Chris Clarkson

Detecting extra dimensions with gravity-wave spectroscopy: the black-string brane world.

Using the black string between two branes as a model of a brane-world black hole, we compute the gravity-wave perturbations and identify the features arising from the additional polarizations of the graviton. The standard four-dimensional gravitational wave signal acquires late-time oscillations due to massive modes of the graviton. The Fourier transform of these oscillations shows a series of spikes associated with the masses of the Kaluza-Klein modes, providing in principle a spectroscopic signature of extra dimensions.

Direct reconstruction of dark energy

An important issue in cosmology is reconstructing the effective dark energy equation of state directly from observations. With so few physically motivated models, future dark energy studies cannot only be based on constraining a dark energy parameter space. We present a new nonparametric method which can accurately reconstruct a wide variety of dark energy behavior with no prior assumptions about it. It is simple, quick and relatively accurate, and involves no expensive explorations of parameter space. The technique uses principal component analysis and a combination of information criteria to identify real features in the data, and tailors the fitting functions to pick up trends and smooth over noise. We find that we can constrain a large variety of w(z) models to within 10%-20% at redshifts z≲1 using just SNAP-quality data.

Undermining the cosmological principle: almost isotropic observations in inhomogeneous cosmologies

We challenge the widely held belief that the cosmological principle is an obvious consequence of the observed isotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), combined with the Copernican principle. We perform a detailed analysis of a class of inhomogeneous perfect fluid cosmologies admitting an isotropic radiation field, with a view to assessing their viability as models of the real universe. These spacetimes are distinguished from FLRW universes by the presence of inhomogeneous pressure, which results in an acceleration of the fluid (fundamental observers). We examine their physical, geometrical and observational characteristics for all observer positions in the spacetimes. To this end, we derive exact, analytic expressions for the distance-redshift relations and anisotropies for any observer, and compare their predictions with available observational constraints. As far as the authors are aware, this work represents the first exact analysis of the observational properties of an inhomogeneous cosmological model for all observer positions. Considerable attention is devoted to the anisotropy in the CMB. The difficulty of defining the surface of last scattering in exact, inhomogenous cosmological models is discussed; several alternative practical definitions are presented, and one of these is used to estimate the CMB anisotropy for any model. The isotropy constraints derived from `local observations (redshift 1) are also considered, qualitatively. A crucial aspect of this work is the application of the Copernican principle: for a specific model to be acceptable we demand that it must be consistent with current observational constraints (especially anisotropy constraints) for all observer locations. The most important results of the paper are presented as exclusion plots in the two-dimensional parameter space of the models. We show that there is a region of parameter space not ruled out by the constraints we consider and containing models that are significantly inhomogeneous. It follows immediately from this that the cosmological principle cannot be assumed to hold on the basis of present observational constraints.

Does the isotropy of the CMB imply a homogeneous universe? Some generalized EGS theorems

We demonstrate that the high isotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), combined with the Copernican principle, is not sufficient to prove homogeneity of the universe - in contrast to previous results on this subject. The crucial additional factor not included in earlier work is the acceleration of the fundamental observers. We find the complete class of irrotational perfect fluid spacetimes admitting an exactly isotropic radiation field for every fundamental observer and show that they are Friedmann-Lema?tre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) if and only if the acceleration is zero. While inhomogeneous in general, these spacetimes all possess three-dimensional symmetry groups, from which it follows that they also admit a thermodynamic interpretation. In addition to perfect fluids models we also consider multi-component fluids containing non-interacting radiation, dust and a quintessential scalar field or cosmological constant in which the radiation is isotropic for the geodesic (dust) observers. It is shown that the non-acceleration of the fundamental observers forces these spacetimes to be FLRW. While it is plausible that fundamental observers (galaxies) in the real universe follow geodesics, it is strictly necessary to determine this from local observations for the cosmological principle to be more than an assumption. We discuss how observations may be used to test this.

The general relativistic MHD dynamo equation

The magnetohydrodynamic dynamo equation is derived within general relativity, using the covariant 1 + 3 approach, for a plasma with finite electrical conductivity. This formalism allows for a clear division and interpretation of plasma and gravitational effects, and we are not restricted to a particular space‐time geometry. The results should be of interest in astrophysics and cosmology, and the formulation is well suited to gauge-invariant perturbation theory. Moreover, the dynamo equation is presented in some specific limits. In particular, we consider the interaction of gravitational waves with magnetic fields, and present results for the evolution of the linearly growing electromagnetic induction field, as well as the diffusive damping of these fields. Ke yw ords: gravitation ‐ gravitational waves ‐ MHD.

Delocalization of brane gravity by a bulk black hole

We investigate the analogue of the Randall–Sundrum braneworld in the case when the bulk contains a black hole. Instead of the static vacuum Minkowski brane of the RS model, we have an Einstein static vacuum brane. We find that the presence of the bulk black hole has a dramatic effect on the gravity that is felt by brane observers. In the RS model, the 5D graviton has a stable localized zero mode that reproduces 4D gravity on the brane at low energies. With a bulk black hole, there is no such solution—gravity is delocalized by the 5D horizon. However, the brane does support a discrete spectrum of metastable massive bound states, or quasinormal modes, as was recently shown to be the case in the RS scenario. These states should dominate the high frequency component of the bulk gravity wave spectrum on a cosmological brane. We expect our results to generalize to any bulk spacetime containing a Killing horizon.

Inhomogeneous Cosmologies, the Copernican Principle and the Cosmic Microwave Background: More on the EGS Theorem

We discuss inhomogeneous cosmological models which satisfy the Copernican principle. We construct some inhomogeneous cosmological models starting from the ansatz that the all the observers in the models view an isotropic cosmic microwave background. We discuss multi-fluid models, and illustrate how more general inhomogeneous models may be derived, both in General Relativity and in scalar-tensor theories of gravity. Thus we illustrate that the cosmologicalprinciple, the assumption that the Universe we live in is spatially homogeneous, does not necessarily follow from the Copernican principle and the high isotropy of the cosmic microwave background. We also present some new conformally flat two-fluid solutions of Einsteins field equations.

Cosmic microwave background and scalar-tensor theories of gravity

We show that if all observers see an isotropic cosmic microwave background in an expanding geodesic perfect fluid spacetime within a scalar-tensor theory of gravity, then that spacetime must be isotropic and spatially homogeneous. This result generalizes the Ehlers-Geren-Sachs theorem of general relativity, and serves to underpin the important result that any evolving cosmological model in a scalar-tensor theory that is compatible with observations must be almost Friedmann-Lema^{i}tre-Robertson-Walker.

Qualitative properties of magnetic fields in scalar field cosmology

We study the qualitative properties of the class of spatially homogeneous Bianchi VI_o cosmological models containing a perfect fluid with a linear equation of state, a scalar field with an exponential potential and a uniform cosmic magnetic field, using dynamical systems techniques. We find that all models evolve away from an expanding massless scalar field model in which the matter and the magnetic field are negligible dynamically. We also find that for a particular range of parameter values the models evolve towards the usual power-law inflationary model (with no magnetic field) and, furthermore, we conclude that inflation is not fundamentally affected by the presence of a uniform primordial magnetic field. We investigate the physical properties of the Bianchi I magnetic field models in some detail.

Magnetic fields and the cosmic microwave background

Observations of the high degree of isotropy of the cosmic microwave background are commonly believed to indicate that the Universe is `almost Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (at least since the time of last scattering). Theoretical support for this belief comes from the so-called Ehlers-Geren-Sachs theorem. We show that a generalization of this theorem rules out any strong magnetic fields in the Universe. Our theoretical result is model-independent and includes the case of inhomogeneous magnetic fields, complementing previous results. We thus prove that cosmic microwave background observations severely constrain all types of primordial and protogalactic magnetic fields in the universe.