On September 14, 2015 at 09:50:45 UTC the two detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory simultaneously observed a transient gravitational-wave signal. The signal sweeps upwards in frequency from 35 to 250 Hz with a peak gravitational-wave strain of 1.0×10(-21). It matches the waveform predicted by general relativity for the inspiral and merger of a pair of black holes and the ringdown of the resulting single black hole. The signal was observed with a matched-filter signal-to-noise ratio of 24 and a false alarm rate estimated to be less than 1 event per 203,000 years, equivalent to a significance greater than 5.1σ. The source lies at a luminosity distance of 410(-180)(+160)  Mpc corresponding to a redshift z=0.09(-0.04)(+0.03). In the source frame, the initial black hole masses are 36(-4)(+5)M⊙ and 29(-4)(+4)M⊙, and the final black hole mass is 62(-4)(+4)M⊙, with 3.0(-0.5)(+0.5)M⊙c(2) radiated in gravitational waves. All uncertainties define 90% credible intervals. These observations demonstrate the existence of binary stellar-mass black hole systems. This is the first direct detection of gravitational waves and the first observation of a binary black hole merger.

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The Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger

Modified gravity theories have received increased attention lately due to combined motivation coming from high-energy physics, cosmology, and astrophysics. Among numerous alternatives to Einstein's theory of gravity, theories that include higher-order curvature invariants, and specifically the particular class of $f(R)$ theories, have a long history. In the last five years there has been a new stimulus for their study, leading to a number of interesting results. Here $f(R)$ theories of gravity are reviewed in an attempt to comprehensively present their most important aspects and cover the largest possible portion of the relevant literature. All known formalisms are presented---metric, Palatini, and metric affine---and the following topics are discussed: motivation; actions, field equations, and theoretical aspects; equivalence with other theories; cosmological aspects and constraints; viability criteria; and astrophysical applications.

f ( R ) theories of gravity

Modified Gravity and Cosmology

To say that this is the best book on the quantum theory of fields is no praise, since to my knowledge it is the only book on this subject But it is a very good and most useful book The original was written in German and appeared in 1942 This is a translation with some minor changes A few remarks have been added, concerning meson theory and nuclear forces, also footnotes referring to modern work in this field, and finally an appendix on the symmetrization of the energy momentum tensor according to Belinfante Quantum Theory of Fields Prof Gregor Wentzel Translated from the German by Charlotte Houtermans and J M Jauch Pp ix + 224, (New York and London: Interscience Publishers, Inc, 1949) 36s

Quantum Theory of Fields

On 2017 August 17, the gravitational-wave event GW170817 was observed by the Advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors, and the gamma-ray burst (GRB) GRB 170817A was observed independently by the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor, and the Anti-Coincidence Shield for the Spectrometer for the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory. The probability of the near-simultaneous temporal and spatial observation of GRB 170817A and GW170817 occurring by chance is $5.0\times {10}^{-8}$. We therefore confirm binary neutron star mergers as a progenitor of short GRBs. The association of GW170817 and GRB 170817A provides new insight into fundamental physics and the origin of short GRBs. We use the observed time delay of $(+1.74\pm 0.05)\,{\rm{s}}$ between GRB 170817A and GW170817 to: (i) constrain the difference between the speed of gravity and the speed of light to be between $-3\times {10}^{-15}$ and $+7\times {10}^{-16}$ times the speed of light, (ii) place new bounds on the violation of Lorentz invariance, (iii) present a new test of the equivalence principle by constraining the Shapiro delay between gravitational and electromagnetic radiation. We also use the time delay to constrain the size and bulk Lorentz factor of the region emitting the gamma-rays. GRB 170817A is the closest short GRB with a known distance, but is between 2 and 6 orders of magnitude less energetic than other bursts with measured redshift. A new generation of gamma-ray detectors, and subthreshold searches in existing detectors, will be essential to detect similar short bursts at greater distances. Finally, we predict a joint detection rate for the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor and the Advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors of 0.1–1.4 per year during the 2018–2019 observing run and 0.3–1.7 per year at design sensitivity.

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Gravitational Waves and Gamma-Rays from a Binary Neutron Star Merger: GW170817 and GRB 170817A

On August 17, 2017 the LIGO interferometers detected the gravitational wave (GW) signal (GW170817) from the coalescence of binary neutron stars. This signal was also simultaneously seen throughout the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum from radio waves to gamma-rays. We point out that this simultaneous detection of GW and EM signals rules out a class of modified gravity theories, termed ``dark matter emulators,'' which dispense with the need for dark matter by making ordinary matter couple to a different metric from that of GW. We discuss other kinds of modified gravity theories which dispense with the need for dark matter and are still viable. This simultaneous observation also provides the first observational test of Einstein's Weak Equivalence Principle (WEP) between gravitons and photons. We estimate the Shapiro time delay due to the gravitational potential of the total dark matter distribution along the line of sight (complementary to the calculation in arXiv:1710.05834) to be about 400 days. Using this estimate for the Shapiro delay and from the time difference of 1.7 seconds between the GW signal and gamma-rays, we can constrain violations of WEP using the parameterized post-Newtonian (PPN) parameter $\gamma$, and is given by $|\gamma_{\rm {GW}}-\gamma_{\rm{EM}}|<9.8 \times 10^{-8}$.

GW170817 falsifies dark matter emulators

We consider a massless, minimally coupled scalar with a quartic self-interaction which is released in Bunch-Davies vacuum in the locally de Sitter background of an inflating universe. It was shown, in this system, that quantum effects can induce a temporary phase of superacceleration, causing a violation of the weak energy condition on cosmological scales. In this paper, we investigate the system's stability by studying the behavior of linearized perturbations in the quantum-corrected effective field equation at one- and two-loop order. We show that the amplitude of the quantum-corrected mode function is reduced in time, starting from its initial classical (Bunch-Davies) value. This implies that the linear perturbations do not grow; hence, the model is stable. The decrease in the amplitude is in agreement with the system developing a positive (growing) mass squared due to quantum processes. The induced mass, however, remains perturbatively small and does not go tachyonic. This ensures the stability.

Quantum stability of a w − 1 phase of cosmic acceleration

We compute the one loop corrections from quantum gravity to the self-mass-squared of a massless, minimally coupled scalar on a locally de Sitter background. The calculation was done using dimensional regularization and renormalized by subtracting fourth order BPHZ (Bogoliubov-Parasiuk-Hepp-Zimmerman) counterterms. Our result should determine whether quantum gravitational loop corrections can significantly alter the dynamics of a scalar inflaton.

Quantum Gravity Corrections to the One Loop Scalar Self-Mass during Inflation

The ζ-ζ correlator is time dependent

In this paper, we study two different models of dark energy based on the Chaplygin gas equation of state. The first model is the variable modified Chaplygin gas, while the second one is the extended Chaplygin gas. Both models are considered in the framework of higher order $$f(R)$$
 modified gravity. We also consider the case of time-varying gravitational constant $$G$$
 and $$\Lambda $$
 for both models. We investigate some cosmological parameters such as the Hubble, the deceleration, and the equation of state parameters. Then we show that the model that we consider, the extended Chaplygin gas with time-dependent $$G$$
 and $$\Lambda $$
 , is consistent with the observational data. Finally we conclude with the discussion of cosmological perturbations of our model.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1140%2Fepjc%2Fs10052-015-3263-6.pdf

E. O. Kahya

Papers

GW170817 falsifies dark matter emulators

Quantum stability of a w − 1 phase of cosmic acceleration

Quantum Gravity Corrections to the One Loop Scalar Self-Mass during Inflation

The ζ-ζ correlator is time dependent

Higher order corrections of the extended Chaplygin gas cosmology with varying G and \Lambda