293 research outputs found
The Quasinormal Mode Spectrum of a Kerr Black Hole in the Eikonal Limit
It is well established that the response of a black hole to a generic
perturbation is characterized by a spectrum of damped resonances, called
quasinormal modes; and that, in the limit of large angular momentum (), the quasinormal mode frequency spectrum is related to the properties of
unstable null orbits. In this paper we develop an expansion method to explore
the link. We obtain new closed-form approximations for the lightly-damped part
of the spectrum in the large- regime. We confirm that, at leading order in
, the resonance frequency is linked to the orbital frequency, and the
resonance damping to the Lyapunov exponent, of the relevant null orbit. We go
somewhat further than previous studies to establish (i) a spin-dependent
correction to the frequency at order for equatorial ()
modes, and (ii) a new result for polar modes (). We validate the
approach by testing the closed-form approximations against frequencies obtained
numerically with Leaver's method.Comment: 18 pages, 3 tables, 3 figure
Self-force of a scalar field for circular orbits about a Schwarzschild black hole
The foundations are laid for the numerical computation of the actual
worldline for a particle orbiting a black hole and emitting gravitational
waves. The essential practicalities of this computation are here illustrated
for a scalar particle of infinitesimal size and small but finite scalar charge.
This particle deviates from a geodesic because it interacts with its own
retarded field \psi^\ret. A recently introduced Green's function G^\SS
precisely determines the singular part, \psi^\SS, of the retarded field. This
part exerts no force on the particle. The remainder of the field \psi^\R =
\psi^\ret - \psi^\SS is a vacuum solution of the field equation and is
entirely responsible for the self-force. A particular, locally inertial
coordinate system is used to determine an expansion of \psi^\SS in the
vicinity of the particle. For a particle in a circular orbit in the
Schwarzschild geometry, the mode-sum decomposition of the difference between
\psi^\ret and the dominant terms in the expansion of \psi^\SS provide a
mode-sum decomposition of an approximation for from which the
self-force is obtained. When more terms are included in the expansion, the
approximation for is increasingly differentiable, and the mode-sum
for the self-force converges more rapidly.Comment: RevTex, 31 pages, 1 figure, modified abstract, more details of
numerical method
Canonical Quantization of the Electromagnetic Field on the Kerr Background
We investigate the canonical quantization of the electromagnetic field on the
Kerr background. We give new expressions for the expectation value of the
electromagnetic stress-energy tensor in various vacua states and give a
physical interpretation of the separate terms appearing in them. We numerically
calculate the luminosity in these states. We also study the form of the
renormalized stress-energy tensor close to the horizon when the electromagnetic
field is in the past Boulware state.Comment: 27 zipped, postscript figure file
The Extreme Kerr Throat Geometry: A Vacuum Analog of AdS_2 x S^2
We study the near horizon limit of a four dimensional extreme rotating black
hole. The limiting metric is a completely nonsingular vacuum solution, with an
enhanced symmetry group SL(2,R) x U(1). We show that many of the properties of
this solution are similar to the AdS_2 x S^2 geometry arising in the near
horizon limit of extreme charged black holes. In particular, the boundary at
infinity is a timelike surface. This suggests the possibility of a dual quantum
mechanical description. A five dimensional generalization is also discussed.Comment: 21 page
Spacetime Symmetries and Kepler's Third Law
The curved spacetime geometry of a system of two point masses moving on a
circular orbit has a helical symmetry. We show how Kepler's third law for
circular motion, and its generalization in post-Newtonian theory, can be
recovered from a simple, covariant condition on the norm of the associated
helical Killing vector field. This unusual derivation can be used to illustrate
some concepts of prime importance in a general relativity course, including
those of Killing field, covariance, coordinate dependence, and gravitational
redshift.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures; minor changes and text improvements; matches
version to appear in Class. Quant. Gra
The scalar perturbation of the higher-dimensional rotating black holes
The massless scalar field in the higher-dimensional Kerr black hole (Myers-
Perry solution with a single rotation axis) has been investigated. It has been
shown that the field equation is separable in arbitrary dimensions. The
quasi-normal modes of the scalar field have been searched in five dimensions
using the continued fraction method. The numerical result shows the evidence
for the stability of the scalar perturbation of the five-dimensional Kerr black
holes. The time scale of the resonant oscillation in the rapidly rotating black
hole, in which case the horizon radius becomes small, is characterized by
(black hole mass)^{1/2}(Planck mass)^{-3/2} rather than the light-crossing time
of the horizon.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, revised versio
Asymptotically Matched Spacetime Metric for Non-Precessing, Spinning Black Hole Binaries
We construct a closed-form, fully analytical 4-metric that approximately
represents the spacetime evolution of non-precessing, spinning black hole
binaries from infinite separations up to a few orbits prior to merger. We
employ the technique of asymptotic matching to join a perturbed Kerr metric in
the neighborhood of each spinning black hole to a near-zone, post-Newtonian
metric farther out. The latter is already naturally matched to a far-zone,
post-Minkowskian metric that accounts for full temporal retardation. The result
is a 4-metric that is approximately valid everywhere in space and in a small
bundle of spatial hypersurfaces. We here restrict our attention to quasi-
circular orbits, but the method is valid for any orbital motion or physical
scenario, provided an overlapping region of validity or buffer zone exists. A
simple extension of such a metric will allow for future studies of the
accretion disk and jet dynamics around spinning back hole binaries
A detailed study of quasinormal frequencies of the Kerr black hole
We compute the quasinormal frequencies of the Kerr black hole using a
continued fraction method. The continued fraction method first proposed by
Leaver is still the only known method stable and accurate for the numerical
determination of the Kerr quasinormal frequencies. We numerically obtain not
only the slowly but also the rapidly damped quasinormal frequencies and analyze
the peculiar behavior of these frequencies at the Kerr limit. We also calculate
the algebraically special frequency first identified by Chandrasekhar and
confirm that it coincide with the quasinormal frequency only at the
Schwarzschild limit.Comment: REVTEX, 15 pages, 7 eps figure
Brane Decay of a (4+n)-Dimensional Rotating Black Hole. II: spin-1 particles
The present works complements and expands a previous one, focused on the
emission of scalar fields by a (4+n)-dimensional rotating black hole on the
brane, by studying the emission of gauge fields on the brane from a similar
black hole. A comprehensive analysis of the particle, energy and angular
momentum emission rates is undertaken, for arbitrary angular momentum of the
black hole and dimensionality of spacetime. Our analysis reveals the existence
of a number of distinct features associated with the emission of spin-1 fields
from a rotating black hole on the brane, such as the behaviour and magnitude of
the different emission rates, the angular distribution of particles and energy,
the relative enhancement compared to the scalar fields, and the magnitude of
the superradiance effect. Apart from their theoretical interest, these features
can comprise clear signatures of the emission of Hawking radiation from a
brane-world black hole during its spin-down phase upon successful detection of
this effect during an experiment.Comment: 35 pages, 19 figures, Latex fil
Analytic approximations, perturbation methods, and their applications
The paper summarizes the parallel session B3 {\em Analytic approximations,
perturbation methods, and their applications} of the GR18 conference. The talks
in the session reported notably recent advances in black hole perturbations and
post-Newtonian approximations as applied to sources of gravitational waves.Comment: Summary of the B3 parallel session of the GR18 conferenc
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