Related papers: The vacuum polarization around an axionic stringy …
It has recently been suggested that the presence of a plenitude of light axions, an Axiverse, is evidence for the extra dimensions of string theory. We discuss the observational consequences of these axions on astrophysical black holes…
Light Axionic Dark Matter, motivated by string theory, is increasingly favored for the "no-WIMP era". Galaxy formation is suppressed below a Jeans scale, of $\simeq 10^8 M_\odot$ by setting the axion mass to, $m_B \sim 10^{-22}$eV, and the…
Supermassive black holes at the center of each galaxy may be surrounded by dark matter. Such dark matter admits a spike structure and vanishes at a certain distance from the black hole. This dark matter will impact the spacetime near the…
WKB approximation methods are applied to the case of a massive scalar field around a 5-dimensional Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole. The divergences are explicitly isolated and the cancellation against the Schwinger-De Witt counter-terms…
We present a search for linear polarization at 22 GHz, 43 GHz and 86 GHz from the nearest super massive black hole candidate, Sagittarius A*. We find upper limits to the linear polarization of 0.2%, 0.4% and 1%, respectively. These results…
In the string axiverse scenario, light primordial black holes may spin up due to the Hawking emission of a large number of light (sub-MeV) axions. We show that this may trigger superradiant instabilities associated with a heavier axion…
By a simple modification of Hawking's well-known topology theorems for black hole horizons, we find lower bounds for the areas of smooth apparent horizons and smooth cross-sections of stationary black hole event horizons of genus $g>1$ in…
Axions solve the Strong CP Problem and are a cold dark matter candidate. The combined constraints from accelerator searches, stellar evolution limits and cosmology suggest that the axion mass is in the range $3 \cdot 10^{-3} > m_a >…
The superradiant instability can lead to the generation of extremely dense axion clouds around rotating black holes. We show that, despite the long lifetime of the QCD axion with respect to spontaneous decay into photon pairs, stimulated…
The swampland conjecture known as Festina Lente (FL) imposes a lower bound on the mass of all charged particles in a quasi-de Sitter space. In this paper, we propose the aFL (axionic Festina Lente) bound, an extension of FL to axion-like…
We consider proton decay in theories that contain large extra dimensions. If virtual black hole states are allowed by the theory, as is generally the case, then proton decay can proceed via virtual black holes. The experimental limits on…
The Strong CP Problem and its resolution through the existence of an axion are briefly reviewed. The combined constraints from accelerator searches, the evolution of red giants and the duration of the SN 1987a neutrino pulse require the…
We analyze the dynamics and observational signatures of axion clouds formed via the superradiant instability around primordial black holes, focusing on the mass range $10^{14}-10^{18}$ kg where the latter may account for all the dark…
The highly populated, low-energy excitations of a scalar field of mass $m_a\sim 10^{-22}\,\textrm{eV}$ can represent the full dark matter content of the universe and alleviate some tensions in the standard cosmological scenario on…
Generic extensions of the standard model predict the existence of ultralight bosonic degrees of freedom. Several ongoing experiments are aimed at detecting these particles or constraining their mass range. Here we show that massive vector…
Interpreting the cosmological constant as a pressure, whose thermodynamically conjugate variable is a volume, modifies the first law of black hole thermodynamics. Properties of the resulting thermodynamic volume are investigated: the…
A large class of stationary, non-rotating black hole metrics is proposed, in which the interior is regular with a core consisting of a condensate of Higgs and $Z$ bosons generated from the nuclear binding energy of the initial H atoms.…
We use cosmological observations in the post-Planck era to derive limits on thermally produced cosmological axions. In the early universe such axions contribute to the radiation density and later to the hot dark matter fraction. We find an…
We estimate the rate at which collisions between ultra-high energy cosmic rays can form small black holes in models with extra dimensions. If recent conjectures about false vacuum decay catalyzed by black hole evaporation apply, the lack of…
In this talk some essential features of stringy black holes are described. We consider charged four-dimensional axion-dilaton black holes. The Hawking temperature and the entropy of all solutions are shown to be simple functions of the…