http://www.maths.qmul.ac.uk/%7Elatora/report_06.pdf

Complex networks: Structure and dynamics

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.

/pdf/the-observation-of-gravitational-waves-from-a-binary-black-58srpupgg9.pdf

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

We report on the implications for cosmic inflation of the 2018 Release of the Planck CMB anisotropy measurements. The results are fully consistent with the two previous Planck cosmological releases, but have smaller uncertainties thanks to improvements in the characterization of polarization at low and high multipoles. Planck temperature, polarization, and lensing data determine the spectral index of scalar perturbations to be $n_\mathrm{s}=0.9649\pm 0.0042$ at 68% CL and show no evidence for a scale dependence of $n_\mathrm{s}.$ Spatial flatness is confirmed at a precision of 0.4% at 95% CL with the combination with BAO data. The Planck 95% CL upper limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio, $r_{0.002}<0.10$, is further tightened by combining with the BICEP2/Keck Array BK15 data to obtain $r_{0.002}<0.056$. In the framework of single-field inflationary models with Einstein gravity, these results imply that: (a) slow-roll models with a concave potential, $V" (\phi) < 0,$ are increasingly favoured by the data; and (b) two different methods for reconstructing the inflaton potential find no evidence for dynamics beyond slow roll. Non-parametric reconstructions of the primordial power spectrum consistently confirm a pure power law. A complementary analysis also finds no evidence for theoretically motivated parameterized features in the Planck power spectrum, a result further strengthened for certain oscillatory models by a new combined analysis that includes Planck bispectrum data. The new Planck polarization data provide a stringent test of the adiabaticity of the initial conditions. The polarization data also provide improved constraints on inflationary models that predict a small statistically anisotropic quadrupolar modulation of the primordial fluctuations. However, the polarization data do not confirm physical models for a scale-dependent dipolar modulation.

/pdf/planck-2015-results-xx-constraints-on-inflation-4lq02ohyyn.pdf

Planck 2015 results. XX. Constraints on inflation

We consider a pseudoscalar axion-like ﬁeld coupled to a Chern-Simons gravitational anomaly term. The axion ﬁeld backreacts on a rotating Kerr black hole background, resulting in modiﬁcations in the spacetime. In an attempt to determine potentially observable signatures, we study the angular momentum of the system of the modiﬁed Kerr-like black hole and the axionic matter outside the horizon of the black hole. As the strength of the coupling of the axion ﬁeld to the Chern-Simons term is increasing, the requirement that the total angular momentum of the system remain constant forces the black hole angular momentum to decrease. There exists a critical value of this coupling beyond which the black hole starts to rotate in the opposite direction, with an increasing magnitude of its angular momentum. We interpret this eﬀect as a consequence of the exchange of energy between the axionic matter and the gravitational anomaly, which is sourced by the rotating black hole.

Axion induced angular momentum reversal in Kerr-like black holes

Using the AdS/CFT correspondence we study the holographic principle and the CFT/FRW relations in the near-horizon AdS5×S5 geometry with a probe D3-brane playing the role of the boundary to this space. The motion of the probe D3-brane in the bulk induces a cosmological evolution on the brane. As the brane crosses the horizon of the bulk Schwarzschild–AdS5 black hole, it probes the holography of the dual CFT. We test the holographic principle and we find corrections to CFT/FRW relations in various physical cases: for a radially moving, spinning and electrically charged D3-brane and for an NS/NS B-field in the bulk.

Probing the holography of near-horizon AdS5 × S5 geometry

We derive the Lichnerowicz equation in the presence of the Gauss-Bonnet term. Using the modified Lichnerowicz equation we study the metric perturbations of Gauss-Bonnet black strings in Codimension-2 Braneworlds.

Perturbations of Gauss-Bonnet black strings in codimension-2 braneworlds

On the suppression of flavour changing neutral processes in technicolour theories

We present a new family of asymptotically AdS four-dimensional black hole solutions with scalar hair of a gravitating system consisting of a scalar field minimally coupled to gravity with a self-interacting potential. For a certain profile of the scalar field we solve the Einstein equations and we determine the scalar potential. Thermodynamically we show that there is a critical temperature below which there is a phase transition of a black hole with hyperbolic horizon to the new hairy black hole configuration.

Eleftherios Papantonopoulos

Papers

Axion induced angular momentum reversal in Kerr-like black holes

Probing the holography of near-horizon AdS5 × S5 geometry

Perturbations of Gauss-Bonnet black strings in codimension-2 braneworlds

On the suppression of flavour changing neutral processes in technicolour theories

Four-Dimensional Asymptotically AdS Black Holes with Scalar Hair