Search

Models with dust reference fields in relational formalism have proved useful in understanding the construction of gauge-invariant perturbation theory to arbitrary orders in the canonical framework. These reference fields modify the dynamical equations for perturbation equations. However, important questions remain open on the relation with conventional perturbation theories of inflaton coupled to gravity and of multi-fluid systems, and on understanding modifications in terms of physical degrees of freedom. These gaps are filled in this manuscript for Brown-Kucha\v{r} and Gaussian dust models, both of which involve three scalar physical degrees of freedom. We establish a relationship of these models with conventional inflationary and multi-fluid system of inflation and ordinary dust by introducing a set of gauge invariant variables on the reduced phase space of the dust reference models. We find the modifications due to dust clocks to Bardeen equation in the longitudinal gauge and Mukhanov-Sasaki equation in the spatially-flat gauge, in terms of physical degrees of freedom. This results in a closed system of equations for all the degrees of freedom needed to explore the evolution of the scalar perturbations. Our analysis shows for the first time that even for two-fluid systems, there is a natural choice of the set of gauge invariant variables for each chosen gauge which not only offers a direct physical interpretation but also results in simplifications to the dynamical equations., Comment: Revised version with expanded discussion, new appendix and title change. To appear in PRD

A union of matter bounce and Ekpyrotic scenarios is often studied in an attempt to combine the most promising features of these two models. Since non-perturbative quantum geometric effects in loop quantum cosmology (LQC) result in natural bouncing scenarios without any violation of energy conditions or fine tuning, an investigation of matter-Ekpyrotic bounce scenario is interesting to explore in this quantum gravitational setting. In this work, we explore this unified phenomenological model for a spatially flat Friedmann-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) universe in LQC filled with dust and a scalar field in an Ekpyrotic scenario like negative potential. Background dynamics and the power spectrum of the comoving curvature perturbations are numerically analyzed with various initial conditions and a suitable choice of the initial states. By varying the initial conditions we consider different cases of dust and Ekpyrotic field domination in the contracting phase. We use the dressed metric approach to numerically compute the primordial power spectrum of the comoving curvature perturbations which turns out to be almost scale invariant for the modes which exit the horizon in the matter-dominated phase. But, in contrast with a constant magnitude power spectrum obtained under approximation of a constant Ekpyrotic equation of state using deformed algebra approach in an earlier work, we find that the magnitude of power spectrum changes during evolution. Our analysis shows that the bouncing regime only leaves imprints on the modes outside the scale-invariant regime. However, an analysis of the spectral index shows inconsistency with the observational data, thus making further improvements in such a model necessary., Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, 1 table

The unbound nature of pure neutron matter (PNM) requires intrinsic correlations between the symmetric nuclear matter (SNM) EOS parameters (incompressibility $K_0$, skewness $J_0$ and kurtosis $I_0$) and those (slope $L$, curvature $K_{\rm{sym}}$ and skewness $J_{\rm{sym}}$) characterizing the symmetry energy independent of any nuclear many-body theory. We investigate these intrinsic correlations and their applications in better constraining the poorly known high-density behavior of nuclear symmetry energy. Several novel correlations connecting the characteristics of SNM EOS with those of nuclear symmetry energy are found. In particular, at the lowest-order of approximations, the bulk parts of the slope $L$, curvature $K_{\rm{sym}}$ and skewness $J_{\rm{sym}}$ of the symmetry energy are found to be $L\approx K_0/3, K_{\rm{sym}}\approx LJ_0/2K_0$ and $J_{\rm{sym}}\approx I_0L/3K_0$, respectively. High-order corrections to these simple relations can be written in terms of the small ratios of high-order EOS parameters. The resulting intrinsic correlations among some of the EOS parameters reproduce very nicely their relations predicted by various microscopic nuclear many-body theories and phenomenological models constrained by available data of terrestrial experiments and astrophysical observations in the literature. The unbound nature of PNM is fundamental and the required intrinsic correlations among the EOS parameters characterizing both the SNM EOS and symmetry energy are universal. These intrinsic correlations provide a novel and model-independent tool not only for consistency checks but also for investigating the poorly known high-density properties of neutron-rich matter by using those with smaller uncertainties., Comment: Phys. Rev. C in press

The nature of GW190814's secondary component $m_2$ of mass $(2.50-2.67)\,\text{M}_{\odot}$ in the mass gap between the currently known maximum mass of neutron stars and the minimum mass of black holes is currently under hot debate. Among the many possibilities proposed in the literature, the $m_2$ was suggested as a superfast pulsar while its r-mode stability against the run-away gravitational radiation through the Chandrasekhar-Friedman-Schutz mechanism is still unknown. Using those fulfilling all currently known astrophysical and nuclear physics constraints among a sample of 33 unified equation of states (EOSs) constructed previously by Fortin {\it et al.} (2016) using the same nuclear interactions from the crust to the core consistently, we compare the minimum frequency required for the $m_2$ to rotationally sustain a mass higher than $2.50\,\text{M}_{\odot}$ with the critical frequency above which the r-mode instability occurs. We use two extreme damping models assuming the crust is either perfectly rigid or elastic. Using the stability of 19 observed low-mass x-ray binaries as an indication that the rigid crust damping of the r-mode dominates within the models studied, we find that the $m_2$ is r-mode stable while rotating with a frequency higher than 870.2 Hz (0.744 times its Kepler frequency of 1169.6 Hz) as long as its temperate is lower than about $3.9\times 10^7 K$, further supporting the proposal that GW190814's secondary component is a supermassive and superfast pulsar., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, version accepted for publication in ApJ

Recent cosmic microwave background observations favor low energy scale inflationary models in a closed universe. However, onset of inflation in such models for a closed universe is known to be severely problematic. In particular, such a universe recollapses within a few Planck seconds and encounters a big crunch singularity when initial conditions are given in the Planck regime. We show that this problem of onset of inflation in low energy scale inflationary models can be successfully overcome in a quantum gravitational framework where the big bang/big crunch singularities are resolved and a non-singular cyclic evolution exists prior to inflation. As an example we consider a model in loop quantum cosmology and demonstrate that the successful onset of low energy scale inflation in a closed universe is possible for the Starobinsky inflationary model starting from a variety of initial conditions where it is impossible in the classical theory. For comparison we also investigate the onset of inflation in the $\phi^2$ inflationary model under similar unfavorable conditions. The pre-inflationary phase with quantum gravity effects is shown to be composed of non-identical cycles of bounces and recollapses resulting in a hysteresis-like phenomenon, which plays an important role in creating suitable conditions for inflation to occur after some number of non-singular cycles. Our analysis shows that the tension in the classical theory amounting to the unsuitability of closed FLRW universes with respect to the onset of low energy scale inflation can be successfully resolved in loop quantum cosmology., Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures

[Purpose:] We infer the posterior probability distribution functions (PDFs) and correlations of nine parameters characterizing the EOS of dense neutron-rich matter encapsulating a first-order hadron-quark phase transition from the radius data of canonical NSs reported by LIGO/VIRGO, NICER and Chandra Collaborations. We also infer the quark matter (QM) mass fraction and its radius in a 1.4 M$_{\odot}$ NS and predict their values in more massive NSs. [Method:] Meta-modelings are used to generate both hadronic and QM EOSs in the Markov-Chain Monte Carlo sampling process within the Bayesian statistical framework. An explicitly isospin-dependent parametric EOS for the $npe\mu$ matter in NSs at $\beta$ equilibrium is connected through the Maxwell construction to the QM EOS described by the constant speed of sound (CSS) model of Alford, Han and Prakash. [Results:] (1) The most probable values of the hadron-quark transition density $\rho_t/\rho_0$ and the relative energy density jump there $\De\ep/\ep_t$ are $\rho_t/\rho_0=1.6^{+1.2}_{-0.4}$ and $\De\ep/\ep_t=0.4^{+0.20}_{-0.15}$ at 68\% confidence level, respectively. The corresponding probability distribution of QM fraction in a 1.4 M$_{\odot}$ NS peaks around 0.9 in a 10 km sphere. Strongly correlated to the PDFs of $\rho_t$ and $\De\ep/\ep_t$, the PDF of the QM speed of sound squared $\cQMsq/c^2$ peaks at $0.95^{+0.05}_{-0.35}$, and the total probability of being less than 1/3 is very small. (2) The correlations between PDFs of hadronic and QM EOS parameters are very weak. [Conclusions:] The available astrophysical data considered together with all known EOS constraints from theories and terrestrial nuclear experiments prefer the formation of a large volume of QM even in canonical NSs., Comment: Added Fig.5 and the associated discussions/references regarding effects of the Seidov condition for first-order phase transition. Physical Review C in press

Background: The nuclear symmetry energy $E_{sym}(\rho)$ encodes information about the energy necessary to make nuclear systems more neutron-rich. While its slope parameter L at the saturation density $\rho_0$ of nuclear matter has been relatively well constrained by recent astrophysical observations and terrestrial nuclear experiments, its curvature $K_{\rm{sym}}$ characterizing the $E_{sym}(\rho)$ around $2\rho_0$ remains largely unconstrained. Over 520 calculations for $E_{sym}(\rho)$ using various nuclear theories and interactions in the literature have predicted several significantly different $K_{\rm{sym}}-L$ correlations. Purpose: If a unique $K_{\rm{sym}}-L$ correlation of $E_{sym}(\rho)$ can be firmly established, it will enable us to progressively better constrain the high-density behavior of $E_{sym}(\rho)$ using the available constraints on its slope parameter L. We investigate if and by how much the different $K_{\rm{sym}}-L$ correlations may affect neutron star observables. Method: A meta-model of nuclear Equation of States (EOSs) with three representative $K_{\rm{sym}}-L$ correlation functions is used to generate multiple EOSs for neutron stars. We then examine effects of the $K_{\rm{sym}}-L$ correlation on the crust-core transition density and pressure as well as the radius and tidal deformation of canonical neutron stars. Results:The $K_{\rm{sym}}-L$ correlation affects significantly both the crust-core transition density and pressure. It also has strong imprints on the radius and tidal deformability of canonical neutron stars especially at small L values. The available data from LIGO/VIRGO and NICER set some useful limits for the slope L but can not distinguish the three representative $K_{\rm{sym}}-L$ correlations considered., Comment: Added more discussions. Physical Review C in press

We compare the primordial scalar power spectra in the loop cosmological models using the effective dynamics of the hybrid approach to cosmological perturbations in which the background is loop quantized but the perturbations are Fock quantized. The three loop cosmological models under consideration are the standard LQC, the modified LQC-I (mLQC-I) and the modified LQC-II (mLQC-II) in the spatially flat Friedmann-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) universe with a Starobinsky potential. These models arise from different regularizations of the classical Hamiltonian constraint in the symmetry reduced spacetimes and aim to capture certain features of quantization in loop quantum gravity. When applying the techniques in the hybrid approach to mLQC-I/II, we find the effective Mukhanov-Sasaki equations take the same form as in LQC. The difference among the three models is encoded in the unique expressions of the effective masses in each model. We find that the relative difference in the amplitude of power spectrum between LQC and mLQC-II is approximately $50\%$ in the infrared and the oscillatory regimes, whereas this difference can be as large as $100\%$ between mLQC-I and LQC/mLQC-II. Interestingly, in the infrared and the oscillatory regimes of mLQC-I, we obtain a suppressed power spectrum from the hybrid approach which is far below the Planck scale. This result is in a striking contrast to the one obtained from dressed metric approach to perturbations where the corresponding amplitude in this regime is extremely large. Our analysis shows that while the phenomenological predictions are in agreement between two approaches for LQC and mLQC-II, for mLQC-I the differences between dressed and hybrid approaches can be quite significant. Our result provides the first robust evidence of difference in predictions between dressed and hybrid approaches due to respective underlying constructions., Comment: Minor revision. To appear in Phys. Rev. D

The neutron skin thickness $\Delta r_{np}$ in heavy nuclei has been known as one of the most sensitive terrestrial probes of the nuclear symmetry energy around $\frac{2}{3}$ of the saturation density $\rho_0$ of nuclear matter. Existing neutron skin data mostly from hadronic observables suffer from large uncertainties and their extraction from experiments are often strongly model dependent. While waiting eagerly for the promised model-independent and high-precision neutron skin data for $^{208}$Pb and $^{48}$Ca from the parity-violating electron scattering experiments (PREX-II and CREX at JLab as well as MREX at MESA), within the Bayesian statistical framework using the Skyrme-Hartree-Fock model we infer the posterior probability distribution functions (PDFs) of the slope parameter $L$ of the nuclear symmetry energy at $\rho_0$ from imagined $\Delta r_{np}(^{208}$Pb$)=0.15$, 0.20, and 0.30 fm as well as $\Delta r_{np}(^{48}$Ca$)=0.12$, 0.15, and 0.25 fm, with different $1\sigma$ error bars. The results are compared with the PDFs of $L$ inferred using the same approach from the available $\Delta r_{np}$ data for Sn isotopes from hadronic probes. They are also compared with results from a recent Bayesian analysis of the radius and tidal deformability data of canonical neutron stars from GW170817 and NICER. The neutron skin data for Sn isotopes gives $L=45.5^{+26.5}_{-21.6}$ MeV surrounding its mean value or $L=53.4^{+18.6}_{-29.5}$ MeV surrounding its maximum {\it a posteriori} value, respectively, with the latter smaller than but consistent with the $L=66_{-20}^{+12}$ MeV from the neutron star data within their 68\% confidence intervals. In order to provide additionally useful information on $L$ extracted from the $\Delta r_{np}$ of Sn isotopes, the experimental error bar of $\Delta r_{np}(^{208}$Pb) should be at least smaller than 0.06 fm aimed by some current experiments., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Physical Review C

We explore a reduced phase space quantization of loop quantum cosmology (LQC) for a spatially flat FLRW universe filled with reference fields and an inflaton field in a Starobinsky inflationary potential. We consider three separate cases in which the reference fields are taken to be the Gaussian dust, the Brown-Kucha\v{r} dust, and massless Klein-Gordon scalar reference fields respectively. This is a "two-fluid" model in which reference fields act as global clocks providing a physical time in an inflationary spacetime, and allow bypassing various technical hurdles in conventional quantum cosmological models. The reduced phase space is obtained in terms of the Dirac observables of the gravitational as well as the inflaton degrees of freedom. The physical Hamiltonians of the two dust models take the same form but turn out to be quite different from that of the Klein-Gordon reference field which reflects an aspect of the multiple choice problem of time. Loop quantization is implemented using the so-called $\bar \mu$ scheme and the Schr\"{o}dinger equations involving the physical Hamiltonian operators generating the evolution in the physical time in the dust and massless Klein-Gordon models are obtained. These turn out to be quantum difference equations with same non-singular structure as for other models in LQC. We study some phenomenological implications of the quantization using the effective dynamics resulting from the reduced phase space quantization including the resolution of the big bang singularity via a quantum bounce, and effects of the different reference fields on e-foldings in both the pre-inflationary and the slow-roll inflationary phases. We find that different clocks, even when starting with a small but same energy density, can leave tiny but different imprints on the inflationary dynamics. (abridged), Comment: Revised shorter version with no change in results. Figures updated. References added. To appear in Phys. Rev. D

Using Stergioulas's RNS code for investigating fast pulsars with Equation of States (EOSs) on the causality surface (where the speed of sound equals that of light) of the high-density EOS parameter space satisfying all known constraints from both nuclear physics and astrophysics, we show that one possible explanation for the GW190814's secondary component of mass $(2.50-2.67)$ M$_{\odot}$ is that it is a super-fast pulsar spinning faster than 971 Hz about 42\% below its Kepler frequency. If confirmed, it would be the fastest pulsar with the highest mass observed presently. There is a large and physically allowed EOS parameter space below the causality surface where pulsars heavier than 2.50 M$_{\odot}$ are supported if they can rotate even faster with critical frequencies depending strongly on the high-density behavior of nuclear symmetry energy., Comment: New results and discussions added to strengthen our original conclusions. The Astrophysical Journal in press

We put a stringent constraint on the isovector nuclear interactions in the Skyrme-Hartree-Fock model from the centroid energy $E_{-1}$ of the isovector giant dipole resonance in $^{208}$Pb as well as its electric polarizability $\alpha_D$. Using the Bayesian analysis method, $E_{-1}$ and $\alpha_D$ are found to be mostly determined by the nuclear symmetry energy $E_{sym}$ at about $\rho^\star=0.05$ fm$^{-3}$ and the isovector nucleon effective mass $m_v^\star$ at the saturation density. At $90\%$ confidence level, we obtain $E_{sym}(\rho^\star) = 16.4 ^{+1.0}_{-0.9}$ MeV and $m_v^\star/m = 0.79 ^{+0.06}_{-0.06}$., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures

When common factors strongly influence two cross-correlated time series recorded in complex natural and social systems, the results will be biased if we use multifractal detrended cross-correlation analysis (MF-DXA) without considering these common factors. Based on multifractal temporally weighted detrended cross-correlation analysis (MF-TWXDFA) proposed by our group and multifractal partial cross-correlation analysis (MF-DPXA) proposed by Qian et al., we propose a new method---multifractal temporally weighted detrended partial cross-correlation analysis (MF-TWDPCCA) to quantify intrinsic power-law cross-correlation of two non-stationary time series affected by common external factors in this paper. We use MF-TWDPCCA to characterize the intrinsic cross-correlations between the two simultaneously recorded time series by removing the effects of other potential time series. To test the performance of MF-TWDPCCA, we apply it, MF-TWXDFA and MF-DPXA on simulated series. Numerical tests on artificially simulated series demonstrate that MF-TWDPCCA can accurately detect the intrinsic cross-correlations for two simultaneously recorded series. To further show the utility of MF-TWDPCCA, we apply it on time series from stock markets and find that there exists significantly multifractal power-law cross-correlation between stock returns. A new partial cross-correlation coefficient is defined to quantify the level of intrinsic cross-correlation between two time series., Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures

Using an explicitly isospin-dependent parametric Equation of State (EOS) for the core of neutron stars (NSs) within the Bayesian statistical approach, we infer the EOS parameters of super-dense neutron-rich nuclear matter from three sets of imagined mass-radius correlation data representing typical predictions by various nuclear many-body theories, i.e, the radius stays the same, decreases or increases with increasing NS mass within $\pm 15\%$ between 1.4 M$_{\odot}$ and 2.0 M$_{\odot}$. The corresponding average density increases quickly, slowly or slightly decreases as the NS mass increases from 1.4 M$_{\odot}$ to 2.0 M$_{\odot}$. Using the posterior probability distribution functions (PDFs) of EOS parameters inferred from GW170817 and NICER radius data for canonical NSs as references, we investigate how future radius measurements of massive NS will improve our knowledge about the EOS of super-dense neutron-rich nuclear matter, especially its symmetry energy term, compared to what people have already learned from analyzing the GW170817 and NICER data. While the EOS of symmetric nuclear matter (SNM) inferred from the three data sets are approximately the same, the corresponding high-density symmetry energies at densities above about $2\rho_0$ are very different, indicating that the radii of massive NSs carry reliable information about the high-density behavior of nuclear symmetry energy with little influence from the remaining uncertainties of the SNM EOS., Comment: Added the Subsection 3.6. The Astrophysical Journal in press

The aim of this article is to understand the role of dust reference fields, often also called clocks, on cosmological perturbations around a flat FLRW universe. We derive the Mukhanov-Sasaki (MS) equation for the Brown-Kuchar (BK) and Gaussian dust models, which both consider four dust fields as reference fields. The reduced phase space of Dirac observables, that is the gauge-invariant part of the theory, is constructed by means of an observable map applied to all elementary phase space variables of the coupled system, consisting of gravity, a massive scalar field and the dust degrees of freedom. The evolution of these observables is governed by a so called physical Hamiltonian which can be derived once the set of reference fields are chosen and differs for each model. First, the reduced phase space as well as the corresponding equations of motion are derived for full general relativity. Then from this, the gauge-invariant version of the equations of motion for the background are derived which contain a fingerprint of the dust reference fields. Afterwards we study linear cosmological perturbations around a FLRW metric using the scalar-vector-tensor decomposition and derive the equation of motion for the MS variable in this formalism for a chosen set of variables on the reduced phase space and expressed in terms of Dirac observables. The MS equation involves additional contributions that can be understood as back reactions from the dust reference fields. These additional dust contributions to the MS equation were absent if the dust energy and momentum density as well as their perturbations are vanishing. The nature of the correction terms suggest that BK and Gaussian dust reference fields contribute differently. Using numerical simulations we study the behavior of the dust contributions to the MS equation during inflation., Comment: Revised version. Analysis and comparison of two dust models extended to investigate Mukhanov-Sasaki variable with now corrected contribution for Brown-Kuchar model. Figures added and updated. To appear in Phys. Rev. D

Muons in neutron stars (NSs) play especially important roles in addressing several interesting new physics questions associated with detecting as well as understanding interactions and astrophysical effects of muonphilic dark matter particles. The key model inputs for studying the latter are the total muon mass $M_{\mu}$, the muon mass fraction $M_{\mu}/M_{\rm NS}$ over the NS mass $M_{\rm NS}$ and the muon radial density profile $\rho_{\mu}(r)$ in NSs of varying masses. We investigate these quantities within a minimum model for the core of NSs consisting of neutrons, protons, electrons, and muons using an explicitly isospin-dependent parametric Equation of State (EOS) constrained by available nuclear laboratory experiments and the latest astrophysical observations of NS masses, radii and tidal deformabilities. We found that the absolutely maximum muon mass $M_{\mu}$ and its mass fraction $M_{\mu}/M_{\rm NS}$ in the most massive NSs allowed by causality are about 0.025 $M_\odot$ and 1.1\%, respectively. For the most massive NS of mass 2.14 $M_\odot$ observed so far, they reduce to about 0.020 $M_\odot$ and 0.9\%, respectively. We also study respective effects of individual parameters describing the EOS of high-density neutron-rich nucleonic matter on the muon contents in NSs with varying masses. We found that the most important but uncertain nuclear physics ingredient for determining the muon contents in NSs is the high-density nuclear symmetry energy., Comment: Added more discussions and references. The Astrophysical Journal (2020) in press

Within the Bayesian statistical framework we infer the incompressibility $K_0$, skewness $J_0$ and kurtosis $Z_0$ parameters of symmetric nuclear matter (SNM) at its saturation density $\rho_0$ using the constraining bands on the pressure in cold SNM in the density range of 1.3$\rho_0$ to 4.5$\rho_0$ from transport model analyses of kaon production and nuclear collective flow in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. As the default option assuming the $K_0$, $J_0$ and $Z_0$ have Gaussian prior probability distribution functions (PDFs) with the means and variances of $235\pm 30$, $-200\pm 200$ and $-146\pm 1728$ MeV, their posterior most probable values are narrowed down to 192$^{+12}_{-16}$ MeV, -180$^{+100}_{-110}$ MeV and 200$^{+250}_{-250}$ at 68\% confidence level, respectively. The results are largely independent of the prior PDFs of $J_0$ and $Z_0$ used. However, if one adopts the strong belief that the incompressibility $K_0$ has a uniform prior PDF within its absolute boundary of 220-260 MeV as one can find easily in the literature, the posterior most probable values of $K_0$, $J_0$ and $Z_0$ shift to $K_0=220^{+6}_{-0}$ MeV, $J_0=-390^{+60}_{-70}$ MeV and $Z_0=600^{+200}_{-200}$ MeV, respectively. While the posterior PDFs of the SNM EOS parameters depend somewhat on the prior PDF of $K_0$ used, the results from using different prior PDFs are qualitatively consistent. The uncertainties of all three parameters are significantly reduced especially for the $J_0$ and $Z_0$ parameters compared to their current values., Comment: Significantly more materials added. Journal of Physics G in press