775 research outputs found
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 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 at
asymptotically late times. The physical mechanism by which the asymptotic
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 , where
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 nor on the spin rate of the black
hole . 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
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