General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)

Abstract: We have investigated the equation of motion for photons with Weyl corrections in a Kerr black hole spacetime in the small coupling case. Our results show that Weyl corrections yield phenomena of birefringence. The light rays propagating in the spacetime are separated into the ordinary rays and the extraordinary rays, and the propagation of the latter depends on the corrections. We probe the effects of Weyl corrections on the Kerr black hole shadows casted by the extraordinary rays and find that such corrections result in a weak stretching or squeezing in the vertical direction for the black hole shadows. Finally, we also study the change of the length of the Near-Horizon Extremal Kerr line (NHEK line) with Weyl corrections. These features could help us to understand the electrodynamics with Weyl corrections from black hole shadows.

Abstract: The experiment involving the entanglement of two massive particles through gravitational fields has been devised to discern the quantum attributes of gravity. In this paper, we present a scheme to extend this experiment's applicability to more generalized curved spacetimes, with the objective of validating universal quantum gravity within broader contexts. Specifically, we direct our attention towards the quantum gravity induced entanglement of mass (QGEM) in astrophysical phenomena, such as particles traversing the interstellar medium. Notably, we ascertain that the gravitational field within curved spacetime can induce observable entanglement between particle pairs in both scenarios, even when dealing with particles significantly smaller than mesoscopic masses. Furthermore, we obtain the characteristic spectra of QGEM across diverse scenarios, shedding light on potential future experimental examinations. This approach not only establishes a more pronounced and extensive manifestation of the quantum influences of gravity compared to the original scheme but also opens avenues for prospective astronomical experiments. These experiments, aligned with our postulates, hold immense advantages and implications for the detection of quantum gravity and can be envisioned for future design.

Abstract: Over the last few decades, a plethora of modifications to general relativity have been proposed to solve a host of cosmological and astrophysical problems. Many modified gravity models are now ruled out with further astrophysical observations; some theories are still viable, with, at best, bounds on their parameters set by observations to date. More recently, observations of Fast Radio Bursts have proven to be remarkably powerful tools to constrain cosmology and fundamental physics. In this work, we consider a generic modified gravity theory and consider the implications for gravitational lensing with Fast Radio Bursts. We use a set of Fast Radio Burst observations to constrain the fraction of dark matter made up of primordial black holes in such a theory. We further show that modified gravity adds a screening effect on gravitational lensing similar to the case when there is plasma in the path of the light ray acting as a scattering screen.

Abstract: The various "defect wormholes" developed by Klinkhamer have recently attracted considerable attention -- especially in view of the fact that the simplest example, the so-called "vacuum defect wormhole", was claimed to be an everywhere-vacuum everywhere-Ricci-flat exact solution to the Einstein equations. This claim has been conclusively refuted by Feng, and in the current article we take a deeper look at exactly what goes wrong. The central issue is this: Although Klinkhamer's specific representation of the metric g_{ab} is smooth (C^\infty) his inverse metric g^{ab} is not even everywhere continuous (C^0), being undefined at the wormhole throat. This situation implies that one should very carefully investigate curvature tensors at the throat using the Israel--Lanczos--Sen thin-shell formalism. Doing so reveals the presence of a delta-function energy-condition-violating thin shell of matter at the wormhole throat. The "defect wormholes" are thus revealed to be quite ordinary "cut-and-paste" thin-shell wormholes, but represented in a coordinate system which is unfortunately pathological at exactly the same place that all the interesting physics occurs.

Abstract: The Regular Phantom Black Holes (RPBH)s are of theoretical and observational importance, and some properties have been studied. In this work, we study some of the thermodynamical properties such as entropy, and temperature, ... in three asymptotically spacetimes: flat, de--Sitter (dS), and Anti-de Sitter (AdS). Many of the RPBH properties, including horizon radius, are (directly or indirectly) dependent on a scale parameter b. Due to the slightly different structure from Schwarzschild--metrics, the method to express relations between thermodynamical variables requires a new function of the scale parameter. We also imply the local and global thermodynamic stability through the Heat Capacity (HC) and Gibbs Energy (GB), respectively. The calculations and graphs show the results, in the flat background, are very similar to Schwarzschild ones. Also, some results show that the asymptotically AdS-RPBH is more compatible with physical laws than the dS and flat backgrounds.

Abstract: Modified gravity theories such as Einstein scalar Gauss Bonnet (EsGB) contain higher derivative terms in the spacetime curvature in their action, which results in modifications to the Hamiltonian and momentum constraints of the theory. In principle, such modifications may affect the principal part of the operator in the resulting elliptic equations, and so further complicate the already highly non-linear, coupled constraints that apply to the initial data in numerical relativity simulations of curved spacetimes. However, since these are effective field theories, we expect the additional curvature terms to be small, which motivates treating them simply as an additional source in the constraints, and iterating to find a solution to the full problem. In this work we implement and test a modification to the CTT/CTTK methods of solving the constraints for the case of the most general four derivative, parity invariant scalar-tensor theory, and show that solutions can be found in both asymptotically flat/black hole and periodic/cosmological spacetimes, even up to couplings of order unity in the theory. Such methods will allow for numerical investigations of a much broader class of initial data than has previously been possible in these theories, and should be straightforward to extend to similar models in the Horndeski class.