Recently, a distinct non--quasinormal mode component of black hole binary merger radiation, named the direct wave, has been identified. The frequency and damping time of the direct wave have been associated with properties of the remnant horizon. This has led to direct-wave based analysis of GW250114, including a test of Hawking's area law. However, as we demonstrate here using numerical relativity strain data, the direct wave frequency is not correlated with the horizon frequency or surface gravity, other than an incidental crossing around $χ_f \approx 0.7$ corresponding closely to the remnant spin of GW250114. We show that while the instantaneous frequency of the direct wave is quasi-stable, the damping time shows significant evolution and therefore a single damped sinusoid model, containing a fixed damping time, is not appropriate. We further show that an evolving frequency model based on horizon properties also does not model the direct wave component for systems with large remnant spins. We demonstrate that testing Hawking's area law with a horizon frequency based on the direct wave interpretation will lead to apparent violations of Hawking's area law when no violation actually occurs. Our results therefore indicate that the direct wave is not a reliable probe of the remnant horizon's properties. less

The investigation of nonclassical correlations in curved spacetimes offers key insights into the intersection of quantum information theory and gravitational physics. This paper studies two nonlocal correlation measures, non local advantage of quantum coherence (NAQC) and Bell nonlocality (BN) in a $d$-dimensional spherically symmetric Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet (EGB) black hole spacetime. We consider two observers (Alice and Rob) initially sharing a maximally entangled Bell state: Alice freely falls into the black hole (inertial Kruskal frame), while Rob accelerates outside the horizon (non-inertial Schwarzschild-like frame). The Unruh-Hawking effect modifies Rob's field modes, requiring Bogoliubov transformations to relate the two frames. We derive the mixed bipartite density matrix for fermionic fields and analytical expressions for NAQC and BN, which depend on Hawking temperature (itself governed by $α$, $d$, and $r_h$). Our results show both correlations degrade monotonically with increasing Hawking temperature, confirm the NAQC-BN hierarchical relationship persists in EGB spacetime, and highlighting the impact of high curvature corrections on quantum resources. less

In this work, we investigate boson star models within the framework of teleparallel gravity with non-minimal coupling, and obtain static, spherically symmetric solutions for both the ground state and excited states. The results indicate that the energy density of the excited-state solutions can become negative. For these solutions, the four commonly used energy conditions are no longer satisfied. In contrast, for all the ground-state solutions we have studied, the energy density remains positive and all four energy conditions are consistently satisfied. Moreover, considering the importance of astrophysical observations, the gravitational-wave signals from Extreme-Mass-Ratio Inspirals (EMRIs) composed of these boson stars are investigated. Our results reveal that the frequency-domain characteristic strain of these waveforms falls within the detectability range of LISA, which can provide potential evidence for distinguishing compact astrophysical objects. less

We construct a perturbative scalar-tensor solution describing a central inhomogeneity embedded in an evolving cosmological background, with the aim of studying black hole persistence through a nonsingular bounce. Scalar-tensor gravity provides a natural framework for realizing bouncing cosmologies, while the inclusion of a localized inhomogeneity makes the field equations substantially more difficult to solve. We therefore adopt a perturbative scheme, with perturbative parameter $ε$, in which the leading-order equations are solved by a spatially flat bouncing FLRW spacetime sourced by a radiation perfect fluid. At next order, a central inhomogeneity is introduced through a generalized McVittie geometry, with the perturbations encoded in the corresponding first-order metric and scalar-field functions. We first allow an anisotropic fluid with radial and tangential pressures, whose diagonal components solve the diagonal field equations. The field equations are solved as a series expansion up to $\mathcal{O}(η^4)$ near the bounce at $η=0$. The resulting perfect fluid solution contains three arbitrary functions which are constrained by requiring the spacetime to asymptote to FLRW as $r\to\infty$. With suitable initial conditions preserving the parabolic structure of the bounce, the integration constant $d_0$ emerges as the true perturbative parameter: all perturbations vanish as $d_0\to0$. Finally, we find a small evolving horizon, $r_h\sim d_0$, which we interpret as the horizon of the central inhomogeneity. Its persistence through the bounce supports the interpretation of a black hole surviving the cosmological transition, and its evolution is not symmetric about $η=0$. less

We study the cosmological dynamics of interacting dark energy and dark matter in Classical Einstein Gravity and Loop Quantum Cosmology. Two dark matter scenarios are considered: superfluid dark matter described by a generalized cubic equation of state and the standard pressureless fluid. The dark energy component is modeled using both a generalized nonlinear equation of state and a constant equation of state. We examine two phenomenological interaction terms, $Q=α\dotρ_m$ and $Q=β\dotρ_d$, which govern the energy transfer between the dark sectors. In classical gravity, the pressureless matter model exhibits stable late-time attractors, whereas the superfluid dark matter model admits only saddle and non-hyperbolic critical points. Extending the analysis to Loop Quantum Cosmology, quantum geometric corrections replace the Big Bang singularity with a nonsingular quantum bounce, and significantly modify the phase-space dynamics. As a result, the stable attractors of the classical pressureless matter model disappear, and all interacting models possess only saddle and non-hyperbolic critical points. These findings highlight the significant influence of both dark matter properties and quantum gravitational effects on the asymptotic evolution of interacting dark-sectors. less

We investigate static and spherically symmetric neutron star solutions endowed with primary scalar hair in a subfamily of Degenerate-Higher-Order-Scalar-Tensor (DHOST) theories of gravity. By solving the modified Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff (TOV) equations, we construct equilibrium configurations for polytropic and realistic equations of state and analyse the impact of the scalar hair on the stellar structure. We examine the resulting metric and scalar field profiles as well as the mass-radius relation, showing deviations from the predictions of General Relativity (GR). Positive scalar charges lead to more compact stars than in GR and, above a critical threshold, to singularities. Observations could therefore put stringent constraints on the parameters characterising the beyond-GR effects in these theories and their potential scalar hair. less

We investigate the shadow and polarization images of a Konoplya-Zhidenko rotating non-Kerr black hole surrounded by a geometrically thick and optically thin accretion flow. The accretion flow is described by an analytical ballistic approximation accretion flow model. The numerical results show that the shadow image exhibits two main features, an outer bright ring and an inner dark region. The former corresponds to higher order images, while the latter is produced by the black hole event horizon. Increasing the deformation parameter $η$ does not significantly change the overall shape of the higher order images, but it enlarges their size. Increasing the spin parameter $a$ and the observer inclination angle $θ_o$ enhances the asymmetry of the higher order images and makes the intensity on the left side much larger than that on the right side. This behavior is associated with frame dragging and the relativistic Doppler effect. In the polarization images, the degree of linear polarization is much smaller in the higher-order image region than in other regions, and the polarization vectors extend over the whole image plane. These results indicate that the thick disk model produces features in both intensity and polarization images that differ markedly from those in thin disk models. Within the framework used in this work, the observed intensity and polarization signatures can serve as effective probes of the underlying spacetime geometry and near horizon accretion dynamics. less

Non-perturbative processes in the early universe may create overdense structures in scalar fields like the inflaton, called oscillons. In this work, we explore whether the leading order higher derivative contributions to the scalar-tensor theory change the formation and growth of these structures, and investigate the limits in which the effective field theory (EFT) description breaks down. We find that whilst the properties of the oscillons are not significantly modified, and black holes do not generically form, for large couplings the period of formation can result in the evolution leaving the regime of validity of the EFT, at which point predictivity is lost and the next order terms in the EFT should become relevant. If the oscillons survive their formation, they tend to be stable and the EFT corrections remain bounded. The EFT breakdown is triggered by large curvature terms in the metric in the densest regions of the oscillon, meaning that approximations of such modified theories that neglect the local backreaction and non-linear dynamics of the fields may miss important effects. less

Compact objects with black-hole-like exteriors may hide new strong-field physics in their interiors, making their dynamical response a sensitive probe of gravity beyond General Relativity. We present an analytically tractable, gravitationally bound compact object with a genuinely new dynamical signature: under a minimal passive boundary prescription, its exactly controlled odd-parity sector exhibits purely dissipative relaxation poles, rather than the oscillatory modes usually associated with black holes and exotic compact alternatives. The object we study is a regular, vector-supported compact solution of a vector--tensor theory, matched without any surface layer to an exterior Schwarzschild geometry. Owing to its anisotropic stress, it can violate the Buchdahl bound and be continuously connected to the black-hole compactness limit. Its unusual response follows from a hidden chiral symmetry, which turns the perturbation problem into one-way transport rather than ordinary wave propagation. The exterior region alone has no conventional quasinormal-mode spectrum; instead, the regular interior and the matching conditions break the symmetry and quantize the fluctuation spectrum. We analytically compute the retarded Green function and susceptibility, and derive an effective membrane response by integrating out the object's interior. In the black-hole limit, the relaxation times diverge, the poles collapse toward zero frequency, and finite-frequency exterior perturbations decouple from the interior. Black-hole behaviour is therefore approached through the disappearance of relaxation modes, not through the emergence of ringdown. less

Gravitational-wave signals from massive black hole binaries observed by LISA can carry imprints of both the astrophysical environment of the source and possible deviations from general relativity. We investigate whether environmental effects leave a detectable imprint on the LISA binary population, and whether they can mimic modified-gravity effects with the same frequency dependence. As representative channels we adopt accretion and viscous migration in a circumbinary disk for the environmental sector, and a time-varying Newton constant $\dot G$ for the modified-gravity sector. All three effects enter the waveform at the same negative post-Newtonian order and are described, at leading order, by a common phase-deformation parameter, which makes them formally degenerate at the single-event level. Combining Fisher-matrix forecasts with a hierarchical nested-sampling analysis of synthetic catalogs from astrophysically motivated population models, we find that, even under extreme astrophysical assumptions -- an active fraction of $50\%$, together with a super-Eddington accretion tail -- the population-level posteriors remain fully compatible with vacuum. However, a hierarchical population-wide analysis may yield a non-trivial upper limit on the active fraction and a mild lower bound on the slope of the Eddington-ratio distribution. Environmental effects are therefore unlikely to bias LISA's tests of general relativity with massive black hole binaries in astrophysically realistic scenarios. less