Zero-point fluctuations are a universal consequence of quantum theory. Vacuum fluctuations of electromagnetic field have provided crucial evidence and guidance for QED as a successful quantum field theory with a defining gauge symmetry through the Lamb shift, Casimir effect, and spontaneous emission. In an accelerated frame, the thermalisation of the zero-point electromagnetic field gives rise to the Unruh effect linked to the Hawking effect of a black hole via the equivalence principle. This principle is the basis of general covariance, the symmetry of general relativity as the classical theory of gravity. If quantum gravity exists, the quantum vacuum fluctuations of the gravitational field should also lead to the quantum decoherence and dissertation of general forms of energy and matter. Here we present a novel theoretical effect involving the spontaneous emission of soft gravitons by photons as they bend around a heavy mass and discuss its observational prospects. Our analytic and numerical investigations suggest that the gravitational bending of starlight predicted by classical general relativity should also be accompanied by the emission of gravitational waves. This in turn redshifts the light causing a loss of its energy somewhat analogous to the bremsstrahlung of electrons by a heavier charged particle. It is suggested that this new effect may be important for a combined astronomical source of intense gravity and high-frequency radiation such as X-ray binaries and that the proposed LISA mission may be potentially sensitive to the resulting sub-Hz stochastic gravitational waves.
The number of superheavy particles with the mass of the Grand Unification scale with trans-Planckian energy created at the epoch of superheavy particle creation from vacuum by the gravitation of the expanding Universe is calculated. In later collisions of these particles gravitational radiation is radiated playing the role of bremsstrahlung for gravity. The effective background radiation of the Universe is evaluated.
Numeric model of the bremsstrahlung response of homogeneous magnetoactive plasma on a gravitational wave with $e_+$ polarization was constructed. Electromagnetic response dependencies on the plasma and gravitational wave parameters were determined.
We formulate Lorentz-covariant classical perturbation theory to deal with relativistic bremsstrahlung under gravitational scattering. Our approach is a version of the fast motion approximation scheme, the main novelty being the use of the momentum space representation. Using it we calculate in a closed form the spectrum of scalar, electromagnetic and gravitational radiation. Our results for the total emitted energy agree with those by Thorne and Kovacs. We also explain why the method of equivalent gravitons fails to produce the correct result for the spectral-angular distribution of emitted ra…
Radiated Energy Spectrum, Radiated Angular Distribution and Non-linear Memory from the One-loop Gravitational Bremsstrahlung Waveform
Istituto per le Applicazioni del Calcolo “M. Picone” CNR（意大利国家研究委员会计算应用研究所）；Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques（高等科学研究所）；Institut de Physique Theórique, CEA, CNRS, Universitè Paris-Saclay（巴黎萨克雷大学CEA-CNRS理论物理研究所）
Using the recently established formalism of a worldline quantum field theory (WQFT) description of the classical scattering of two spinless black holes, we compute the far-field time-domain waveform of the gravitational waves produced in the encounter at leading order in the post-Minkowskian (weak field, but generic velocity) expansion. We reproduce previous results of Kovacs and Thorne in a highly economic way. Then using the waveform we extract the leading-order total radiated angular momentum and energy (including differential results). Our work may enable crucial improvements of gravitatio…
The recently established formalism of a worldline quantum field theory, which describes the classical scattering of massive bodies in Einstein gravity, is generalized up to quadratic order in spin -- for a pair of Kerr black holes revealing a hidden ${\mathcal N}=2$ supersymmetry. The far-field time-domain waveform of the gravitational waves produced in such a spinning encounter is computed at leading order in the post-Minkowskian (weak field, but generic velocity) expansion, and exhibits this supersymmetry. From the waveform we extract the leading-order total radiated angular momentum in a ge…
We compute the mass and current quadrupole tidal corrections to the four-momentum and energy flux radiated during the scattering of two spinless bodies, at leading order in $G$ and at all orders in the velocities, using the effective field theory worldline approach. In particular, we derive the conserved stress-energy tensor linearly coupled to gravity generated by the two bodies, including tidal fields, and the waveform in direct space. The integral is solved using scattering amplitude techniques. We show that our expressions are consistent with existing results up to the next-to-next-to-lead…
We study the gravitational radiation emitted during the scattering of two spinless bodies in the post-Minkowskian Effective Field Theory approach. We derive the conserved stress-energy tensor linearly coupled to gravity and the classical probability amplitude of graviton emission at leading and next-to-leading order in the Newton's constant $G$. The amplitude can be expressed in compact form as one-dimensional integrals over a Feynman parameter involving Bessel functions. We use it to recover the leading-order radiated angular momentum expression. Upon expanding it in the relative velocity bet…
We present a novel calculation of the four-momentum that is radiated into gravitational waves during the scattering of two arbitrarily spinning bodies. Our result, which is accurate to leading order in $G$, to quadratic order in the spins, and to all orders in the velocity, is derived by using a Routhian-based worldline effective field theory formalism in concert with a battery of analytic techniques for evaluating loop integrals. While nonspinning binaries radiate momentum only along the direction of their relative velocity, we show that the inclusion of spins generically allows for momentum …
We compute the total radiated momentum carried by gravitational waves during the scattering of two spinless black holes at the lowest order in Newton's constant, $\mathcal O(G^3)$, and all orders in velocity. By analytic continuation into the bound state regime, we obtain the ${\cal O}(G^3)$ energy loss in elliptic orbits. This provides an essential step towards the complete understanding of the third-post-Minkowskian binary dynamics. We employ the formalism of Kosower, Maybee, and O'Connell (KMOC) which relates classical observables to quantum scattering amplitudes and derive the relevant int…
The collision of two massless, gravitationally interacting, point-like massless particles, boosted to the speed of light, colliding with an impact parameter b is being investigated. The collision takes place in four space-time flat dimensional background. A perturbative scheme is employed and the corrections to the energy momentum tensor and to the metric are computed and closed form formulas are provided. This includes the back-reaction on the metric after the collision. Including such corrections suggests that the tracelessness of the initial stress tensors of the colliding particles is pres…
Low-Frequency Gravitational Bremsstrahlung and Memory in a Medium
Institut de Fisica d’Altes Energies (IFAE), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology（高等能源物理研究所，巴塞罗那科技研究院）；Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA)（加泰罗尼亚研究高级学院）；CERN, Theoretical Physics Department（欧洲核子研究中心，理论物理部）；Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校物理系）；Leinweber Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校莱因韦伯理论物理研究所）；Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), University of Tokyo（东京大学宇宙物理学数学研究所（WPI））；Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory（欧内斯特·奥兰多·劳伦斯伯克利国家实验室）；RIKEN iTHEMS（理化学研究所 iTHEMS）；Center of Gravity, Niels Bohr Institute（尼尔斯·玻尔研究所引力中心）
The simplest way to modify gravity is to extend the gravitational sector to include an additional scalar degree of freedom. The most general metric that can be built in such a theory includes disformal terms, so that standard model fields move on a metric which is the sum of the space time metric and a tensor constructed from first derivatives of the scalar. In such a theory gravitational waves and photons can propagate at different speeds, and these can in turn be different from the maximum speed limit for matter particles. In this work we show that disformal couplings can cause charged parti…
The R^{2}-gravity contribution to energy loss of a hot plasma due to the gravitational bremsstrahlung is calculated in the linearized theory on the basis of classical Coulomb scattering of plasma constituents in small-angle scattering approximation. The explicit dependence of the gravitational luminosity on the plasma temperature is derived and its relevance to the Einstein gravity is demonstrated. The result when applied to the Sun as a hot plasma, shows very good agreement with available data.
Some problems of spontaneous and gravitational baryogenesis are discussed. Gravity modification due to the curvature dependent term in gravitational baryogensis scenario is considered. It is shown that the interaction of baryonic fields with the curvature scalar leads to strong instability of the gravitational equations of motion and as a result to noticeable distortion of the standard cosmology.
Spontaneous and closely related to it gravitational baryogenesis are critically analyzed. It is shown that the coupling of the curvature scalar to baryonic current, which induces nonzero baryonic asymmetry of the universe, simultaneously leads to higher order gravitational equations, which have exponentially unstable solutions. It is shown that this instability endangers the standard cosmology.
This work establishes a relation between chiral anomalies in curved spacetimes and the radiative content of the gravitational field. In particular, we show that a flux of circularly polarized gravitational waves triggers the spontaneous creation of photons with net circular polarization from the quantum vacuum. Using waveform catalogues we identify precessing binary black holes as astrophysical configurations that emit such gravitational radiation, and then solve the fully non-linear Einstein's equations with numerical relativity to evaluate the net effect. The quantum amplitude for a merger i…
Gravitational properties of a hedge-hog type topological defect in two extra dimensions are considered in General Relativity employing a vector as the order parameter. All previous considerations were done using the order parameter in the form of a multiplet in a target space of scalar fields. The difference of these two approaches is analyzed and demonstrated in detail. Regular solutions of the Einstein equations are studied analytically and numerically. It is shown that the existence of a negative cosmological constant is sufficient for the spontaneous symmetry breaking of the initially plai…
The rate of gravitational wave absorption by inverse bremsstrahlung is calculated. It increases with decreasing frequency $ν$ as $ν^{-3}$. Nevertheless, because of the near cancellation of absorption by stimulated emission, the ionized gas in galaxy clusters does not block gravitational waves at the nanohertz frequencies that may be detected by the use of pulsar timing observations.
Spontaneous Lorentz symmetry breaking can occur when the dynamics of a tensor field cause it to take on a non-zero expectation value in vacuo, thereby providing one or more "preferred directions" in spacetime. Couplings between such fields and spacetime curvature will then affect the dynamics of the metric, leading to interesting gravitational effects. Bailey & Kostelecky developed a post-Newtonian formalism that, under certain conditions concerning the field's couplings and stress-energy, allows for the analysis of gravitational effects in the presence of Lorentz symmetry breaking. We perform…
The spontaneous violation of Lorentz and diffeomorphism invariance in a phase near the big bang lowers the entropy, allowing for an arrow of time and the second law of thermodynamics. The spontaneous symmetry breaking leads to $O(3,1)\rightarrow O(3)\times R$, where $O(3)$ is the rotational symmetry of the Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker spacetime. The Weyl curvature tensor $C_{μνρσ}$ vanishes in the FLRW spacetime satisfying the Penrose zero Weyl curvature conjecture. The requirement of a measure of gravitational entropy is discussed. The vacuum expectation value $\langle 0\vertψ_μ\vert 0…
Gravitational properties of a hedge-hog type topological defect in two extra dimensions are considered in General Relativity employing a vector as the order parameter. The developed macroscopic theory of phase transitions with spontaneous symmetry breaking is applied to the analysis of possible "thick" brane structures. The previous considerations were done using the order parameter in the form of a multiplet in a target space of scalar fields. The difference of these two approaches is analyzed and demonstrated in detail. There are two different symmetries of regular solutions of Einstein equa…
We study effects of a rippling gravitational background on a scalar field with a double well potential, focusing on the analogy with the well known dynamics of the Kapitza's pendulum. The ripples are rendered as infinitesimal but rapidly oscillating perturbations of the scale factor. We find that the resulting dynamics crucially depends on a value of the parameter $ξ$ in the $ξ\,R\, ϕ^2$ vertex. For the time-dependent perturbations of a proper form the resulting effective action is generally covariant, and at a high enough frequency at $ξ<0$ and at $ξ>1/6$ the effective potential has a single …
We study how the gravitational wave signal from stellar collapse in scalar-tensor gravity varies under the influence of scalar self-interaction. To this end, we extract the gravitational radiation from numerical simulations of stellar collapse for a range of potentials with higher-order terms in addition to the quadratic mass term. Our study includes collapse to neutron stars and black holes and we find the strong inverse-chirp signals obtained for the purely quadratic potential to be exceptionally robust under changes in the potential at higher orders; quartic and sextic terms in the potentia…
On the basis of the coincidence of the physical dimensions (in natural units $\hbar = c = 1$) of the Newton's gravitational constant $G_{N} $ and the phenomenological Fermi constant $G_{F} $ for weak interaction, it is suggested that there is a certain similarity between weak forces, which are caused by the exchange of massive intermediate vector bosons with spin $S=1$, and "superweak" gravitational forces that can be caused by the exchange of "supermassive" hypothetical tensor bosons with spin $S=2$. By analogy with how the masses of intermediate bosons in the theory of electroweak interactio…
Classical gravitational bremsstrahlung in particle collisions at transplanckian energies is studied in ${\mathcal M}_4\times {\mathcal T}^d$. The radiation efficiency $ε\equiv E_{\rm rad}/E_{\rm initial}$ is computed in terms of the Schwarzschild radius $r_S(\sqrt{s})$, the impact parameter $b$ and the Lorentz factor $γ_{\rm cm}$ and found to be $ε=C_d (r_S/b)^{3d+3} γ_{\rm cm}^{2d+1}$, larger than previous estimates by many powers of $γ_{\rm cm}\gg 1$. The result is reliable for impact parameters in the overlap of $r_S<b<b_c {\rm and} b>λ_C$, with $b_c$ marking (for $d\neq 0$) the loss of the…
In this letter we introduce a novel way to spontaneously localize particles (including gauge bosons) and gravitons kinetic terms on a four-dimensional brane via a gravitational mechanism. The model underlying this localization mechanism can be considered as a high-energy resolution of the so-called braneworlds scenario. In particular, we show how to construct a braneworld with induced gravity without pathologies. Finally, we argue that the brane is only stable if its own mass does not exceed a critical value related to the particles-gravity couplings.
