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The Eisenhart lift of Riemannian type describes the motion of a particle as a geodesic in a higher-dimensional Riemannian manifold with one additional coordinate. It has recently been generalized to a scalar field system by introducing one additional vector field. We apply this approach to a scalar field system in the FLRW (Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker) universe and classify the symmetries of the system. In particular, we find nontrivial (conformal) Killing vector field and Killing tensor fields for a scalar field potential consisting of the square of a combination of exponential functions with specific index $e^{\pm\frac{\sqrt{6}}{4}\phi}$. Moreover, we find nontrivial conformal Killing vector fields for a potential which is written as an exponentiation of a combination of exponential potentials with general index. Complete solutions to the equations of motion are given. We also classify the symmetries of multiple scalar field system., Comment: 22 pages

A scalar field with an exponential potential has been proposed as a model of inflation (called power-law inflation). Although it admits an exact solution, the integrability of the system has not been shown.We uncover the hidden symmetries behind the system by utilising the Eisenhart lift of field theories. We find that a conformal Killing vector field in the field space exists only for a particular combination of exponential functions that includes a single exponential potential. This implies the existence of additional conserved quantity and explains the integrability of the system., Comment: 6 pages, to appear in CQG

We derive the time dilation formula for charged quantum clocks in electromagnetic fields. As a concrete example of non-inertial motion, we consider a cyclotron motion in a uniform magnetic field. Applying the time dilation formula to coherent state of the charged quantum clock, we evaluate the time dilation quantum-mechanically., Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, to appear in PRD

A proper time observable for a quantum clock is introduced and it is found that the proper time read by one clock conditioned on another clock reading a different proper time obeys classical time dilation in accordance with special relativistic kinematical time dilation. Here, we extend this proposal to a weak gravitational field in order to investigate whether the weak equivalence principle holds for quantum matter. We find that for general quantum states the quantum time dilation in a weak gravitational field obeys a similar gravitational time dilation found in classical relativity. However, unlike the special relativistic case, the time dilation involves the external time (a background coordinate time at the observer on the Earth) as well as the proper times of two clocks. We also investigate a quantum time dilation effect induced by a clock in a superposition of wave packets localized in momentum space or in position space and propose the setup to observe the gravitational effect in the quantum interference effect in the time dilation., Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, version published in PRD

Motivated by constant-G theory, we introduce a one-parameter family of scalar-tensor theories as an extension of constant-G theory in which the conformal symmetry is a cosmological attractor. Since the model has the coupling function of negative curvature, we expect spontaneous scalarization occurs and the parameter is constrained by pulsar-timing measurements. Modeling neutron stars with realistic equation of states, we study the structure of neutron stars and calculate the effective scalar coupling with the neutron star in these theories. We find that within the parameter region where the observational constraints are satisfied, the effective scalar coupling almost coincides with that derived using the quadratic model with the same curvature. This indicates that the constraints obtained by the quadratic model will be used to limit the curvature of the coupling function universally in the future., Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, updated to match the published version

Deci-hertz Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (DECIGO) is the future Japanese space mission with a frequency band of 0.1 Hz to 10 Hz. DECIGO aims at the detection of primordial gravitational waves, which could be produced during the inflationary period right after the birth of the universe. There are many other scientific objectives of DECIGO, including the direct measurement of the acceleration of the expansion of the universe, and reliable and accurate predictions of the timing and locations of neutron star/black hole binary coalescences. DECIGO consists of four clusters of observatories placed in the heliocentric orbit. Each cluster consists of three spacecraft, which form three Fabry-Perot Michelson interferometers with an arm length of 1,000 km. Three clusters of DECIGO will be placed far from each other, and the fourth cluster will be placed in the same position as one of the three clusters to obtain the correlation signals for the detection of the primordial gravitational waves. We plan to launch B-DECIGO, which is a scientific pathfinder of DECIGO, before DECIGO in the 2030s to demonstrate the technologies required for DECIGO, as well as to obtain fruitful scientific results to further expand the multi-messenger astronomy., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures

We study the frame dependence/independence of cosmological observables under disformal transformations, extending the previous results regarding conformal transformations, and provide the correspondence between Jordan-frame and Einstein-frame variables. We consider quantities such as the gravitational constant in the Newtonian limit, redshift, luminosity and angular diameter distances, as well as the distance-duality relation. Also, the Boltzmann equation, the observed specific intensity, and the adiabaticity condition are discussed. Since the electromagnetic action changes under disformal transformations, photons in the Einstein frame no longer propagate along null geodesics. As a result, several quantities of cosmological interest are modified. Nevertheless, we show that the redshift is invariant and the distance-duality relation (the relation between the luminosity distance and the angular diameter distance) still holds in general spacetimes even though the reciprocity relation (the relation between two geometrical distances) is modified., Comment: 29 pages, 1 figure. v3: updated subsection 4.3 and fixed minor typos

Stochastic gravitational wave backgrounds, predicted in many models of the early universe and also generated by various astrophysical processes, are a powerful probe of the Universe. The spectral shape is key information to distinguish the origin of the background since different production mechanisms predict different shapes of the spectrum. In this paper, we investigate how precisely future gravitational wave detectors can determine the spectral shape using single and broken power-law templates. We consider the detector network of Advanced-LIGO, Advanced-Virgo and KAGRA and the space-based gravitational-wave detector DECIGO, and estimate the parameter space which could be explored by these detectors. We find that, when the spectrum changes its slope in the frequency range of the sensitivity, the broken power-law templates dramatically improve the $\chi^2$ fit compared with the single power-law templates and help to measure the shape with a good precision., Comment: 45 pages, 20 figures

Recent cosmological observations are in good agreement with the scalar spectral index $n_s$ with $n_s-1\simeq -2/N$, where $N$ is the number of e-foldings. In the previous work, the reconstruction of the inflaton potential for a given $n_s$ was studied, and it was found that for $n_s-1=-2/N$, the potential takes the form of either $\alpha$-attractor model or chaotic inflation model with $\phi^2$ to the leading order in the slow-roll approximation. Here we consider the reconstruction of $f(R)$ gravity model for a given $n_s$ both in the Einstein frame and in the Jordan frame. We find that for $n_s-1=-2/N$ (or more general $n_s-1=-p/N$), $f(R)$ is given parametrically and is found to asymptote to $R^2$ for large $R$. This behavior is generic as long as the scalar potential is of slow-roll type., Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, references added, version to appear in PTEP

We estimate the spin distribution of primordial black holes based on the recent study of the critical phenomena in the gravitational collapse of a rotating radiation fluid. We find that primordial black holes are mostly slowly rotating., Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, references added, version to appear in PTEP

We present cosmological constraints on the scalar-tensor theory of gravity by analyzing the angular power spectrum data of the cosmic microwave background obtained from the Planck 2015 results together with the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) data. We find that the inclusion of the BAO data improves the constraints on the time variation of the effective gravitational constant by more than $10\%$, that is, the time variation of the effective gravitational constant between the recombination and the present epochs is constrained as $G_{\rm rec}/G_0-1 <1.9\times 10^{-3}\ (95.45\%\ {\rm C.L.})$ and $G_{\rm rec}/G_0-1 <5.5\times 10^{-3}\ (99.99 \%\ {\rm C.L.})$. We also discuss the dependence of the constraints on the choice of the prior., Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, version to appear in PTEP

We study timelike and null geodesics in a non-singular black hole metric proposed by Hayward. The metric contains an additional length-scale parameter $\ell$ and approaches the Schwarzschild metric at large radii while approaches a constant at small radii so that the singularity is resolved. We tabulate the various critical values of $\ell$ for timelike and null geodesics: the critical values for the existence of horizon, marginally stable circular orbit and photon sphere. We find the photon sphere exists even if the horizon is absent and two marginally stable circular orbits appear if the photon sphere is absent and a stable circular orbit for photons exists for a certain range of $\ell$. We visualize the image of a black hole and find that blight rings appear even if the photon sphere is absent., Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, typos corrected, to appear in PTEP

Cosmological constraints on the scalar-tensor theory of gravity by analyzing the angular power spectrum data of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) obtained from the Planck 2015 results are presented. We consider the harmonic attractor model, in which the scalar field has a harmonic potential with curvature ($\beta$) in the Einstein frame and the theory relaxes toward the Einstein gravity with time. Analyzing the {\it TT}, {\it EE}, {\it TE} and lensing CMB data from Planck by the Markov chain Monte Carlo method, we find that the present-day deviation from the Einstein gravity (${\alpha_0}^2$) is constrained as ${\alpha_0}^2<2.5\times10^{-4-4.5\beta^2}\ (95.45\% {\rm\ C.L.})$ and ${\alpha_0}^2<6.3\times10^{-4-4.5\beta^2}\ (99.99\%\ {\rm C.L.})$ for $0<\beta<0.4$. The time variation of the effective gravitational constant between the recombination and the present epochs is constrained as $G_{\rm rec}/G_0<1.0056\ (95.45\% {\rm\ C.L.})$ and $G_{\rm rec}/G_0<1.0115\ (99.99 \%{\rm\ C.L.})$. We also find that the constraints are little affected by extending to nonflat cosmological models because the diffusion damping effect revealed by Planck breaks the degeneracy of the projection effect., Comment: 7 pages, 10 figures, version to appear in PRD

Recent cosmological observations are in good agreement with the scalar spectral index $n_s$ with $n_s-1\sim -2/N$, where $N$ is the number of e-foldings. Quadratic chaotic model, Starobinsky model and Higgs inflation or $\alpha$-attractors connecting them are typical examples predicting such a relation. We consider the problem in the opposite: given $n_s$ as a function of $N$, what is the inflaton potential $V(\phi)$. We find that for $n_s-1=-2/N$, $V(\phi)$ is either $\tanh^2(\gamma\phi/2)$ ("T-model") or $\phi^2$ (chaotic inflation) to the leading order in the slow-roll approximation. $\gamma$ is the ratio of $1/V$ at $N\rightarrow \infty$ to the slope of $1/V$ at a finite $N$ and is related to "$\alpha$" in the $\alpha$-attractors by $\gamma^2=2/3\alpha$. The tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ is $r=8/N(\gamma^2 N +1) $. The implications for the reheating temperature are also discussed. We also derive formulas for $n_s-1=-p/N$. We find that if the potential is bounded from above, only $p>1$ is allowed. Although $r$ depends on a parameter, the running of the spectral index is independent of it, which can be used as a consistency check of the assumed relation of $n_s(N)$., Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, published version

We derive the consistency relations for a chaotic inflation model with a non-minimal coupling to gravity. For a quadratic potential in the limit of a small non-minimal coupling parameter $\xi$ and for a quartic potential without assuming small $\xi$, we give the consistency relations among the spectral index $n_s$, the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ and the running of the spectral index $\alpha$. We find that unlike $r$, $\alpha$ is less sensitive to $\xi$. If $r<0.1$, then $\xi$ is constrained to $\xi<0$ and $\alpha$ is predicted to be $\alpha\simeq -8\times 10^{-4}$ for a quartic potential. For a general monomial potential, $\alpha$ is constrained in the range $-2.7\times 10^{-3}<\alpha< -6\times 10^{-4}$ as long as $|\xi|\leq 10^{-3}$ if $r<0.1$., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, to appear in PTEP

We study the motion of a charged particle around a weakly magnetized rotating black hole. We classify the fate of a charged particle kicked out from the innermost stable circular orbit. We find that the final fate of the charged particle depends mostly on the energy of the particle and the radius of the orbit. The energy and the radius in turn depend on the initial velocity, the black hole spin, and the magnitude of the magnetic field. We also find possible evidence for the existence of bound motion in the vicinity of the equatorial plane., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, typos corrected, to appear in Phys.Rev.D

Consistency relations for chaotic inflation with a monomial potential and natural inflation and hilltop inflation are given which involve the scalar spectral index $n_s$, the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ and the running of the spectral index $\alpha$. The measurement of $\alpha$ with $O(10^{-3})$ and the improvement in the measurement of $n_s$ could discriminate monomial model from natural/hilltop inflation models. A consistency region for general large field models is also presented., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, typos corrected, a version to appear in PTEP

The prospects for direct measurements of inflationary gravitational waves by next generation interferometric detectors inferred from the possible detection of B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background are studied. We compute the spectra of the gravitational wave background and the signal-to-noise ratios by two interferometric detectors (DECIGO and BBO) for large-field inflationary models in which the tensor-to-scalar ratio is greater than the order of 0.01. If the reheating temperature $T_{\rm RH}$ of chaotic inflation with the quadratic potential is high ($T_{\rm RH}>7.9\times10^6$ GeV for upgraded DECIGO and $T_{\rm RH}> 1.8\times 10^{6}$ GeV for BBO), it will be possible to reach the sensitivity of the gravitational background in future experiments at $3\sigma$ confidence level. The direct detection is also possible for natural inflation with the potential $V(\phi)=\Lambda^4 [1-\cos(\phi/f)]$, provided that $f>4.2 M_{\rm pl}$ (upgraded DECIGO) and $f>3.6 M_{\rm pl}$ (BBO) with $T_{\rm RH}$ higher than $10^8$ GeV. The quartic potential $V(\phi)=\lambda \phi^4/4$ with a non-minimal coupling $\xi$ between the inflaton field $\phi$ and the Ricci scalar $R$ gives rise to a detectable level of gravitational waves for $|\xi|$ smaller than the order of 0.01, irrespective of the reheating temperature., Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures; Signal-to-noise ratio of Ultimate-DECIGO is added in Fig. 4

The general k-essence Lagrangian for the existence of cosmological scaling solutions is derived in the presence of multiple scalar fields coupled to a barotropic perfect fluid. In addition to the scaling fixed point associated with the dynamics during the radiation and matter eras, we also obtain a scalar-field dominated solution relevant to dark energy and discuss the stability of them in the two-field set-up. We apply our general results to a model of two canonical fields with coupled exponential potentials arising in string theory. Depending on model parameters and initial conditions, we show that the scaling matter-dominated epochs followed by an attractor with cosmic acceleration can be realized with/without the couplings to scalar fields. The different types of scaling solutions can be distinguished from each other by the evolution of the dark energy equation of state from high-redshifts to today., Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures

We provide the correspondence between the variables in the Jordan frame and those in the Einstein frame in scalar-tensor gravity and consider the frame-(in)dependence of the cosmological observables. In particular, we show that the cosmological observables/relations (redshift, luminosity distance, temperature anisotropies) are frame-independent. We also study the frame-dependence of curvature perturbations and find that the curvature perturbations are conformal invariant if the perturbation is adiabatic and the entropy perturbation between matter and the Brans-Dicke scalar is vanishing. The relation among various definitions of curvature perturbations in the both frames is also discussed, and the condition for the equivalence is clarified., Comment: 18 pages, v2: minor changes. published version

For two types of quintessence models having thawing and tracking properties, there exist analytic solutions for the dark energy equation of state w expressed in terms of several free parameters. We put observational bounds on the parameters in such scenarios by using the recent data of Supernovae type Ia, Cosmic Microwave Background, and Baryon Acoustic Oscillations. The observational constraints are quite different depending on whether or not the recent BAO data from BOSS are taken into account. With the BOSS data the upper bounds of today's values of w (=w_0) in thawing models is very close to -1, whereas without this data the values of w_0 away from -1 can be still allowed. The tracker equation of state w_{(0)} during the matter era is constrained to be w_{(0)}<-0.949 at 95 % confidence level even without the BOSS data, so that the tracker models with w away from -1 are severely disfavored. We also study observational constraints on scaling models in which w starts to evolve from 0 in the deep matter era and show that the transition to the equation of state close to w=-1 needs to occur at an early cosmological epoch. In the three classes of quintessence models studied in this paper, the past evolution of the Hubble parameters in the best-fit models shows only less than the 2.5 % difference compared to the LCDM., Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures

Shadows of multi-black holes have structures distinct from the mere superposition of the shadow of a single black hole: the eyebrow-like structures outside the main shadows and the deformation of the shadows. We present analytic estimates of these structures using the static multi-black hole solution (Majumdar-Papapetrou solution). We show that the width of the eyebrow is related with the distance between the black holes and that the shadows are deformed into ellipses due to the presence of the second black holes. These results are helpful to understand qualitatively the features of the shadows of colliding black holes. We also present the shadows of colliding/coalescing black holes in the Kastor-Traschen solution., Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. D

The current observational and experimental bounds on the time variation of the constants of nature (the fine structure constant $\alpha$, the gravitational constant $G$ and the proton-electron mass ratio $\mu=m_p/m_e$) are reviewed., Comment: 27 pages, 2 figures, to be published in Prog.Theor.Phys, ref. added

We compute the shadows of colliding black holes using the Kastor-Traschen cosmological multiblack hole solution that is an exact solution describing the collision of maximally charged black holes with a positive cosmological constant. We find that in addition to the shadow of each black hole, an eyebrowlike structure appears as the black holes come close to each other. These features can be used as probes to find the multiblack hole system at the final stage of its merger process., Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in PRD

Recently spatial as well as temporal variations of the fine structure constant alpha have been reported. We show that a "runaway domain wall", which arises for the scalar field potential without minima, can account for such variations simultaneously. The time variation is induced by a runaway potential and the spatial variation is induced by the formation of a domain wall. The model is consistent with the current cosmological data and can be tested by the future experiments to test the equivalence principle., Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, published version

We study the potential impact of detecting the inflationary gravitational wave background by the future space-based gravitational wave detectors, such as DECIGO and BBO. The signal-to-noise ratio of each experiment is calculated for chaotic/natural/hybrid inflation models by using the precise predictions of the gravitational wave spectrum based on numerical calculations. We investigate the dependence of each inflation model on the reheating temperature which influences the amplitude and shape of the spectrum, and find that the gravitational waves could be detected for chaotic/natural inflation models with high reheating temperature. From the detection of the gravitational waves, a lower bound on the reheating temperature could be obtained. The implications of this lower bound on the reheating temperature for particle physics are also discussed., Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures, revised version accepted by PRD

We study time evolution of the $Q$ ball in thermal logarithmic potential using lattice simulations. As the temperature decreases due to the cosmic expansion, the thermal logarithmic term in the potential is eventually overcome by a mass term, and we confirm that the $Q$ ball transforms from the thick-wall type to the thin-wall type for a positive coefficient of radiative corrections to the mass term, as recently suggested. Moreover, we find that the $Q$ ball finally "melts down" when the $Q$-ball solution disappears. We also discuss the effects of this phenomenon on the detectability of gravitational waves from the $Q$-ball formation., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, Ver.2, published version

We derive the slow-roll conditions for a non-minimally coupled scalar field (extended quintessence) during the radiation/matter dominated era extending our previous results for thawing quintessence. We find that the ratio $\ddot\phi/3H\dot\phi$ becomes constant but negative, in sharp contrast to the ratio for the minimally coupled scalar field. We also find that the functional form of the equation of state of the scalar field asymptotically approaches that of the minimally coupled thawing quintessence., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, references added, to appear in Phys. Rev. D

We study the detectability of the gravitational waves (GWs) from the Q-ball formation associated with the Affleck-Dine (AD) mechanism, taking into account both of the dilution effect due to Q-ball domination and of finite temperature effects. The AD mechanism predicts the formation of non-topological solitons, Q-balls, from which GWs are generated. Q-balls with large conserved charge $Q$ can produce a large amount of GWs. On the other hand, the decay rate of such Q-balls is so small that they may dominate the energy density of the universe, which implies that GWs are significantly diluted and that their frequencies are redshifted during Q-ball dominated era. Thus, the detectability of the GWs associated with the formation of Q-balls is determined by these two competing effects. We find that there is a finite but small parameter region where such GWs may be detected by future detectors such as DECIGO or BBO, only in the case when the thermal logarithmic potential dominates the potential of the AD field. Otherwise GWs from Q-balls would not be detectable even by these futuristic detectors: $\Omega_{\rm GW}^0<10^{-21}$. Unfortunately, for such parameter region the present baryon asymmetry of the universe can hardly be explained unless one fine-tunes A-terms in the potential. However the detection of such a GW background may give us an information about the early universe, for example, it may suggest that the flat directions with $B-L=0$ are favored., Comment: V.2, 46 pages, 12 figures, references added, published version

We derive the equation of state of tracker fields, which are typical examples of freezing quintessence (quintessence with the equation of state approaching toward -1), taking into account of the late-time departure from the tracker solution due to the nonzero density parameter of dark energy $\Omp$. We calculate the equation of state as a function of $\Omp$ for constant $\Gamma=VV"/(V')^2$ (during matter era) models. The derived equation of state contains a single parameter, $w_{(0)}$, which parametrizes the equation of state during the matter-dominated epoch. We derive observational constraints on $w_{(0)}$ and find that observational data are consistent with the cosmological constant: $-1.11< \wzero< -0.96 (1 \sigma)$., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures

We derive slow-roll conditions for thawing k-essence with a separable Lagrangian $p(X,\phi)=F(X)V(\phi)$. We examine the evolution of the equation of state parameter, $w$, as a function of the scale factor $a$, for the case where $w$ is close to -1. We find two distinct cases, corresponding to $X \approx 0$ and $F_X \approx 0$, respectively. For the case where $X\approx0$ the evolution of $\phi$ and hence $w$ is described by only two parameters, and $w(a)$ is model-independent and coincides with similar behavior seen in thawing quintessence models. This result also extends to non-separable Lagrangians where $X\approx0$. For the case $F_X \approx 0$, an expression is derived for $w(a)$, but this expression depends on the potential $V(\phi)$, so there is no model-independent limiting behavior. For the $X \approx 0$ case, we derive observational constraints on the two parameters of the model, $w_0$ (the present-day value of $w$), and the $K$, which parametrizes the curvature of the potential. We find that the observations sharply constrain $w_0$ to be close to -1, but provide very poor constraints on $K$., Comment: 7 pages and 5 figures, typos corrected

We derive slow-roll conditions for thawing quintessence. We solve the equation of motion of $\phi$ for a Taylor expanded potential (up to the quadratic order) in the limit where the equation of state $w$ is close to -1 to derive the equation of state as a function of the scale factor. We find that the evolution of $\phi$ and hence $w$ are described by only two parameters. The expression for $w(a)$, which can be applied to general thawing models, coincides precisely with that derived recently by Dutta and Scherrer for hilltop quintessence. The consistency conditions of $|w+1|\ll 1$ are derived. The slow-roll conditions for freezing quintessence are also derived., Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, typos corrected

As an extension of our previous study, we derive slow-roll conditions for multiple scalar fields which are non-minimally coupled with gravity and for generalized gravity theories of the form $f(\phi,R)$. We provide simple formulae of the spectral indices of scalar/tensor perturbations in terms of the slow-roll parameters., Comment: 15 pages, to appear in JCAP

We derive slow-roll conditions for a scalar field which is non-minimally coupled with gravity in a consistent manner and express spectral indices of scalar/tensor perturbations in terms of the slow-roll parameters. The conformal invariance of the curvature perturbation is proved without linear approximations. Rapid-roll conditions are also derived, and the relation with the slow-roll conditions is discussed., Comment: 15 pages, published version

Recently, a model of inflation using non-minimally coupled massive vector fields has been proposed. For a particular choice of non-minimal coupling parameter and for a flat FRW model, the model is reduced to the model of chaotic inflation with massive scalar field. We study the effect of non-zero curvature of the universe on the onset of vector inflation. We find that in a curved universe the dynamics of vector inflation can be different from chaotic inflation, and the fraction of the initial conditions leading to inflationary solutions is reduced compared with the chaotic inflation case., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, version to be published in JCAP

The spectrum of the gravitational wave background originating from quantum fluctuations during inflation is calculated numerically for various inflation models over a wide range of frequencies. We take into account four ingredients : the scalar field dynamics during inflation making no use of the slow-roll approximation, the fermionic decay of the scalar field with a small coupling constant during the reheating process, the change of the effective number of degrees of freedom g_* in the radiation-dominated era, and the anisotropic stress of free-streaming neutrinos. By numerically solving the evolution of gravitational waves during and after inflation up to the present, all of these effects can be examined comprehensively and accurately over a broad spectrum, even at very high frequencies. We find that the spectrum shows (i) a large deviation from the spectrum less accurate obtained by Taylor expanding around the CMB scale using the slow-roll approximation (ii) a characteristic frequency dependence due to the reheating effect, and (iii) damping due to the g_* changes and the neutrino anisotropic stress. We suggest that future analysis of the gravitational wave background should take into consideration the fact that analytical estimates using the Taylor expansion overestimate the amplitude of the spectrum., Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in PRD, This version contains major revisions over the previous version, with added calculations of neutrino anisotropic stress; typos corrected

This letter reports the results of a search for a stochastic background of gravitational waves (GW) at 100 MHz by laser interferometry. We have developed a GW detector, which is a pair of 75-cm baseline synchronous recycling (resonant recycling) interferometers. Each interferometer has a strain sensitivity of ~ 10^{-16} Hz^{-1/2} at 100 MHz. By cross-correlating the outputs of the two interferometers within 1000 seconds, we found h_{100}^2 Omega_{gw} < 6 times 10^{25} to be an upper limit on the energy density spectrum of the GW background in a 2-kHz bandwidth around 100 MHz, where a flat spectrum is assumed., Comment: Accepted by Phys.Rev.Lett.; 10 pages, 4 figures

Recently, observational searches for gravitational wave background (GWB) have been developed and given constraints on the energy density of GWB in a broad range of frequencies. These constraints have already resulted in the rejection of some theoretical models of relatively large GWB spectra. However, at 100 MHz, there is no strict upper limit from direct observation, though an indirect limit exists due to He4 abundance due to big-bang nucleosynthesis. In our previous paper, we investigated the detector designs that can effectively respond to GW at high frequencies, where the wavelength of GW is comparable to the size of a detector, and found that the configuration, a so-called synchronous-recycling interferometer is best at these sensitivity. In this paper, we investigated the optimal location of two synchronous-recycling interferometers and derived their cross-correlation sensitivity to GWB. We found that the sensitivity is nearly optimized and hardly changed if two coaligned detectors are located within a range 0.2 m, and that the sensitivity achievable in an experiment is far below compared with the constraint previously obtained in experiments., Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures

Recently, observational searches for gravitational wave background (GWB) have developed and given direct and indirect constraints on the energy density of GWB in a broad range of frequencies. These constraints have already rejected some theoretical models of large GWB spectra. However, at 100 MHz, there is no strict upper limit from direct observation, though the indirect limit by He4 abundance due to big-bang nucleosynthesis exists. In this paper, we propose an experiment with laser interferometers searching GWB at 100 MHz. We considered three detector designs and evaluated the GW response functions of a single detector. As a result, we found that, at 100 MHz, the most sensitive detector is the design, a so-called synchronous recycling interferometer, which has better sensitivity than an ordinary Fabry-Perot Michelson interferometer by a factor of 3.3 at 100 MHz. We also give the best sensitivity achievable at 100 MHz with realistic experimental parameters., Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures

We provide a consistency relation between cosmological observables in general relativity with the cosmological constant. Breaking of this relation at any redshift would imply the breakdown of the hypothesis of the cosmological constant as an explanation of the current acceleration of the universe., Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, references added, to be published in Prog.Theor.Phys

We calculate the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the stochastic gravitational-wave background in an extreme case that its spectrum has a sharp falloff with its amplitude close to the detection threshold. Such a spectral feature is a characteristic imprint of the change in the number of relativistic degrees of freedom on the stochastic background generated during inflation in the early Universe. We find that, although SNR is maximal with the correct template which is proportional to the assumed real spectrum, its sensitivity to the shape of template is fairly weak indicating that a simple power-law template is sufficient to detect the signature., Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, final version to be published in PRD

We provide a consistency relation between cosmological observables in general relativity without relying on the equation of state of dark energy. The consistency relation should be satisfied if general relativity is the correct theory of gravity and dark energy clustering is negligible. As an extension, we also provide the DGP counterpart of the relation., Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, corrected typos, to be published in Phys.Rev.D

We study weak gravitational lensing of galaxy clusters in terms of the MOND (MOdified Newtonian Dynamics) theory. We calculate shears and convergences of background galaxies for three clusters (A1689, CL0024+1654, CL1358+6245) and the mean profile of 42 SDSS (Sloan Digital Sky Survey) clusters and compare them with observational data. The mass profile is modeled as a sum of X-ray gas, galaxies and dark halo. For the shear as a function of the angular radius, MOND predicts a shallower slope than the data irrespective of the critical acceleration parameter $g_0$. The dark halo is necessary to explain the data for any $g_0$ and for three interpolation functions. If the dark halo is composed of massive neutrinos, its mass should be heavier than 2 eV. However the constraint still depends on the dark halo model and there are systematic uncertainties, and hence the more careful study is necessary to put a stringent constraint., Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, references added, minor changes, accepted for publication in ApJ

It has been proposed that cosmic acceleration or inflation can be driven by replacing the Einstein-Hilbert action of general relativity with a function f(R) of the Ricci scalar R. Such f(R) gravity theories have been shown to be equivalent to scalar-tensor theories of gravity that are incompatible with Solar System tests of general relativity, as long as the scalar field propagates over Solar System scales. Specifically, the PPN parameter in the equivalent scalar-tensor theory is gamma=1/2, which is far outside the range allowed by observations. In response to a flurry of papers that questioned the equivalence of f(R) theory to scalar-tensor theories, it was recently shown explicitly, without resorting to the scalar-tensor equivalence, that the vacuum field equations for 1/R gravity around a spherically symmetric mass also yield gamma= 1/2. Here we generalize this analysis to f(R) gravity and enumerate the conditions that, when satisfied by the function f(R), lead to the prediction that gamma=1/2., Comment: 7 pages, no figures, v2 extended to include dynamical background spacetimes, to appear in PRD

Recent astrophysical observations indicate that the proton-electron mass ratio and the fine structure constant have gone through nontrivial time evolution. We discuss their time variation in the context of a dilaton runaway scenario with gauge coupling unification at the string scale $M_{\rm s}$. We show that the choice of adjustable parameters allows them to fit the same order magnitude of both variations and their (opposite) signs in such a scenario., Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure, to appear in Phys. Rev. D

We find numerical solutions of Einstein equations and scalar field equation for a global defect in higher dimensional spacetimes ($\geq 6$). We examine in detail the relation among the expansion rate $H$ and the symmetry-breaking scale $\eta$ and the number of extra dimensions $n$ for these solutions. We find that even if the extra dimensions do not have a cigar geometry, the expansion rate $H$ grows as $\eta$ increases, which is opposite to what is needed for the recently proposed mechanism for solving the cosmological constant problem. We also find that the expansion rate $H$ decreases as $n$ increases., Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, ReVTeX4, Accepted for publication in PRD

We show that generalized gravity theories involving the curvature invariants of the Ricci tensor and the Riemann tensor as well as the Ricci scalar are equivalent to multi- scalar-tensor gravities with four derivatives terms. By expanding the action around a vacuum spacetime, the action is reduced to that of the Einstein gravity with four derivative terms, and consequently there appears a massive spin-2 ghost in such generalized gravity theories in addition to a massive spin-0 field., Comment: 8 pages, a reference added

We classify the future of the universe for general cosmological models including matter and dark energy. If the equation of state of dark energy is less then -1, the age of the universe becomes finite. We compute the rest of the age of the universe for such universe models. The behaviour of the future growth of matter density perturbation is also studied. We find that the collapse of spherical overdensity region is greatly changed if the equation of state of dark energy is less than -1., Comment: references added, to appear in Class. Quantum Grav

We present observational constraints on a scalar-tensor gravity theory by $\chi^2$ test for CMB anisotropy spectrum. We compare the WMAP temperature power spectrum with the harmonic attractor model, in which the scalar field has its harmonic effective potential with curvature $\beta$ in the Einstein conformal frame and the theory relaxes toward Einstein gravity with time. We found that the present value of the scalar coupling, i.e. the present level of deviation from Einstein gravity $(\alpha_0^2)$, is bounded to be smaller than $5\times 10^{-4-7\beta}$ ($2\sigma$), and $10^{-2-7\beta}$ ($4\sigma$) for $0< \beta<0.45$. This constraint is much stronger than the bound from the solar system experiments for large $\beta$ models, i.e., $\beta> 0.2$ and 0.3 in $2\sigma$ and $4\sigma$ limits, respectively. Furthermore, within the framework of this model, the variation of the gravitational constant at the recombination epoch is constrained as $|G(z=z_{rec})-G_0|/G_0 < 0.05(2\sigma)$, and $0.23(4\sigma)$., Comment: 7 pages

We point out that extended gravity theories, the Lagrangian of which is an arbitrary function of scalar curvature $R$, are equivalent to a class of the scalar tensor theories of gravity. The corresponding gravity theory is $\omega=0$ Brans-Dicke gravity with a potential for the Brans-Dicke scalar field, which is not compatible with solar system experiments if the field is very light: the case when such modifications are important recently., Comment: 4 pages, to appear in PLB