118514124
Cosmology of Hořava–Lifshitz f(R) gravity
Abstract We discuss the cosmology of recently proposed Hořava–Lifshitz f ( R ) gravity. In particular, we derive the modified Hubble equation that reduces to the standard HL gravity case in appropriate limit. We show how the bounce solutions in this theory are modified due to nonlinear effect of f ( R ) gravity. We also show that in principle, the Universe in this set-up can show cyclic behavior.
42578428
Floating and sinking: the imprint of massive scalars around rotating black holes.
We study the coupling of massive scalar fields to matter in orbit around rotating black holes. It is generally expected that orbiting bodies will lose energy in gravitational waves, slowly inspiraling into the black hole. Instead, we show that the coupling of the field to matter leads to a surprising effect: because of superradiance, matter can hover into "floating orbits" for which the net gravitational energy loss at infinity is entirely provided by the black hole's rotational energy. Orbiting bodies remain floating until they extract sufficient angular momentum from the black hole, or until perturbations or nonlinear effects disrupt the orbit. For slowly rotating and nonrotating black holes floating orbits are unlikely to exist, but resonances at orbital frequencies corresponding to quasibound states of the scalar field can speed up the inspiral, so that the orbiting body sinks. These effects could be a smoking gun of deviations from general relativity.
13926216
Asymptotic Quasinormal Modes of d-Dimensional Schwarzschild Black Hole with Gauss-Bonnet Correction
We obtain an analytic expression for the highly damped asymptotic quasinormal mode frequencies of the (d ≥ 5)-dimensional Schwarzschild black hole modified by the Gauss–Bonnet term, which appears in string derived models of gravity. The analytic expression is obtained under the string inspired assumption that there exists a minimum length scale in the system and in the limit when the coupling in front of the Gauss–Bonnet term in the action is small. Although there are several similarities of this geometry with that of the Schwarzschild black hole, the asymptotic quasinormal mode frequencies are quite different. In particular, the real part of the asymptotic quasinormal frequencies for this class of single horizon black holes is not proportional to log(3).
118709858
Viscosity to entropy ratio at extremality
Assuming gauge theory realization at the boundary, we show that the viscosity to entropy ratio is 1/(4π) where the bulk is represented by a large class of extremal black holes in anti-deSitter space. In particular, this class includes multiple R-charged black holes in various dimensions.
119199231
Normal-mode analysis for scalar fields in BTZ black-hole background
We analyze the possibility of inequivalent boundary conditions for a scalar field propagating in the BTZ black-hole space-time. We find that for certain ranges of the black-hole parameters, the Klein–Gordon operator admits a one-parameter family of self-adjoint extensions. For this range, the BTZ space-time is not quantum mechanically complete. We suggest a physically motivated method for determining the spectra of the Klein–Gordon operator.
115177789
Scalar field dynamics in warped AdS3 black hole background
Abstract We study the normal modes of a scalar field in the background of a warped AdS 3 black hole which arises in topologically massive gravity. We discuss the normal mode spectrum using the brick wall boundary condition. In addition, we investigate the possibility of a more general boundary condition for the scalar field.
119261143
Spikes in the SED and ripples in the outskirts of galaxies
We describe a new method that allows us to quantitatively characterize galactic satellites from analysis of disturbances in outer gas disks, without requiring knowledge of their optical light. We have demonstrated the validity of this method, which we call Tidal Analysis, by applying it to local spirals with known optical companions, including M51 and NGC 1512. These galaxies span the range from having a low mass companion (~ one-hundredth the mass of the primary galaxy) to a fairly massive companion (~ one-third the mass of the primary galaxy). This approach has broad implications for many areas of astrophysics – for the indirect detection of dark matter (or dark matter-dominated dwarf galaxies), and for galaxy evolution in its use as a decipher of the dynamical impact of satellites on galactic disks. Here, we present some preliminary results on the emergent SEDs and images, calculated along the time sequence of these dynamical simulations using the 3-D self-consistent Monte Carlo radiative transfer code RADISHE. We explore star formation prescriptions and how they affect the emergent SEDs and images. Our goal is to identify SED colors that are primarily affected by the galaxy's interaction history, and are not significantly affected by the choice of star formation prescription. If successful, we may be able to utilize the emergent UV-IR SED of the primary galaxy to understand its recent interaction history.
119086181
Geodesic deviation in Regge calculus
Geodesic deviation is the most basic manifestation of the influence of gravitational fields on matter. We investigate geodesic deviation within the framework of Regge calculus, and compare the results with the continuous formulation of general relativity on two different levels. We show that the continuum and simplicial descriptions coincide when the cumulative effect of the Regge contributions over an infinitesimal element of area is considered. This comparison provides a quantitative relation between the curvature of the continuous description and the deficit angles of Regge calculus. The results presented might also be of help in developing generic ways of including matter terms in the Regge equations.
118469851
PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFTS OF SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES
We use the photometric redshift method of Chakrabarti & McKee to infer photometric redshifts of submillimeter galaxies with far-IR (FIR) Herschel data obtained as part of the PACS Evolutionary Probe program. For the sample with spectroscopic redshifts, we demonstrate the validity of this method over a large range of redshifts (4 z 0.3) and luminosities, finding an average accuracy in (1 + z phot)/(1 + z spec) of 10%. Thus, this method is more accurate than other FIR photometric redshift methods. This method is different from typical FIR photometric methods in deriving redshifts from the light-to-gas mass (L/M) ratio of infrared-bright galaxies inferred from the FIR spectral energy distribution, rather than dust temperatures. To assess the dependence of our photometric redshift method on the data in this sample, we contrast the average accuracy of our method when we use PACS data, versus SPIRE data, versus both PACS and SPIRE data. We also discuss potential selection effects that may affect the Herschel sample. Once the redshift is derived, we can determine physical properties of infrared-bright galaxies, including the temperature variation within the dust envelope, luminosity, mass, and surface density. We use data from the GOODS-S field to calculate the star formation rate density (SFRD) of submillimeter bright sources detected by AzTEC and PACS. The AzTEC-PACS sources, which have a threshold 850 μm flux 5 mJy, contribute 15% of the SFRD from all ultraluminous infrared galaxies (L IR 1012 L ☉), and 3% of the total SFRD at z ~ 2.
16317166
Far-Infrared Spectral Energy Distributions and Photometric Redshifts of Dusty Galaxies
We infer the large-scale source parameters of dusty galaxies from their observed spectral energy distributions (SEDs) using the analytic radiative transfer methodology presented by Chakrabarti and McKee. For local ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs), we show that the millimeter to far-infrared (FIR) SEDs can be well fit using the standard dust opacity index of 2 when self-consistent radiative transfer solutions are employed, indicating that the cold dust in local ULIRGs can be described by a single-grain model. We develop a method for determining photometric redshifts of ULIRGs and submillimeter galaxies from the millimeter-FIR SED; the resulting value of 1 + z is typically accurate to about 10% . As such, it is comparable to the accuracy of near-IR photometric redshifts and provides a complementary means of deriving redshifts from far-IR data, such as those from the upcoming Herschel Space Observatory. Since our analytic radiative transfer solution is developed for homogeneous, spherically symmetric, centrally heated, dusty sources, it is relevant for infrared bright galaxies that are primarily powered by compact sources of luminosity that are embedded in a dusty envelope. We discuss how deviations from spherical symmetry may affect the applicability of our solution, and we contrast our self-consistent analytic solution with standard approximations to demonstrate the main differences.
17384070
The Role of Gas In Maintaining Quasi-Steady Spiral Structure In Stellar Disks
We study the dynamical evolution of spiral structure in the s tellar disks of isolated galaxies using high resolution Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SP H) simulations that treat the evolution of gas, stars, and dark matter self-consistently. We focus this study on the question of self-excited spiral structure in the stellar disk and inves tigate the dynamical coupling between the cold, dissipative gaseous component and the stellar com ponent. We find that angular momentum transport from the gas to the stars inside of corotati on leads to a roughly time-steady spiral structure in the stellar disk. To make this point clea r, we contrast these results with otherwise identical simulations that do not include a cold gase ou component that is able to cool radiatively and dissipate energy, and find that spiral struc ture, when it is incipient, dies out more rapidly in simulations that do not include gas. We also e mploy a standard star formation prescription to convert gas into stars and find that our resul ts hold for typical gas consumption time scales that are in accord with the Kennicutt-Schmidt re lation. We therefore attribute the long-lived roughly time steady spiral structure in the stel lar disk to the dynamical coupling between the gas and the stars and the resultant torques that t he self-gravitating gaseous disk is able to exert on the stars due to an azimuthal phase shift be tween the collisionless and dissipative components.