The violation of Lorentz invariance (LI) in gravitational theories, which allows superluminal propagations, dramatically alters the causal structure of the spacetime and modifies the notion of black holes (BHs). Instead of metric horizons, now universal horizons (UHs) define the boundaries of BHs, within which a particle cannot escape to spatial infinities even with an infinitely large speed. Then, a natural question is how the quasi-normal modes (QNMs) of a BH are modified, if one considers the UH as its causal boundary. In this paper, we study in detail this problem in Einstein-aether theory, a vector-tensor theory that violates LI but yet is self-consistent and satisfies all observations to date. Technically, this poses several challenges, including singularities of the perturbation equations across metric horizons and proper identifications of ingoing modes at UHs. After overcoming these difficulties, we show that the QNMs of the Schwarzschild BH, also a solution of Einstein-aether theory, consist of two parts, the metric and aether parts. The QNMs of the metric perturbations are quite similar to those obtained in general relativity and are consistent with current observations of gravitational waves. But the ones from aether perturbations are different, and our numerical studies indicate that they are even not stable. The latter is consistent with our previous studies, which showed that the stealth Schwarzschild BH suffers a Laplacian instability along the angular direction. The method and techniques developed in this paper can be applied to the studies of QNMs in other theories of gravity with broken LI.
We investigate five-dimensional braneworld setups with broken Lorentz invariance continuing the developments of our previous paper (arXiv:0712.1136), where a family of static self-tuning braneworld solutions was found. We show that several known braneworld models can be embedded into this family. Then we give a qualitative analysis of spectra of field fluctuations in backgrounds with broken Lorentz invariance. We also elaborate on one particular model and study spectra of scalar and spinor fields in it. It turns out that the spectra we have found possess very peculiar and unexpected properties…
In this paper, we show the existence of static and rotating universal horizons and black holes in gravitational theories with the broken Lorentz invariance. We pay particular attention on the ultraviolet regime, and show that universal horizons and black holes exist not only in low energy scales but also in the UV scales. This is realized by presenting various static and stationary exact solutions of the full theory of the projectable Hořava gravity with an extra U(1) symmetry in (2+1)-dimensions, which, by construction, is power-counting renormalizable.
Since Stephen Hawking discovered that black holes emit thermal radiation, black holes have become the theoretical laboratories for testing our ideas on quantum gravity. This dissertation is devoted to the study of singularities, the formation of black holes by gravitational collapse and the global structure of spacetime. All our investigations are in the context of a recently proposed approach to quantum gravity, which breaks Lorentz and diffeomorphism symmetries at very high energies.
Recently a family of solutions of Einstein equations in backgrounds with broken Lorentz invariance was found ArXiv:0712.1136. We show that the gravitational solution recently obtained by Kachru, Liu and Mulligan in ArXiv:0808.1725 is a part of the former solution which was derived earlier in the framework of extra dimensional theories. We show how the energy-momentum and Einstein tensors are related and establish a correspondence between parameters which govern Lorentz invariance violation. Then we demonstrate that scaling behavior of two point correlation functions of local operators in scala…
In this paper, we revisit the issue of static hairs of black holes in gravitational theories with broken Lorentz invariance in the case that the speed $c_ϕ$ of the khronon field becomes infinitely large, $c_ϕ = \infty$, for which the sound horizon of the khronon field coincides with the universal horizon, and the boundary conditions at the sound horizon reduce to those given normally at the universal horizons. As a result, less boundary conditions are present in this extreme case in comparison with the case $c_ϕ = $ finite. Then, it would be expected that static hairs might exist. However, we …
There has been a recent interest in considering Quantum Field Theories in which Lorentz Invariance is broken in the UV sector. However attention has been mostly limited to dispersive theories. In this work we provide the generalized settings for studying dissipation. Unitarity is preserved by coupling the original fields to additional (heavy) fields which induce the dissipation. Starting with Lagrangians breaking LI in the UV, we learn that dissipative effects unavoidably develop in the effective theory. We then covariantize these Lagrangians in order to address the trans-Planckian question of…
It is shown that a spontaneously-broken gauge theory of the Lorentz group contains Ashtekar's chiral formulation of General Relativity accompanied by dust. From this perspective, gravity is described entirely by a connection $ω$ valued in the Lie algebra of the complexified Lorentz group and a Lorentz-charged scalar field $τ$. The model is "pre-geometric" in the sense that the spacetime metric may be constructed only in the symmetry-broken regime. We speculate on the extent to which this dust may account for dark matter and on the behaviour of the theory in regimes where the symmetry is not br…
During inflation, there is a preferred reference frame in which the expansion of the background spacetime is spatially isotropic. In contrast to Minkowski spacetime, observables can depend on the velocity of the system with respect to this cosmic rest frame. We derive new constraints from radiative stability and unitarity on effective field theories with such spontaneously broken Lorentz symmetry. In addition to a maximum energy scale, there is now also a critical velocity at which the theory breaks down. The theory therefore has different resolving power in time and in space, and we show that…
In Ashtekar's Hamiltonian formulation of general relativity, and in loop quantum gravity, Lorentz covariance is a subtle issue that has been strongly debated. Maintaining manifest Lorentz covariance seems to require introducing either complex-valued fields, presenting a significant obstacle to quantization, or additional (usually second class) constraints whose solution renders the resulting phase space variables harder to interpret in a spacetime picture. After reviewing the sources of difficulty, we present a Lorentz covariant, real formulation in which second class constraints never arise. …
While general relativity possesses local Lorentz invariance, both canonical quantum gravity and string theory suggest that Lorentz invariance may be broken at high energies. Broken Lorentz invariance has also been postulated as an explanation for astrophysical anomalies such as the missing GZK cutoff. Therefore, we seek an effective field theory description of gravity where Lorentz invariance is broken. We will construct a candidate theory and then briefly discuss some of the implications.
Frohlich, Morchio and Strocchi long ago proved that Lorentz invariance is spontaneously broken in QED because of infrared effects. We develop a simple model where consequences of this breakdown can be explicitly and easily calculated. For this purpose, the superselected U(1) charge group of QED is extended to a superselected "Sky" group containing direction-dependent gauge transformations at infinity. It is the analog of the Spi group of gravity. As Lorentz transformations do not commute with Sky, they are spontaneously broken. These abelian considerations and model are extended to non-Abelian…
We generalize the coset construction of Callan, Coleman, Wess and Zumino to theories in which the Lorentz group is spontaneously broken down to one of its subgroups. This allows us to write down the most general low-energy effective Lagrangian in which Lorentz invariance is non-linearly realized, and to explore the consequences of broken Lorentz symmetry without having to make any assumptions about the mechanism that triggers the breaking. We carry out the construction both in flat space, in which the Lorentz group is a global spacetime symmetry, and in a generally covariant theory, in which t…
Lorentz-violating gravity theories with a preferred foliation can have instantaneous propagation. Nonetheless, it has been shown that black holes can still exist in such theories and the relevant notion of an event horizon has been dubbed `universal horizon'. In stationary spacetimes the universal horizon has to reside in a region of spacetime where the Killing vector associated with stationarity is spacelike. This raises the question of what happens to the universal horizon in the extremal limit, where no such region exists anymore. We use a decoupling limit approximation to study this proble…
We consider a model of noncommutative gravity that is based on a spacetime with broken local SO(2,3) symmetry. We show that the torsion-free version of this model is contained within the framework of the Lorentz-violating Standard-Model Extension. We analyze in detail the relation between the torsion-free, quadratic limits of the broken SO(2,3) model and the Standard-Model Extension. As part of the analysis,we construct the relevant geometric quantities to quadratic order in the metric perturbation around a flat background.
In the Penrose process and the Blandford-Znajek mechanism, the rotational energy of a black hole (BH) is extracted via particle fission and magnetic tension, respectively. Recently, inspired by a fundamental trait in plasma astrophysics known as magnetic reconnection (MR), a new energy extraction mechanism based on the fast reconnection of the magnetic field lines inside the ergosphere has been proposed by Comisso and Asenjo. In this paper, we investigate energy extraction caused by MR in the ergosphere of a rapidly spinning BH with broken Lorentz symmetry by a background bumblebee vector fiel…
I present a topological defect solution that arises in a theory where Lorentz symmetry is spontaneously broken by a rank-two antisymmetric tensor field, and I discuss its observational signatures.
A Lorentz-noninvariant modification of quantum electrodynamics (QED) is considered, which has photons described by the nonbirefringent sector of modified Maxwell theory and electrons described by the standard Dirac theory. These photons and electrons are taken to propagate and interact in a Schwarzschild spacetime background. For appropriate Lorentz-violating parameters, the photons have an effective horizon lying outside the Schwarzschild horizon. A particular type of Compton scattering event, taking place between these two horizons (in the photonic ergoregion) and ultimately decreasing the m…
A number of different approaches to quantum gravity are at least partly phenomenologically characterized by their treatment of Lorentz symmetry, in particular whether the symmetry is exact or modified/broken at the smallest scales. For example, string theory generally preserves Lorentz symmetry while analog gravity and Lifshitz models break it at microscopic scales. In models with broken Lorentz symmetry there are a vast number of constraints on departures from Lorentz invariance that can be established with low energy experiments by employing the techniques of effective field theory in both t…
Asymptotic spacetime symmetries have been conjectured to play an important role in quantum gravity. In this paper we study the breaking of asymptotic symmetries associated with a null horizon boundary. In two-dimensions, these symmetries are reparametrizations of the time parameter on the horizon. We show how this horizon reparametrization symmetry is explicitly and spontaneously broken in dilaton gravity and construct an effective action for these pseudo-Goldstone modes using the on-shell gravitational action for a null boundary. The variation of this action yields the horizon constraint equa…
The arrival of TeV-energy photons from distant galaxies is expected to be affected by their QED interaction with intergalactic radiation fields through electron-positron pair production. In theories where high-energy photons violate Lorentz symmetry, the kinematics of the process $γ+ γ\rightarrow e^+ + e^-$ is altered and the cross-section suppressed. Consequently, one would expect more of the highest-energy photons to arrive if QED is modified by Lorentz violation than if it is not. We estimate the sensitivity of Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) to changes in the $γ$-ray horizon of the Univers…
A quantum gravity theory which becomes renormalizable at short distances due to a spontaneous symmetry breaking of Lorentz invariance and diffeomorphism invariance is studied. A breaking of Lorentz invariance with the breaking patterns $SO(3,1)\to O(3)$ and $SO(3,1)\to O(2)$, describing 3+1 and 2+1 quantum gravity, respectively, is proposed. A complex time dependent Schrödinger equation (generalized Wheeler-DeWitt equation) for the wave function of the universe exists in the spontaneously broken symmetry phase at Planck energy and in the early universe, uniting quantum mechanics and general re…
In this paper, we first show that the definition of the universal horizons studied recently in the khrononmetric theory of gravity can be straightforwardly generalized to other theories that violate the Lorentz symmetry, by simply considering the khronon as a probe field and playing the same role as a Killing vector field. As an application, we study static charged ($D+1$)-dimensional spacetimes in the framework of the healthy (non-projectable) Horava-Lifshitz (HL) gravity in the infrared limit, and find various solutions. Some of them represent Lifshitz space-times with hyperscaling violation…
In this paper, we develop an effective quantum theory of black hole horizons using only the local horizon geometry. On the covariant phase space of the Holst action admitting Weak Isolated Horizon as an inner boundary, we construct Hamiltonian charges corresponding to Lorentz symmetries. We show that horizon area is the Hamiltonian charge corresponding to Lorentz boosts as well as that for Lorentz rotation which acts on $2$-sphere cross-sections of the horizon. Using this expression of area as a generator of Lorentz rotation, and the fact that quantum states residing on the horizon cross-secti…
Is Cosmic Censorship special to General Relativity, or can it survive a violation of equivalence principle? Recent studies have shown that singularities in Lorentz violating Einstein-Aether (or Horava-Lifhsitz) theories can lie behind a universal horizon in simple black hole spacetimes. Even infinitely fast signals cannot escape these universal horizons. We extend this result, for an incompressible aether, to 3+1d dynamical or spinning spacetimes which possess inner killing horizons, and show that a universal horizon always forms in between the outer and (would-be) inner horizons. This finding…
Quasilocal formulations of black hole are of immense importance since they reveal the essential and minimal assumptions required for a consistent description of black hole horizon, without relying on the asymptotic boundary conditions on fields. Using the quasilocal formulation of Isolated Horizons, we construct the Hamiltonian charges corresponding to local Lorentz transformations on a spacetime admitting isolated horizon as an internal boundary. From this construction, it arises quite generally that the \emph{area} of the horizon of an isolated black hole is the Hamiltonian charge for local …
Black holes in Lorentz violating gravity, such as Einstein--Aether or Horava--Lifshitz Gravity, are drastically different from their general relativistic siblings. Although they allow for superluminal motion in their vicinity, they still exhibit an absolute causal boundary in the form of a universal horizon. By working in the tunneling picture for a gravitating scalar field, we show that universal horizons emit Hawking radiation in a manner akin to standard results in General Relativity, with a temperature controlled by the high-energy behavior of the dispersion relation of the gravitating fie…
In this paper, the tunneling of scalar particles near the event horizons of Riemann space time, BTZ black hole and Schwarzschild-de Sitter black hole are investigated by applying Hamilton-Jacobi equation with Lorentz violation theory in curved space time. The modified Hamilton-Jacobi equation is derived from Klein-Gordon equation of scalar particles induced by Lorentz violation theory in curved space time. The Hawking temperatures of Riemann space time and the BTZ black hole are modified due to the effect of Lorentz violation theory. Moreover, the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy near the event hori…
Shadow signatures and energy accumulation in Lorentzian-Euclidean black holes
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare（意大利国家核物理研究所）；Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”（那不勒斯费德里科二世大学）；Scuola Superiore Meridionale（南方高等学院）；RIKEN iTHEMS（理化学所 iTHEMS）
We consider a BMS-type symmetry action on isolated horizons in asymptotically flat spacetimes. From the viewpoint of the non-relativistic field theory on a horizon membrane, supertranslations shift the field theory spatial momentum. The latter is related by a Ward identity to the particle number symmetry current and is spontaneously broken. The corresponding Goldstone boson shifts the horizon angular momentum and can be detected quantum mechanically. Similarly, area preserving superrotations are spontaneously broken on the horizon membrane and we identify the corresponding gapless modes. In as…
The quantum tunneling radiation of scalar particles near the event horizon of Kerr-de Sitter black hole is investigated in three systems of coordinates namely naive coordinate system, Painleve coordinate system and Eddington coordinate system using Lorentz violation theory in curved space time. The Klein-Gordon equation of scalar particles is transformed into Hamilton-Jacobi equation by using Lorentz violation theory in curved space time. We observe that due to Lorentz violation theory, the expressions of Hawking temperatures, the Bekenstein-Hawking entropies and specific heat capacities near …
Spontaneous breaking of Lorentz symmetry has been suggested as a possible mechanism that might occur in the context of a fundamental Planck-scale theory, such as string theory or a quantum theory of gravity. However, if Lorentz symmetry is spontaneously broken, two sets of questions immediately arise: what is the fate of the Nambu-Goldstone modes, and can a Higgs mechanism occur? A brief summary of some recent work looking at these questions is presented here.
Lorentz-symmetry and the notion of light cones play a central role in the definition of horizons and the existence of black holes. Current observations provide strong indications that astrophysical black holes do exist in Nature. Here we explore what happens to the notion of a black hole in gravity theories where local Lorentz symmetry is violated, and discuss the relevant astrophysical implications. Einstein-aether theory and Horava gravity are used as the theoretical background for addressing this question. We review earlier results about static, spherically symmetric black holes, which demo…
After imposing the Gauss law constraint as an initial condition upon the Hilbert space of the Nambu model, in all its generic realizations, we recover QED in the corresponding non-linear gauge A_μA^μ=n^{2}M^{2}. Our result is non-perturbative in the parameter M for n^{2}\neq 0 and can be extended to the n^{2}=0 case. This shows that in the Nambu model, spontaneous Lorentz symmetry breaking dynamically generates gauge invariance, provided the Gauss law is imposed as an initial condition. In this way electrodynamics is recovered, with the photon being realized as the Nambu-Goldstone modes of the…
The persistence of a suitable notion of black hole thermodynamics in Lorentz breaking theories of gravity is not only a non-trivial consistency test for such theories, it is also an interesting investigation {\em per se}, as it might help us identifying the crucial features at the root of these surprising laws governing such purely gravitational objects. In past investigations, controversial findings were presented in this sense. With the aim of settling this issue, we present here two complementary derivations of Hawking radiation in geometries endowed with universal horizons: a novel feature…
We assume a GL(4,R) space-time symmetry which is spontaneously broken to SO(3,1). We carry out the coset construction of the effective theory for the non-linearly realized broken symmetry in terms of the Goldstone fields and matter fields transforming linearly under the unbroken Lorentz subgroup. We then identify functions of the Goldstone and matter fields that transform linearly also under the broken symmetry. Expressed in terms of these quantities the effective theory reproduces the vierbein formalism of General Relativity with general coordinate invariance being automatically realized non-…
We describe a finite-difference method for locating apparent horizons and illustrate its capabilities on boosted Kerr and Schwarzschild black holes. Our model spacetime is given by the Kerr-Schild metric. We apply a Lorentz boost to this spacetime metric and then carry out a 3+1 decomposition. The result is a slicing of Kerr/Schwarzschild in which the black hole is propagated and Lorentz contracted. We show that our method can locate distorted apparent horizons efficiently and accurately.
We consider the gauge theory of Lorentz group coupled in a nonminimal way to fermions. We suggest the hypothesis that the given theory may exist in the phase with broken chiral symmetry and without confinement. The lattice discretization of the model is described. This unusual strongly coupled theory may appear to be the source of the dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking. Namely, in this theory all existing fermions interact with the SO(3,1) gauge field. In the absence of the other interactions the chiral condensate may appear and all fermionic excitations may acquire equal masses. Small co…
Since the event horizon of a black hole is a surface of infinite redshift, it might be thought that Hawking radiation would be highly sensitive to Lorentz violation at high energies. In fact, the opposite is true for subluminal dispersion. For superluminal dispersion, however, the outgoing black hole modes emanate from the singularity in a state determined by unknown quantum gravity processes.
In Lorentz violating theories of gravitation with a preferred foliation a notion of black hole is still possible, despite the presence of infinitely fast propagating modes. Such event horizons are known as universal horizons. Their discovery poses the question of whether they satisfy mechanical laws, analogous to the ones of Killing horizons in Lorentz symmetric theories, and whether they admit a thermodynamical interpretation. In this paper we study the viability of the first law for several exact universal horizon solutions previously derived in the literature. Our results show that a simple…
Holography grew out of black hole thermodynamics, which relies on the causal structure and general covariance of general relativity. In Einstein-æther theory, a generally covariant theory with a dynamical timelike unit vector, every solution breaks local Lorentz invariance, thereby grossly modifying the causal structure of gravity. However, there are still absolute causal boundaries, called "universal horizons", which are not Killing horizons yet obey a first law of black hole mechanics and must have an entropy if they do not violate a generalized second law. We couple a scalar field to the ti…
Violating Lorentz-invariance, and so implicitly permitting some form of superluminal communication, necessarily alters the notion of a black hole. Nevertheless, in both Einstein-Æther gravity, and Hořava-Lifshitz gravity, there is still a causally disconnected region in black-hole solutions; now being bounded by a "Universal horizon", which traps excitations of arbitrarily high velocities. To better understand the nature of these black holes, and their Universal horizons, we study ray trajectories in these spacetimes. We find evidence that Hawking radiation is associated with the Universal hor…
Thermodynamical properties of black holes in gravitational theories without Local Lorentz invariance have been subject to intense investigation in the past years due to the presence of universal horizons, which are strong causal barriers even for superluminal signals. Here we present a novel general method for deriving the Smarr formula for this class of theories: in particular we show that the Smarr formulae for Einstein-Aether theory and infrared Horava gravity follow from scale invariance. We not only reproduce straightforwardly previous findings for static black hole solutions, but we are …
We obtain an exact Kerr-like black hole solution by solving the corresponding gravitational field equations in Einstein-bumblebee gravity model where Lorentz symmetry is spontaneously broken once a vector field acquires a vacuum expectation value. Results are presented for the purely radial Lorentz symmetry breaking. In order to study the effects of this breaking, we consider the black hole shadow and find that the radial of the unstable spherical orbit on the equatorial plane $r_c$ decreases with the Lorentz breaking constant $\ell>0$, and increases with $\ell<0$. These shifts are similar to …
We study the gravitation effects on a static and spherically symmetric spacetime due to the vacuum expectation value (VEV) of a Kalb-Ramond field. The Kalb-Ramond VEV is a background tensor field which produces a local Lorentz symmetry breaking (LSB) of spacetime. Considering a non-minimal coupling between the Kalb-Ramond (VEV) and the Ricci tensor, we obtain an exact parameter-dependent power-law modified black hole. For a particular choice of the LSB parameter, the Lorentz violation produces a solution similar to the Reissner-Nordstrom, despite the absence of charge. The near-horizon geometr…
We study the accretion process in the thin disk around a rotating Kerr-like black hole in Einstein-bumblebee gravity model where Lorentz symmetry is spontaneously broken once a vector field acquires a vacuum expectation value. In the present paper we obtain the energy flux, the emission spectrum and accretion efficiency from the accretion disks around the rotating Kerr-like black hole, and we compare them to the general Kerr case. These significant features in the mass accretion process may provide a possibility to test whether the Lorentz symmetry is spontaneously broken or not in the Einstei…
It is known that using the Gaussian beam approximation one can show that there exist solutions of the wave equation on a general globally hyperbolic Lorentzian manifold whose energy is localised along a given null geodesic for a finite, but arbitrarily long time. In this paper, we show that the energy of such a localised solution is determined by the energy of the underlying null geodesic. This result opens the door to various applications of Gaussian beams on Lorentzian manifolds that do not admit a globally timelike Killing vector field. In particular we show that trapping in the exterior of…
The existence of black hole horizons has not been strictly proven observationally, and indeed it may not be possible to do so. However, alternatives may be established by the observation of gravitational wave echoes that probe possible near-horizon structure. These echoes are proposed to be generated in exotic compact objects that are horizonless and feature a partially reflecting "wall" inside their light rings, creating a cavity in which gravitational perturbations may echo, while leaking out through the angular momentum barrier with each pass. The characteristic signature of echoes is a com…
A mechanism producing the transition from an Euclidean to a Loretzian manifold is described. A global Robertson-Walker symmetry is assumed from the large scale data of the visible universe. Allowing for the strain of the manifold as an additional field in the Lagrangian, we interpret the symmetry as a consequence of a global texture defect. The additional term gives rise to a boundary dividing the manifold into an Euclidean plus a Lorentzian region. It is also shown that the presence in the early epoch of homogeneous matter/energy fields preserves the horizon and the signature change across it…
This thesis explores two avenues into understanding the physics of black holes and horizons beyond general relativity, via analogue models and Lorentz violating theories. Analogue spacetimes have wildly different dynamics to general relativity; this allows the possibility of non-Killing horizons in stationary solutions. In the case of non-Killing horizons different definitions of surface gravity are truly different quantities. This also has application to modified theories of gravity, where there is no reason to expect all horizons to be Killing horizons. In Lorentz violating theories, the sit…
