2019/03/31 by Luca Buoninfante, Anupam Mazumdar
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Classical mechanics #Context (archaeology) #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Event horizon #General relativity #Gravitation #Gravitational collapse #Graviton #Mathematical physics #Naked singularity #Physics #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Quantum mechanics #RADIUS #Schwarzschild metric #Schwarzschild radius #Spacetime #Star (game theory) #Stars #astro-ph.CO #gr-qc #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.100.024031
published as Phys. Rev. D 100, 024031 (2019) · 12 pages. V2: references added, typos fixed. V3: accepted for publication in PRD
arxiv created 2019/07/01 · openalex publication_date 2019/07/15 · arxiv updated 2019/07/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
In the context of ghost-free, infinite derivative gravity, we provide a quantum mechanical framework in which we can describe astrophysical objects devoid of curvature singularity and event horizon. In order to avoid ghosts and singularity, the gravitational interaction has to be nonlocal; therefore, we call these objects nonlocal stars. Quantum mechanically a nonlocal star is a self-gravitational bound system of many gravitons interacting nonlocally. Outside the nonlocal star the spacetime is well described by the Schwarzschild metric, while inside we have a nonvacuum spacetime metric which tends to be conformally flat at the origin. Remarkably, in the most compact scenario the radius of a nonlocal star is of the same order of the Buchdahl limit, therefore slightly larger than the Schwarzschild radius, such that there can exist a photosphere. These objects live longer than a Schwarzschild blackhole and they are very good absorbers, due to the fact that the number of available states is larger than that of a blackhole. As a result nonlocal stars can not only be excellent blackhole mimickers, but can also be considered as dark matter candidates. In particular, nonlocal stars with masses below 1014 g can be made stable compared to the age of the Universe.