Acceleration of particles as universal property of rotating black holes

We argue that the possibility of having infinite energy in the centre of mass frame of colliding particles is a generic property of rotating black holes. We suggest a general model-independent derivation valid for "dirty" black holes. The earlier observations for the Kerr or Kerr-Newman metrics are confirmed and generalized.Comment: 9 pages. Discussion expande

Static black holes in equilibrium with matter: nonlinear equation of state

We consider a spherically symmetric black hole in equilibrium with surrounding classical matter that is characterized by a nonlinear dependence of the radial pressure p_{r} on the density {\rho}. We examine under which requirements such an equilibrium is possible. It is shown that if the radial and transverse pressures are equal (Pascal perfect fluid), equation of state should be approximately linear near the horizon. The corresponding restriction on ((dp_{r})/(d{\rho})) is a direct generalization of the result, previously found for an exactly linear equation of state. In the anisotropic case there is no restriction on equation of state but the horizon should be simple (nondegenerate).Comment: 6 pages. To appear in PRD

Unified approach to the entropy of an extremal rotating BTZ black hole: Thin shells and horizon limits

Using a thin shell, the first law of thermodynamics, and a unified approach, we study the thermodymanics and find the entropy of a (2+1)-dimensional extremal rotating Ba\~{n}ados-Teitelbom-Zanelli (BTZ) black hole. The shell in (2+1) dimensions, i.e., a ring, is taken to be circularly symmetric and rotating, with the inner region being a ground state of the anti-de Sitter (AdS) spacetime and the outer region being the rotating BTZ spacetime. The extremal BTZ rotating black hole can be obtained in three different ways depending on the way the shell approaches its own gravitational or horizon radius. These ways are explicitly worked out. The resulting three cases give that the BTZ black hole entropy is either the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy, $S=\frac{A_+}{4G}$, or it is an arbitrary function of $A_+$, $S=S(A_+)$, where $A_+=2\pi r_+$ is the area, i.e., the perimeter, of the event horizon in (2+1) dimensions. We speculate that the entropy of an extremal black hole should obey $0\leq S(A_+)\leq\frac{A_+}{4G}$. We also show that the contributions from the various thermodynamic quantities, namely, the mass, the circular velocity, and the temperature, for the entropy in all three cases are distinct. This study complements the previous studies in thin shell thermodynamics and entropy for BTZ black holes. It also corroborates the results found for a (3+1)-dimensional extremal electrically charged Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole.Comment: 8 pages, 1 table, no figur

Horizons in matter: black hole hair vs. Null Big Bang

It is shown that only particular kinds of matter (in terms of the "radial" pressure to density ratio $w$) can coexist with Killing horizons in black-hole or cosmological space-times. Thus, for arbitrary (not necessarily spherically symmetric) static black holes, admissible are vacuum matter ($w=-1$, i.e., the cosmological constant or some its generalization) and matter with certain values of $w$ between 0 and -1, in particular, a gas of disordered cosmic strings ($w=-1/3$). If the cosmological evolution starts from a horizon (the so-called Null Big Bang scenarios), this horizon can co-exist with vacuum matter and certain kinds of phantom matter with $w\geq -3$. It is concluded that normal matter in such scenarios is entirely created from vacuum.Comment: 4 pages, essay written for the Gravity Research Foundation 2009 Awards for Essays on Gravitation, awarded a honorable mentio

Quasiblack holes with pressure: General exact results

A quasiblack hole is an object in which its boundary is situated at a surface called the quasihorizon, defined by its own gravitational radius. We elucidate under which conditions a quasiblack hole can form under the presence of matter with nonzero pressure. It is supposed that in the outer region an extremal quasihorizon forms, whereas inside, the quasihorizon can be either nonextremal or extremal. It is shown that in both cases, nonextremal or extremal inside, a well-defined quasiblack hole always admits a continuous pressure at its own quasihorizon. Both the nonextremal and extremal cases inside can be divided into two situations, one in which there is no electromagnetic field, and the other in which there is an electromagnetic field. The situation with no electromagnetic field requires a negative matter pressure (tension) on the boundary. On the other hand, the situation with an electromagnetic field demands zero matter pressure on the boundary. So in this situation an electrified quasiblack hole can be obtained by the gradual compactification of a relativistic star with the usual zero pressure boundary condition. For the nonextremal case inside the density necessarily acquires a jump on the boundary, a fact with no harmful consequences whatsoever, whereas for the extremal case the density is continuous at the boundary. For the extremal case inside we also state and prove the proposition that such a quasiblack hole cannot be made from phantom matter at the quasihorizon. The regularity condition for the extremal case, but not for the nonextremal one, can be obtained from the known regularity condition for usual black holes.Comment: 18 pages, no figures; improved introduction, added references, calculations better explaine

Entropy of an extremal electrically charged thin shell and the extremal black hole

There is a debate as to what is the value of the the entropy $S$ of extremal black holes. There are approaches that yield zero entropy $S=0$, while there are others that yield the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy $S=A_+/4$, in Planck units. There are still other approaches that give that $S$ is proportional to $r_+$ or even that $S$ is a generic well-behaved function of $r_+$. Here $r_+$ is the black hole horizon radius and $A_+=4\pi r_+^2$ is its horizon area. Using a spherically symmetric thin matter shell with extremal electric charge, we find the entropy expression for the extremal thin shell spacetime. When the shell's radius approaches its own gravitational radius, and thus turns into an extremal black hole, we encounter that the entropy is $S=S(r_+)$, i.e., the entropy of an extremal black hole is a function of $r_+$ alone. We speculate that the range of values for an extremal black hole is $0\leq S(r_+) \leq A_+/4$.Comment: 11 pages, minor changes, added references, matches the published versio