Anthony R. Pullen, Shadab Alam, Siyu He, Shirley Ho

We demonstrate a new method to constrain gravity on the largest cosmological scales by combining measurements of cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing and the galaxy velocity field. $E_G$ is a statistic, constructed from a gravitational lensing tracer and a measure of velocities such as redshift-space distortions (RSD), that can discriminate between gravity models while being independent of clustering bias and $\sigma_8$. While traditionally, the lensing field for $E_G$ has been probed through galaxy lensing, CMB lensing has been proposed as a more robust tracer of the lensing field for $E_G$ at higher redshifts while avoiding intrinsic alignments. We perform the largest-scale measurement of $E_G$ ever, up to 150 Mpc/$h$, by cross-correlating the Planck CMB lensing map with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) CMASS galaxy sample and combining this with our measurement of the CMASS auto-power spectrum and the RSD parameter $\beta$. We report $E_G(z=0.57)=0.243\pm0.060$ (stat) $\pm0.013$ (sys), a measurement in tension with the general relativity prediction at a level of 2.6$\sigma$. Upcoming surveys, which will provide an order-of-magnitude reduction in statistical errors, can significantly constrain alternative gravity models when combined with better control of systematics.

William E. East, Matthew Kleban, Andrei Linde, Leonardo Senatore

Using numerical solutions of the full Einstein field equations coupled to a scalar inflaton field in 3+1 dimensions, we study the conditions under which a universe that is initially highly inhomogeneous and dominated by gradient energy can transition to an inflationary period. If the initial scalar field variations are contained within a sufficiently flat region of the inflaton potential, and the universe is spatially flat or open on average, inflation will occur following the dilution of the gradient and kinetic energy due to expansion. This is the case even when the scale of the inhomogeneities is comparable to the initial Hubble length, and overdense regions collapse and form black holes, because underdense regions continue expanding, allowing inflation to eventually begin. This establishes that inflation can arise from a general class of highly inhomogeneous initial conditions and solve the horizon and flatness problems, at least as long as the variations in the scalar field do not include values that exceed the inflationary plateau.

Eloisa Bentivegna, Marco Bruni, Portsmouth)

We construct a three-dimensional, fully relativistic numerical model of a universe filled with an inhomogeneous pressureless fluid, starting from initial data that represent a perturbation of the Einstein-de~Sitter model. We then measure the departure of the average expansion rate with respect to this Friedmann-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker reference model, comparing local quantities to the predictions of linear perturbation theory and of the averaging formalism. We find local deviations from the homogeneous expansion that can be as high as $15\%$ for an initial density contrast of $10^{-2}$. We also study, for the first time, the non-perturbative behavior of the backreaction term ${\cal Q}_{\cal D}$, measuring its sign and scaling during the evolution. We find that this term scales as the second-order perturbative prediction for small values of the initial perturbations, and that it becomes negative with a linearly-growing absolute value for larger perturbation amplitudes. Its magnitude, however, remains very small even for relatively large perturbations.

Kazufumi Takahashi, Teruaki Suyama, Tsutomu Kobayashi

We analyze spherically symmetric black hole solutions with time-dependent scalar hair in a class of Lovelock-Galileon theories, which are the scalar-tensor theories with second-order field equations in arbitrary dimensions. We first show that known black hole solutions in five dimensions are always plagued by the ghost/gradient instability in the vicinity of the horizon. We then generalize such black hole solutions to higher dimensions and show that the same instability found in five dimensions appears universally in any dimensions.

Mohsen Alishahiha, Mohammad M. Qaemmaqami, Ali Naseh, Ahmad Shirzad

We study holographic renormalization of 3D minimal massive gravity using the Chern-Simons-like formulation of the model. We explicitly present Gibbons- Hawking term as well as all counterterms needed to make the action finite in terms of dreibein and spin-connection. This can be used to find correlation functions of stress tensor of holographic dual field theory.

Li-Ming Cao, Yuxuan Peng, Yun-Long Zhang

In dRGT massive gravity, to get the equations of motion, the square root tensor is assumed to be invertible in the variation of the action. However, this condition can not be fulfilled when the reference metric is degenerate. This implies that the resulting equations of motion might be different from the case where the reference metric has full rank. In this paper, by generalizing the Moore-Penrose inverse to the symmetric tensor on Lorentz manifolds, we get the equations of motion of the theory with degenerate reference metric. It is found that the equations of motion are a little bit different from those in the non-degenerate cases. Based on the result of the equations of motion, for the $(2+n)$-dimensional solutions with the symmetry of $n$-dimensional maximally symmetric space, we prove a generalized Birkhoff theorem in the case where the degenerate reference metric has rank $n$, i.e., we show that the solutions must be Schwarzschild-type or Nariai-Bertotti-Robinson-type under the assumptions.

Antonio Padilla, Emma Platts, David Stefanyszyn, Anthony Walters, Amanda Weltman, Toby Wilson

Recently, it was argued that the conformal coupling of the chameleon to matter fields created an issue for early universe cosmology. As standard model degrees of freedom become non-relativistic in the early universe, the chameleon is attracted towards a "surfing" solution, so that it arrives at the potential minimum with too large a velocity. This leads to rapid variations in the chameleon's mass and excitation of high energy modes, casting doubts on the classical treatment at Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. Here we present the DBI chameleon, a consistent high energy modification of the chameleon theory that dynamically renders it weakly coupled to matter during the early universe thereby eliminating the adverse effects of the `kicks'. This is done without any fine tuning of the coupling between the chameleon and matter fields, and retains its screening ability in the solar system. We demonstrate this explicitly with a combination of analytic and numerical results.

Giovanni Cabass, Luca Pagano, Laura Salvati, Martina Gerbino, Elena Giusarma, Alessandro Melchiorri

We present new, tight, constraints on the cosmological background of gravitational waves (GWs) using the latest measurements of CMB temperature and polarization anisotropies provided by the Planck, BICEP2 and Keck Array experiments. These constraints are further improved when the GW contribution $N^{\rm GW}_{\rm eff}$ to the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom $N_{\rm eff}$ is also considered. Parametrizing the tensor spectrum as a power law with tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$, tilt $n_\mathrm{t}$ and pivot $0.01\,\mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}$, and assuming a minimum value of $r=0.001$, we find $r < 0.089$, $n_\mathrm{t} = 1.7^{+2.1}_{-2.0}$ ($95\%\,\mathrm{CL}$, no $N^{\rm GW}_{\rm eff}$) and $r < 0.082$, $n_\mathrm{t} = -0.05^{+0.58}_{-0.87}$ ($95\%\,\mathrm{CL}$, with $N^{\rm GW}_{\rm eff}$). When the recently released $95\,\mathrm{GHz}$ data from Keck Array are added to the analysis, the constraints on $r$ are improved to $r < 0.067$ ($95\%\,\mathrm{CL}$, no $N^{\rm GW}_{\rm eff}$), $r < 0.061$ ($95\%\,\mathrm{CL}$, with $N^{\rm GW}_{\rm eff}$). We discuss the limits coming from direct detection experiments such as LIGO-Virgo, pulsar timing (European Pulsar Timing Array) and CMB spectral distortions (FIRAS). Finally, we show future constraints achievable from a COrE-like mission: if the tensor-to-scalar ratio is of order $10^{-2}$ and the inflationary consistency relation $n_\mathrm{t} = -r/8$ holds, COrE will be able to constrain $n_\mathrm{t}$ to $-0.002^{+0.160}_{-0.164}$ ($95\%\,\mathrm{CL}$). In the case that lensing $B$-modes can be subtracted to $10\%$ of their power, a feasible goal for COrE, these limits will be improved to $n_\mathrm{t}$ to $-0.002^{+0.107}_{-0.109}$ ($95\%\,\mathrm{CL}$).

Gerard 't Hooft

The Einstein-Hilbert theory of gravity can be rephrased by focusing on local conformal symmetry as an exact, but spontaneously broken symmetry of nature. The conformal component of the metric field is then treated as a dilaton field with only renormalizable interactions. This imposes constraints on the theory, which can also be viewed as demanding regularity of the action as the dilaton field variable tends to 0. In other words, we have constraints on the small distance behaviour. Our procedure appears to turn a black hole into a regular, topologically trivial soliton without singularities, horizons of firewalls, but many questions remain.