Mass loss and longevity of gravitationally bound oscillating scalar lumps (oscillatons) in D dimensions

Spherically symmetric oscillatons (also referred to as oscillating soliton stars) i.e. gravitationally bound oscillating scalar lumps are considered in theories containing a massive self-interacting real scalar field coupled to Einstein’s gravity in 1+D dimensional spacetimes. Oscillations are know...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Fodor, Gyula, Forgacs, Peter, Mezei, Mark Koppany
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Theoretical Physics
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: American Physical Society 2010
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/58595
Description
Summary:Spherically symmetric oscillatons (also referred to as oscillating soliton stars) i.e. gravitationally bound oscillating scalar lumps are considered in theories containing a massive self-interacting real scalar field coupled to Einstein’s gravity in 1+D dimensional spacetimes. Oscillations are known to decay by emitting scalar radiation with a characteristic time scale which is, however, extremely long, it can be comparable even to the lifetime of our universe. In the limit when the central density (or amplitude) of the oscillaton tends to zero (small-amplitude limit) a method is introduced to compute the transcendentally small amplitude of the outgoing waves. The results are illustrated in detail on the simplest case, a single massive free scalar field coupled to gravity.