CyberSec Research

We study the gravitational phase space associated to a stretched horizon within a finite-sized causal diamond in $(d+2)$-dimensional spacetimes. By imposing the Raychaudhuri equation, we obtain its constrained symplectic form using the covariant phase space formalism and derive the relevant quantum commutators by inverting the symplectic form and quantizing. Finally, we compute the area fluctuations of the causal diamond by taking a Carrollian limit of the stretched horizon in pure Minkowski spacetime, and derive the relationship $\langle (\Delta A)^2 \rangle \geq \frac{2\pi G}{d}\langle A \rangle$, showing that the variance of the area fluctuations is proportional to the area itself.

We study classical wormhole solutions in 3D gravity with end-of-the-world (EOW) branes, conical defects, kinks, and punctures. These solutions compute statistical averages of an ensemble of boundary conformal field theories (BCFTs) related to universal asymptotics of OPE data extracted from 2D conformal bootstrap. Conical defects connect BCFT bulk operators; branes join BCFT boundary intervals with identical boundary conditions; kinks (1D defects along branes) link BCFT boundary operators; and punctures (0D defects) are endpoints where conical defects terminate on branes. We provide evidence for a correspondence between the gravity theory and the ensemble. In particular, the agreement of $g$-function dependence results from an underlying topological aspect of the on-shell EOW brane action, from which a BCFT analogue of the Schlenker-Witten theorem also follows.

We present a numerical investigation of primordial black hole (PBH) formation from super-horizon curvature perturbations and the subsequent generation and propagation of sound waves, which can serve as a new source of stochastic gravitational wave backgrounds presented in a companion letter. Using the Misner-Sharp formalism with an excision technique, our simulations extend to significantly later times than previous work and indicate that the near-critical perturbations produce a distinct compression wave featuring both overdense and underdense shells, while significantly supercritical perturbations yield only an underdense shell. We also show that a softer equation of state suppresses the formation of compression waves. Furthermore, the comoving thickness of sound shells remains nearly constant during propagation and scales with the Hubble radius at horizon re-entry, thereby serving as a key link between the gravitational-wave peak frequency and PBH mass in the companion letter. These results offer new insights into the dynamics of PBH formation and suggest potential observational signatures of PBHs in the gravitational wave spectrum from associated sound waves.

We investigate the impact of chemical equilibration and the resulting bulk viscosity on non-radial oscillation modes of warm neutron stars at temperatures up to T~5 MeV, relevant for protoneutron stars and neutron-star post-merger remnants. In this regime, the relaxation rate of weak interactions becomes comparable to the characteristic frequencies of composition g-modes in the core, resulting in resonant damping. To capture this effect, we introduce the dynamic sound speed, a complex, frequency-dependent generalization of the adiabatic sound speed that encodes both the restoring force and the dissipative effects of bulk compression. Using realistic weak reaction rates and three representative equations of state, we compute the complex frequencies of composition g-modes with finite-temperature profiles. We find that bulk viscous damping becomes increasingly significant with temperature and can completely suppress composition g-modes. In contrast, the f-mode remains largely unaffected by bulk viscosity due to its nearly divergence-free character. Our results highlight the sensitivity of g-mode behavior to thermal structure, weak reaction rates, and the equation of state, and establish the dynamic sound speed as a valuable descriptor characterizing oscillation properties in dissipative neutron star matter.

Modified cosmology based on Barrow entropy arises from the gravity-thermodynamics conjecture, in which the standard Bekenstein-Hawking entropy is replaced by the Barrow entropy of quantum-gravitational origin, characterized by the Barrow parameter $\Delta$. Interestingly, this framework exhibits similarities with cosmology based on Tsallis $\delta$-entropy, which, although rooted in a non-extensive generalization of Boltzmann-Gibbs statistics, features the same power-law deformation of the holographic scaling present in the Barrow case. We use observational data from Supernova Type Ia (SNIa), Cosmic Chronometers (CC), and Baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO), including the recently released DESI DR2 data, in order to extract constraints on such scenarios. As we show, the best-fit value for the Barrow exponent $\Delta$ is found to be negative, while the zero value, which corresponds to $\Lambda$CDM paradigm, is allowed only in the range of $2\sigma $ for three out of four datasets. Additionally, for the case of the SN$_{0}$+OHD+BAO dataset, for the current Hubble function we obtain a value of $H_0= 72.2_{-0.9}^{+0.9}$, which offers an alleviation for the $H_0$ tension. Finally, by applying information criteria such as the Akaike Information Criterion and the Bayes evidence, we compare the fitting efficiency of the scenario at hand with $\Lambda$CDM cosmology, showing that the latter is slightly favoured.

The study of the gravitational wave signatures of neutron star oscillations may provide important information of their interior structure and Equation of State (EoS) at high densities. We present a novel technique based on physically informed neural networks (PINNs) to solve the eigenvalue problem associated with normal oscillation modes of neutron stars. The procedure is tested in a simplified scenario, with an analytical solution, that can be used to test the performance and the accuracy of the method. We show that it is possible to get accurate results of both the eigenfrequencies and the eigenfunctions with this scheme. The flexibility of the method and its capability of adapting to complex scenarios may serve in the future as a path to include more physics into these systems.

Primordial black holes (PBHs) can catalyze first-order phase transitions (FOPTs) in their vicinity, potentially modifying the gravitational wave (GW) signals from PTs. In this study, we present the first comprehensive analysis of this catalytic effect during supercooled PTs within the high PBH number density regime. Applying the analytical model with envelope approximation, we derive the general expressions of GW spectrum in the presence of PBHs. We find that at relatively small PBH number densities, the GW signals are amplified due to the large-size bubbles. While higher PBH number densities suppress GW signals, since the accelerated PT progresses too rapidly. We further extend our findings to the bulk flow model and to scalar-induced GWs (SIGWs) generated during PTs. By conducting data fitting with the NANOGrav 15-year dataset, we find that the PBH catalytic effect significantly alters the estimation of PT parameters. Notably, our analysis of the bubble collision GWs reveals that, the asteroid-mass PBHs ($10^{-16} - 10^{-12} M_\odot$) as the whole dark matter is incompatible with the PT interpretation of pulsar timing array signals. However, incorporating SIGWs can reduce this incompatibility for PBHs in the mass range $10^{-14} - 10^{-12} M_\odot$.

We consider the observational properties of a spherically symmetric, static regular black hole within the framework of asymptotic safety (AS) as proposed by Bonanno et al. The metric resembles the Schwarzschild solution in the classical limit. The departure from Schwarzschild at small scales is controlled by a single free parameter related to the ultraviolet (UV) cutoff of the theory. We investigated null and time-like geodesics around the AS metric, including circular orbits, photon rings and lensing effects. In particular we focused on the optical properties of thin accretion disks in the equatorial plane of the object and compared them with those of accretion disks in the Schwarzschild metric. We found that the radiation flux, luminosity, and efficiency of the accretion disk increase with the value of the free parameter. Using a spacetime generic open-source relativistic ray-tracing code, we simulate the K$\alpha$ iron line profiles emitted by the disk and analyze their deviation from that of the Schwarzschild geometry.

We explore the construction of diverse regular spacetimes (black holes and defects) in General Relativity (GR) using a generic parametrised density profile (the Dekel-Zhao profile), which includes, for specific parameter choices, various well-known examples usually studied in the context of dark matter halos. Our solutions, in the Schwarzschild gauge, include new regular black holes as well as non-singular solutions representing spacetime defects. For a sub-class of metrics, a TOV equation approach with a chosen equation of state works. The status of the energy conditions and the issue of geodesic completeness are explored in detail. We also provide possible Lagrangian density constructions for the matter energy-momentum tensors. Further, we study the shadow radius of the new regular black holes, and compare our findings with available observational results from the EHT collaboration. Finally, for the defect solution, we present a model for a stable star (a gravastar) by explicit use of the junction conditions and obtain relevant consequences highlighting its characteristic features.

The role of horizon area quantization on black hole thermodynamics is investigated in this article. The coefficient appearing in the quantization of area is fixed by an appeal to the saturated form of the Landauer's principle. Then by considering transition between discrete states of the event horizon area which in turn is equivalent to transitions between discrete mass states of the black hole, the change in the mass can be obtained. The change in mass is then equated to the product of the Hawking temperature and change in entropy of the black hole between two consecutive discrete states applying the first law of black hole thermodynamics. This gives the corrected Hawking temperature. In particular, we apply this technique to the Schwarzschild black hole, the quantum corrected Schwarzschild black hole, the Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m black hole which is a charged black hole, and the rotating Kerr black hole geometry, and obtain the corrected Hawking temperature in each of these cases. We then take a step forward by inserting this corrected Hawking temperature in the first law of black hole thermodynamics once again to calculate the entropy of the black hole in terms of the horizon area of the black hole. This leads to logarithmic and inverse corrections to the entropy of the black hole.

A recent covariant formulation, that includes non-perturbative effects from loop quantum gravity (LQG) as self-consistent effective models, has revealed the possibility of non-singular black hole solutions. The new framework makes it possible to couple scalar matter to such LQG black holes and derive Hawking radiation in the presence of quantum space-time effects while respecting general covariance. Standard methods to derive particle production both within the geometric optics approximation and the Parikh-Wilczek tunneling approach are therefore available and confirm the thermal nature of Hawking radiation. The covariant description of scale-dependent decreasing holonomy corrections maintains Hawking temperature as well as universality of the low-energy transmission coefficients, stating that the absorption rates are proportional to the horizon area at leading order. Quantum-geometry effects enter the thermal distribution only through sub-leading corrections in the greybody factors. Nevertheless, they do impact energy emission of the black hole and its final state in a crucial way regarding one of the main questions of black-hole evaporation: whether a black-to-white-hole transition, or a stable remnant, is preferred. For the first time, a first-principles derivation, based on a discussion of backreaction, finds evidence that points to the former outcome.

A quantum master equation describing the stochastic dynamics of a quantum massive system interacting with a quantum gravitational field is useful for the investigation of quantum gravitational and quantum informational issues such as the quantum nature of gravity, gravity-induced entanglement and gravitational decoherence. Studies of the decoherence of quantum systems by an electromagnetic field shows that a lower temperature environment is more conducive to successful quantum information processing experiments. Likewise, the quantum nature of (perturbative) gravity is far better revealed at lower temperatures than high, minimizing the corruptive effects of thermal noise. In this work, generalizing earlier results of the Markovian ABH master equation [1,2] which is valid only for high temperatures, we derive a non-Markovian quantum master equation for the reduced density matrix, and the associated Fokker-Planck equation for the Wigner distribution function, for the stochastic dynamics of two masses following quantum trajectories, interacting with a graviton field, including the effects of graviton noise, valid for all temperatures. We follow the influence functional approach exemplified in the derivation of the non-Markovian Hu-Paz-Zhang master equation [62,64] for quantum Brownian motion. We find that in the low temperature limit, the off-diagonal elements of the reduced density matrix decrease in time logarithmically for the zero temperature part and quadratically in time for the temperature-dependent part, which is distinctly different from the Markovian case. We end with a summary of our findings and a discussion on how this problem studied here is related to the quantum stochastic equation derived in [77] for gravitational self force studies, and to quantum optomechanics where experimental observation of gravitational decoherence and entanglement may be implemented.

A pressureless dark matter component fits well with several cosmological observations. However, there are indications that cold dark matter may encounter challenges in explaining observations at small scales, particularly at galactic scales. Observational data suggest that dark matter models incorporating a pressure component could provide solutions to these small-scale problems. In this work, we investigate the possibility that present-day dark matter may result from a decaying non-cold dark matter sector transitioning into the dark energy sector. As the sensitivity of astronomical surveys rapidly increases, we explore an interacting scenario between dark energy and non-cold dark matter, where dark energy has a constant equation of state ($w_{\rm de}$), and dark matter, being non-cold, also has a constant (non-zero) equation of state ($w_{\rm dm}$). Considering the phantom and quintessence nature of dark energy, characterized by its equation of state, we separately analyze interacting phantom and interacting quintessence scenarios. We constrain these scenarios using Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) measurements and their combination with external probes, such as DESI-BAO and PantheonPlus. From our analyses, we find that a very mild preference for non-cold dark matter cannot be excluded based on the employed datasets. Additionally, for some datasets, there is a pronounced preference for the presence of an interaction at more than 95\% confidence level (CL). Moreover, when the dark energy equation of state lies in the phantom regime, the $S_8$ tension can be alleviated. This study suggests that cosmological models incorporating a non-cold dark matter component should be considered as viable scenarios with novel phenomenological implications, as reflected in the present work.

A new notion of quasilocal mass is defined for generic, compact, two dimensional, spacelike surfaces in four dimensional spacetimes with negative cosmological constant. The definition is spinorial and based on work for vanishing cosmological constant by Penrose and Dougan & Mason. Furthermore, this mass is non-negative, equal to the Misner-Sharp mass in spherical symmetry, equal to zero for every generic surface in AdS, has an appropriate form for gravity linearised about AdS and has an appropriate limit for large spheres in asymptotically AdS spacetimes.

We present a detailed study of the effective stress tensor of gravitational wave (GW) as the source for the background Einstein equation and examine three candidates in literature. The second order perturbed Einstein tensor $G^{(2)}_{\mu\nu}$, up to a coefficient, proposed by Brill, Hartle, and Isaacson, has long been known to be covariantly nonconserved with respect to the background spacetime. We observe that $G^{(2)}_{\mu\nu}$ is not a true tensor on the background spacetime. More importantly, we find that, by expressing $G^{(2)}_{\mu\nu}$ in terms of the perturbed Hilbert-Einstein actions, the nonconserved part of $G^{(2)}_{\mu\nu}$ is actually canceled out by the perturbed fluid stress tensors in the back-reaction equation, or is vanishing in absence of fluid. The remaining part of $G^{(2)}_{\mu\nu}$ is just the conserved effective stress tensor $\tau_{\mu\nu}$ proposed by Ford and Parker. As the main result, we derive $\tau_{\mu\nu}$ for a general curved spacetime by varying the GW action and show its conservation using the equation of GW. The stress tensor $T_{\text{MT}}^{\mu\nu}$ proposed by MacCallum and Taub was based on an action $J_2$. We derive $T_{\text{MT}}^{\mu\nu}$ and find that it is nonconserved, and that $J_2$ does not give the correct GW equation in presence of matter. The difficulty with $J_2$ is due to a background Ricci tensor term, which should be also canceled out by the fluid term or vanishing in absence of fluid. We also demonstrate these three candidates in a flat Robertson-Walker spacetime. The conserved $\tau_{\mu\nu}$ has a positive energy density spectrum, and is adequate for the back-reaction in a perturbation scheme, while the two nonconserved stress tensors have a negative spectrum at long wavelengths and are unphysical.

The quantization of unimodular gravity in minisuperspace leads to a time evolution of states generated by the Hamiltonian, as in usual quantum mechanics. We revisit the analysis made in Ref. \cite{unruh}, extending it to phantom scalar fields. It is argued that only in this case a non-trivial evolution for the scalar field can be obtained. The behavior of the scale factor presents a bounce followed by a de Sitter expansion, reproducing the quantum cosmological scenario in General Relativity when the source is given by a cosmological term described by the Schutz variable. The analysis is extended to the Brans-Dicke scalar tensor theory.

It seems that the regime of Hawking radiation and evaporation ultimately drives charged black holes toward super-extremality of the charge parameter and the dominance of extremal conditions. This progression, in turn, lays the groundwork for satisfying the necessary conditions for the Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC). Preliminary studies indicate that black holes such as the Reissner-Nordstr$\"o$m (RN) model, in their initial form, lack the capacity to sustain super-extremality of the charge parameter. If such conditions arise, these black holes transition into naked singularities-a scenario that is highly undesirable due to the loss of causality and the breakdown of space-time geometry. This raises whether the inability to sustain super-extremality is an inherent property of the model or a consequence of the approximations and precision limitations employed in its construction. To address this, we turned to the ModMax model, which represents an extension of the RN model. Our analysis revealed that the ModMax model not only accommodates super-extremality of the charge parameter but also, under certain conditions, emerges as a promising candidate for investigating the WGC. Furthermore, we independently observed how the inclusion of the de Sitter radius ($\ell$) in the AdS model and $f(R)$ gravitational corrections-both of which enhance and complicate the model-can have a direct impact on the range of super-extremal charge tolerance which, in turn, provides the realization of the conditions necessary for the WGC.

In this article we extend a study of the validity conditions of the separate-universe approach of cosmological perturbations to models of inflation with multiple fields. The separate-universe approach consists in describing the universe as a collection of homogeneous and isotropic patches, giving us an effective description of perturbation theory at large scales through phase-space reduction. This approximation is a necessary step in stochastic inflation, an effective theory of coarse-grained, super-Hubble, scalar fields fluctuations. One needs a stochastic inflation description in the context of primordial black hole productions since it needs enhancements of the curvature power spectrum. It easily achievable in multifield inflation models but necessarily comes with strong diffusive effects. We study and compare cosmological perturbation theory and the separate-universe approach in said non-linear sigma models as a typical framework of multifield inflation and employing the Hamiltonian formalism to keep track of the complete phase space (or the reduced isotropic phase space in the separate-universe approach). We find that the separate-universe approach adequately describes the cosmological perturbation theory provided the wavelength of the modes considered is greater that several lower bounds that depend on the cosmological horizon and the inverse of the effective Hamiltonian masses of the fields; the latter being fixed by the coupling potential and the field-space geometry. We also compare gauge-invariant variables and several gauge fixing procedures in both approaches. For instance, we showed that the uniform-expansion gauge is nicely described by the separate-universe picture, hence qualifying its use in stochastic inflation as commonly done.