A program for a problem free Cosmology within a framework of a rich class of scalar tensor theories

A search for a problem free cosmology within the framework of an effective non - minimally coupled scalar tensor theory is suggested. With appropriate choice of couplings in variants of a Lee - Wick model [as also in a model supporting Q - ball solutions], non topological solutions [NTS's], varying in size upto 10 kpc to 1 Mpc can exist. We explore the properties of a ``toy'' Milne model containing a distribution of NTS domains. The interior of these domains would be regions where effective gravitational effects would be indistinguishable from those expected in standard Einstein theory. For a large class of non - minimal coupling terms and the scalar effective potential, the effective cosmological constant identically vanishes. The model passes classical cosmological tests and we describe reasons to expect it to fare well as regards nucleosynthesis and structure formation.Comment: 20 pages, Plain Tex, references added and expanded the previous version of article, 2 figures available from [email protected]

Hawking Radiation of a Quantum Black Hole in an Inflationary Universe

The quantum stress-energy tensor of a massless scalar field propagating in the two-dimensional Vaidya-de Sitter metric, which describes a classical model spacetime for a dynamical evaporating black hole in an inflationary universe, is analyzed. We present a possible way to obtain the Hawking radiation terms for the model with arbitrary functions of mass. It is used to see how the expansion of universe will affect the dynamical process of black hole evaporation. The results show that the cosmological inflation has an inclination to depress the black hole evaporation. However, if the cosmological constant is sufficiently large then the back-reaction effect has the inclination to increase the black hole evaporation. We also present a simple method to show that it will always produce a divergent flux of outgoing radiation along the Cauchy horizon where the curvature is a finite value. This means that the Hawking radiation will be very large in there and shall modify the classical spacetime drastically. Therefore the black hole evaporation cannot be discussed self-consistently on the classical Vaidya-type spacetime. Our method can also be applied to analyze the quantum stress-energy tensor in the more general Vaidya-type spacetimes.Comment: Proper boundary will lead to anti-evaporation of schwarzschild-de Sitter black holes, as corrected in Class. Quantum Grav. 11 (1994) 28

Entropy bound for a charged object from the Kerr-Newman black hole

We derive again the upper entropy bound for a charged object by employing thermodynamics of the Kerr-Newman black hole linearised with respect to its electric chargeComment: latex, 4 pages, no figures. In this version, the desired bound is well obtained by varying correctly the entropy of the black hol

Does the generalized second law require entropy bounds for a charged system?

We calculate the net change in generalized entropy occurring when one carries out the gedanken experiment in which a box initially containing energy $E$, entropy $S$ and charge $Q$ is lowered adiabatically toward a Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m black hole and then dropped in. This is an extension of the work of Unruh-Wald to a charged system (the contents of the box possesses a charge $Q$). Their previous analysis showed that the effects of acceleration radiation prevent violation of the generalized second law of thermodynamics. In our more generic case, we show that the properties of the thermal atmosphere are equally important when charge is present. Indeed, we prove here that an equilibrium condition for the the thermal atmosphere and the physical properties of ordinary matter are sufficient to enforce the generalized second law. Thus, no additional assumptions concerning entropy bounds on the contents of the box need to be made in this process. The relation between our work and the recent works of Bekenstein and Mayo, and Hod (entropy bound for a charged system) are also discussed.Comment: 18pages, RevTex, no figure

de Sitter spacetime: effects of metric perturbations on geodesic motion

Gravitational perturbations of the de Sitter spacetime are investigated using the Regge--Wheeler formalism. The set of perturbation equations is reduced to a single second order differential equation of the Heun-type for both electric and magnetic multipoles. The solution so obtained is used to study the deviation from an initially radial geodesic due to the perturbation. The spectral properties of the perturbed metric are also analyzed. Finally, gauge- and tetrad-invariant first-order massless perturbations of any spin are explored following the approach of Teukolsky. The existence of closed-form, i.e. Liouvillian, solutions to the radial part of the Teukolsky master equation is discussed.Comment: IOP macros, 10 figure

Scalar Field Quantum Inequalities in Static Spacetimes

We discuss quantum inequalities for minimally coupled scalar fields in static spacetimes. These are inequalities which place limits on the magnitude and duration of negative energy densities. We derive a general expression for the quantum inequality for a static observer in terms of a Euclidean two-point function. In a short sampling time limit, the quantum inequality can be written as the flat space form plus subdominant correction terms dependent upon the geometric properties of the spacetime. This supports the use of flat space quantum inequalities to constrain negative energy effects in curved spacetime. Using the exact Euclidean two-point function method, we develop the quantum inequalities for perfectly reflecting planar mirrors in flat spacetime. We then look at the quantum inequalities in static de~Sitter spacetime, Rindler spacetime and two- and four-dimensional black holes. In the case of a four-dimensional Schwarzschild black hole, explicit forms of the inequality are found for static observers near the horizon and at large distances. It is show that there is a quantum averaged weak energy condition (QAWEC), which states that the energy density averaged over the entire worldline of a static observer is bounded below by the vacuum energy of the spacetime. In particular, for an observer at a fixed radial distance away from a black hole, the QAWEC says that the averaged energy density can never be less than the Boulware vacuum energy density.Comment: 27 pages, 2 Encapsulated Postscript figures, uses epsf.tex, typeset in RevTe

Behavior of Quasilocal Mass Under Conformal Transformations

We show that in a generic scalar-tensor theory of gravity, the ``referenced'' quasilocal mass of a spatially bounded region in a classical solution is invariant under conformal transformations of the spacetime metric. We first extend the Brown-York quasilocal formalism to such theories to obtain the ``unreferenced'' quasilocal mass and prove it to be conformally invariant. The appropriate reference term in this case is defined by generalizing the Hawking-Horowitz prescription, which was originally proposed for general relativity. For such a choice of reference term, the referenced quasilocal mass for a general spacetime solution is obtained. This expression is shown to be a conformal invariant provided the conformal factor is a monotonic function of the scalar field. We apply this expression to the case of static spherically symmetric solutions with arbitrary asymptotics to obtain the referenced quasilocal mass of such solutions. Finally, we demonstrate the conformal invariance of our quasilocal mass formula by applying it to specific cases of four-dimensional charged black hole spacetimes, of both the asymptotically flat and non-flat kinds, in conformally related theories.Comment: LaTeX, 31 pages, one ps figur

Radiative falloff in Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetime

We consider the time evolution of a scalar field propagating in Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetime. At early times, the field behaves as if it were in pure Schwarzschild spacetime; the structure of spacetime far from the black hole has no influence on the evolution. In this early epoch, the field's initial outburst is followed by quasi-normal oscillations, and then by an inverse power-law decay. At intermediate times, the power-law behavior gives way to a faster, exponential decay. At late times, the field behaves as if it were in pure de Sitter spacetime; the structure of spacetime near the black hole no longer influences the evolution in a significant way. In this late epoch, the field's behavior depends on the value of the curvature-coupling constant xi. If xi is less than a critical value 3/16, the field decays exponentially, with a decay constant that increases with increasing xi. If xi > 3/16, the field oscillates with a frequency that increases with increasing xi; the amplitude of the field still decays exponentially, but the decay constant is independent of xi.Comment: 10 pages, ReVTeX, 5 figures, references updated, and new section adde

The angular size - redshift relation in power-law cosmologies

A linear evolution of the cosmological scale factor is a feature in several models designed to solve the cosmological constant problem via a coupling between scalar or tensor classical fields to the space-time curvature as well as in some alternative gravity theories. In this paper, by assuming a general time dependence of the scale factor, $R \sim t^{\alpha}$, we investigate observational constraints on the dimensionless parameter $\alpha$ from measurements of the angular size for a large sample of milliarcsecond compact radio sources. In particular, we find that a strictly linear evolution, i.e., $\alpha \simeq 1$ is favoured by these data, which is also in agreement with limits obtained from other independent cosmological tests. The dependence of the critical redshift $z_m$ (at which a given angular size takes its minimal value) with the index $\alpha$ is briefly discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, LaTe

The self-force on a static scalar test-charge outside a Schwarzschild black hole

The finite part of the self-force on a static scalar test-charge outside a Schwarzschild black hole is zero. By direct construction of Hadamard's elementary solution, we obtain a closed-form expression for the minimally coupled scalar field produced by a test-charge held fixed in Schwarzschild spacetime. Using the closed-form expression, we compute the necessary external force required to hold the charge stationary. Although the energy associated with the scalar field contributes to the renormalized mass of the particle (and thereby its weight), we find there is no additional self-force acting on the charge. This result is unlike the analogous electrostatic result, where, after a similar mass renormalization, there remains a finite repulsive self-force acting on a static electric test-charge outside a Schwarzschild black hole. We confirm our force calculation using Carter's mass-variation theorem for black holes. The primary motivation for this calculation is to develop techniques and formalism for computing all forces - dissipative and non-dissipative - acting on charges and masses moving in a black-hole spacetime. In the Appendix we recap the derivation of the closed-form electrostatic potential. We also show how the closed-form expressions for the fields are related to the infinite series solutions.Comment: RevTeX, To Appear in Phys. Rev.