Proca stars: Gravitating Bose–Einstein condensates of massive spin 1 particles
We establish that massive complex Abelian vector fields (mass μ) can form gravitating solitons, when minimally coupled to Einstein's gravity. Such Proca stars (PSs) have a stationary, everywhere regular and asymptotically flat geometry. The Proca field, however, possesses a harmonic time depend...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2016-01-01
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| Series: | Physics Letters B |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269315009077 |
| _version_ | 1811192445965172736 |
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| author | Richard Brito Vitor Cardoso Carlos A.R. Herdeiro Eugen Radu |
| author_facet | Richard Brito Vitor Cardoso Carlos A.R. Herdeiro Eugen Radu |
| author_sort | Richard Brito |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We establish that massive complex Abelian vector fields (mass μ) can form gravitating solitons, when minimally coupled to Einstein's gravity. Such Proca stars (PSs) have a stationary, everywhere regular and asymptotically flat geometry. The Proca field, however, possesses a harmonic time dependence (frequency w), realizing Wheeler's concept of geons for an Abelian spin 1 field. We obtain PSs with both a spherically symmetric (static) and an axially symmetric (stationary) line element. The latter form a countable number of families labelled by an integer m∈Z+. PSs, like (scalar) boson stars, carry a conserved Noether charge, and are akin to the latter in many ways. In particular, both types of stars exist for a limited range of frequencies and there is a maximal ADM mass, Mmax, attained for an intermediate frequency. For spherically symmetric PSs (rotating PSs with m=1,2,3), Mmax≃1.058MPl2/μ (Mmax≃1.568,2.337,3.247MPl2/μ), slightly larger values than those for (mini-)boson stars. We establish perturbative stability for a subset of solutions in the spherical case and anticipate a similar conclusion for fundamental modes in the rotating case. The discovery of PSs opens many avenues of research, reconsidering five decades of work on (scalar) boson stars, in particular as possible dark matter candidates. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T23:53:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1efa0baf60514792b2426a3179e20996 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0370-2693 1873-2445 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T23:53:44Z |
| publishDate | 2016-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Physics Letters B |
| spelling | doaj.art-1efa0baf60514792b2426a3179e209962022-12-22T03:56:25ZengElsevierPhysics Letters B0370-26931873-24452016-01-01752C29129510.1016/j.physletb.2015.11.051Proca stars: Gravitating Bose–Einstein condensates of massive spin 1 particlesRichard Brito0Vitor Cardoso1Carlos A.R. Herdeiro2Eugen Radu3CENTRA, Departamento de Física, Instituto Superior Técnico – IST, Universidade de Lisboa – UL, Avenida Rovisco Pais 1, 1049, Lisboa, PortugalCENTRA, Departamento de Física, Instituto Superior Técnico – IST, Universidade de Lisboa – UL, Avenida Rovisco Pais 1, 1049, Lisboa, PortugalDepartamento de Física da Universidade de Aveiro and CIDMA, Campus de Santiago, 3810-183 Aveiro, PortugalDepartamento de Física da Universidade de Aveiro and CIDMA, Campus de Santiago, 3810-183 Aveiro, PortugalWe establish that massive complex Abelian vector fields (mass μ) can form gravitating solitons, when minimally coupled to Einstein's gravity. Such Proca stars (PSs) have a stationary, everywhere regular and asymptotically flat geometry. The Proca field, however, possesses a harmonic time dependence (frequency w), realizing Wheeler's concept of geons for an Abelian spin 1 field. We obtain PSs with both a spherically symmetric (static) and an axially symmetric (stationary) line element. The latter form a countable number of families labelled by an integer m∈Z+. PSs, like (scalar) boson stars, carry a conserved Noether charge, and are akin to the latter in many ways. In particular, both types of stars exist for a limited range of frequencies and there is a maximal ADM mass, Mmax, attained for an intermediate frequency. For spherically symmetric PSs (rotating PSs with m=1,2,3), Mmax≃1.058MPl2/μ (Mmax≃1.568,2.337,3.247MPl2/μ), slightly larger values than those for (mini-)boson stars. We establish perturbative stability for a subset of solutions in the spherical case and anticipate a similar conclusion for fundamental modes in the rotating case. The discovery of PSs opens many avenues of research, reconsidering five decades of work on (scalar) boson stars, in particular as possible dark matter candidates.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269315009077 |
| spellingShingle | Richard Brito Vitor Cardoso Carlos A.R. Herdeiro Eugen Radu Proca stars: Gravitating Bose–Einstein condensates of massive spin 1 particles Physics Letters B |
| title | Proca stars: Gravitating Bose–Einstein condensates of massive spin 1 particles |
| title_full | Proca stars: Gravitating Bose–Einstein condensates of massive spin 1 particles |
| title_fullStr | Proca stars: Gravitating Bose–Einstein condensates of massive spin 1 particles |
| title_full_unstemmed | Proca stars: Gravitating Bose–Einstein condensates of massive spin 1 particles |
| title_short | Proca stars: Gravitating Bose–Einstein condensates of massive spin 1 particles |
| title_sort | proca stars gravitating bose einstein condensates of massive spin 1 particles |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269315009077 |
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