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

QUANTUM gravitational effects are usually ignored in calculations of the formation and evolution of black holes. The justification for this is that the radius of curvature of space-time outside the event horizon is very large compared to the Planck length (Għ/c3)1/2 ≈ 10−33 cm, the length scale on which quantum fluctuations of the metric are expected to be of order unity. This means that the energy density of particles created by the gravitational field is small compared to the space-time curvature. Even though quantum effects may be small locally, they may still, however, add up to produce a significant effect over the lifetime of the Universe ≈ 1017 s which is very long compared to the Planck time ≈ 10−43 s. The purpose of this letter is to show that this indeed may be the case: it seems that any black hole will create and emit particles such as neutrinos or photons at just the rate that one would expect if the black hole was a body with a temperature of (κ/2π) (ħ/2k) ≈ 10−6 (M/M)K where κ is the surface gravity of the black hole1. As a black hole emits this thermal radiation one would expect it to lose mass. This in turn would increase the surface gravity and so increase the rate of emission. The black hole would therefore have a finite life of the order of 1071 (M/M)−3 s. For a black hole of solar mass this is much longer than the age of the Universe. There might, however, be much smaller black holes which were formed by fluctuations in the early Universe2. Any such black hole of mass less than 1015 g would have evaporated by now. Near the end of its life the rate of emission would be very high and about 1030 erg would be released in the last 0.1 s. This is a fairly small explosion by astronomical standards but it is equivalent to about 1 million 1 Mton hydrogen bombs. It is often said that nothing can escape from a black hole. But in 1974, Stephen Hawking realized that, owing to quantum effects, black holes should emit particles with a thermal distribution of energies — as if the black hole had a temperature inversely proportional to its mass. In addition to putting black-hole thermodynamics on a firmer footing, this discovery led Hawking to postulate 'black hole explosions', as primordial black holes end their lives in an accelerating release of energy.

Black Hole Explosions

Superstring theoryをめぐって(放談室)

Aspects of Split Supersymmetry

We report results of a search for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPS) with the silicon detectors of the CDMS II experiment. This blind analysis of 140.2 kg-days of data taken between July 2007 and September 2008 revealed three WIMP-candidate events with a surface-event background estimate of 0.41^{+0.20}_{-0.08}(stat.)^{+0.28}_{-0.24}(syst.). Other known backgrounds from neutrons and 206Pb are limited to < 0.13 and <0.08 events at the 90% confidence level, respectively. The exposure of this analysis is equivalent to 23.4 kg-days for a recoil energy range of 7-100 keV for a WIMP of mass 10 GeV/c2. The probability that the known backgrounds would produce three or more events in the signal region is 5.4%. A profile likelihood ratio test of the three events that includes the measured recoil energies gives a 0.19% probability for the known-background-only hypothesis when tested against the alternative WIMP+background hypothesis. The highest likelihood occurs for a WIMP mass of 8.6 GeV/c2 and WIMP-nucleon cross section of 1.9e-41 cm2.

Silicon Detector Dark Matter Results from the Final Exposure of CDMS II

The recent observation of the shadow of the supermassive black hole M87*, located at the center of the M87 galaxy, by the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration has opened up a new window to probe the strong gravity regime. In this paper, we explicitly demonstrate the consequences of this observation on brane world black holes, characterized by existence of a negative tidal charge. Our results based on three observables associated with the shadow, namely, angular diameter, deviation from circularity, and axis ratio reveal that the existence of a negative tidal charge is more favored, possibly marking a deviation from general relativity.

Silhouette of M87*: A new window to peek into the world of hidden dimensions

We present a brief review on the Raychaudhuri equations. Beginning with a summary of the essential features of the original article by Raychaudhuri and subsequent work of numerous authors, we move on to a discussion of the equations in the context of alternate non-Riemannian spacetimes as well as other theories of gravity, with a special mention on the equations in spacetimes with torsion (Einstein-Cartan-Sciama-Kibble theory). Finally, we give an overview of some recent applications of these equations in general relativity, quantum field theory, string theory and the theory of relativisitic membranes. We conclude with a summary and provide our own perspectives on directions of future research.

The Raychaudhuri equations: A brief review

Solving field equations in the context of higher curvature gravity theories is a formidable task. However, in many situations, e.g., in the context of f(R) theories, the higher curvature gravity action can be written as an Einstein–Hilbert action plus a scalar field action. We show that not only the action but the field equations derived from the action are also equivalent, provided the spacetime is regular. We also demonstrate that such an equivalence continues to hold even when the gravitational field equations are projected on a lower-dimensional hypersurface. We have further addressed explicit examples in which the solutions for Einstein–Hilbert and a scalar field system lead to solutions of the equivalent higher curvature theory. The same, but on the lower-dimensional hypersurface, has been illustrated in the reverse order as well. We conclude with a brief discussion on this technique of solving higher curvature field equations.

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Solving higher curvature gravity theories

We have explicitly demonstrated that scalar coupled Gauss-Bonnet gravity in four dimensions can have nontrivial effects on the early inflationary stage of our Universe. In particular, we have shown that the scalar coupled Gauss-Bonnet term alone is capable of driving the inflationary stages of the Universe without incorporating slow roll approximation, while remaining compatible with the current observations. Subsequently, to avoid the instability of the tensor perturbation modes we have introduced a self-interacting potential for the inflaton field and have shown that, in this context as well, it is possible to have an inflationary scenario. Moreover, it turns out that presence of the Gauss-Bonnet term is incompatible with the slow roll approximation and hence one must work with the field equations in the most general context. Finally, we have shown that the scalar coupled Gauss-Bonnet term attains smaller and smaller values as the Universe exits from inflation. Thus, at the end of the inflation, the Universe makes a smooth transition to Einstein gravity.

Inflation driven by Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity

We consider spacetime with torsion in a Randall-Sundrum scenario where torsion, identified with the rank-2 Kalb-Ramond field, exists in the bulk together with gravity. While the interactions of both graviton and torsion in the bulk are controlled by the Planck mass, an additional exponential suppression comes for the torsion zero-mode on the visible brane. This may serve as a natural explanation of why the effect of torsion is so much weaker than that of curvature on the brane. The massive torsion modes, on the other hand, are correlated with the corresponding gravitonic modes and may be detectable in TeV-scale experiments.

Soumitra SenGupta

Papers

Silhouette of M87*: A new window to peek into the world of hidden dimensions

The Raychaudhuri equations: A brief review

Solving higher curvature gravity theories

Inflation driven by Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity

Does a randall-sundrum scenario create the illusion of a torsion-free universe?