Gravitation

About: Gravitation is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 29306 publications have been published within this topic receiving 821510 citations.

Generalized Uncertainty Principle: Approaches and Applications

Abstract: In this paper, we review some highlights from the String theory, the black hole physics and the doubly special relativity and some thought experiments which were suggested to probe the shortest distances and/or maximum momentum at the Planck scale. Furthermore, all models developed in order to implement the minimal length scale and/or the maximum momentum in different physical systems are analyzed and compared. They entered the literature as the generalized uncertainty principle (GUP) assuming modified dispersion relation, and therefore are allowed for a wide range of applications in estimating, for example, the inflationary parameters, Lorentz invariance violation, black hole thermodynamics, Saleker–Wigner inequalities, entropic nature of gravitational laws, Friedmann equations, minimal time measurement and thermodynamics of the high-energy collisions. One of the higher-order GUP approaches gives predictions for the minimal length uncertainty. A second one predicts a maximum momentum and a minimal length uncertainty, simultaneously. An extensive comparison between the different GUP approaches is summarized. We also discuss the GUP impacts on the equivalence principles including the universality of the gravitational redshift and the free fall and law of reciprocal action and on the kinetic energy of composite system. The existence of a minimal length and a maximum momentum accuracy is preferred by various physical observations. The concern about the compatibility with the equivalence principles, the universality of gravitational redshift and the free fall and law of reciprocal action should be addressed. We conclude that the value of the GUP parameters remain a puzzle to be verified.

Black-hole binaries, gravitational waves, and numerical relativity

Abstract: Understanding the predictions of general relativity for the dynamical interactions of two black holes has been a long-standing unsolved problem in theoretical physics. Black-hole mergers are monumental astrophysical events ' releasing tremendous amounts of energy in the form of gravitational radiation ' and are key sources for both ground- and spacebased gravitational wave detectors. The black-hole merger dynamics and the resulting gravitational waveforms can only he calculated through numerical simulations of Einstein's equations of general relativity. For many years, numerical relativists attempting to model these mergers encountered a host of problems, causing their codes to crash after just a fraction of a binary orbit cnuld be simulated. Recently ' however, a series of dramatic advances in numerical relativity has ' for the first time, allowed stable / robust black hole merger simulations. We chronicle this remarkable progress in the rapidly maturing field of numerical relativity, and the new understanding of black-hole binary dynamics that is emerging. We also discuss important applications of these fundamental physics results to astrophysics, to gravitationalwave astronomy, and in other areas.

The double copy: Bremsstrahlung and accelerating black holes

Abstract: Advances in our understanding of perturbation theory suggest the existence of a correspondence between classical general relativity and Yang-Mills theory. A concrete example of this correspondence, which is known as the double copy, was recently intro-duced for the case of stationary Kerr-Schild spacetimes. Building on this foundation, we examine the simple time-dependent case of an accelerating, radiating point source. The gravitational solution, which generalises the Schwarzschild solution, includes a non-trivial stress-energy tensor. This stress-energy tensor corresponds to a gauge theoretic current in the double copy. We interpret both of these sources as representing the radiative part of the field. Furthermore, in the simple example of Bremsstrahlung, we determine a scattering amplitude describing the radiation, maintaining the double copy throughout. Our results provide the strongest evidence yet that the classical double copy is directly related to the BCJ double copy for scattering amplitudes.

Why the Universe is Just So

Abstract: Some properties of the world are fixed by physics derived from mathematical symmetries, while others are selected from an ensemble of possibilities. Several successes and failures of ‘‘anthropic’’ reasoning in this context are reviewed in light of recent developments in astrobiology, cosmology, and unification physics. Specific issues raised include our space-time location (including the reason for the present age of the universe), the time scale of biological evolution, the tuning of global cosmological parameters, and the origin of the Large Numbers of astrophysics and the parameters of the standard model. Out of the 20 parameters of the standard model, the basic behavior and structures of the world (nucleons, nuclei, atoms, molecules, planets, stars, galaxies) depend mainly on five of them: m e , m u , m d , a, and a G (where m proton and a QCD are taken as defined quantities). Three of these appear to be independent in the context of Grand Unified Theories (that is, not fixed by any known symmetry) and at the same time have values within a very narrow window which provides for stable nucleons and nuclei and abundant carbon. The conjecture is made that the two light quark masses and one coupling constant are ultimately determined even in the ‘‘final theory’’ by a choice from a large or continuous ensemble, and the prediction is offered that the correct unification scheme will not allow calculation of (m d2m u)/m proton from first principles alone.