Gravitational Higgs mechanism in neutron star interiors

Coates, Andrew; Horbatsch, Michael W.; Sotiriou, Thomas P.

Abstract

We suggest that nonminimally coupled scalar fields can lead to modifications of the microphysics in the interiors of relativistic stars. As a concrete example, we consider the generation of a non-zero photon mass in such high-density environments. This is achieved by means of a light gravitational scalar, and the scalarization phase transition in scalar-tensor theories of gravitation. Two distinct models are presented, and phenomenological implications are briefly discussed.

Citation

Coates, A., Horbatsch, M. W., & Sotiriou, T. P. (2017). Gravitational Higgs mechanism in neutron star interiors. Physical Review D, 95(8), Article 084003. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.95.084003

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 10, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Apr 4, 2017
• Publication Date: Apr 15, 2017
• Deposit Date: Apr 7, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 7, 2017
• Journal: Physical Review D
• Print ISSN: 2470-0010
• Electronic ISSN: 2470-0029
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 95
• Issue: 8
• Article Number: 084003
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.95.084003
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/856104
• Publisher URL: https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.95.084003
• Additional Information: Gravitational Higgs mechanism in neutron star interiors.; Andrew Coates, Michael W. Horbatsch, and Thomas P. Sotiriou; Phys. Rev. D 95, 084003.