We revisit the accuracy of the post-Newtonian (PN) approximation and its region of validity for quasicircular orbits of a point particle in the Kerr spacetime, by using an analytically known highest post-Newtonian order gravitational energy flux and accurate numerical results in the black hole perturbation approach. It is found that regions of validity become larger for higher PN order results although there are several local maximums in regions of validity for relatively low-PN order results. This might imply that higher PN order calculations are also encouraged for comparable-mass binaries.

The asymptotic safety conjecture is examined for quantum gravity in four dimensions. Using the renormalization group, we find evidence for an interacting UV fixed point for polynomial actions up to the 34th power in the Ricci scalar. The extrapolation to infinite polynomial order is given, and the self-consistency of the fixed point is established using a bootstrap test. All details of our analysis are provided. We also clarify further aspects such as stability, convergence, the role of boundary conditions, and a partial degeneracy of eigenvalues. Within this setting we find strong support for the conjecture.

We consider a model of two field inflation, containing an ordinary scalar field and a Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) field. We work beyond the slow-roll approximation, but we assume a separable Hubble parameter. We then derive the form of potential in this framework and study the spectrum of the primordial perturbations in detail. We also study the amplitude of the non-Gaussianity of the primordial perturbations both in equilateral and orthogonal configurations in this setup. We test the model with recent observational data and find some constraints on the model parameters. Our study shows that for some ranges of the DBI parameter, the model is consistent with observations, and it is also possible to have large non-Gaussianity which would be observable by future improvements in experiments.

In this work we present some new results that we have obtained in a study of the phase diagram of charged compact boson stars in the theory involving massive complex scalar fields coupled to the U(1) gauge field and gravity in a conical potential in the presence of a cosmological constant $\mathrm{\Lambda }$, which we treat as a free parameter taking positive and negative values and thereby allowing us to study the theory in de Sitter and anti de Sitter spaces, respectively. We obtain four bifurcation points (the possibility of more bifurcation points not being ruled out) in the de Sitter region. We present a detailed discussion of the various regions in our phase diagram with respect to four bifurcation points. Our theory is seen to have rich physics in a particular domain for positive values of $\mathrm{\Lambda }$, which is consistent with the accelerated expansion of the Universe.

We recently derived a quantization condition for the energy of three relativistic particles in a cubic box [M. T. Hansen and S. R. Sharpe, Phys. Rev. D 90, 116003 (2014); M. T. Hansen and S. R. Sharpe, Phys. Rev. D 92, 114509 (2015)]. Here we use this condition to study the energy level closest to the three-particle threshold when the total three-momentum vanishes. We expand this energy in powers of $1/L$, where $L$ is the linear extent of the finite volume. The expansion begins at $\mathcal{O}(1/L^3)$, and we determine the coefficients of the terms through $\mathcal{O}(1/L^6)$. As is also the case for the two-particle threshold energy, the $1/L^3$, $1/L^4$ and $1/L^5$ coefficients depend only on the two-particle scattering length $a$. These can be compared to previous results obtained using nonrelativistic quantum mechanics [K. Huang and C. N. Yang, Phys. Rev. 105, 767 (1957); S. R. Beane, W. Detmold, and M. J. Savage, Phys. Rev. D 76, 074507 (2007); S. Tan, Phys. Rev. A 78, 013636 (2008)], and we find complete agreement. The $1/L^6$ coefficients depend additionally on the two-particle effective range $r$ (just as in the two-particle case) and on a suitably defined threshold three-particle scattering amplitude (a new feature for three particles). A second new feature in the three-particle case is that logarithmic dependence on $L$ appears at $\mathcal{O}(1/L^6)$. Relativistic effects enter at this order, and the only comparison possible with the nonrelativistic result is for the coefficient of the logarithm, where we again find agreement. For a more thorough check of the $1/L^6$ result, and thus of the quantization condition, we also compare to a perturbative calculation of the threshold energy in relativistic $\lambda {\varphi }^4$ theory, which we have recently presented in [M. T. Hansen and S. R. Sharpe, Phys. Rev. D 93, 014506 (2016)]. Here, all terms can be compared, and we find full agreement.

We present the first calculation of coupled-channel meson-meson scattering in the isospin $=1$, $G$-parity negative sector, with channels $\pi \eta$, $K\overline{K}$ and $\pi {\eta }^{\prime }$, in a first-principles approach to QCD. From the discrete spectrum of eigenstates in three volumes extracted from lattice QCD correlation functions we determine the energy dependence of the $S$-matrix, and find that the $S$-wave features a prominent cusplike structure in $\pi \eta \to \pi \eta$ close to the $K\overline{K}$ threshold coupled with a rapid turn-on of amplitudes leading to the $K\overline{K}$ final state. This behavior is traced to an $a_0(980)$-like resonance, strongly coupled to both $\pi \eta$ and $K\overline{K}$, which is identified with a pole in the complex energy plane, appearing on only a single unphysical Riemann sheet. Consideration of $D$-wave scattering suggests a narrow tensor resonance at higher energy.

We perform quantum Monte Carlo simulations in the background of a classical black hole. The lattice discretized path integral is numerically calculated in the Schwarzschild metric and in its approximated metric. We study spontaneous symmetry breaking of a real scalar field theory. We observe inhomogeneous symmetry breaking induced by an inhomogeneous gravitational field.

We estimate the partial widths for the radiative and pionic transitions from the $D_{s1}(2460)$ to the $D_{s0}(2317)$ in a molecular scenario, in which the $D_{s1}(2460)$ and $D_{s0}^{*}(2317)$ are considered as hadronic molecular states of $DK$ and $D^{*}K$, respectively. The partial widths for the $D_{s1}(2460)\to D_{s0}^{*}(2317){\pi }^0$ and $D_{s1}(2460)\to D_{s0}^{*}(2317)\gamma$ are evaluated to be about 0.19–0.22 and 3.0–3.1 keV, respectively. In addition, the ratio of the $D_{s1}(2460)\to D_{s0}(2317)\gamma$ and $D_{s1}(2460)\to D_s^{*}{\pi }^0$ is estimated to be about $(6.6–10.6)\times 10^{-2}$, which is safely under the measured upper limit.

An approach to QCD vacuum as a medium describable in terms of a statistical ensemble of almost everywhere homogeneous Abelian (anti-)self-dual gluon fields is briefly reviewed. These fields play the role of the confining medium for color charged fields as well as underline the mechanism of realization of chiral $S{U}_{\mathrm{L}}(N_f)\times S{U}_{\mathrm{R}}(N_f)$ and $U_A(1)$ symmetries. Hadronization formalism based on this ensemble leads to manifestly defined quantum effective meson action. Strong, electromagnetic, and weak interactions of mesons are represented in the action in terms of nonlocal $n$-point interaction vertices given by the quark-gluon loops averaged over the background ensemble. New systematic results for the mass spectrum and decay constants of radially excited light, heavy-light mesons, and heavy quarkonia are presented. The interrelation between the present approach, models based on ideas of soft-wall anti–de Sitter/QCD, light-front holographic QCD, and the picture of harmonic confinement is outlined.

In this paper we demonstrate the agreement of jet-veto resummation and $p_T$ resummation for explaining the $W^{+}{W}^{-}$ cross sections at run 1 of the LHC and in the future. These two resummation techniques resum different logarithms; however, via reweighting methods, they can be compared for various differential or exclusive cross sections. We find excellent agreement between the two resummation methods for predicting the zero-jet cross section and propose a new reweighting method for jet-veto resummation that can be used to compare other differential distributions. We advocate a cross-channel comparison for the high-luminosity run of the LHC as both a test of QCD and new physics.

We study in detail the relationship between strong subadditivity for a boundary field theory and energy conditions for its bulk dual in $2+1$ dimensions. We provide a discussion of known facts and new results organized from the simplest case of a static system with collinear intervals to a time-dependent one in a generic configuration, with particular focus on the holographic geometric description.

This article is devoted to finding classical point-particle equivalents for the fermion sector of the nonminimal standard model extension (SME). For a series of nonminimal operators, such Lagrangians are derived at first order in Lorentz violation using the algebraic concept of Gröbner bases. Subsequently, the Lagrangians serve as a basis for reanalyzing the results of certain kinematic tests of special relativity that were carried out in the past century. Thereby, a number of new constraints on coefficients of the nonminimal SME is obtained. In the last part of the paper we point out connections to Finsler geometry.

We consider a two-dimensional scalar field theory with a nilpotent current algebra, which is dual to the Principal Chiral Model. The quantum theory is renormalizable and not asymptotically free; the theory is strongly coupled at short distances (encountering a Landau pole). We suggest it can serve as a toy model for $\lambda {\varphi }^4$ theory in four dimensions, just as the principal chiral model is a useful toy model for Yang-Mills theory. We find some classical wave solutions that survive the strong coupling limit and quantize them by the collective variable method. They describe excitations with an unusual dispersion relation $\omega \propto |k{|}^{\frac{2}{3}}$. Perhaps they are the “preons” at strong coupling, the bound states of which form massless particles over long distances.

We analytically evaluate the expectation value of a baryonic Wilson loop in a holographic model of an $SU(3)$ pure gauge theory. We then discuss three aspects of a static three-quark potential: an aspect of universality which concerns properties independent of a geometric configuration of quarks, a heavy diquark structure, and a relation between the three- and two-quark potentials.

In stationary spacetimes global equilibrium states can be defined, applying the maximum entropy principle, by the introduction of local thermodynamic fields determined solely by geometry. As an example, we study a class of equilibrium states for a scalar field in Einstein’s static universe, characterized by inhomogeneous thermodynamic properties and nonvanishing angular momentum.

We investigate the $f(R)$ theory of gravity with broken diffeomorphism due to the change of the coefficient in front of the total divergence term in the ($3+1$) decomposition of the scalar curvature. We perform the canonical analysis of this theory and show that its consistent form, i.e. with no unphysical degrees of freedom, is equivalent to the low-energy limit of the nonprojectable $f(R)$ Hořava-Lifshitz theory of gravity. We also analyze its cosmological solutions and show that the de Sitter solution can be obtained also in the case of this broken symmetry. The consequences of the proposed theory on the asymptotic solutions of a few specific models in the cosmological context are also presented.

General cylindrical waves are the simplest axisymmetrical gravitational waves that contain both $+$ and $\times$ modes of polarization. In this paper, we have studied the evolution of general cylindrical gravitational waves in the realm of the characteristic scheme with a numerical code based on the Galerkin-Collocation method. The investigation consists of the numerical realization of concepts such as Bondi mass and the news functions adapted to cylindrical symmetry. The Bondi mass decays due to the presence of the news functions associated with both polarization modes. We have interpreted each polarization mode as channels from which mass is extracted. Under this perspective, we have presented the enhancement effect of the polarization mode $+$ due to the nonlinear interaction with the mode $\times$. After discussing the role of matter in cylindrical symmetry, we have extended the numerical code to include electromagnetic fields.

We explore a novel flavor structure in the interactions of dark matter with the Standard Model. We consider theories in which both the dark matter candidate, and the particles that mediate its interactions with the Standard Model fields, carry flavor quantum numbers. The interactions are skewed in flavor space, so that a dark matter particle does not directly couple to the Standard Model matter fields of the same flavor, but only to the other two flavors. This framework respects minimal flavor violation and is, therefore, naturally consistent with flavor constraints. We study the phenomenology of a benchmark model in which dark matter couples to right-handed charged leptons. In large regions of parameter space, the dark matter can emerge as a thermal relic, while remaining consistent with the constraints from direct and indirect detection. The collider signatures of this scenario include events with multiple leptons and missing energy. These events exhibit a characteristic flavor pattern that may allow this class of models to be distinguished from other theories of dark matter.

The infall of cold dark matter onto a galaxy produces cold collisionless flows and caustics in its halo. If a signal is found in the cavity detector of dark matter axions, the flows will be readily apparent as peaks in the energy spectrum of photons from axion conversion, allowing the densities, velocity vectors and velocity dispersions of the flows to be determined. We discuss the evolution of velocity dispersion along cold collisionless flows in one and two dimensions. A technique is presented for obtaining the leading behavior of the velocity dispersion near caustics. The results are used to derive an upper limit on the energy dispersion of the big flow from the sharpness of its nearby caustic and a prediction for the dispersions in its velocity components.

Quantifying the concordance between different cosmological experiments is important for testing the validity of theoretical models and systematics in the observations. In earlier work, we thus proposed the Surprise, a concordance measure derived from the relative entropy between posterior distributions. We revisit the properties of the Surprise and describe how it provides a general, versatile, and robust measure for the agreement between data sets. We also compare it to other measures of concordance that have been proposed for cosmology. As an application, we extend our earlier analysis and use the Surprise to quantify the agreement between WMAP 9, Planck 13, and Planck 15 constraints on the $\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{CDM}$ model. Using a principle component analysis in parameter space, we find that the large Surprise between WMAP 9 and Planck 13 ($S=17.6$ bits, implying a deviation from consistency at 99.8% confidence) is due to a shift along a direction that is dominated by the amplitude of the power spectrum. The Planck 15 constraints deviate from the Planck 13 results ($S=56.3$ bits), primarily due to a shift in the same direction. The Surprise between WMAP and Planck consequently disappears when moving to Planck 15 ($S=-5.1$ bits). This means that, unlike Planck 13, Planck 15 is not in tension with WMAP 9. These results illustrate the advantages of the relative entropy and the Surprise for quantifying the disagreement between cosmological experiments and more generally as an information metric for cosmology.