Raphael Bousso, Mudassir Moosa

We study the evolution of holographic screens, both generally and in explicit examples, including cosmology and gravitational collapse. A screen $H$ consists of a one-parameter sequence of maximal surfaces called leaves. Its causal structure is nonrelativistic. Each leaf can store all of the quantum information on a corresponding null slice holographically, at no more than one bit per Planck area. Therefore, we expect the screen geometry to reflect certain coarse-grained quantities in the quantum gravity theory. In a given spacetime, there are many different screens, which are naturally associated to different observers. We find that this ambiguity corresponds precisely to the free choice of a single function on $H$. We also consider the background-free construction of $H$, where the spacetime is not given. The evolution equations then constrain aspects of the full spacetime and the screen's embedding in it.

Aaron S. Chou, Richard Gustafson, Craig Hogan, Brittany Kamai, Robert Lanza, Shane L. Larson, Lee McCuller, Stephan S. Meyer, Jonathan Richardson, Chris Stoughton, Raymond Tomlin, Rainer Weiss

A new detector, the Fermilab Holometer, consists of separate yet identical 39-meter Michelson interferometers. Strain sensitivity achieved is better than $10^{-21} /{\sqrt{\rm{Hz}}}$ between 1 to 13 MHz from a 130-hr dataset. This measurement exceeds the sensitivity and frequency range made from previous high frequency gravitational wave experiments by many orders of magnitude. Constraints are placed on a stochastic background at 382 Hz resolution. The 3$\sigma$ upper limit on $\Omega_{\rm{GW}}$, the gravitational wave energy density normalized to the closure density, ranges from $5.6 \times 10^{12}$ at 1 MHz to $8.4 \times 10^{15}$ at 13 MHz. Another result from the same dataset is a search for nearby primordial black hole binaries (PBHB). There are no detectable monochromatic PBHBs in the mass range $0.83$ - $3.5 \times 10^{21}$g between the earth and the moon. Projections for a chirp search with the same dataset increases the mass range to $0.59 - 2.5 \times 10^{25}$g and distances out to Jupiter. This result presents a new method for placing limits on a poorly constrained mass range of primordial black holes. Additionally, solar system searches for PBHBs place limits on their contribution to the total dark matter fraction.

Claudia de Rham, Hayato Motohashi

We study the development of caustics in shift-symmetric scalar field theories by focusing on simple waves with an $SO(p)$-symmetry in an arbitrary number of space dimensions. We show that the Galileon and the DBI-Galileon naturally emerge as the unique set of caustic-free theories, highlighting a link between the caustic-free condition for simple $SO(p)$-waves and the existence of either a global galilean symmetry or a global relativistic galilean symmetry.

Ariel Zhitnitsky

We review a testable dark matter (DM) model outside of the standard WIMP paradigm. The model is unique in a sense that the observed ratio $\Omega_{\rm dark} \simeq \Omega_{\rm visible}$ for visible and dark matter densities finds its natural explanation as a result of their common QCD origin when both types of matter (DM and visible) are formed during the QCD transition and both are proportional to single dimensional parameter of the system, $\Lambda_{\rm QCD}$. We argue that the charge separation effect also inevitably occurs during the same QCD transition in the presence of the $\cal{CP}$ odd axion field $a(x)$. It leads to preferential formation of one species of nuggets on the scales of the visible Universe where the axion field $a(x)$ is coherent. A natural outcome of this preferential evolution is that only one type of the visible baryons (not anti- baryons) remain in the system after the nuggets complete their formation. Unlike conventional WIMP dark matter candidates, the nuggets and anti-nuggets are strongly interacting but macroscopically large objects. The rare events of annihilation of the anti-nuggets with visible matter lead to a number of observable effects. We argue that the relative intensities for a number of measured excesses of emission from the centre of galaxy (covering more than 11 orders of magnitude) are determined by standard and well established physics. At the same time the absolute intensity of emission is determined by a single new fundamental parameter of the theory, the axion mass, $10^{-6} {\rm eV} \lesssim m_a \lesssim 10^{-3}{\rm eV}$. Finally, we comment on implications of these studies for the axion search experiments, including microwave cavity and the Orpheus experiments.

Sourav Bhattacharya, Konstantinos F. Dialektopoulos, Antonio Enea Romano, Constantinos Skordis, Theodore N. Tomaras

The maximum size of a cosmic structure is given by the maximum turnaround radius -- the scale where the attraction due to its mass is balanced by the repulsion due to dark energy. We derive generic formulas for the estimation of the maximum turnaround radius in any theory of gravity obeying the Einstein equivalence principle, in two situations: on a spherically symmetric spacetime and on a perturbed Friedman-Robertson-Walker spacetime. We show that the two formulas agree. As an application of our formula, we calculate the maximum turnaround radius in the case of the Brans-Dicke theory of gravity. We find that for this theory, such maximum sizes always lie above the $\Lambda$CDM value, by a factor $1 + \frac{1}{3\omega}$, where $\omega\gg 1$ is the Brans-Dicke parameter, implying consistency of the theory with current data.

Lixin Xu, Qing-Guo Huang

We propose a new parameterization to measure the neutrino mass hierarchy, namely $\Delta=(m_3-m_1)/(m_1+m_3)$ which is dimensionless and varies in the range $[-1,1]$. Taking into account the results of neutrino oscillation experiments, $\Delta$ is the unique parameter for determining all the masses of neutrinos, and a positive (negative) sign of $\Delta$ denotes the normal (inverted) mass hierarchy. Adopting the currently available cosmic observations, we find that the normal mass hierarchy is slightly favored, and the mass of lightest neutrino is less than $0.030$ eV for the normal mass hierarchy and $0.024$ eV for the inverted mass hierarchy at $95\%$ confidence level.

M. Daprà, M. van der Laan, M. T. Murphy, W. Ubachs

Molecular hydrogen absorption in the damped Lyman-alpha system at z = 2.34 towards quasar Q1232+082 is analyzed in order to derive a constraint on a possible temporal variation of the proton-to-electron mass ratio, mu, over cosmological timescales. Some 106 H2 and HD transitions, covering the range 3290-3726 \AA, are analyzed with a comprehensive fitting technique, allowing for the inclusion of overlapping lines associated with hydrogen molecules, the atomic hydrogen lines in the Lyman-alpha forest as well as metal lines. The absorption model, based on the most recent and accurate rest wavelength for H2 and HD transitions, delivers a value of dmu/mu = (19 +/- 9 +/- 5)x 10^(-6). An attempt to correct the spectrum for possible long-range wavelength distortions is made and the uncertainty on the distortion correction is included in the total systematic uncertainty. The present result is an order of magnitude more stringent than a previous measurement from the analysis of this absorption system, based on a line-by-line comparison of only 12 prominent and isolated H2 absorption lines. This is consistent with other measurements of dmu/mu from 11 other absorption systems in showing a null variation of the proton-to-electron mass ratio over a look-back time of 11 Gyrs.

Tommi Alanne, Francesco Sannino, Tommi Tenkanen, Kimmo Tuominen

We consider inflation within a model framework where the Higgs boson arises as a pseudo-Goldstone boson associated with the breaking of a global symmetry at a scale significantly larger than the electroweak one. We show that in such a model the scalar self-couplings can be parametrically suppressed and, consequently, the non-minimal couplings to gravity can be of order one or less, while the inflationary predictions of the model remain compatible with the precision cosmological observations. Furthermore, in the model we study, the existence of the electroweak scale is entirely due to the inflaton field. Our model therefore suggests that inflation and low energy particle phenomenology may be more entwined than assumed so far.

Michael Zevin, Scott Coughlin, Sara Bahaadini, Emre Besler, Neda Rohani, Sarah Allen, Miriam Cabero, Kevin Crowston, Aggelos Katsaggelos, Shane Larson, Tae Kyoung Lee, Chris Lintott, Tyson Littenberg, Andrew Lundgren, Carsten Oesterlund, Joshua Smith, Laura Trouille, Vicky Kalogera

(abridged for arXiv) With the first direct detection of gravitational waves, the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) has initiated a new field of astronomy by providing an alternate means of sensing the universe. The extreme sensitivity required to make such detections is achieved through exquisite isolation of all sensitive components of LIGO from non-gravitational-wave disturbances. Nonetheless, LIGO is still susceptible to a variety of instrumental and environmental sources of noise that contaminate the data. Of particular concern are noise features known as glitches, which are transient and non-Gaussian in their nature, and occur at a high enough rate so that accidental coincidence between the two LIGO detectors is non-negligible. In this paper we describe an innovative project that combines crowdsourcing with machine learning to aid in the challenging task of categorizing all of the glitches recorded by the LIGO detectors. Through the Zooniverse platform, we engage and recruit volunteers from the public to categorize images of glitches into pre-identified morphological classes and to discover new classes that appear as the detectors evolve. In addition, machine learning algorithms are used to categorize images after being trained on human-classified examples of the morphological classes. Leveraging the strengths of both classification methods, we create a combined method with the aim of improving the efficiency and accuracy of each individual classifier. The resulting classification and characterization should help LIGO scientists to identify causes of glitches and subsequently eliminate them from the data or the detector entirely, thereby improving the rate and accuracy of gravitational-wave observations. We demonstrate these methods using a small subset of data from LIGO's first observing run.

Anton V. Sokolov, Maxim S. Pshirkov

In the theories with extra dimensions the higher-dimensional Planck mass could be as small as 1 TeV, that entails the possibility that a considerable amount of microscopic black holes can be produced during runs of future high energy colliders. According to the laws of quantum theory, these black holes are supposed to evaporate immediately; however, due to the lack of the experimental data confirming this process as well as in absence of a reliable theory of quantum gravity, for the exhaustive analysis of safety one has to consider the worst case in which the micro black holes could be stable. In this paper we consider the theories with the different number of extra dimensions and deduce which of them yield Earth's accretion times smaller than the lifetime of the Solar system. We calculate the cross sections of the black hole production at the 100 TeV collider, the fraction of the black holes trapped inside the Earth and the resulting rate of production. We study the astrophysical consequences of stable micro black holes existence, in particular its influence on the stability of white dwarfs and neutron stars. Several mechanisms of the micro black hole production, which were not considered before, are taken into account. Finally, using the astrophysical constraints we derive expected number of 'dangerous' black holes from the future 100 TeV terrestrial experiments.