C. Sivaram

Some enigmatic aspects of the early universe

Matter collapsing to a singularity in a gravitational field is still an intriguing question. Similar situation arises when discussing the very early universe or a universe recollapsing to a singularity. It was suggested that inclusion of mutual gravitational interactions among the collapsing particles can avert a singularity and give finite value for various physical quantities. We also discussed how inclusion of large dark energy term compensates for the net gravity. The discussion is taken further by including the effects of charge, magnetic fields and rotation. The role of large extra dimensions under the extreme initial conditions is discussed and possible connection with the cyclic brane theory is explored. We constrain various cosmic quantities like the net charge, number density of magnetic monopoles, primordial magnetic fields, size of the extra dimensions, etc. We are also able to arrive at the parameters governing the observed universe.

Enigmatic aspects of the early universe: possibility of a ‘pre-big bang phase’!

In this paper it is suggested that inclusion of mutual gravitational interactions among the particles in the early dense universe can lead to a ‘pre-big bang’ scenario, with particle masses greater than the Planck mass implying an accelerating phase of the universe, which then goes into the radiation phase when the masses fall below the Planck mass. The existence of towers of states of such massive particles (i.e. multiples of Planck mass) as implied in various unified theories, provides rapid acceleration in the early universe, similar to the usual inflation scenario, but here the expansion rate goes over ‘smoothly’ to the radiation dominated universe when temperature becomes lower than the Planck temperature.

A brief history of dark energy

Gurzadyan-Xue Dark Energy was derived in 1986 (twenty years before the paper of Gurzadyan-Xue). The paper by the present author, titled The Planck Length as a Cosmological Constant, published in Astrophysics Space Science, Vol. 127, p.133-137, 1986 contains the formula claimed to have been derived by Gurzadyan-Xue (in 2003).

PHASE-SPACE CONSTRAINTS ON NEUTRINO LUMINOSITIES

While the importance of phase space constraints for gravitational clustering of neutrinos (which are fermions) is well recognized, the explicit use of such constraints to limit neutrino emission from ultra energetic sources has not been stressed. Special and general relativistic phase space constraints are shown to limit neutrino luminosities in compact sources in various situations.

Intermediate Mass Black Holes: Their Motion and Associated Energetics

There is a lot of current astrophysical evidence and interest in intermediate mass black holes (IMBH), ranging from a few hundred to several thousand solar masses. The active galaxy M82 and the globular cluster G1 in M31, for example, are known to host such objects. Here, we discuss several aspects of IMBH such as their expected luminosity, spectral nature of radiation, and associated jets. We also discuss possible scenarios for their formation including the effects of dynamical friction, and gravitational radiation. We also consider their formation in the early universe and also discuss the possibility of supermassive black holes forming from mergers of several IMBH and compare the relevant time scales involved with other scenarios.

Some unique constants associated with extremal black holes

In recent papers we had developed a unified picture of black hole entropy and curvature which was shown to lead to Hawking radiation. It was shown that for any black hole mass, holography implies a phase space of just one quantum associated with the interior of the black hole. Here we study extremal rotating and charged black holes and obtain unique values for ratios of angular momentum to entropy, charge to entropy, etc. It turns out that these ratios can be expressed in terms of fundamental constants in nature, having analogies with other physical systems, like in condensed matter physics.

CURVATURE, PHASE SPACE, HOLOGRAPHY AND BLACK HOLE ENTROPY *

This paper discusses the thermodynamics of a black hole with respect to Hawking radiation and the entropy. We look at a unified picture of black hole entropy and curvature and how this can lead to the usual black hole luminosity due to Hawking radiation. It is also shown how the volume inside the horizon, apart from the surface area (hologram!), can play a role in understanding the Hawking flux. In addition, holography implies a phase space associated with the interior volume and this happens to be just a quantum of phase space, filled with just one photon. The generalized uncertainty principle can be incorporated in this analysis. These results hold for all black hole masses in any dimension.

Holography, dark energy and entropy of large cosmic structures

As is well known, black hole entropy is proportional to the area of the horizon suggesting a holographic principle wherein all degrees of freedom contributing to the entropy reside on the surface. In this note, we point out that large scale dark energy (such as a cosmological constant) constraining cosmic structures can imply a similar situation for the entropy of a hierarchy of such objects.

Is there lower limit to velocity or velocity change

Here we explore the possibility of a lower limit to velocity or velocity change which is 20 orders of magnitude smaller than the speed of light and explore the various observable signatures including those in cosmic rays and gamma ray bursts.

Some aspects of rotational and magnetic energies for a hierarchy of celestial objects

Celestial objects, from earth like planets to clusters of galaxies, possess angular momentum and magnetic fields. Here we compare the rotational and magnetic energies of a whole range of these celestial objects together with their gravitational self energies and find a number of interesting relationships. The celestial objects, due to their magnetic fields, also posses magnetic moments. The ratio of magnetic moments of these objects with the nuclear magnetic moments also exhibits interesting trends. We also compare their gyromagnetic ratio which appears to fall in a very narrow range for the entire hierarchy of objects. Here we try to understand the physical aspects implied by these observations and the origin of these properties in such a wide range of celestial objects, spanning some twenty orders in mass, magnetic field and other parameters.