Nonexistence of conformally flat slices of the Kerr spacetime

Initial data for black hole collisions are commonly generated using the Bowen-York approach based on conformally flat 3-geometries. The standard (constant Boyer-Lindquist time) spatial slices of the Kerr spacetime are not conformally flat, so that use of the Bowen-York approach is limited in dealing with rotating holes. We investigate here whether there exist foliations of the Kerr spacetime that are conformally flat. We limit our considerations to foliations that are axisymmetric and that smoothly reduce in the Schwarzschild limit to slices of constant Schwarzschild time. With these restrictions, we show that no conformally flat slices can exist.Comment: 5 LaTeX pages; no figures; to be submitted to Phys. Rev.

Dipole Perturbations of the Reissner-Nordstrom Solution: The Polar Case

The formalism developed by Chandrasekhar for the linear polar perturbations of the Reissner-Nordstrom solution is generalized to include the case of dipole (l=1) perturbations. Then, the perturbed metric coefficients and components of the Maxwell tensor are computed.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, no figures. Submitted for publication in Physical Review

Are physical objects necessarily burnt up by the blue sheet inside a black hole?

The electromagnetic radiation that falls into a Reissner-Nordstrom black hole develops a ``blue sheet'' of infinite energy density at the Cauchy horizon. We consider classical electromagnetic fields (that were produced during the collapse and then backscattered into the black hole), and investigate the blue-sheet effects of these fields on infalling objects within a simplified model. These effects are found to be finite and even negligible for typical parameters.Comment: 13 pages, ordinary LaTex. Accepted for Physical Review Letters

A gravitational memory effect in "boosted" black hole perturbation theory

Black hole perturbation theory, or more generally, perturbation theory on a Schwarzschild bockground, has been applied in several contexts, but usually under the simplifying assumption that the ADM momentum vanishes, namely, that the evolution is carried out and observed in the ``center of momentum frame''. In this paper we consider some consequences of the inclusion of a non vanishing ADM momentum in the initial data. We first provide a justification for the validity of the transformation of the initial data to the ``center of momentum frame'', and then analyze the effect of this transformation on the gravitational wave amplitude. The most significant result is the possibility of a type of gravitational memory effect that appears to have no simple relation with the well known Christodoulou effect.Comment: REVTexIV, 15 pages, 2 EPS figure

The collision of two slowly rotating, initially non boosted, black holes in the close limit

We study the collision of two slowly rotating, initially non boosted, black holes in the close limit. A ``punctures'' modification of the Bowen - York method is used to construct conformally flat initial data appropriate to the problem. We keep only the lowest nontrivial orders capable of giving rise to radiation of both gravitational energy and angular momentum. We show that even with these simplifications an extension to higher orders of the linear Regge-Wheeler-Zerilli black hole perturbation theory, is required to deal with the evolution equations of the leading contributing multipoles. This extension is derived, together with appropriate extensions of the Regge-Wheeler and Zerilli equations. The data is numerically evolved using these equations, to obtain the asymptotic gravitational wave forms and amplitudes. Expressions for the radiated gravitational energy and angular momentum are derived and used together with the results of the numerical evolution to provide quantitative expressions for the relative contribution of different terms, and their significance is analyzed.Comment: revtex, 18 pages, 2 figures. Misprints corrected. To be published in Phys. Rev.

Massive fields tend to form highly oscillating self-similarly expanding shells

The time evolution of self-interacting spherically symmetric scalar fields in Minkowski spacetime is investigated based on the use of Green's theorem. It is shown that a massive Klein-Gordon field can be characterized by the formation of certain expanding shell structures where all the shells are built up by very high frequency oscillations. This oscillation is found to be modulated by the product of a simple time decaying factor of the form $t^{-{3}/{2}}$ and of an essentially self-similar expansion. Apart from this self-similar expansion the developed shell structure is preserved by the evolution. In particular, the energy transported by each shell appears to be time independent.Comment: 10 pages, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Asymptotic power-law tails of massive scalar fields in Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m background

We investigate dominant late-time tail behaviors of massive scalar fields in nearly extreme Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m background. It is shown that the oscillatory tail of the scalar fields has the decay rate of $t^{-5/6}$ at asymptotically late times. The physical mechanism by which the asymptotic $t^{-5/6}$ tail yields and the relation between the field mass and the time scale when the tail begins to dominate, are discussed in terms of resonance backscattering due to spacetime curvature.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Universality of massive scalar field late-time tails in black-hole spacetimes

The late-time tails of a massive scalar field in the spacetime of black holes are studied numerically. Previous analytical results for a Schwarzschild black hole are confirmed: The late-time behavior of the field as recorded by a static observer is given by $\psi(t)\sim t^{-5/6}\sin [\omega (t)\times t]$, where $\omega(t)$ depends weakly on time. This result is carried over to the case of a Kerr black hole. In particular, it is found that the power-law index of -5/6 depends on neither the multipole mode $\ell$ nor on the spin rate of the black hole $a/M$. In all black hole spacetimes, massive scalar fields have the same late-time behavior irrespective of their initial data (i.e., angular distribution). Their late-time behavior is universal.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures, published versio

A Linear-Nonlinear Formulation of Einstein Equations for the Two-Body Problem in General Relativity

A formulation of Einstein equations is presented that could yield advantages in the study of collisions of binary compact objects during regimes between linear-nonlinear transitions. The key idea behind this formulation is a separation of the dynamical variables into i) a fixed conformal 3-geometry, ii) a conformal factor possessing nonlinear dynamics and iii) transverse-traceless perturbations of the conformal 3-geometry.Comment: 7 pages, no figure

Towards a formalism for mapping the spacetimes of massive compact objects: Bumpy black holes and their orbits

Observations have established that extremely compact, massive objects are common in the universe. It is generally accepted that these objects are black holes. As observations improve, it becomes possible to test this hypothesis in ever greater detail. In particular, it is or will be possible to measure the properties of orbits deep in the strong field of a black hole candidate (using x-ray timing or with gravitational-waves) and to test whether they have the characteristics of black hole orbits in general relativity. Such measurements can be used to map the spacetime of a massive compact object, testing whether the object's multipoles satisfy the strict constraints of the black hole hypothesis. Such a test requires that we compare against objects with the ``wrong'' multipole structure. In this paper, we present tools for constructing bumpy black holes: objects that are almost black holes, but that have some multipoles with the wrong value. The spacetimes which we present are good deep into the strong field of the object -- we do not use a large r expansion, except to make contact with weak field intuition. Also, our spacetimes reduce to the black hole spacetimes of general relativity when the ``bumpiness'' is set to zero. We propose bumpy black holes as the foundation for a null experiment: if black hole candidates are the black holes of general relativity, their bumpiness should be zero. By comparing orbits in a bumpy spacetime with those of an astrophysical source, observations should be able to test this hypothesis, stringently testing whether they are the black holes of general relativity. (Abridged)Comment: 16 pages + 2 appendices + 3 figures. Submitted to PR