The Kerr-star spacetime is the extension over the horizons and in the negative radial region of the Kerr spacetime. Despite the presence of closed timelike curves below the inner horizon, we prove that the timelike geodesics cannot be closed in the Kerr-star spacetime. Since the existence of closed null geodesics was ruled out by the author in Sanzeni [arXiv:2308.09631v3 (2024)], this result shows the absence of closed causal geodesics in the Kerr-star spacetime.

We use the stellar evolution code BPASS and the gravitational wave simulation code LEGWORK to simulate populations of compact binaries that may be detected by the in-development space-based gravitational wave (GW) detector LISA. Specifically, we simulate the Magellanic Clouds and binary populations mimicking several globular clusters, neglecting dynamical effects. We find that the Magellanic Clouds would have a handful of detectable sources each, but for globular clusters the amount of detectable sources would be less than one. We compare our results to earlier research and find that our predicted numbers are several tens of times lower than calculations using the stellar evolution code BSE that take dynamical effects into account, but also calculations using the stellar evolution code SeBa for the Magellanic Clouds. This correlates with earlier research which compared BPASS models for GW sources in the Galactic disk with BSE models and found a similarly sized discrepancy. We analyse and explain this discrepancy as being caused by differences between the stellar evolution codes, particularly in the treatment of mass transfer and common-envelope events in binaries, where in BPASS mass transfer is more likely to be stable and tends to lead to less orbital shrinkage in the common-envelope phase than in other codes. This difference results in fewer compact binaries with periods short enough to be detected by LISA existing in the BPASS population. For globular clusters, we conclude that the impact of dynamical effects is uncertain from the literature, but the differences in stellar evolution have an effect of a factor of a few tens.

Starting from the Wheeler-DeWitt equation for the Schwarzschild black hole interior, which is derived from a Hamiltonian formulated in terms of canonical phase space coordinates, we show that by applying a simple reparametrization, this equation can be expressed as the eigenvalue equation of a quantum linear harmonic oscillator. Within the standard quantization framework, we find that the resulting wave function diverges in the region of the classical singularity, and the expectation value of the Kretschmann scalar is undefined for all states within the black hole. However, when we apply the minimal uncertainty approach to the quantization process, we obtain a wave function that is both well-defined and square-integrable. Additionally, the expectation value of the Kretschmann scalar for these states remains finite throughout the black hole's interior, suggesting that the classical singularity is resolved in this approach, replaced it by a minimum radius.

In the present work, we obtain and analyze a new class of analytical solutions of magnetically charged black bounces in k-essence theory, spherically symmetric in (3+1)-dimensions, coupled to nonlinear electrodynamics (NED). We consider two metric models, Simpson-Visser and Bardeen, for the k-essence configurations n = 1/3 and n = 1/5. We obtain in an analytical way which scalar field, field potential, and Lagrangian NED are necessary to support the metrics. We analyze the behavior of these quantities and the energy conditions due to the scalar field and the NED.

In this work, we investigate the universal classifications of black hole states by considering them as topological defects within the thermodynamic parameter space. Through the asymptotic behaviors of the constructed vector, our results indicate the existence of four distinct topological classifications, denoted as $W^{1-}$, $W^{0+}$, $W^{0-}$, and $W^{1+}$. Within these classifications, the innermost small black hole states are characterized as unstable, stable, unstable, and stable, respectively, while the outermost large ones exhibit an unstable, unstable, stable, and stable behavior. These classifications also display contrasting thermodynamic properties in both low and high Hawking temperature limits. Furthermore, we establish a systematic ordering of the local thermodynamically stable and unstable black hole states as the horizon radius increases for a specific topological classification. These results reveal the universal topological classifications governing black hole thermodynamics, providing valuable insights into the fundamental nature of quantum gravity.

The symmetron is a light scalar which provides a screening mechanism so as to evade the strong constraints from local gravity tests. In order to achieve this goal, a $Z_2$ symmetry is imposed on the symmetron model. In this paper, we introduce a new symmetron Chern-Simons-like gravitational interaction which is $Z_2$ invariant but breaks the parity symmetry explicitly. As a result, it is found that this coupling can generate gravitational wave (GW) amplitude birefringence when GWs propagate over the symmetron backgrounds. Due to the matter density difference, the symmetron profile changes significantly when entering the galaxy, so that we need to discuss the extra-galactic and galactic situations separately. On the one hand, the cosmological symmetron field follows the adiabatic solution, which induces a parity-violating GW amplitude correction with its exponent proportional to the GW frequency and the traveling distance. On the other hand, the symmetron takes the screening solution within the Milky Way, and the generated GW birefringence is only a function of the GW frequency. By further comparing these two contributions, we find that the extra-galactic symmetron field produces the dominant birefringence effects. Finally, with the latest GW data from LIGO-Virgo-Kagra, we place a reasonable constraint on the parity-violating coupling parameter in this symmetron model.

We point out that dark matter and dark energy arise naturally in a recently proposed model of combinatorial quantum gravity. Dark energy is due to the ground-state curvature at finite coupling, dark matter arises from allotropy in the discrete structure of space-time. The stable structure of the space-time "crystal" represents the curved background, the coexisting metastable allotropes of higher curvature and energy are natural candidates for dark matter.

Bouncing cosmologies, while offering a compelling alternative to inflationary models, face challenges from the growth of vector perturbations during the contracting phase. While linear vector instabilities can be avoided with specific initial conditions or the absence of vector degrees of freedom, we demonstrate the significant role of secondary vector perturbations generated by non-linear interactions with scalar fluctuations. Our analysis reveals that in a broad class of single-field matter bounce scenarios, these secondary vector perturbations inevitably get unacceptably large amplitudes, provided the curvature fluctuations are consistent with cosmic microwave background observations. This finding underscores the crucial importance of scalar-induced vector perturbations in bouncing cosmology and highlights the need for further investigation into their potential impact on the viability of these models.

We present a new family of regular black holes (RBH) in Pure Lovelock gravity, where the energy density is determined by the gravitational vacuum tension, which varies for each value of $n$ in each Lovelock case. A notable feature of our model is that the regular solution closely resembles the vacuum solution before reaching the event horizon. For odd $n$, the transverse geometry is spherical, with phase transitions occurring during evaporation, and the final state of this process is a remnant. For even $n$, the transverse geometry in non trivial and corresponds to a hyperboloid. In the case of $d=2n+1$ with even $n$, we find an RBH without a dS core and no inner horizon (whose presence has been recently debated in the literature due to the question of whether its presence is unstable or not), and no phase transitions. For $d>2n+1$ with even $n$, the RBH possesses both an event horizon and a cosmological horizon and no inner horizon. The existence of the cosmological horizon arises without the usual requirement of a positive cosmological constant. From both numerical and analytical analysis, we deduce that as the event horizon expands and the cosmological horizon contracts, thermodynamic equilibrium is achieved in a remnant when the two horizons coincide.

We explore wormhole solutions sourced by Casimir energy density involving generalized uncertainty principle corrections within the framework of Rastall-Rainbow gravity. The questions of traversability and stability, as well as the presence of exotic matter, are carefully investigated. In particular, the stability issue is addressed via an approach that has not been previously employed in the context of wormholes. This method, which represents an improved version of the so-called Herrera cracking technique, has the potential to yield novel insights in the field of wormhole geometries.

The possible existence of axions in the universe introduces the intriguing possibility of photon-axion conversion in strong magnetic fields, particularly near compact objects like supermassive black holes or even naked singularity. In this study, we investigate the conversion of photons into axions in the vicinity of a Janis-Newman-Winicour (JNW) spacetime, a well-known naked singularity solution. Our analysis reveals that photons can efficiently convert into axions with masses less than $100 \rm \ neV$. We calculate the conversion probability and find that it is significantly influenced by the characteristic parameter of the JNW spacetime. The potential observational signatures of this conversion, would be the dimming of photon ring in the X-ray and gamma-ray spectrum. Our findings suggest that compact objects like M87* could be prime candidates for detecting photon-axion conversion effects, provided future advances in high-resolution observations.

We have derived precise analytic expressions for the quasinormal modes of test scalar, and Dirac fields in the background of the dilaton black hole. To achieve this, we employ the higher-order WKB expansion in terms of $1/\ell$. A comparison between the analytic formulas and time-domain integration reveals that the analytic approach generally yields more accurate results than the numerical results previously published using the lower-order WKB approach. We demonstrate that in the eikonal regime, test fields adhere to the correspondence between null geodesics and eikonal quasinormal modes.

In the 1970s, Fulling, Davies, and Unruh demonstrated that the vacuum state perceived by an inertial observer in Minkowski space appears as a thermal bath to a uniformly accelerated observer. We explore the transformation of the Wigner distribution of a real scalar field from an inertial to a Rindler frame, utilizing both Minkowski and Unruh modes. We present a general expression for the reduced Wigner distribution for a specific set of massless scalar field configurations, and validate it against known distributions within this set. This includes arbitrary Gaussian states of Unruh-Minkowski modes, the Minkowski vacuum state, the Rindler vacuum, and the thermal bath of Unruh particles. Additionally, we analyze several other distributions, such as a uniform momentum distribution, a slight deviation from the Minkowski vacuum, and a distribution with a Fermionic component in the Rindler frame. The conclusions are discussed.

Scattering calculations in curved spacetime are technically complicated and, in the case of a general spacetime metric, quite impossible. Even in the cases where perturbative scattering calculations can be done one has to be careful about what kind of particles are sensible to measure. Curved spacetime quantum field theories are then less conceptually clear than those in flat spacetime. In this article, we investigate an aspect of this conceptual confusion - the use of wave packets in defining the S-matrix. Wave packets are used in most standard textbook treatments to construct particle states and remove certain singularities in the definition of the S-matrix. We show that this method does not completely work in curved spacetimes first in a general way and then by way of a specific model. We also discuss related effects and suggest a method for doing curved spacetime scattering calculations. Our conclusion is that the most general method for scattering calculations in curved spacetimes requires the use of wave packets, which are typically absent in the literature.

We present the numerical relativity module within AthenaK, an open source performance-portable astrophysics code designed for exascale computing applications. This module employs the Z4c formulation to solve the Einstein equations. We demonstrate its accuracy through a series of standard numerical relativity tests, including convergence of the gravitational waveform from binary black hole coalescence. Furthermore, we conduct scaling tests on OLCF Frontier and NERSC Perlmutter, where AthenaK exhibits excellent weak scaling efficiency of 80% on up to 65,536 AMD MI250X GPUs on Frontier (relative to 4 GPUs) and strong scaling efficiencies of 84% and 77% on AMD MI250X and NVIDIA A100 GPUs on Frontier and Perlmutter respectively. Additionally, we observe a significant performance boost, with two orders of magnitude speedup ($\gtrsim 200\times$) on a GPU compared to a single CPU core, affirming that AthenaK is well-suited for exascale computing, thereby expanding the potential for breakthroughs in numerical relativity research.

Within the isolated horizon formalism, we investigate a static axisymmetric space-time of a black hole influenced by matter in its neighborhood. To illustrate the role of ingredients and assumptions in this formalism, we first show how, in spherical symmetry, the field equations and gauge conditions imply the isolated horizon initial data leading to the Schwarzschild space-time. Then, we construct the initial data for a static axisymmetric isolated horizon representing a deformed black hole. The space-time description in the Bondi-like coordinates is then found as a series expansion in the vicinity of the horizon. To graphically illustrate this construction, we also find a numerical solution for a black hole deformed by a particular analytic model of a thin accretion disk. We also discuss how an accretion disk affects the analytical properties of the horizon geometry.

We study conversion processes between gravitons and dark photons and reveal the effects of dark photons on the polarization of gravitational waves. Considering cosmological dark magnetic fields, we investigate the evolution of the intensity and polarization of gravitational waves through the conversion. Specifically, we demonstrate that for minimal coupling between gravitons and dark photons, the intensity, circular polarization, and linear polarization evolve separately. We derive explicit formulas for the statistical mean and variance of the intensity and polarization when the gravitational waves pass through magnetic fields with random orientation. The formulas capture how the initial polarization of dark photons will be imprinted on the observed gravitational wave background.

Extreme mass ratio inspirals (EMRIs) are anticipated to be primary gravitational wave sources for LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna). They form in dense nuclear clusters when a compact object (CO) is captured by the central massive black holes (MBHs) due to frequent two-body interactions among orbiting objects. We present a novel Monte Carlo approach to evolve the post-Newtonian (PN) equations of motion of a CO orbiting an MBH accounting for two-body relaxation locally on the fly, without the assumption of orbit-averaging. We estimate the fraction $S(a_0)$ of EMRIs to total captures (including direct plunges, DPs) as a function of the initial semi-major axis $a_0$ for COs around MBHs of $M_\bullet\in[10^4\,{\rm M}_\odot,4\times10^6\,{\rm M}_\odot]$. Previous results indicate $S(a_0)\rightarrow 0$ at large $a_0$, with a sharp transition from EMRIs to DPs around a critical scale $a_{\rm c}$. This notion has been recently challenged for low-mass MBHs, with EMRIs forming at $a\gg a_{\rm c}$, the so-called "cliffhangers''. Our simulations confirm their existence, at larger numbers than previously expected. Cliffhangers start to appear for $M_\bullet\lesssim3\times 10^5\,{\rm M}_\odot$ and can account for up to 55% of the overall EMRIs formed. We find $S(a_0)\gg 0$ for $a\gg a_{\rm c}$, reaching values as high as 0.6 for $M_\bullet=10^4\,{\rm M}_\odot$, much larger than previously found. We find that the PN description of the system greatly enhances the number of EMRIs by shifting $a_{\rm c}$ to larger values at all MBH masses, and that the local treatment of relaxation significantly boosts the number of cliffhangers for small MBHs. Our work shows the limitations of standard assumptions for estimating EMRI formation rates, most importantly their dynamical models. Future estimates of rates and properties of EMRIs detectable by LISA should account for these improvements.

We investigate $\beta$-functions of quantum gravity using dimensional regularisation. In contrast to minimal subtraction, a non-minimal renormalisation scheme is employed which is sensitive to power-law divergences from mass terms or dimensionful couplings. By construction, this setup respects global and gauge symmetries, including diffeomorphisms, and allows for systematic extensions to higher loop orders. We exemplify this approach in the context of four-dimensional quantum gravity. By computing one-loop $\beta$-functions, we find a non-trivial fixed point. It shows two real critical exponents and is compatible with Weinberg's asymptotic safety scenario. Moreover, the underlying structure of divergences suggests that gravity becomes, effectively, two-dimensional in the ultraviolet. We discuss the significance of our results as well as further applications and extensions to higher loop orders.

Many theories of quantum gravity propose Lorentz-violating dispersion relations of the form $\omega_{|\mathbf{k}|}=|\mathbf{k}|f(|\mathbf{k}|/M_\star)$, which approximately recover to the Lorentz invariance, $\omega_{|\mathbf{k}|}\approx|\mathbf{k}|$, at the energy scales much below $M_\star$. However, usually such a scale is assumed to be near the Planck scale, thus the feature of the Lorentz-violating theory is weak and its experimental test becomes extremely challenging. Since the geometric phase (GP) is of accumulative and sensitive nature to weak effects, here we explore the GP acquired by an inertial atomic detector that is coupled to a quantum field with this kind of Lorentz-violating dispersion. We show that for the Lorentz-violating field theory case the GP depends on the velocity of the detector, which is quite different from the Lorentz symmetry case where the GP is independent of the detector's velocity. In particular, we show that the GP may present a drastic low-energy Lorentz violation for any $f$ that dips below unity somewhere. We apply our analysis to detecting the polymer quantization motivated by loop quantum gravity, and show the detector acquires an experimentally detectable GP with the assist of detector's velocity that below current ion collider rapidities. Furthermore, the accumulative nature of GP might facilitate the relevant detection significantly.

We consider how charging performances of a quantum battery, modeled as a two-level system, are influenced by the presence of vacuum fluctuations of a quantum field satisfying the Dirichlet, transparent, and Neumann boundary conditions in the BTZ spacetime. The quantum battery is subjected to an external static driving which works as a charger. Meanwhile, the quantum field is assumed to be coupled to both longitudinal and transverse spin components of the quantum battery including decoherence and pure dephasing mechanisms. Charging and discharging dynamics of the quantum battery are derived by extending the previous open quantum system approach in the relativistic framework to this more general scenario including both the driving and multiple coupling. Analytic expressions for the time evolution of the energy stored are presented. We find that when the driving amplitude is stronger/weaker than the energy-level spacing of the quantum battery the pure dephasing dissipative coupling results in better/worse charging performances than the decoherence dissipative coupling case. We also find that higher Hawking temperature helps to improve the charging performance under certain conditions compared with the closed quantum buttery case, implying the feasibility of energy extraction from vacuum fluctuations in curved spacetime via dissipation in charging protocol. Different boundary conditions for quantum field may lead to different charging performance. Furthermore, we also address the charging stability by monitoring the energy behaviour after the charging protocol has been switched off. Our study presents a general framework to investigate relaxation effects in curved spacetime, and reveals how spacetime properties and field boundary condition affect the charging process, which in turn may shed light on the exploration of the spacetime properties and thermodynamics via the charging protocol.

Chern-Simons gravity is known to suffer from graviton ghost production during inflation, which suppresses the parity-violating power spectrum at scales relevant to cosmic microwave background observations. In this work, we show that allowing the initial conditions of inflation to deviate from the standard Bunch-Davies state can enhance parity-violating non-Gaussianity in the scalar-tensor cross-bispectra. Our results reveal a significant additional contribution to the cross-bispectra in the flattened configuration, offering a new avenue to constrain parity-violating gravity.

In this work, we consider the off-diagonal coupling between two supersymmetric SYK models, which preserves both supersymmetry and solvability. We found that the interaction terms of the N=2 supersymmetric SYK have a holographic interpretation as a possible supersymmetric traversable wormhole. First we introduce the coupling in the trivial Homologic N=1 SYK model as a simplified example. Similar couplings can be implied in N=2 chiral SYK model with BPS states. We propose a special form of N=4 SYK by introducing supermultiplets, and which also naturally include the coupling terms. The holographic picture of N=4 SYK does not have an eternal solution in the low energy limit. And the effective actions are studied in both thermal limit and low energy limit. We also investigate the SYK-like thermal field double states of the supersymmetric SYK and the transmission amplitude between single-side N=2 models in Lorentz time. Additionally, the multi-side N=2,4 OTOCs are also studied.

We introduce an extension to the AthenaK code for general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (GRMHD) in dynamical spacetimes using a 3+1 conservative Eulerian formulation. Like the fixed-spacetime GRMHD solver, we use standard finite-volume methods to evolve the fluid and a constrained transport scheme to preserve the divergence-free constraint for the magnetic field. We also utilize a first-order flux correction (FOFC) scheme to reduce the need for an artificial atmosphere and optionally enforce a maximum principle to improve robustness. We demonstrate the accuracy of AthenaK using a set of standard tests in flat and curved spacetimes. Using a SANE accretion disk around a Kerr black hole, we compare the new solver to the existing solver for stationary spacetimes using the so-called "HARM-like" formulation. We find that both formulations converge to similar results. We also include the first published binary neutron star (BNS) mergers performed on graphical processing units (GPUs). Thanks to the FOFC scheme, our BNS mergers maintain a relative error of $\mathcal{O}(10^{-11})$ or better in baryon mass conservation up to collapse. Finally, we perform scaling tests of AthenaK on OLCF Frontier, where we show excellent weak scaling of $\geq 80\%$ efficiency up to 32768 GPUs and $74\%$ up to 65536 GPUs for a GRMHD problem in dynamical spacetimes with six levels of mesh refinement. AthenaK achieves an order-of-magnitude speedup using GPUs compared to CPUs, demonstrating that it is suitable for performing numerical relativity problems on modern exascale resources.

We focus on the inflationary predictions of $\beta$-exponential potential models, in which the inflaton is a representation of the field delineating the size of extra-dimension. Since it offers a well-motivated starting point for the study of physics at very high energies, we incorporate an $R^2$ term in the Palatini gravity. In addition, afterward the inflation, the inflaton oscillates about the minimum of the inflation potential, and reheats the universe. This occurs during the reheating phase, at which the inflaton decays into the standard model particles, which fill the universe. We extend our examination by considering the reheating effects on inflationary observables by employing the different scenarios of the reheat temperature. Supposing the standard thermal history after inflation, we display the inflationary predictions, $n_s, r, \mathrm{d}n_s/\mathrm{d}\ln k$ of $\beta$-exponential potential with minimal coupling in Palatini $R^2$ gravity. Also, different kinds of constraints from a variety of observations, such as BICEP/Keck, Planck 2018, as well as future possible detectable sensitivities that might be reached by CMB experiments: CMB-S4 and LiteBIRD are taken into account in this work. We indicate that our results are consistent with both the latest data and the future sensitivity forecasts of LiteBIRD/Planck and CMB-S4. Finally, the results in this study highlight the viability of our model even in the case of the existence of more stringent constraints expected from future achievable confidence level limits.

We present the first general-relativistic resistive magnetohydrodynamics simulations of self-consistent, rotating neutron stars with mixed poloidal and toroidal magnetic fields. Specifically, we investigate the role of resistivity in the dynamical evolution of neutron stars over a period of up to 100 ms and its effects on their quasi-equilibrium configurations. Our results demonstrate that resistivity can significantly influence the development of magnetohydrodynamic instabilities, resulting in markedly different magnetic field geometries. Additionally, resistivity suppresses the growth of these instabilities, leading to a reduction in the amplitude of emitted gravitational waves. Despite the variations in magnetic field geometries, the ratio of poloidal to toroidal field energies remains consistently 9:1 throughout the simulations, for the models we investigated.