International Journal of Modern Physics D

We discuss our recent work [P.-N. Chen, M.-T. Wang and S.-T. Yau, Quasi-local mass in the gravitational perturbations of black holes, to appear.] in which gravitational radiation was studied by evaluating the Wang–Yau quasi-local mass of surfaces of fixed size at the infinity of both axial and polar perturbations of the Schwarzschild spacetime, à la Chandrasekhar. [S. Chandrasekhar, The Mathematical Theory of Black Holes, Oxford Classic Texts in the Physical Sciences (Oxford University Press, New York, 1998).]

The evolution of a generally covariant theory is under-determined. One hundred years ago such dynamics had never before been considered; its ramifications were perplexing, its future important role for all the fundamental interactions under the name gauge principle could not be foreseen. We recount some history regarding Einstein, Hilbert, Klein and Noether and the novel features of gravitational energy that led to Noether’s two theorems. Under-determined evolution is best revealed in the Hamiltonian formulation. We developed a covariant Hamiltonian formulation. The Hamiltonian boundary term gives covariant expressions for the quasi-local energy, momentum and angular momentum. Gravity can be considered as a gauge theory of the local Poincaré group. The dynamical potentials of the Poincaré gauge theory of gravity are the frame and the connection. The spacetime geometry has in general both curvature and torsion. Torsion naturally couples to spin; it could have a significant magnitude and yet not be noticed, except on a cosmological scale where it could have significant effects.

We have previously argued that fluctuations of the Hawking emission rate can cause a black hole event horizon to fluctuate inside the location of a putative firewall, rendering the firewall naked. This assumes that the firewall is located near where the horizon would be expected based on the past evolution of the spacetime. Here, we expand our previous results by defining two new estimates for where the firewall might be that have more smooth temporal behavior than our original estimate. Our results continue to contradict the usual assumption that the firewall should not be observable except by infalling observers. This casts doubt about the idea that firewalls are the ‘most conservative’ solution to the information loss paradox.

We introduce a new type of the spacetime quantization based on the spinorial description suggested by loop quantum gravity. Specifically, we build our theory on a string theory inspired $Spin(3,1)$ worldsheet action. Because of its connection with quantum gravity theories, our proposal may in principle link back to string theory, connect to loop quantum gravity where SU(2) is suggested as the fundamental symmetry, or serve as a Lorentzian spin network. We derive the generalized uncertainty principle and demonstrate the holographic nature of our theory. Due to the quantization of spacetime, geodesics in our theory are fuzzy, but the fuzziness is shown to be much below conceivable astrophysical bounds.

We revisit the Schwinger effect in de Sitter (ds), anti-de Sitter (Ads) spaces and charged black holes, and explore the interplay between quantum electrodynamics (QED) and the quantum gravity effect at one-loop level. We then advance a thermal interpretation of the Schwinger effect in curved spacetimes. Finally, we show that the Schwinger effect in a near-extremal black hole differs from Hawking radiation of charged particles in a nonextremal black hole and is factorized into those in an Ads space and a Rindler space with the surface gravity for acceleration.

From higher dimensional theories, e.g. string theory, one expects the presence of nonminimally coupled scalar fields. We review the notion of conformal frames in cosmology and emphasize their physical equivalence, which holds at least at a classical level. Furthermore, if there is a field, or fields, which dominates the universe, as it is often the case in cosmology, we can use such notion of frames to treat our system, matter and gravity, as two different sectors. On one hand, the gravity sector which describes the dynamics of the geometry and on the other hand, the matter sector which has such geometry as a playground. We use this interpretation to build a model where the fact that a curvaton couples to a particular frame metric could leave an imprint in the cosmic microwave background (CMB).

We explore the landscape of technical naturalness for nonrelativistic systems, finding surprises which challenge and enrich our relativistic intuition already in the simplest case of a single scalar field. While the immediate applications are expected in condensed matter and perhaps in cosmology, the study is motivated by the leading puzzles of fundamental physics involving gravity: the cosmological constant problem and the Higgs mass hierarchy problem.

Quantum geometrodynamics with intrinsic time development is presented. Paradigm shift from full spacetime covariance to spatial diffeomorphism invariance yields a nonvanishing Hamiltonian, a resolution of the ‘problem of time’ and gauge-invariant temporal ordering in an ever expanding universe. Einstein’s general relativity is a particular realization of a wider class of theories; and the framework prompts natural extensions and improvements with the consequent dominance of Cotton–York potential at early times when the universe was small.

In order to achieve full understanding of our Universe, we wish to clarify how it was created. In this talk, I discussed several possibilities and relevance to the observation of tensor perturbation.

We emphasize that noncommutative (NC) spacetime necessarily implies emergent spacetime if spacetime at microscopic scales should be viewed as NC. In order to understand NC spacetime correctly, we need to deactivate the thought patterns that we have installed in our brains and taken for granted for so many years. Emergent spacetime allows a background-independent formulation of quantum gravity that will open a new perspective to resolve the notorious problems in theoretical physics such as the cosmological constant problem, hierarchy problem, dark energy, dark matter and cosmic inflation.

The unusual magnetic materials are significant in both science and technology. However, because of the strongly correlated effects, it is difficult to understand their novel properties from theoretical aspects. Holographic duality offers a new approach to understanding such systems from gravity side. This paper will give a brief review of our recent works on the applications of holographic duality in understanding unusual magnetic materials. Some quantitative comparision between holographic results and experimental data will be shown and some predictions from holographic duality models will be discussed.

We sketch the landscape which gives rise to the missing energy density problem and highlight the direct experimental searches of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) dark matter. An overview of the China Jinping underground laboratory as well as the China dark matter experiment (CDEX) dark matter program based on germanium detectors with sub-keV sensitivities is presented. The achieved results, status as well as the R&D and technology acquisition efforts towards a ton-scale experiment are reported.

Taiwan astroparticle radiowave observatory for geo-synchrotron emissions (TAROGE) is an antenna array on the high mountains of Taiwan’s east coast for the detection of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) in an energy above $10^{18.5}$ eV. The antennas point toward the ocean to detect radiowave signals emitted by the UHECR-induced air-shower as a result of its interaction with the geomagnetic field. Looking down from the coastal mountain, the effective area is enhanced by collecting both direct-emission as well as the ocean-reflected signals. This instrument also provides the capability of detecting earth-skimming tau-neutrino through its subsequent tau-decay induced shower. In order to prove the detection concept, initial two stations were successfully built at 1000 m elevation near Heping township, Taiwan, in 2014–2015. Each station consists of 12 log-periodic dipole array antennas for 110–300 MHz. The stations have been operating smoothly for radio survey and optimization of instrumental parameters. In this report, we discuss the design of TAROGE, the performance of the prototype station and the future prospect.

Cosmology and particle physics have long been dominated by theoretical paradigms: Einstein’s general theory of relativity in cosmology and the standard model of particle physics. The time may have come for paradigm shifts. Does cosmological inflation require a modification of Einstein’s gravity? Have experiments at the LHC discovered a new particle beyond the Standard Model? It is premature to answer these questions, but we theorists can dream about the possibilities.