential

We investigate how localized quantum corrections to the inflaton potential affect preheating dynamics and the resulting stochastic gravitational wave (GW) spectrum. When these corrections sufficiently suppress the quadratic term of the potential near its minimum, inflaton self-resonance can produce a peaked GW spectrum. On the other hand, we find that a smooth and enhanced spectrum can appear if the quadratic term acquires a negative coefficient. As a concrete realization, we analyze the $α$-attractor T-model with a one-loop Coleman--Weinberg correction induced by a heavy scalar and compute the resulting GW spectra using lattice simulations. The GW signals lie in the ultra-high-frequency regime at frequencies above the kHz range. These results suggest that GW signals from preheating may probe quantum corrections to the inflaton potential, thereby providing indirect information about the underlying UV physics.

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arXiv2026

Causality Constraints on Black Hole Thermodynamics in Nonlinear Electrodynamics

We study causality constraints on black hole thermodynamics in nonlinear electrodynamics, where the Lagrangian is taken to be an arbitrary function of the electromagnetic field strength tensor. By requiring the absence of superluminal propagation, we show that the mass-to-charge ratio of extremal black holes exhibits a certain monotonicity previously studied in the context of the weak gravity conjecture. Furthermore, under the same condition, we demonstrate that the entropy-to-mass-squared ratio of black holes, which we interpret as an entropy density, decreases monotonically with increasing mass, while keeping the mass-to-charge ratio fixed. This new monotonicity property extends previous studies on the positivity of four-derivative corrections to black hole entropy in the microcanonical ensemble to all orders in nonlinear electrodynamics.

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arXiv2026

Perturbative unitarity bounds on field-space curvature in de Sitter spacetime: purity vs scattering amplitude

We study perturbative unitarity bounds on the field-space curvature in de Sitter spacetime, using the momentum-space entanglement approach recently proposed by Duaso Pueyo, Goodhew, McCulloch, and Pajer. As an illustration, we perform a perturbative computation of the purity in two-scalar models and compare the resulting unitarity bounds with those obtained via a flat space approximation. In particular, we find that perturbative unitarity imposes an upper bound on the field-space curvature of the Hubble scale order, in addition to a bound analogous to the flat space result. This reflects the thermal nature of de Sitter spacetime. We also discuss generalizations to higher-dimensional field spaces.

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arXiv2025

Inflationary QCD phase diagram

Motivated by the cosmological collider program, which aims to probe high-energy physics through inflation, we investigate the phase diagram of multi-flavor QCD in de Sitter spacetime with a flavor-universal axial chemical potential induced by a rolling inflaton coupled to fermions. We determine the first-order critical line and a critical point as functions of the Hubble parameter and the axial chemical potential, employing an effective description of chiral symmetry breaking within the framework of the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model. We find that a first-order chiral phase transition may occur during inflation or at its end when the axial chemical potential is sufficiently large and crosses the critical line. This provides a cosmological collider analogue of the QCD phase diagram explored in heavy-ion colliders.

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arXiv2025

Holographic Entanglement Entropy in the FLRW Universe

We compute a holographic entanglement entropy via Ryu--Takayanagi prescription in the three-dimensional Friedmann--Lemaître--Robertson--Walker universe. We consider two types of holographic scenarios analogous to the static patch holography and the half de Sitter holography, in which the holographic boundary is timelike and placed in the bulk. We find in general that the strong subadditivity can be satisfied only in the former type and in addition the holographic boundary has to fit inside the apparent horizon. Also, for the universe filled with an ideal fluid of constant equation of state $w<-1$, the condition is sharpened as that the holographic boundary has to fit inside the event horizon instead. These conditions provide a necessary condition for the dual quantum field theory to be standard and compatible with the strong subadditivity.

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arXiv2024

Gravitational EFT for dissipative open systems

We elaborate on the effective field theory (EFT) construction for dissipative open systems coupled to dynamical gravity, in light of recent developments on the EFT of dissipative hydrodynamics (HydroEFT). Our construction is based on the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism and its symmetries as well as microscopic unitarity. A key aspect of dynamical gravity is that gravity couples to all degrees of freedom universally, hence the EFT has to take into account the energy-momentum tensor of the environment to which the energy escapes from the dissipative system of interest. We incorporate this effect by modeling the environment based on HydroEFT, assuming validity of the derivative expansion of the environment sector. For illustration, we apply our EFT recipe to a dissipative scalar field coupled to dynamical gravity that can be used, e.g., for dissipative inflation. In particular we quantify impacts of fluctuations in the environment sector on the scalar dynamics. We also apply the same framework to dissipative gravity, discussing dissipative gravitational waves and the generalized second law of black hole thermodynamics.

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arXiv2024

Gravitational Positivity for Phenomenologists: Dark Gauge Boson in the Swampland

The gravitational positivity bound gives quantitative "swampland'' constraints on low-energy effective theories inside theories of quantum gravity. We give a comprehensive discussion of this bound for those interested in applications to phenomenological model building. We present a practical recipe for deriving the bound, and discuss subtleties relevant for realistic models. As an illustration, we study the positivity bound on the scattering of the massive gauge bosons in the Higgs/Stückelberg mechanism. Under certain assumptions on gravitational amplitudes at high energy, we obtain a lower bound $m_{V} \gtrsim Λ_\mathrm{UV}^2 /g M_\mathrm{Pl}$ on the gauge boson mass $m_V$, where $g$ is the coupling constant of the gauge field, $M_\mathrm{Pl}$ is the reduced Planck mass and $Λ_\mathrm{UV}$ is the ultraviolet cutoff of the effective field theory. This bound can strongly constrain new physics models involving a massive gauge boson.

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arXiv2024

Cutoff Scale of Quadratic Gravity from Quantum Focusing Conjecture

We derive the cutoff length scale of the quadratic gravity in $d \geq 5$ dimensional spacetime by demanding that the quantum focusing conjecture for the smeared quantum expansion holds at the classical level. The cutoff scale has different dependence on the spacetime dimension depending on the sign of the coupling constant of the quadratic gravity. We also investigate a concrete example of the 5-dimensional Schwarzschild spacetime and directly confirm that the quantum focusing conjecture holds when the quantum expansion is smeared over the scale larger than our cutoff scale.

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arXiv2024

Analytic Formulae for Inflationary Correlators with Dynamical Mass

Massive fields can imprint unique oscillatory features on primordial correlation functions or inflationary correlators, which is dubbed the cosmological collider signal. In this work, we analytically investigate the effects of a time-dependent mass of a scalar field on inflationary correlators, extending previous numerical studies and implementing techniques developed in the cosmological bootstrap program. The time-dependent mass is in general induced by couplings to the slow-roll inflaton background, with particularly significant effects in the case of non-derivative couplings. By linearly approximating the time dependence, the mode function of the massive scalar is computed analytically, on which we derive analytic formulae for two-, three-, and four-point correlators with the tree-level exchange of the massive scalar. The obtained formulae are utilized to discuss the phenomenological impacts on the power spectrum and bispectrum, and it is found that the scaling behavior of the bispectrum in the squeezed configuration, i.e., the cosmological collider signal, is modified from a time-dependent Boltzmann suppression. By investigating the scaling behavior in detail, we are in principle able to determine the non-derivative couplings between the inflaton and the massive particle.

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arXiv2024

Gedanken Experiments to Destroy a Black Hole by a Test Particle: Multiply Charged Black Hole with Higher Derivative Corrections

We investigate a gedanken experiment to destroy an extremally charged black hole by dropping a test particle, provided that there are multiple $U(1)$ gauge fields coupled with each other through higher derivative interactions. In the absence of higher derivative corrections, it is known that the Coulomb repulsion prevents a test particle that would break the extremal condition from falling into an extremal black hole and therefore the black hole cannot be destroyed. We extend this observation to include higher derivative corrections. Although the extremal condition is modified by the higher derivative interactions, we find that the repulsive force induced by the higher derivative couplings is responsible for preventing a test particle that would break the modified extremal condition to reach the event horizon. Thus, we confirm that the weak cosmic censorship conjecture holds for extremally charged black holes even in the presence of higher derivative corrections, as long as the test particle approximation is justified.

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arXiv2023

Black Hole Extremality in Nonlinear Electrodynamics: A Lesson for Weak Gravity and Festina Lente Bounds

We study black hole extremality in nonlinear electrodynamics motivated by the Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC) and the Festina Lente (FL) bound. For illustration, we consider the Euler-Heisenberg model and the Dirac-Born-Infeld model in asymptotically flat spacetime, de Sitter spacetime, and anti-de Sitter spacetime. We find that in all cases the extremal condition enjoys a certain monotonicity expected by the WGC. This provides evidence for the conjecture beyond the leading order corrections to the Einstein-Maxwell theory. We also study how light charged particles modify the mass-charge relation of Nariai black holes in de Sitter spacetime and discuss possible implications for the FL bound. Besides, we point out an interesting similarity between our black hole analysis and gravitational positivity bounds on scattering amplitudes.

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arXiv2023

Phenomenological Motivation for Gravitational Positivity Bounds: A Case Study of Dark Sector Physics

Positivity bounds on scattering amplitudes provide a necessary condition for a low-energy effective field theory to have a consistent ultraviolet completion. Their extension to gravity theories has been studied in the past years aiming at application to the swampland program, showing that positivity bounds hold at least approximately even in the presence of gravity. An issue in this context is how much negativity is allowed for a given scattering process. In this paper we address importance of this rather technical issue by demonstrating that it is relevant to physics within the scope of ongoing experiments, especially in the context of dark sector physics. In particular, we provide detailed analysis of dark photon scenarios as an illustrative example. This motivates further studies on gravitational positivity bounds.

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arXiv2023

Finite energy sum rules for gravitational Regge amplitudes

We develop a framework to derive consistency constraints on gravitational Regge amplitudes based on the finite energy sum rules (FESRs), which directly connect gravitational Regge amplitudes at a finite ultraviolet scale with infrared physics without suffering from super-Planckian physics. For illustration, we consider four-point scattering of an identical massless scalar coupled to gravity. First, we derive multiple FESRs without relying on the $s\text{-}t\text{-}u$ permutation invariance. We then make use of FESRs, crossing symmetry, and other principles such as unitarity, to derive bounds on the Regge parameters. The bounds result in infrared finite gravitational positivity bounds in four spacetime dimensions.

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arXiv2023

Stability of Hairy Black Holes in Shift-Symmetric Scalar-Tensor Theories via the Effective Field Theory Approach

Shift-symmetric Horndeski theories admit an interesting class of Schwarzschild-de Sitter black hole solutions exhibiting time-dependent scalar hair. The properties of these solutions may be studied via a bottom-up effective field theory (EFT) based on the background symmetries. This is in part possible by making use of a convenient coordinate choice -- Lemaître-type coordinates -- in which the profile of the Horndeski scalar field is linear in the relevant time coordinate. We construct this EFT, and use it to understand the stability of hairy black holes in shift-symmetric Horndeski theories, providing a set of constraints that the otherwise-free functions appearing in the Horndeski Lagrangian must satisfy in order to admit stable black hole solutions. The EFT is analyzed in the decoupling limit to understand potential sources of instability. We also perform a complete analysis of the EFT with odd-parity linear perturbations around general spherically symmetric space-time.

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arXiv2022

Higher derivative corrections to black brane thermodynamics and the weak gravity conjecture

We study higher derivative corrections to black brane thermodynamics and their implications for the weak gravity conjecture for $p$-form gauge fields. In particular we show that higher derivative corrections decrease tension-to-charge ratios of extremal black branes as implied by the weak gravity conjecture, if four-derivative couplings follow scattering positivity bounds. We also demonstrate that entropy corrections in the micro canonical ensemble are positive under the same assumptions. This extends earlier works in the Einstein-Maxwell theory to $p$-form gauge fields in general spacetime dimensions.

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arXiv2022

Spiky strings in de Sitter space

We study semiclassical spiky strings in de Sitter space and the corresponding Regge trajectories, generalizing the analysis in anti-de Sitter space. In particular we demonstrate that each Regge trajectory has a maximum spin due to de Sitter acceleration, similarly to the folded string studied earlier. While this property is useful for the spectrum to satisfy the Higuchi bound, it makes a nontrivial question how to maintain mildness of high-energy string scattering which we are familiar with in flat space and anti-de Sitter space. Our analysis implies that in order to have infinitely many higher spin states, one needs to consider infinitely many Regge trajectories with an increasing folding number.

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