International Journal of Modern Physics D

A brief review on virtual black holes is presented, with special emphasis on phenomenologically relevant issues like their influence on scattering or on the specific heat of (real) black holes. Regarding theoretical topics, the results important for (the avoidance of) information loss are summarized.

After recalling Hawking's Euclidean notion of virtual black holes and a Minkowskian notion which emerged in studies of 2D models, the importance of virtual black holes for scattering experiments is addressed. Among the key features is that virtual black holes tend to regularize divergences of quantum field theory and that a unitary S-matrix may be constructed. Also, the thermodynamical behavior of real evaporating black holes may be ameliorated by interactions with virtual black holes. Open experimental and theoretical challenges are mentioned briefly.

We apply Lie algebra deformation theory to the problem of identifying the stable form of the quantum relativistic kinematical algebra. As a warm up, given Galileo's conception of spacetime as input, some modest computer code we wrote zeroes in on the Poincaré-plus-Heisenberg algebra in about a minute. Further ahead, along the same path, lies a three-dimensional deformation space, with an instability double cone through its origin. We give physical as well as geometrical arguments supporting our view that moment, rather than position operators, should enter as generators in the Lie algebra. With this identification, the deformation parameters give rise to invariant length and mass scales. Moreover, standard quantum relativistic kinematics of massive, spinless particles corresponds to non-commuting moment operators, a purely quantum effect that bears no relation to spacetime non-commutativity, in sharp contrast to earlier interpretations.

This paper discusses experimental design for the Laser Astrometric Test Of Relativity (LATOR) mission. LATOR is designed to reach unprecedented accuracy of 1 part in 10⁸ in measuring the curvature of the solar gravitational field as given by the value of the key Eddington post-Newtonian parameter γ. This mission will demonstrate the accuracy needed to measure effects of the next post-Newtonian order (∝G²) of light deflection resulting from gravity's intrinsic non-linearity. LATOR will provide the first precise measurement of the solar quadrupole moment parameter, J₂, and will improve determination of a variety of relativistic effects including Lense–Thirring precession. The mission will benefit from the recent progress in the optical communication technologies — the immediate and natural step above the standard radio-metric techniques. The key element of LATOR is a geometric redundancy provided by the laser ranging and long-baseline optical interferometry. We discuss the mission and optical designs, as well as the expected performance of this proposed mission. LATOR will lead to very robust advances in the tests of fundamental physics: this mission could discover a violation or extension of general relativity, or reveal the presence of an additional long range interaction in the physical law. There are no analogs to the LATOR experiment; it is unique and is a natural culmination of solar system gravity experiments.

Neutrino oscillations in a core-collapse supernova may be responsible for the observed rapid motions of pulsars. Given the present bounds on the neutrino masses, the pulsar kicks require a sterile neutrino with mass 2–20 keV and a small mixing with the active neutrinos. The same particle can be the cosmological dark matter. Its existence can be confirmed the by the X-ray telescopes if they detect a 1–10 keV photon line from the decays of the relic sterile neutrinos. In addition, one may be able to detect gravity waves from a pulsar being accelerated by neutrinos in the event of a nearby supernova.

The detection of neutrinos from SN 1987A opened a new era in neutrino astrophysics in the last century. We present a historical view about registration of the neutrino signal from supernova SN 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud by the BAKSAN liquid scintillator detector and by the two water Cherenkov detectors — Kamiokande-II and IMB. All three detectors observed a total neutrino signal of 24 events at 7:35 UT 23 February, 1987. I will concentrate mostly about the BAKSAN supernova group analysis of the neutrino signal, which was already done in the years 1987 and 1988. The results of this analysis (determination of average properties of the neutrino signal: the total energy of neutrino emission, the effective neutrino temperature, the total luminosity of the neutrino signal, duration of the neutrino burst) are presented. The common analysis of all three detectors shows that these 'parameters' have good agreement with the general theoretical description of explosions of supernovae. The analysis shows that the inclusion of the BAKSAN data is very important for the understanding of the SN87A event. The latest results of 20 years of observation of our Galaxy by the BAKSAN scintillation telescope show that the upper limit of the mean frequency of gravitational collapses is <0.13 yr^-1 at a 90% confidence level.

Nuclear double beta decay provides an extraordinarily broad potential to search for beyond-standard-model physics. The occurrence of the neutrinoless decay(0νββ) mode has fundamental consequences: first, the total lepton number is not conserved, and second, the neutrino is a Majorana particle. Furthermore, the measured effective mass provides an absolute scale of the neutrino mass spectrum. In addition, double beta experiments yield sharp restrictions for other beyond-standard-model physics. These include SUSY models (R-parity breaking and conserving), leptoquarks (leptoquark-Higgs coupling), compositeness, left-right symmetric models (right-handed W boson mass), test of special relativity and of the equivalence principle in the neutrino sector and others. First evidence for neutrinoless double beta decay was reported by the HEIDELBERG–MOSCOW experiment in 2001. The HEIDELBERG–MOSCOW experiment is by far the most sensitive0νββ experiment since more than 10 years. It is operating 11 kg of enriched ⁷⁶Ge in the GRAN SASSO Underground Laboratory. The analysis of the data taken from 2 August 1990–20 May 2003 is presented here. The collected statistics is 71.7 kg y. The background achieved in the energy region of the Q value for double beta decay is 0.11 events/kg y keV. The two-neutrino accompanied half-life is determined on the basis of more than 100,000 events to be years. The confidence level for the neutrinoless signal has been improved to a 4.2σ level. The half-life is years. The effective neutrino mass deduced is (0.2–0.6) eV (99.73% C.L.), with the consequence that neutrinos have degenerate masses. The sharp boundaries for other beyond SM physics, mentioned above, are comfortably competitive to the corresponding results from high-energy accelerators like TEVATRON, HERA, etc.

The DAMA/NaI experiment (≃100 kg highly radiopure NaI(Tl)) was proposed, designed and realized to effectively investigate in a model-independent way the presence of a Dark Matter particle component in the galactic halo by exploiting the annual modulation signature. With a total exposure of 107731 kg · day, collected over seven annual cycles deep underground at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the I.N.F.N., it has pointed out — at 6.3σC.L. — an effect which satisfies all the peculiarities of the signature and neither systematic effects nor side reactions able to mimic the signature were found. Moreover, several (but still few with respect to the possibilities) corollary model dependent quests for the candidate particle have been carried out. In this paper the obtained results are summarized and some perspectives are discussed at some extent.

There are six main things which any non-baryonic dark matter theory should endeavour to explain: (1) The basic dark matter particle properties [mass, stability, darkness]; (2) The similarity in cosmic abundance between ordinary and non-baryonic dark matter, Ω_B~Ω_dark; (3) Large scale structure formation; (4) Microlensing (MACHO) events; (5) Asymptotically flat rotation curves in spiral galaxies; (6) The impressive DAMA/NaI annual modulation signal. Only mirror matter-type dark matter appears capable of explaining all six of these desirable features. The purpose of this article is to provide an up-to-date and pedagogical review of this dark matter candidate.

The role played by torsion in gravitation is critically reviewed. After a description of the problems and controversies involving the physics of torsion, a comprehensive presentation of the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity is made. According to this theory, curvature and torsion are alternative ways of describing the gravitational field, and consequently related to the same degrees of freedom of gravity. However, more general gravity theories, like for example Einstein–Cartan and gauge theories for the Poincaré and the affine groups, consider curvature and torsion as representing independent degrees of freedom. By using an active version of the strong equivalence principle, a possible solution to this conceptual question is reviewed. This solution ultimately favors the teleparallel point of view, and consequently the completeness of general relativity. A discussion of the consequences for gravitation is presented.

A nonvanishing cosmological term in Einstein's equations implies a nonvanishing spacetime curvature even in the absence of any kind of matter. It would, in consequence, affect many of the underlying kinematic tenets of physical theory. The usual commutative spacetime translations of the Poincaré group would be replaced by the mixed conformal translations of the de Sitter group, leading to obvious alterations in elementary concepts such as time, energy and momentum. Although negligible at small scales, such modifications may come to have important consequences both in the large and for the inflationary picture of the early Universe. A qualitative discussion is presented, which suggests deep changes in Hamiltonian, Quantum and Statistical Mechanics. In the primeval universe as described by the standard cosmological model, in particular, the equations of state of the matter sources could be quite different from those usually introduced.

Many theories which unify gravity with the other known forces of nature predict the existence of an intermediate-range "fifth force" similar to gravity. Such a force could be manifest as a deviation from the gravitational inverse-square law. Currently, at distances near 10^-1 m, the inverse-square law is known to be correct to about one part per thousand. I present the design of an experiment that will improve this limit by two orders of magnitude. This is accomplished by constructing a torsion pendulum and source mass apparatus that are particularly insensitive to Newtonian gravity and, simultaneously, maximally sensitive to violations of the same.

Recent observations of Type Ia supernova at high redshifts establish that the dark energy component of the universe has (a probably constant) ratio between pressure and energy density . The conventional quintessence models for dark energy are restricted to the range -1≤w<0, with the cosmological constant corresponding to w=-1. Conformally coupled quintessence models are the simplest ones compatible with the marginally allowed superaccelerated regime (w<-1). However, they are known to be plagued with anisotropic singularities.

We argue here that the extension of the classical approach to the semiclassical one, with the inclusion of quantum counterterms necessary to ensure the renormalization, can eliminate the anisotropic singularities preserving the isotropic behavior of conformally coupled superquintessence models. Hence, besides of having other interesting properties, they are consistent candidates to describe the superaccelerated phases of the universe compatible with the present experimental data.

The nature of gravitational singularities, long mysterious, has now become clear through a combination of mathematical and numerical analysis. As the singularity is approached, the time derivative terms in the field equations dominate, and the singularity behaves locally like a homogeneous oscillatory spacetime.

We discuss whether the future extrapolation of the present cosmological state may lead to a singularity even in case of "conventional" (negative) pressure of the dark energy field, namely w=p/ρ≥-1. The discussion is based on an often neglected aspect of scalar–tensor models of gravity: the fact that different test particles may follow the geodesics of different metric frames, and the need for a frame-independent regularization of curvature singularities.

Extra-dimensional theories contain additional degrees of freedom related to the geometry of the extra space which can be interpreted as new particles. Such theories allow to reformulate most of the fundamental problems of physics from a completely different point of view. In this essay, we concentrate on the brane fluctuations which are present in brane-worlds, and how such oscillations of the own space–time geometry along curved extra dimensions can help to resolve the Universe missing mass problem. The energy scales involved in these models are low compared to the Planck scale, and this means that some of the brane fluctuations distinctive signals could be detected in future colliders and in direct or indirect dark matter searches.

In contrast to the widely held belief that a degenerate star that has exhausted its nuclear fuel will, if sufficiently massive, unremittingly collapse to a singularity in space (unless the contraction is prevented by some unknown process of quantum gravity acting at the scale of the Planck length), I present a heuristic argument, based on known quantum processes, for the existence of stable equilibrium states of neutron stars and quark stars with macroscopic radii and masses unconstrained by the Chandrasekhar and Oppenheimer–Volkoff limits. The processes that stabilize the star against gravitational contraction involve strong magnetic coupling of the constituent fermions and fermionic pair production at the expense of gravitational potential energy.

Dark matter in the universe seems to be one of the most important puzzles science has to face in this moment. In this essay, we point out that dark matter could be a spin-0 fundamental interaction of Nature rather than a simple particle. From this hypothesis follows that dark matter behaves just as standard cold dark matter at cosmological level while still in good agreement with observations at galactic scales. This new interaction could be one of the scalar fields predicted by higher-dimensional theories.

It is very likely that the quantum description of spacetime is quite different from what we perceive at large scales, l≫(Gℏ/c³)^1/2. The long wavelength description of spacetime, based on Einstein's equations, is similar to the description of a continuum solid made of a large number of microscopic degrees of freedom. This paradigm provides a novel interpretation of coordinate transformations as deformations of "spacetime solid" and allows one to obtain Einstein's equations as a consistency condition in the long wavelength limit. The entropy contributed by the microscopic degrees of freedom reduces to a pure surface contribution when Einstein's equations are satisfied. The horizons arises as "defects" in the "spacetime solid" (in the sense of well-defined singular points) and contributes an entropy which is one quarter of the horizon area. Finally, the response of the microstructure to vacuum energy leads to a near cancellation of the cosmological constant, leaving behind a tiny fluctuation which matches with the observed value.

I reconsider Hawking's analysis of the effects of gravitational collapse on quantum fields, taking into account interactions between the fields. The ultra-high energy vacuum fluctuations, which had been considered to be an awkward peripheral feature of the analysis, are shown to play a key role. By interactions, they can scatter particles to, or create pairs of particle at, ultra-high energies. The energies rapidly become so great that quantum gravity must play a dominant role. Thus the vicinities of black holes are essentially quantum-gravitational regimes.

Any canonical quantum theory can be understood to arise from the compatibility of the statistical geometry of distinguishable observations with the canonical Poisson structure of Hamiltonian dynamics. This geometric perspective offers a novel, background independent non-perturbative formulation of quantum gravity. We invoke a quantum version of the equivalence principle, which requires both the statistical and symplectic geometries of canonical quantum theory to be fully dynamical quantities. Our approach sheds new light on such basic issues of quantum gravity as the nature of observables, the problem of time, and the physics of the vacuum. In particular, the observed numerical smallness of the cosmological constant can be rationalized in this approach.

The introduction of a relational time in quantum gravity naturally implies that pure quantum states evolve into mixed quantum states. We show, using a recently proposed concrete implementation, that the rate at which pure states naturally evolve into mixed ones is faster than that due to collapsing into a black hole that later evaporates. This is rather remarkable since the fundamental mechanism for decoherence is usually very weak. Therefore the "black hole information puzzle" is rendered de-facto unobservable.

Any attempt at unification of the fundamental interactions will recognize its 'right path' when electromagnetism and gravity are seen together as manifestations of the same interaction. First excitement along this direction was the Kaluza–Klein program, and the unsuccessful attempt was Einstein's unified field theory. Over the years, the program has changed much, but the basic idea that there are links between gravity and electromagnetism, perhaps in a higher dimensional world, has not changed. There are several interesting and important phenomenological aspects related to this issue, to be experimentally explored at the classical level, which may reveal some of the deep connections between the two long range interactions. In this essay, we discuss a program to experimentally explore some connections between gravity and electromagnetism, not yet adequately studied. Some of the key issues we address are the complete absence of gravity for electrons inside a metal drift tube (Schiff–Barnhill effect) and its rotational variant, the Schuster–Blackett relation between rotation of neutral matter and generation of magnetic fields, and a variation of the Faraday unipolar induction. These experiments that probe macroscopic, low energy, and seemingly classical aspects, have the potential to reveal underlying microscopic, high energy, unification scale quantum connections between gravity and electromagnetism.

Just as gravitons can carry energy, they can also be used to transmit information. It follows that an entropy should be associated with gravitational degrees of freedom, independent of the presence or absence of black holes. In this essay, we discuss how one might count gravitational entropy given a classical gravitational field. Our suggestion is motivated by a derivation of the covariant entropy bound in which a gravitational term appears naturally.

An insightful argument for a linear relation between the entropy and the area of a black hole was given by Bekenstein using only the energy–momentum dispersion relation, the uncertainty principle, and some properties of classical black holes. Recent analyses within String Theory and Loop Quantum Gravity describe black-hole entropy in terms of a dominant contribution, which indeed depends linearly on the area, and a leading log-area correction. We argue that, by reversing the Bekenstein argument, the log-area correction can provide insight on the energy–momentum dispersion relation and the uncertainty principle of a quantum-gravity theory. As examples, we consider the energy–momentum dispersion relations that recently emerged in the Loop Quantum Gravity literature and the Generalized Uncertainty Principle that is expected to hold in String Theory.

A v_J/c correction to the Shapiro time delay seems verified by a 2002 Jovian observation by VLBI. In this Essay, this correction is interpreted as an effect of the aberration of light in an optically refractive medium which supplies an analog of Jupiter's gravity field rather than as a measurement of the speed of gravity, as it was first proposed by other authors. The variation of the index of refraction is induced by the Lorentz invariance of the weak gravitational field equations for Jupiter in a uniform translational slow motion with velocity v_J=13.5 km/s. The correction on time delay and deflection is due not to the Kerr (or Lense-Thirring) stationary gravitomagnetic field of Jupiter, but to its Schwarzschild gravitostatic field when measured from the barycenter of the solar system.

Hawking radiation is often intuitively visualized as particles that have tunneled across the horizon. Yet, at first sight, it is not apparent where the barrier is. Here I show that the barrier depends on the tunneling particle itself. The key is to implement energy conservation, so that the black hole contracts during the process of radiation. A direct consequence is that the radiation spectrum cannot be strictly thermal. The correction to the thermal spectrum is of precisely the form that one would expect from an underlying unitary quantum theory. This may have profound implications for the black hole information puzzle.

The gravitational interactions of elementary particles are suppressed by the Planck scale M_*~10¹⁸GeV and are typically expected to be far too weak to be probed by experiments. We show that, contrary to conventional wisdom, such interactions may be studied by particle physics experiments in the next few years. As an example, we consider conventional supergravity with a stable gravitino as the lightest supersymmetric particle. The next-lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP) decays to the gravitino through gravitational interactions after about a year. This lifetime can be measured by stopping NLSPs at colliders and observing their decays. Such studies will yield a measurement of Newton's gravitational constant on unprecedentedly small scales, shed light on dark matter, and provide a window on the early universe.

This essay presents a new asymmetry that arises from the interplay of charge conjugation and Lense–Thirring effect. When applied to Majorana neutrinos, the effects predicts oscillations in gravitational environments with rotating sources. Parameters associated with astrophysical environments indicate that the presented effect is presently unobservable for solar neutrinos. But, it will play an important role in supernova explosions, and carries relevance for the observed matter–antimatter asymmetry in the universe.

Understanding the end state of black hole evaporation, the microscopic origin of black hole entropy, the information loss paradox, and the nature of the singularity arising in gravitational collapse — these are outstanding challenges for any candidate quantum theory of gravity. Recently, a midisuperspace model of quantum gravitational collapse has been solved using a lattice regularization scheme. It is shown that the mass of an eternal black hole follows the Bekenstein spectrum, and a related argument provides a fairly accurate estimate of the entropy. The solution also describes a quantized mass–energy distribution around a central black hole, which in the WKB approximation, is precisely Hawking radiation. The leading quantum gravitational correction makes the spectrum non-thermal, thus providing a plausible resolution of the information loss problem.