We study a class of theories in which space-time is treated classically, while interacting with quantum fields. These circumvent various no-go theorems and the pathologies of semi-classical gravity, by being linear in the density matrix and phase-space density. The theory can either be considered fundamental or as an effective theory where the classical limit is taken of space-time. The theories have the dynamics of general relativity as their classical limit and provide a way to study the back-action of quantum fields on the space-time metric. The theory is invariant under spatial diffeomorphisms, and here, we provide a methodology to derive the constraint equations of such a theory by imposing invariance of the dynamics under time-reparametrization invariance. This leads to generalisations of the Hamiltonian and momentum constraints. We compute the constraint algebra for a wide class of realisations of the theory (the "discrete class") in the case of a quantum scalar field interacting with gravity. We find that the algebra doesn't close without additional constraints, although these do not necessarily reduce the number of local degrees of freedom.
We present a recent result on the parameterized post-Newtonian (PPN) limit of Horndeski's gravity theory and its consistency with solar system observations.
We discuss in detail the weak field limit of f(R,G) gravity taking into account analytic functions of the Ricci scalar R and the Gauss-Bonnet invariant G. Specifically, we develop, in metric formalism, the Newtonian, Post Newtonian and Parameterized Post Newtonian limits starting from general f(R, G) Lagrangian. The special cases of f(R) and f(G) gravities are considered. In the case of the Newtonian limit of f(R, G) gravity, a general solution in terms of Green's functions is achieved.
We study the parametrized post-Newtonian (PPN) limit of higher-derivative-torsion Modified Teleparallel Gravity. We start from the covariant formulation of modified Teleparallel Gravity by restoring the spin connection of the theory. Then, we perform the post-Newtonian expansion of the tetrad field around the Minkowski background and find the perturbed field equations. We compute the PPN metric for the higher-order Teleparallel Gravity theories which allows us to show that at the post-Newtonian limit this more general class of theories are fully conservative and indistinguishable from General …
The Parametrized Post-Newtonian expansion of gravitational theories with a scalar field coupled to the Gauss-Bonnet invariant is performed and confrontation of such theories with Solar system experiments is discussed.
We report here on a line of work that has played a key role in formally establishing and going beyond the state of the art in the effective field theory (EFT) approach and in post-Newtonian (PN) gravity. We also outline here how this comprehensive framework in fact forms the outset of a prospective rich research program, building on the public Feynman and PN technology developed.
We present in detail an Effective Field Theory (EFT) formulation for the essential case of spinning objects as the components of inspiralling compact binaries. We review its implementation, carried out in a series of works in recent years, which leveled the high post-Newtonian (PN) accuracy in the spinning sector to that, recently attained in the non-spinning sector. We note a public package, "EFTofPNG", that we recently created for high precision computation in the EFT of PN Gravity, which covers all sectors, and includes an observables pipeline.
The aim of this note is to describe the computation of post-Minkwoskian Hamiltonians in modified theories of gravity. Exploiting a recent relation between amplitudes of massive scalars and Hamiltonians for relativistic point-particles, we define a post-Minkowskian potential at second order in Newton's constant arising from $\mathcal{R}^3$ modifications in General Relativity. Using this result we calculate the associated contribution to the scattering angle for binary black holes at second post-Minkowskian order, showing agreement in the non relativistic limit with previous results for the bend…
We study the Casimir effect in the framework of Standard Model Extension (SME). Employing the weak field approximation, the vacuum energy density ε and the pressure for a massless scalar field confined between two nearby parallel plates in a static spacetime background are calculated. In particular, through the analysis of ε, we speculate a constraint on the Lorentz-violating term s00 which is lower than the bounds currently available for this quantity. After that, the correction to the pressure given by the gravitational sector of SME is presented. Finally, we remark that our outcome has an i…
In this paper, we study static post-Newtonian limits in non-projectable Hořava-Lifshitz gravity with an extra U(1) symmetry. After obtaining all static spherical solutions in the infrared, we apply them to the solar system tests, and obtain the Eddington-Robertson-Schiff parameters in terms of the coupling constants of the theory. These parameters are well consistent with observations for the physically viable coupling constants. In contrast to the projectable case, this consistence is achieved without taking the gauge field and Newtonian prepotential as part of the metric.
In this article we derive the post-Newtonian limit of a class of teleparallel theories of gravity, where the action is a free function $L(T,X,Y,ϕ)$ of the Torsion scalar $T$ and scalar quantities $X$ and $Y$ built from the dynamical scalar field $ϕ$. We restrict the analysis to a massless scalar field in order to use the parameterized post-Newtonian formalism without modifications, such as introducing an effective gravitational constant which depends on the distance between the interacting masses. In particular the results show a class of fully-conservative theories of gravity, where the only …
In this article we calculate the post-Newtonian limit of a general class of scalar-nonmetricity theories of gravity. The action is assumed to be a free function of the nonmetricity scalar, the kinetic term of the scalar field, two derivative couplings and the scalar field itself. We use the parametrized post-Newtonian formalism to solve the arising field equations for the case of a massless scalar field in order to compare several subclasses of this theory to solar system observations. In particular, we find several classes of theories which are indistinguishable from general relativity on the…
The post-Minkowskian approach to gravitationally interacting binary systems ({\it i.e.}, perturbation theory in $G$, without assuming small velocities) is extended to the computation of the dynamical effects induced by the tidal deformations of two extended bodies, such as neutron stars. Our derivation applies general properties of perturbed actions to the effective field theory description of tidally interacting bodies. We compute several tidal invariants (notably the integrated quadrupolar and octupolar actions) at the first post-Minkowskian order. The corresponding contributions to the scat…
We consider a recently proposed class of extended teleparallel theories of gravity, which entail a scalar field which is non-minimally coupled to the torsion of a flat, metric-compatible connection. This class of scalar-torsion theories of gravity is constructed in analogy to and as a direct extension of the well-studied class of scalar-curvature gravity theories, and has various common features, such as the conformal frame freedom. For this class we determine the parametrized post-Newtonian limit, both for a massive and a massless scalar field. In the massive case, we determine the effective …
The problem of motion in General Relativity has lost its academic status and become an active research area since the next generation of gravity wave detectors will rely upon its solution. Here we will show, within scalar gravity, how ideas borrowed from Quantum Field Theory can be used to solve the problem of motion in a systematic fashion. We will concentrate in Post-Newtonian corrections. We will calculate the Einstein-Infeld-Hoffmann action and show how a systematic perturbative expansion puts strong constraints on the couplings of non-derivative interactions in the theory.
We give a general overview of various flavors of the equivalence principle in classical and quantum physics, with special emphasis on the so-called weak equivalence principle, and contrast its validity in mechanics versus field theory. We also discuss its generalisation to a theory of quantum gravity. Our analysis suggests that only the strong equivalence principle can be considered fundamental enough to be generalised to a quantum gravity context, since all other flavors of equivalence principle hold only approximately already at the classical level.
We discuss the parameterized post-Newtonian (PPN) limit of Horndeski's theory of gravity, also known under the name generalized G-inflation or $\text{G}^2$-inflation, which is the most general scalar-tensor theory of gravity with at most second order field equations in four dimensions. We derive conditions on the action for the validity of the post-Newtonian limit. For the most general class of theories consistent with these conditions we calculate the PPN parameters $γ(r)$ and $β(r)$, which in general depend on the interaction distance $r$ between the gravitating mass and the test mass. For a…
We consider the newly proposed Bahamonde-Dialektopoulos-Levi Said (BDLS) theory, that is the Horndeski analog in the teleparallel framework and thus contains a non-minimally coupled scalar field, including higher order derivatives, that leads however to second order field equations both for the tetrad and the scalar field. This theory was mostly constructed to revive those models that were severely constrained in the scalar-tensor version of the theory from the GW170817, but includes also much richer phenomenology because of the nature of the torsion tensor. For this theory we determine the pa…
Gravitational physics of VLBI experiment conducted on September 8, 2002 and dedicated to measure the speed of gravity (a fundamental constant in the Einstein equations) is treated in the first post-Newtonian approximation. Explicit speed-of-gravity parameterization is introduced to the Einstein equations to single out the retardation effect caused by the finite speed of gravity in the relativistic time delay of light, passing through the variable gravitational field of the solar system. The speed-of-gravity 1.5 post-Newtonian correction to the Shapiro time delay is derived and compared with ou…
This is an extended summary of the two parallel sessions held at MG11: PPN1 ``Strong Gravity and Binaries'' (chaired by L.B. and L.G.) and PPN2 ``Post-Newtonian Dynamics in Binary Objects'' (chaired by G.S.). The aims and contents of these sessions were close to each other and overlapping. It is natural to review both sessions in one joint contribution to the MG11 Proceedings. The summary places the delivered talks in a broader perspective of current studies in this area. One can find more details in individual contributions of the respective authors.
A generally covariant extension of general relativity (GR) in which a dynamical unit timelike vector field is coupled to the metric is studied in the asymptotic weak field limit of spherically symmetric static solutions. The two post-Newtonian parameters known as the Eddington-Robertson-Schiff parameters are found to be identical to those in the case of pure GR, except for some non-generic values of the coefficients in the Lagrangian.
We investigate the weak-field, post-Newtonian expansion to the solution of the field equations in Chern-Simons gravity with a perfect fluid source. In particular, we study the mapping of this solution to the parameterized post-Newtonian formalism to 1 PN order in the metric. We find that the PPN parameters of Chern-Simons gravity are identical to those of general relativity, with the exception of the inclusion of a new term that is proportional to the Chern-Simons coupling parameter and the curl of the PPN vector potentials. We also find that the new term is naturally enhanced by the non-linea…
We calculate the motion of binary mass systems in gravity up to the sixth post--Newtonian order to the $G_N^3$ terms ab initio using momentum expansions within an effective field theory approach based on Feynman amplitudes in harmonic coordinates. For these contributions we construct a canonical transformation to isotropic and to EOB coordinates at 5PN and agree with the results in the literature \cite{Bern:2019nnu,Damour:2019lcq}. At 6PN we compare to the Hamiltonians in isotropic coordinates either given in \cite{Bern:2019nnu} or resulting from the scattering angle. We find a canonical trans…
We formally discuss the post-Minkowskian limit of $f(R)$-gravity without adopting conformal transformations but developing all the calculations in the original Jordan frame. It is shown that such an approach gives rise, in general, together with the standard massless graviton, to massive scalar modes whose masses are directly related to the analytic parameters of the theory. In this sense, the presence of massless gravitons only is a peculiar feature of General Relativity. This fact is never stressed enough and could have dramatic consequences in detection of gravitational waves. Finally the r…
Using the implicit function theorem we demonstrate that solutions to the classical part of the relativistic Lippmann-Schwinger equation are in one-to-one correspondence with those of the energy equation of a relativistic two-body system. A corollary is that the scattering angle can be computed from the amplitude itself, without having to introduce a potential. All results are universal and provide for the case of general relativity a very simple formula for the scattering angle in terms of the classical part of the amplitude, to any order in the post-Minkowskian expansion.
We compute the parametrized post-Newtonian parameter $γ$ in the case of a static point source for multiscalar-tensor gravity with completely general nonderivative couplings and potential in the Jordan frame. Similarly to the single massive field case $γ$ depends exponentially on the distance from the source and is determined by the length of a vector of non-minimal coupling in the space of scalar fields and its orientation relative to the mass eigenvectors. Using data from the Cassini tracking experiment, we estimate bounds on a general theory with two scalar fields. Our formalism can be utili…
We consider the parametrized post-Newtonian (PPN) limit of ghost-free massive bimetric gravity with two mutually non-interacting matter sectors coupled to the two metrics. Making use of a gauge-invariant differential decomposition of the metric perturbations, we solve the field equations up to the linear PPN order for a static, point-like mass source. From the result we derive the PPN parameter $γ$ for spherically symmetric systems, which describes the gravitational deflection of light by visible matter. By a comparison to its value measured in the solar system we obtain bounds on the paramete…
We find that noncritical gravity, a special class of higher derivative gravity, is classically equivalent to Einstein gravity at the full nonlinear level. We obtain the viscosity-to-entropy ratio and the second order transport coefficients of the dual fluid of noncritical gravity to all orders in the coupling of higher derivative terms. We also compute the holographic entanglement entropy in the dual CFT of noncritical gravity. All these results confirm the nonlinear equivalence between noncritical gravity and Einstein gravity at the classical level.
Gravity can be embedded into a renormalizable theory by means of adding quadratic in curvature terms. However, this at first leads to the presence of the Weyl ghost. It is possible to get rid of this ghost if the locality assumption is weakened and the propagator of the graviton is represented by an entire function of the d'Alembertian operator without new poles and zeros. Models of this type admit a cosmological solution describing the $R^2$, or Starobinsky, inflation. We study graviton production after inflation in this model and show that it is negligible despite the presence of the higher …
We demonstrate the classical stability of the BTZ black hole within the context of topologically massive gravity. The linearized perturbation equations can be solved exactly in this case. By choosing standard boundary conditions appropriate to the stability problem, we demonstrate the absence of modes which grow in time, for all values of the Chern-Simons coupling.
Gravitational waves emitted by black hole binary inspiral and mergers enable unprecedented strong-field tests of gravity, requiring accurate theoretical modelling of the expected signals in extensions of General Relativity. In this paper we model the gravitational wave emission of inspiraling binaries in scalar Gauss-Bonnet gravity theories. Going beyond the weak-coupling approximation, we derive the gravitational waveform to first post-Newtonian order beyond the quadrupole approximation and calculate new contributions from nonlinear curvature terms. We quantify the effect of these terms and p…
In this work we shall consider the effects of a geometrically generated post-inflationary era on the energy spectrum of the primordial gravitational waves. Specifically, we shall consider a post-inflationary constant equation of state era, generated by the synergistic effect of $f(R)$ gravity and of radiation and matter perfect fluids. Two cases of interest shall be studied, one with equation of state parameter $w=-1/3$, in which case the Universe neither accelerates nor decelerates, and one with $w=0$ so an early matter domination era. For the evaluation of the inflationary observational indi…
We examine a possibility to introduce a non-trivial classical background metric into the 2-d Liouville gravity theory. The classical background appears as a part of the Weyl factor of the physical metric of 2-d surfaces with some conformal dimension. On the other hand, the rest part of the factor corresponds to the quantum fluctuating sector, having another conformal dimension such that these two conformal dimensions sum up to just (1,1). Consequently we conclude that, in the 2-d Liouville gravity, the target space dimensions D can be beyond 1.
We consider the controversial hypothesis that gravity is an entropic force that has its origin in the thermodynamics of holographic screens. Several key aspects of entropic gravity are discussed. In particular, we revisit and elaborate on our criticism of the recent claim that entropic gravity fails to explain observations involving gravitationally-bound quantum states of neutrons in the GRANIT experiment and gravitationally induced quantum interference. We argue that the analysis leading to this claim is troubled by a misinterpretation concerning the relation between the microstates of a holo…
Scattering amplitudes have their origin in quantum field theory, but have wide-ranging applications extending to classical physics. We review a formalism to connect certain classical observables to scattering amplitudes. An advantage of this formalism is that it enables us to study implications of the double copy in classical gravity. We discuss examples of observables including the total change of a particle's momentum, and the gravitational waveform, during a scattering encounter. The double copy also allows direct access to classical solutions in gravity. We review this classical double cop…
We demonstrate that a recently proposed classical double copy procedure to construct the effective action of two massive particles in dilaton-gravity from the analogous problem of two color charged particles in Yang-Mills gauge theory fails at next-to-next-to-leading orders in the post-Minkowskian (3PM) or post-Newtonian (2PN) expansions.
The Effective One-Body formalism of the gravitational two-body problem in general relativity is reconsidered in the light of recent scattering amplitude calculations. Based on the kinematic relationship between momenta and the effective potential, we consider an energy-dependent effective metric describing the scattering in terms of an Effective One-Body problem for the reduced mass. The identification of the effective metric simplifies considerably in isotropic coordinates when combined with a redefined angular momentum map. While the effective energy-dependent metric as expected is not uniqu…
NRGR, an Effective Field Theory approach to gravity, has emerged as a powerful tool to systematically compute higher order corrections in the Post-Newtonian expansion. Here we discuss in somehow more detail the recently reported new results for the spin-spin gravitational potential at third Post-Newtonian order.
A one-parameter deformation of Einstein?Hilbert gravity with an inverse Riemann curvature term is derived as the classical limit of quantum gravity compatible with an accelerating universe. This result is based on the investigation of semi-classical theories with sectional curvature bounds which are shown not to admit static spherically symmetric black holes if otherwise of phenomenological interest. We discuss the impact on the canonical quantization of gravity, and observe that worldsheet string theory is not affected.
We consider a non-standard model of gravity coupled to a neutral scalar "inflaton" as well as to SU(2)xU(1) iso-doublet scalar with positive mass squared and without self-interaction, and to SU(2)xU(1) gauge fields. The principal new ingredient is employing two alternative non-Riemannian space-time volume-forms (covariant integration measure densitities) independent of the metric. The latter have a remarkable impact - although not introducing any additional propagating degrees of freedom, their dynamics triggers a series of important features: appearance of infinitely large flat regions of the…
We derive a coordinate-independent formulation of the post-1-Newtonian approximation to general relativity. This formulation is a generalization of the Newton-Cartan geometric formulation of Newtonian gravity. It involves several fields and a connection, but no spacetime metric at the fundamental level. We show that the usual coordinate-dependent equations of post-Newtonian gravity are recovered when one specializes to asymptotically flat spacetimes and to appropriate classes of coordinates.
The classical Einstein gravity description of black hole production in transplanckian collisions in TeV-scale gravity is tested for self-consistency. In addition to the "curvature must be small" test, which was shown to be violated in [hep-ph/0401116], it is proposed to estimate quantum fluctuations in the Aichelburg-Sexl shock waves corresponding to the colliding particles. Using linearized quantum gravity, it is found that the occupation numbers of gravitons with characteristic frequency are too small to resolve the classical width of the shocks. This raises further doubts in the classical g…
In the research paper [1], the analytical solution of semi-classical rotating black holes (BH) in loop quantum gravity theory (LQG) is obtained, but an unknown function $H$ is still preserved. In this note, we obtain an expression for the unknown function $H$, which makes the space-time line element of the semi-classical rotating BH in the LQG theory sufficiently well-expressed and thus provides a basis for the study of such rotating BHs.
In this paper, we first propose a universal coupling between the gravity and matter in the framework of the Hořava-Lifshitz theory of gravity with an extra U(1) symmetry for both the projectable and non-projectable cases. Then, using this universal coupling we study the post-Newtonian approximations and obtain the parameterized post-Newtonian (PPN) parameters in terms of the coupling constants of the theory. Contrary to the previous works in which only two PPN parameters were calculated, we obtain {\it all} PPN parameters. We then, for the first time in either projectable or non-projectable ca…
We formulate and explore the physical implications of a new translation gauge theory of gravity in flat space-time with a new Yang-Mills action, which involves quadratic gauge curvature and fermions. The theory shows that the presence of an "effective Riemann metric tensor" for the motions of classical particles and light rays is probably the manifestation of the translation gauge symmetry. In the post-Newtonian approximation of the tensor gauge field produced by the energy-momentum tensor, the results are shown to be consistent with classical tests of gravity and with the quadrupole radiation…
