On Primordial Black Holes and secondary gravitational waves generated from inflation with solo/multi-bumpy potential

It is well known that primordial black hole (PBH) can be generated in inflation process of the early universe, especially when the inflaton field has some non-trivial features that could break the slow-roll condition. In this paper, we investigate a toy model of inflation with bumpy potential, which has one or several bumps. We found that potential with multi-bump can give rise to power spectra with multi peaks in small-scale region, which can in turn predict the generation of primordial black holes in various mass ranges. We also consider the two possibilities of PBH formation by spherical collapse and elliptical collapse. And discusses the scalar-induced gravitational waves (SIGWs) generated by the second-order scalar perturbations.

Emergent universe revisited through the CSL theory

In this work we analyze how the spectrum of primordial scalar perturbations is modified, within the emergent universe scenario, when a particular version of the Continuous Spontaneous Localization (CSL) model is incorporated as the generating mechanism of initial perturbations, providing also an explanation to the quantum-to-classical transition of such perturbations. On the other hand, a phase of super-inflation, prior to slow-roll inflation, is a characteristic feature of the emergent universe hypothesis. In recent works, it was shown that the super-inflation phase could generically induce a suppression of the temperature anisotropies of the CMB at large angular scales. We study here under what conditions the CSL maintains or modifies these characteristics of the emergent universe and their compatibility with the CMB observations.

Tachyonic preheating in plateau inflation

Plateau inflation is an experimentally consistent framework in which the scale of inflation can be kept relatively low. Close to the edge of the plateau, scalar perturbations are subject to a strong tachyonic instability. Tachyonic preheating is realized when, after inflation, the oscillating inflaton repeatedly re-enters the plateau. We develop the analytic theory of this process and expand the linear approach by including backreaction between the coherent background and growing perturbations. For a family of plateau models, the analytic predictions are confronted with numerical estimates. Our analysis shows that the inflaton fragments in a fraction of an e-fold in all examples supporting tachyonic preheating, generalizing the results of previous similar studies. In these scenarios, the scalar-to-tensor ratio is tiny, r < 10-7.

Diophantine approximation as Cosmic Censor for Kerr–AdS black holes

The purpose of this paper is to show an unexpected connection between Diophantine approximation and the behavior of waves on black hole interiors with negative cosmological constant $$\Lambda <0$$ Λ < 0 and explore the consequences of this for the Strong Cosmic Censorship conjecture in general relativity. We study linear scalar perturbations $$\psi $$ ψ of Kerr–AdS solving $$\Box _g\psi -\frac{2}{3}\Lambda \psi =0$$ □ g ψ - 2 3 Λ ψ = 0 with reflecting boundary conditions imposed at infinity. Understanding the behavior of $$\psi $$ ψ at the Cauchy horizon corresponds to a linear analog of the problem of Strong Cosmic Censorship. Our main result shows that if the dimensionless black hole parameters mass $${\mathfrak {m}} = M \sqrt{-\Lambda }$$ m = M - Λ and angular momentum $${\mathfrak {a}} = a \sqrt{-\Lambda }$$ a = a - Λ satisfy a certain non-Diophantine condition, then perturbations $$\psi $$ ψ arising from generic smooth initial data blow up $$|\psi |\rightarrow +\infty $$ | ψ | → + ∞ at the Cauchy horizon. The proof crucially relies on a novel resonance phenomenon between stable trapping on the black hole exterior and the poles of the interior scattering operator that gives rise to a small divisors problem. Our result is in stark contrast to the result on Reissner–Nordström–AdS (Kehle in Commun Math Phys 376(1):145–200, 2020) as well as to previous work on the analogous problem for $$\Lambda \ge 0$$ Λ ≥ 0 —in both cases such linear scalar perturbations were shown to remain bounded. As a result of the non-Diophantine condition, the set of parameters $${\mathfrak {m}}, {\mathfrak {a}}$$ m , a for which we show blow-up forms a Baire-generic but Lebesgue-exceptional subset of all parameters below the Hawking–Reall bound. On the other hand, we conjecture that for a set of parameters $${\mathfrak {m}}, {\mathfrak {a}} $$ m , a which is Baire-exceptional but Lebesgue-generic, all linear scalar perturbations remain bounded at the Cauchy horizon $$|\psi |\le C$$ | ψ | ≤ C . This suggests that the validity of the $$C^0$$ C 0 -formulation of Strong Cosmic Censorship for $$\Lambda <0$$ Λ < 0 may change in a spectacular way according to the notion of genericity imposed.

Embeddings of integrable models in supergravity and their perturbative stability

We discuss the perturbative stability of an AdS 3 non-supersymmetric solution of the type-IIB supergravity, whose internal geometry is given by the direct product of a round three-sphere and two λ-deformed factors based on the coset CFTs SU(2)/U(1) and SL(2, ℝ)/SO(1,1). This solution admits a two-dimensional parametric space spanned by the inverse radius of the AdS 3 and the deformation parameter λ. Reality of the background imposes restrictions on the values of these parameters. Further limitations on the values of the inverse radius and the parameter λ arise after requiring the stability of the solution. Our approach relies on the study of scalar perturbations around the AdS 3 vacuum of a three-dimensional effective theory. This reveals the existence of a region in the parametric space where the Breitenlohner-Freedman bound is not violated.

Null geodesics and QNMs in the field of regular black holes

In this paper, we analyze the null geodesics of regular black holes (BHs). A detailed analysis of geodesic structure, both null geodesics and timelike geodesics, has been investigated for the said BH. As an application of null geodesics, we calculate the radius of photon sphere and gravitational bending of light. We also study the shadow of the BH spacetime. Moreover, we determine the relation between radius of photon sphere [Formula: see text] and the shadow observed by a distance observer. Furthermore, we discuss the effect of various parameters on the radius of shadow [Formula: see text]. Also, we compute the angle of deflection for the photons as a physical application of null-circular geodesics. We find the relation between null geodesics and quasinormal mode (QNM) frequency in the eikonal approximation by computing the Lyapunov exponent. It is also shown that (in the eikonal limit) the QNMs of BHs are governed by the parameter of null-circular geodesics. The real part of QNMs frequency determines the angular frequency, whereas the imaginary part determines the instability timescale of the circular orbit. Next, we study the massless scalar perturbations and analyze the effective potential graphically. Massive scalar perturbations are also discussed. As an application of timelike geodesics, we compute the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) and marginally bound circular orbit (MBCO) of the regular BHs which are closely related to the BH accretion disk theory. In the appendix, we calculate the relation between angular frequency and Lyapunov exponent for null-circular geodesics.

First-Order Formalism and Thick Branes in Mimetic Gravity

In this paper, we investigate thick branes generated by a scalar field in mimetic gravity theory, which is inspired by considering the conformal symmetry under the conformal transformation of an auxiliary metric. By introducing two auxiliary super-potentials, we transform the second-order field equations of the system into a set of first-order equations. With this first-order formalism, several types of analytical thick brane solutions are obtained. Then, tensor and scalar perturbations are analyzed. We find that both kinds of perturbations are stable. The effective potentials for the tensor and scalar perturbations are dual to each other. The tensor zero mode can be localized on the brane while the scalar zero mode cannot. Thus, the four-dimensional Newtonian potential can be recovered on the brane.

Construction of inflationary scenarios with the Gauss–Bonnet term and nonminimal coupling

Inflationary models with a scalar field nonminimally coupled both with the Ricci scalar and with the Gauss–Bonnet term are studied. We propose the way of generalization of inflationary scenarios with the Gauss–Bonnet term and a scalar field minimally coupled with the Ricci scalar to the corresponding scenarios with a scalar field nonminimally coupled with the Ricci scalar. Using the effective potential, we construct a set of models with the same values of the scalar spectral index $$n_s$$ n s and the amplitude of the scalar perturbations $$A_s$$ A s and different values of the tensor-to-scalar ratio r.

EFT compatible PBHs: effective spawning of the seeds for primordial black holes during inflation

Most of the inflationary scenarios that try to explain the origin of Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) from the enhancements of the power spectrum to values of order one, at the relevant scales, run into clashes with the Effective Field Theory (EFT) criteria or fail to enhance the power spectrum to such large amplitudes. In this paper, we unravel a mechanism for enhancing the power spectrum during inflation that does not use the flattening of the potential or reduction of the sound speed of scalar perturbations. The mechanism is based on this observation in the formalism of Extended EFT of inflation (EEFToI) with the sixth order polynomial dispersion relation for scalar perturbations that if the quartic coefficient in the dispersion relation is negative and smaller than a certain threshold, the amplitude of the power spectrum is enhanced substantially. The instability mechanism must arrange to kick in at the scales of interest related to the mass of the PBHs one would like to produce, which can be ten(s) of solar mass PBHs, suitable for LIGO events, or 10−17− 10−13 solar mass PBHs, which can comprise the whole dark matter energy density. We argue that the strong coupling is avoided for the range of parameters that the mechanisms enhance the power spectrum to the required amount.