In 1989 Cabrera and Tate reported an anomalous excess of mass of the Cooper pairs in rotating thin Niobium rings. So far, this experimental result never received a proper theoretical explanation in the context of superconductor's physics. In the present work we argue that what Cabrera and Tate interpreted as an anomalous excess of mass can also be associated with a deviation from the classical gravitomagnetic Larmor theorem due to the presence of dark energy in the superconductor, as well as with the discrete structure of the area of the superconducting Niobium ring as predicted by Loop Quantum Gravity. From Cabrera and Tate measurements we deduce that the quantization of spacetime in superconducting circular rings occurs at the Planck-Einstein scale $l_{PE} = (\hbar G/c^3 Λ)^{1/4}\sim 3.77\times 10 ^{-5} m$, instead of the Planck scale $l_{P} =(\hbar G / c^3)^{1/2}=1.61 \times 10 ^{-35} m$, with an Immirzi parameter which depends on the specific critical temperature of the superconducting material and on the area of the ring. The stephan-Boltzmann law for quantized areas delimited by superconducting rings is predicted, and an experimental concept based on the electromagnetic black-body radiation emitted by this surfaces, is proposed to test loop quantum gravity and electromagnetic dark energy in superconductors.
It is shown that Beck and Mackey electromagnetic model of dark energy in superconductors can account for the non-classical inertial properties of superconductors, which have been conjectured by the author to explain the Cooper pair's mass excess reported by Cabrera and Tate. A new Einstein-Planck regime for gravitation in condensed matter is proposed as a natural scale to host the gravitoelectrodynamic properties of superconductors.
Superconductors will be considered as macroscopic quantum gravitational antennas and transducers, which can directly convert upon reflection a beam of quadrupolar electromagnetic radiation into gravitational radiation, and vice versa, and thus serve as practical laboratory sources and receivers of microwave and other radio-frequency gravitational waves. An estimate of the transducer conversion efficiency on the order of unity comes out of the Ginzburg-Landau theory for an extreme type II, dissipationless superconductor with minimal coupling to weak gravitational and electromagnetic radiation f…
The general principles needed to compute the effect of a stationary gravitational field on the quasistationary electromagnetic phenomena in normal conductors and superconductors are formulated from general relativistic point of view. Generalization of the skin effect, that is the general relativistic modification of the penetration depth (of the time-dependent magnetic field in the conductor) due to its relativistic coupling to the gravitational field is obtained. The effect of the gravitational field on the penetration and coherence depths in superconductors is also studied. As an illustratio…
It is well known that a covariant Lagrangian for relativistic charged particles can lead to a vanishing Hamiltonian. Alternatively, it is shown that using a "space+time" Lagrangian leads to a new canonical momentum and minimal coupling rule that describes the coupling of both electromagnetic and gravitational fields to a relativistic charged particle. Discrepancies between Hamiltonians obtained by various authors are resolved. The canonical momentum leads to a new form of the London equations and London gauge. Using the linearized Einstein field equation in harmonic coordinates, and a non-rela…
The behaviors of the holographic superconductors/insulator transition are studied by introducing a charged scalar field coupled with a logarithmic electromagnetic field in both the Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet AdS black hole and soliton. For the Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet AdS black hole, we find that: i) the larger coupling parameter of logarithmic electrodynamic field $b$ makes it easier for the scalar hair to be condensated; ii) the ratio of the gap frequency in conductivity $ω_g$ to the critical temperature $T_c$ depends on both $b$ and the Gauss-Bonnet constant $α$; and iii) the critical exponents are…
One of the conceptual tensions between quantum mechanics (QM) and general relativity (GR) arises from the clash between the spatial nonseparability of entangled states in QM, and the complete spatial separability of all physical systems in GR, i.e., between the nonlocality implied by the superposition principle, and the locality implied by the equivalence principle. Experimental consequences of this conceptual tension will be explored for macroscopically coherent quantum fluids, such as superconductors, superfluids, and atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs), subjected to tidal and Lense-Thir…
A simple tabletop setup based on a superconducting quantum interference device is proposed for testing the gravitational interaction. A D-shaped superconducting loop has the straight segment immersed inside a massive sphere while the half-circle segment is wrapped around the sphere. The superconducting condensate within the straight arm of the loop thus bathes inside a gravitational simple harmonic oscillator potential while the condensate in the half-circle arm bathes in the constant gravitational potential around the sphere. The resulting phase difference at the Josephson junctions on both s…
We discuss the theoretical foundations for testing non-linear vacuum electrodynamics with Michelson interferometry. Apart from some non-degeneracy conditions to be imposed, our discussion applies to all non-linear electrodynamical theories of the Plebański class, i.e., to all Lagrangians that depend only on the two Lorentz-invariant scalars quadratic in the field strength. The main idea of the experiment proposed here is to use the fact that, according to non-linear electrodynamics, the phase velocity of light should depend on the strength and on the direction of an electromagnetic background …
The general relativistic modifications to the resistive state in superconductors of second type in the presence of a stationary gravitational field are studied. Some superconducting devices that can measure the gravitational field by its red-shift effect on the frequency of radiation are suggested. It has been shown that by varying the orientation of a superconductor with respect to the earth gravitational field, a corresponding varying contribution to AC Josephson frequency would be added by gravity. A magnetic flux (being proportional to angular velocity of rotation $Ω$) through a rotating h…
A violation of the distance-duality relation is directly linked with a temporal variation of the electromagnetic fine-structure constant. We consider a number of well-studied $f(T)$ gravity models and we revise the theoretical prediction of their corresponding induced violation of the distance-duality relationship. We further extract constraints on the involved model parameters through fine-structure constant variation data, alongside with supernovae data, and Hubble parameter measurements. Moreover, we constrain the evolution of the effective $f(T)$ gravitational constant. Finally, we compare…
According to the no-hair theorem, astrophysical black holes are uniquely described by their mass and spin. In this paper, we review a new framework for testing the no-hair hypothesis with observations in the electromagnetic spectrum. The approach is formulated in terms of a Kerr-like spacetime containing a quadrupole moment that is independent of both mass and spin. If the no-hair theorem is correct, then any deviation from the Kerr metric quadrupole has to be zero. We show how upcoming VLBI imaging observations of Sgr A* as well as spectroscopic observations of iron lines from accreting black…
Astrophysical black hole candidates are thought to be the Kerr black holes of general relativity, but there is not yet direct observational evidence that the spacetime geometry around these objects is described by the Kerr solution. The study of the properties of the electromagnetic radiation emitted by gas or stars orbiting these objects can potentially test the Kerr black hole hypothesis. In this paper, I review the state of the art of this research field, describing the possible approaches to test the Kerr metric with current and future observational facilities and discussing current constr…
Although experiments carried out by Jain et al. showed that the Cooper pairs obey the strong equivalence principle, The measurement of the Cooper pairs inertial mass by Tate et al. revealed an anomalous excess of mass. In the present paper we interpret these experimental results in the framework of an electromagnetic model of dark energy for the superconductors' vacuum. We argue that this physical vacuum is associated with a preferred frame. Ultimately from the conservation of energy for Cooper pairs we derive a model for a variable vacuum speed of light in the superconductors physical vacuum …
One of the Holy Grails of observational astronomy is to confirm the prediction that black holes in the Universe are described by the Kerr solution of Einstein's field equations of general relativity. This Topical Collection provides a status report of theoretical and experimental progress towards confirming the "Kerr paradigm" through X-ray astronomy, gravitational lensing, stellar tidal disruption events, superradiance, and gravitational-wave observations of black hole binary mergers.
The possible variation of the electromagnetic fine structure constant $α_e$ on cosmological scales arouses great interests in recent years. The strongly lensed gravitational waves and the electromagnetic counterparts could be used to test this variation. Under the assumption that the speed of photon could be modified, while the speed of GW is the same as GR predicated, and they both propagate in a flat Friedman-Robertson-Walker universe, we investigate the difference of time delays of the images and derive the upper bound of the variation of $α_e$. For a typical lensing system in the standard …
We study $(2+1)$-dimensional holographic superconductors in the presence of non-minimally coupled electromagnetic field to gravity by considering an arbitrary linear combination of $RF^2$-type invariants with three parameters. Our analytical analysis shows that the non-minimal couplings affect the condensate and the critical temperature.
According to the no-hair theorem, an astrophysical black hole is uniquely described by only two quantities, the mass and the spin. In this series of papers, we investigate a framework for testing the no-hair theorem with observations of black holes in the electromagnetic spectrum. We formulate our approach in terms of a parametric spacetime which contains a quadrupole moment that is independent of both mass and spin. If the no-hair theorem is correct, then any deviation of the black-hole quadrupole moment from its Kerr value has to be zero. We analyze in detail the properties of this quasi-Ker…
In general relativity without a cosmological constant, a classical theorem due to Hawking states that stationary black holes must be topologically spherical. This result is one of the several ingredients that collectively imply the uniqueness of the Kerr metric. If, however, general relativity describes gravity inexactly at high energies or over cosmological scales, Hawking's result may not apply, and black holes with non-trivial topology may be, at least mathematically, permissible. While tests involving electromagnetic and gravitational-wave data have been used to place tight constraints on …
According to the general-relativistic no-hair theorem, astrophysical black holes depend only on their masses and spins and are uniquely described by the Kerr metric. Mass and spin are the first two multipole moments of the Kerr spacetime and completely determine all other moments. The no-hair theorem can be tested by measuring potential deviations from the Kerr metric which alter such higher-order moments. In this review, I discuss tests of the no-hair theorem with current and future observations of such black holes across the electromagnetic spectrum, focusing on near-infrared observations of…
We discuss the general-relativistic contributions to occur in the electromagnetic properties of a superconductor with a heat flow. The appearance of general-relativistic contribution to the magnetic flux through a superconducting thermoelectric bimetallic circuit is shown. A response of the Josephson junctions to a heat flow is investigated in the general-relativistic framework. Some gravitothermoelectric effects which are observable in the superconducting state in the Earth's gravitational field are considered.
General relativity has been tested by many experiments, which, however, almost exclusively probe weak spacetime curvatures. In this thesis, I create two frameworks for testing general relativity in the strong-field regime with observations of black holes in the electromagnetic spectrum using current or near-future instruments. In the first part of this thesis, I design tests of the no-hair theorem, which uniquely characterizes the nature of black holes in general relativity in terms of their masses and spins and which states that these compact objects are described by the Kerr metric. I invest…
In a General Relativistic framework, Gravitational Waves (GW) and Electromagnetic (EM) waves are expected to respond in the same way to the effects of matter perturbations between the emitter and the observer. A different behaviour might be a signature of alternative theories of gravity. In this work we study the cross-correlation of resolved GW events (from compact objects mergers detected by the Einstein Telescope, either assuming or excluding the detection of an EM counterpart) and EM signals (coming both from the Intensity Mapping of the neutral hydrogen distribution and resolved galaxies …
According to the no-hair theorem, astrophysical black holes are uniquely described by their masses and spins. An observational test of the no-hair theorem can be performed by measuring at least three different multipole moments of the spacetime of a black hole and verifying whether their values are consistent with the unique combinations of the Kerr solution. In this paper, we study quasi-periodic variability observed in the emission from black holes across the electromagnetic spectrum as a test of the no-hair theorem. We derive expressions for the Keplerian and epicyclic frequencies in a quas…
According to the no-hair theorem, all astrophysical black holes are fully described by their masses and spins. This theorem can be tested observationally by measuring (at least) three different multipole moments of the spacetimes of black holes. In this paper, we analyze images of black holes within a framework that allows us to calculate observables in the electromagnetic spectrum as a function of the mass, spin, and, independently, the quadrupole moment of a black hole. We show that a deviation of the quadrupole moment from the expected Kerr value leads to images of black holes that are eith…
We discuss recent laboratory experiments with rotating superconductors and show that three so far unexplained experimentally observed effects (anomalous acceleration signals, anomalous gyroscope signals, Cooper pair mass excess) can be physically explained in terms of a possible interaction of dark energy with Cooper pairs. Our approach is based on a Ginzburg-Landau-like model of electromagnetic dark energy, where gravitationally active photons obtain mass in the superconductor. We show that this model can account simultaneously for the anomalous acceleration and anomalous gravitomagnetic fiel…
