Constructing neutron stars with a gravitational Higgs mechanism
In scalar-tensor theories, spontaneous scalarization is a phase transition that can occur in ultradense environments such as neutron stars. The scalar field develops a non-trivial configuration once the stars exceeds a compactness threshold. We recently pointed out that, if the scalar exhibits some...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Physical Society
2018
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/51107/ |
| _version_ | 1848798418154029056 |
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| author | Franchini, Nicola Coates, Andrew Sotiriou, Thomas P. |
| author_facet | Franchini, Nicola Coates, Andrew Sotiriou, Thomas P. |
| author_sort | Franchini, Nicola |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | In scalar-tensor theories, spontaneous scalarization is a phase transition that can occur in ultradense environments such as neutron stars. The scalar field develops a non-trivial configuration once the stars exceeds a compactness threshold. We recently pointed out that, if the scalar exhibits some additional coupling to matter, it could give rise to significantly different microphysics in these environments. In this work we study, at the non-perturbative level, a toy model in which the photon is given a large mass when spontaneous scalarization occurs. Our results demonstrate clearly the effectiveness of spontaneous scalarization as a Higgs-like mechanism in neutron stars. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:19:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-51107 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:19:27Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-511072018-04-13T18:11:36Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/51107/ Constructing neutron stars with a gravitational Higgs mechanism Franchini, Nicola Coates, Andrew Sotiriou, Thomas P. In scalar-tensor theories, spontaneous scalarization is a phase transition that can occur in ultradense environments such as neutron stars. The scalar field develops a non-trivial configuration once the stars exceeds a compactness threshold. We recently pointed out that, if the scalar exhibits some additional coupling to matter, it could give rise to significantly different microphysics in these environments. In this work we study, at the non-perturbative level, a toy model in which the photon is given a large mass when spontaneous scalarization occurs. Our results demonstrate clearly the effectiveness of spontaneous scalarization as a Higgs-like mechanism in neutron stars. American Physical Society 2018-03-15 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/51107/1/1708.02113%20%281%29.pdf Franchini, Nicola, Coates, Andrew and Sotiriou, Thomas P. (2018) Constructing neutron stars with a gravitational Higgs mechanism. Physical Review D, 97 (6). 064013. ISSN 2470-0010 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.97.064013 doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.97.064013 doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.97.064013 |
| spellingShingle | Franchini, Nicola Coates, Andrew Sotiriou, Thomas P. Constructing neutron stars with a gravitational Higgs mechanism |
| title | Constructing neutron stars with a gravitational Higgs mechanism |
| title_full | Constructing neutron stars with a gravitational Higgs mechanism |
| title_fullStr | Constructing neutron stars with a gravitational Higgs mechanism |
| title_full_unstemmed | Constructing neutron stars with a gravitational Higgs mechanism |
| title_short | Constructing neutron stars with a gravitational Higgs mechanism |
| title_sort | constructing neutron stars with a gravitational higgs mechanism |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/51107/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/51107/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/51107/ |