We present a covariant Euclidean wormhole solution to Einstein Yang-Mills system and study scalar perturbations analytically. The fluctuation operator has a positive definite spectrum. We compute the Euclidean Green’s function, which displays maximal antipodal correlation on the smallest three sphere at the center of the throat. Upon analytic continuation, it corresponds to the Feynman propagator on a compact bang-crunch universe. We present the connection matrix that relates past and future modes. We thoroughly discuss the physical implications of the antipodal map in both the Euclidean and Lorentzian geometries and give arguments on how to assign a physical probability to such solutions.

Operators dual to strings attached to giant graviton branes in ${\mathrm{AdS}}_5\times {\mathrm{S}}^5$ can be described rather explicitly in the dual $\mathcal{N}=4$ super-Yang-Mills theory. They have a bare dimension of order $N$ so that for these operators the large $N$ limit and the planar limit are distinct; summing only the planar diagrams will not capture the large $N$ dynamics. Focusing on the one-loop $SU(3)$ sector of the theory, we consider operators that are a small deformation of a $\frac{1}{2}$-Bogomol’nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) multigiant graviton state. The diagonalization of the dilatation operator at one loop has been carried out in previous studies, but explicit formulas for the operators of a good scaling dimension are only known when certain terms which were argued to be small are neglected. In this article, we include the terms which were neglected. The diagonalization is achieved by a novel mapping which replaces the problem of diagonalizing the dilatation operator with a system of bosons hopping on a lattice. The giant gravitons define the sites of this lattice, and the open strings stretching between distinct giant gravitons define the hopping terms of the Hamiltonian. Using the lattice boson model, we argue that the lowest energy giant graviton states are obtained by distributing the momenta carried by the $X$ and $Y$ fields evenly between the giants with the condition that any particular giant carries only $X$ or $Y$ momenta, but not both.

When applying the techniques of loop quantum gravity (LQG) to symmetry-reduced gravitational systems, one first regularizes the scalar constraint using holonomy corrections, prior to quantization. In inhomogeneous system, where a residual spatial diffeomorphism symmetry survives, such modification of the gauge generator generating time reparametrization can potentially lead to deformations or anomalies in the modified algebra of first-class constraints. When working with self-dual variables, it has already been shown that, for spherically symmetric geometry coupled to a scalar field, the holonomy-modified constraints do not generate any modifications to general covariance, as one faces in the real variables formulation, and can thus accommodate local degrees of freedom in such inhomogeneous models. In this paper, we extend this result to Gowdy cosmologies in the self-dual Ashtekar formulation. Furthermore, we show that the introduction of a $\overline{\mu }$-scheme in midisuperspace models, as is required in the “improved dynamics” of LQG, is possible in the self-dual formalism while being out of reach in the current effective models using real-valued Ashtekar-Barbero variables. Our results indicate the advantages of using the self-dual variables to obtain a covariant loop regularization prior to quantization in inhomogeneous symmetry-reduced polymer models, additionally implementing the crucial $\overline{\mu }$-scheme, and thus a consistent semiclassical limit.

We consider the UV divergences up to sub-subleading order for the four-point on-shell scattering amplitudes in $D=8$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in the planar limit. We trace how the leading, subleading, etc divergences appear in all orders of perturbation theory. The structure of these divergences is typical for any local quantum field theory independently on renormalizability. We show how the generalized renormalization group equations allow one to evaluate the leading, subleading, etc. contributions in all orders of perturbation theory starting from one-, two-, etc. loop diagrams respectively. We focus then on subtraction scheme dependence of the results and show that in full analogy with renormalizable theories the scheme dependence can be absorbed into the redefinition of the couplings. The only difference is that the role of the couplings play dimensionless combinations like $g^2{s}^2$ or $g^2{t}^2$, where $s$ and $t$ are the Mandelstam variables.

We prove a no-go theorem for the construction of a Galilean boost invariant and $z\ne 2$ anisotropic scale invariant field theory with a finite dimensional basis of fields. Two point correlators in such theories, we show, grow unboundedly with spatial separation. Correlators of theories with an infinite dimensional basis of fields, for example, labeled by a continuous parameter, do not necessarily exhibit this bad behavior. Hence, such theories behave effectively as if in one extra dimension. Embedding the symmetry algebra into the conformal algebra of one higher dimension also reveals the existence of an internal continuous parameter. Consideration of isometries shows that the nonrelativistic holographic picture assumes a canonical form, where the bulk gravitational theory lives in a space-time with one extra dimension. This can be contrasted with the original proposal by Balasubramanian and McGreevy, and by Son, where the metric of a ($d+2$)-dimensional space-time is proposed to be dual of a $d$-dimensional field theory. We provide explicit examples of theories living at fixed point with anisotropic scaling exponent $z=\frac{2\ell }{\ell +1}$, $\ell \in \mathbb{Z}$.

Einstein’s celebrated theory of gravitation can be presented in three forms: general relativity, teleparallel gravity, and the rarely considered before symmetric teleparallel gravity. Extending the latter, we introduce a new class of theories where a scalar field is coupled nonminimally to nonmetricity $Q$, which here encodes the gravitational effects like curvature $R$ in general relativity or torsion $T$ in teleparallel gravity. We point out the similarities and differences with analogous scalar-curvature and scalar-torsion theories by discussing the field equations, role of connection, conformal transformations, relation to $f(Q)$ theory, and cosmology. The equations for a spatially flat universe coincide with those of teleparallel dark energy, thus allowing us to explain accelerating expansion.

In this paper, we study the weak gravitational lensing in the spacetime of rotating regular black hole geometries such as Ayon-Beato-García (ABG), Bardeen, and Hayward black holes. We calculate the deflection angle of light using the Gauss-Bonnet theorem (GBT) and show that the deflection of light can be viewed as a partially topological effect in which the deflection angle can be calculated by considering a domain outside of the light ray applied to the black hole optical geometries. Then, we demonstrate also the deflection angle via the geodesics formalism for these black holes to verify our results and explore the differences with the Kerr solution. These black holes have, in addition to the total mass and rotation parameter, different parameters of electric charge, magnetic charge, and deviation parameter. We find that the deflection of light has correction terms coming from these parameters, which generalizes the Kerr deflection angle.

In this paper, we carry out a systematic analysis of the theoretical and observational constraints on the dimensionless coupling constants $c_i$ ($i=1$, 2, 3, 4) of the Einstein-aether theory, taking into account the events GW170817 and GRB 170817A. The combination of these events restricts the deviation of the speed $c_T$ of the spin-2 graviton to the range, $-3\times {10}^{-15}<c_T-1<7\times {10}^{-16}$, which for the Einstein-aether theory implies $|c_{13}|\le {10}^{-15}$ with $c_{ij}\equiv c_i+c_j$. The rest of the constraints are divided into two groups: those on the ($c_1$, $c_{14}$)-plane and those on the ($c_2$, $c_{14}$)-plane, except the strong-field constraints. The latter depend on the sensitivities ${\sigma }_{\ae }$ of neutron stars, which are not known at present in the new ranges of the parameters found in this paper.

We study exact, analytic, static, spherically symmetric, four-dimensional solutions of minimally coupled Einstein-scalar gravity, sourced by a scalar field whose profile has the form of the sine-Gordon soliton. We present a horizonless, everywhere regular and positive-mass solution—a solitonic star—and a black hole. The scalar potential behaves as a constant near the origin and vanishes at infinity. In particular, the solitonic scalar star interpolates between an anti-de Sitter and an asympototically flat spacetime. The black-hole spacetime is unstable against linear perturbations, while due to numerical issues, we were not able to determine with confidence whether or not the starlike background solution is stable.

The behavior of black hole horizons and wormholes under the Weyl conformal transformation is investigated. First, a shorter (but more general) derivation of the Weyl transformation of the simple prescription for detecting horizons and wormholes given recently in the literature for spherically symmetric spacetimes is provided. The derivation allows for a simple and intuitive way to understand why and when horizons and wormholes might arise in the conformal frame even if they were absent in the original frame. Then, the conformal behavior of black holes horizon and wormholes in more general spacetimes, based on more “sophisticated” definitions, is provided. The study shows that black holes and wormholes might always arise in the new frame even if they were absent in the original frame. Moreover, it is shown that some of the definitions found in the literature might be transformed into one another under such transformations. Worked-out examples are given.

The cosmological principle is one of the cornerstones in modern cosmology. It assumes that the universe is homogeneous and isotropic on cosmic scales. Both the homogeneity and the isotropy of the universe should be tested carefully. In the present work, we are interested in probing the possible preferred direction in the distribution of type Ia supernovae (SNIa). To our best knowledge, two main methods have been used in almost all of the relevant works in the literature, namely the hemisphere comparison (HC) method and the dipole fitting (DF) method. However, the results from these two methods are not always approximately coincident with each other. In this work, we test the cosmic anisotropy by using these two methods with the joint light-curve analysis (JLA) and simulated SNIa data sets. In many cases, both methods work well, and their results are consistent with each other. However, in the cases with two (or even more) preferred directions, the DF method fails while the HC method still works well. This might shed new light on our understanding of these two methods.

We review primordial black hole (PBH) formation in the axionlike curvaton model and investigate whether PBHs formed in this model can be the origin of the gravtitational wave (GW) signals detected by the Advanced LIGO. In this model, small-scale curvature perturbations with large amplitude are generated, which is essential for PBH formation. On the other hand, large curvature perturbations also become a source of primordial GWs by their second-order effects. Severe constraints are imposed on such GWs by pulsar timing array (PTA) experiments. We also check the consistency of the model with these constraints. In this analysis, it is important to take into account the effect of non-Gaussianity, which is generated easily in the curvaton model. We see that, if there are non-Gaussianities, the fixed amount of PBHs can be produced with a smaller amplitude of the primordial power spectrum.

Given observations of the $B$-mode polarization power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), we can reconstruct power spectra of primordial tensor modes from the early Universe without assuming their functional form such as a power-law spectrum. The shape of the reconstructed spectra can then be used to probe the origin of tensor modes in a model-independent manner. We use the Fisher matrix to calculate the covariance matrix of tensor power spectra reconstructed in bins. We find that the power spectra are best reconstructed at wave numbers in the vicinity of $k\approx 6\times {10}^{-4}$ and $5\times {10}^{-3}{\mathrm{Mpc}}^{-1}$, which correspond to the “reionization bump” at $\ell \lesssim 6$ and “recombination bump” at $\ell \approx 80$ of the CMB $B$-mode power spectrum, respectively. The error bar between these two wave numbers is larger because of the lack of the signal between the reionization and recombination bumps. The error bars increase sharply toward smaller (larger) wave numbers because of the cosmic variance (CMB lensing and instrumental noise). To demonstrate the utility of the reconstructed power spectra, we investigate whether we can distinguish between various sources of tensor modes including those from the vacuum metric fluctuation and SU(2) gauge fields during single-field slow-roll inflation, open inflation, and massive gravity inflation. The results depend on the model parameters, but we find that future CMB experiments are sensitive to differences in these models. We make our calculation tool available online.

We consider a mimetic set up in which the mimetic scalar is coupled to a vector field. It is shown that such a field with a timelike component does not contribute to the background equations and yet produces healthy isocurvature perturbations with respect to ghost and gradient instabilities in spite of the absence of any propagating curvature perturbations at the level of the quadratic action. We then consider a vector field with spacelike components, which leads to an anisotropic Bianchi universe, and show that the ghost and gradient instabilities are absent in the limit of high momenta and that the propagating curvature perturbations have healthy UV behavior.

There is growing evidence that intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs), defined here as having a mass in the range $M=500-{10}^5{M}_{\odot }$, are present in the dense centers of certain globular clusters (GCs). Gravitational waves from their mergers with other IMBHs or with stellar BHs in the cluster are mostly emitted in frequencies $\lesssim 10\mathrm{Hz}$, which unfortunately is out of reach for current ground-based observatories such as advanced LIGO (aLIGO). Nevertheless, we show that aLIGO measurements can be used to efficiently probe one of the possible formation mechanisms of IMBHs in GCs, namely a runaway merger process of stellar seed BHs. In this case, aLIGO will be sensitive to the lower-mass rungs of the merger ladder, ranging from the seed BH mass to masses $\gtrsim 50–300M_{\odot }$, where the background from standard mergers is expected to be very low. Assuming this generic IMBH formation scenario, we calculate the mass functions that correspond to the limiting cases of possible merger trees. Based on estimates for the number density of GCs and taking into account the instrumental sensitivity, we show that current observations do not effectively limit the occupation fraction $f_{\mathrm{occ}}$ of IMBHs formed by runaway mergers of stellar BHs in GCs. However, we find that if runaway mergers occur steadily throughout the lifetimes of GCs (as opposed to happening mainly early in their lifetimes), then a six-year run of aLIGO at design sensitivity will be able to probe down to $f_{\mathrm{occ}}\lesssim 3\%$ at a 99.9% confidence level, either finding evidence for this formation mechanism, or necessitating others if the fraction of GCs that harbor IMBHs is higher.

We reexamine the matter neutrino oscillation probabilities considering the decoherence phenomenon as a subleading effect. In this paper we point out the relevance of having the correct interpretation of the decoherence matrix in the different quantum bases, within the framework of neutrino oscillation probabilities in matter. Based on this treatment we develop an analytical formula for matter neutrino oscillation probabilities for three generations, with a range of application up to the decoherence parameter $\mathrm{\Gamma }\sim {10}^{-23}\mathrm{GeV}$. We observe that, due to decoherence, the amplitudes of the neutrino/antineutrino oscillation probabilities increase in an energy independent way. We also find that decoherence can reduce the absolute value of the $CP$ asymmetry, relative to its value at the pure oscillation case. As a side effect we have found a degeneracy between the decoherence parameter $\mathrm{\Gamma }$ and the $CP$ violation phase $\delta$.

In the context of Standard Model (SM) extensions, the seesaw mechanism provides the most natural explanation for the smallness of neutrino masses. In this work we consider the most economical type-I seesaw realization in which two right-handed neutrinos are added to the SM field content. For the sake of predictability, we impose the maximum number of texture zeros in the lepton Yukawa and mass matrices. All possible patterns are analyzed in the light of the most recent neutrino oscillation data, and predictions for leptonic $CP$ violation are presented. We conclude that, in the charged-lepton mass basis, eight different texture combinations are compatible with neutrino data at $1\sigma$, all of them for an inverted-hierarchical neutrino mass spectrum. Four of these cases predict a $CP$-violating Dirac phase close to $3\pi /2$, which is around the current best-fit value from the global analysis of neutrino oscillation data. If one further reduces the number of free parameters by considering three equal elements in the Dirac neutrino Yukawa coupling matrix, several texture combinations are still compatible with data but only at $3\sigma$. For all viable textures, the baryon asymmetry of the Universe is computed in the context of thermal leptogenesis, assuming (mildly) hierarchical heavy Majorana neutrino masses $M_{1,2}$. It is shown that the flavored regime is ruled out, while the unflavored one requires $M_1\sim {10}^{14}\mathrm{GeV}$.

We look at the prospects for detecting light bosons, $X$, at proposed Z factories assuming a production of $10^{12}$ Z bosons. Such a large yield is within the design goals of future FCC-ee and CEPC colliders. Specifically, we look at the cases where $X$ is either a singlet scalar that mixes with the standard model Higgs or a vector boson with mass $1\lesssim M_X\lesssim 80\mathrm{GeV}$. We find that several channels are particularly promising for discovery prospects. In particular, $Z\to f\overline{f}X$ and $Z\to V_{Q}X$ give a promising signal above a very clean standard model background. We also discuss several channels that have too large a background to be useful.

We perform frequentist and Bayesian statistical analyses of Higgs- and $Z$-portal models of dark matter particles with spin 0, $1/2$, and 1. Our analyses incorporate data from direct detection and indirect detection experiments, as well as LHC searches for monojet and monophoton events, and we also analyze the potential impacts of future direct detection experiments. We find acceptable regions of the parameter spaces for Higgs-portal models with real scalar, neutral vector, Majorana, or Dirac fermion dark matter particles, and $Z$-portal models with Majorana or Dirac fermion dark matter particles. In many of these cases, there are interesting prospects for discovering dark matter particles in Higgs or $Z$ decays, as well as dark matter particles weighing $\gtrsim 100\mathrm{GeV}$. Negative results from planned direct detection experiments would still allow acceptable regions for Higgs- and $Z$-portal models with Majorana or Dirac fermion dark matter particles.