50 research outputs found
Stability study of a model for the Klein-Gordon equation in Kerr spacetime
The current early stage in the investigation of the stability of the Kerr
metric is characterized by the study of appropriate model problems.
Particularly interesting is the problem of the stability of the solutions of
the Klein-Gordon equation, describing the propagation of a scalar field of mass
in the background of a rotating black hole. Rigorous results proof the
stability of the reduced, by separation in the azimuth angle in Boyer-Lindquist
coordinates, field for sufficiently large masses. Some, but not all, numerical
investigations find instability of the reduced field for rotational parameters
extremely close to 1. Among others, the paper derives a model problem for
the equation which supports the instability of the field down to .Comment: Updated version, after minor change
Gravitational Waves from Gravitational Collapse
Gravitational wave emission from the gravitational collapse of massive stars
has been studied for more than three decades. Current state of the art
numerical investigations of collapse include those that use progenitors with
realistic angular momentum profiles, properly treat microphysics issues,
account for general relativity, and examine non--axisymmetric effects in three
dimensions. Such simulations predict that gravitational waves from various
phenomena associated with gravitational collapse could be detectable with
advanced ground--based and future space--based interferometric observatories.Comment: 68 pages including 13 figures; revised version accepted for
publication in Living Reviews in Relativity (http://www.livingreviews.org
Binary and Millisecond Pulsars at the New Millennium
We review the properties and applications of binary and millisecond pulsars.
Our knowledge of these exciting objects has greatly increased in recent years,
mainly due to successful surveys which have brought the known pulsar population
to over 1300. There are now 56 binary and millisecond pulsars in the Galactic
disk and a further 47 in globular clusters. This review is concerned primarily
with the results and spin-offs from these surveys which are of particular
interest to the relativity community.Comment: 59 pages, 26 figures, 5 tables. Accepted for publication in Living
Reviews in Relativity (http://www.livingreviews.org
Gravitational waves from single neutron stars: an advanced detector era survey
With the doors beginning to swing open on the new gravitational wave
astronomy, this review provides an up-to-date survey of the most important
physical mechanisms that could lead to emission of potentially detectable
gravitational radiation from isolated and accreting neutron stars. In
particular we discuss the gravitational wave-driven instability and
asteroseismology formalism of the f- and r-modes, the different ways that a
neutron star could form and sustain a non-axisymmetric quadrupolar "mountain"
deformation, the excitation of oscillations during magnetar flares and the
possible gravitational wave signature of pulsar glitches. We focus on progress
made in the recent years in each topic, make a fresh assessment of the
gravitational wave detectability of each mechanism and, finally, highlight key
problems and desiderata for future work.Comment: 39 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables. Chapter of the book "Physics and
Astrophysics of Neutron Stars", NewCompStar COST Action 1304. Minor
corrections to match published versio
Motion in classical field theories and the foundations of the self-force problem
This article serves as a pedagogical introduction to the problem of motion in
classical field theories. The primary focus is on self-interaction: How does an
object's own field affect its motion? General laws governing the self-force and
self-torque are derived using simple, non-perturbative arguments. The relevant
concepts are developed gradually by considering motion in a series of
increasingly complicated theories. Newtonian gravity is discussed first, then
Klein-Gordon theory, electromagnetism, and finally general relativity. Linear
and angular momenta as well as centers of mass are defined in each of these
cases. Multipole expansions for the force and torque are then derived to all
orders for arbitrarily self-interacting extended objects. These expansions are
found to be structurally identical to the laws of motion satisfied by extended
test bodies, except that all relevant fields are replaced by effective versions
which exclude the self-fields in a particular sense. Regularization methods
traditionally associated with self-interacting point particles arise as
straightforward perturbative limits of these (more fundamental) results.
Additionally, generic mechanisms are discussed which dynamically shift ---
i.e., renormalize --- the apparent multipole moments associated with
self-interacting extended bodies. Although this is primarily a synthesis of
earlier work, several new results and interpretations are included as well.Comment: 68 pages, 1 figur
Exploring new physics frontiers through numerical relativity
The demand to obtain answers to highly complex problems within strong-field gravity has been met with significant progress in the numerical solution of Einstein's equations - along with some spectacular results - in various setups. We review techniques for solving Einstein's equations in generic spacetimes, focusing on fully nonlinear evolutions but also on how to benchmark those results with perturbative approaches. The results address problems in high-energy physics, holography, mathematical physics, fundamental physics, astrophysics and cosmology
Rotating Stars in Relativity
Rotating relativistic stars have been studied extensively in recent years,
both theoretically and observationally, because of the information one could
obtain about the equation of state of matter at extremely high densities and
because they are considered to be promising sources of gravitational waves. The
latest theoretical understanding of rotating stars in relativity is reviewed in
this updated article. The sections on the equilibrium properties and on the
nonaxisymmetric instabilities in f-modes and r-modes have been updated and
several new sections have been added on analytic solutions for the exterior
spacetime, rotating stars in LMXBs, rotating strange stars, and on rotating
stars in numerical relativity.Comment: 101 pages, 18 figures. The full online-readable version of this
article, including several animations, will be published in Living Reviews in
Relativity at http://www.livingreviews.org
Binary and Millisecond Pulsars
We review the main properties, demographics and applications of binary and
millisecond radio pulsars. Our knowledge of these exciting objects has greatly
increased in recent years, mainly due to successful surveys which have brought
the known pulsar population to over 1700. There are now 80 binary and
millisecond pulsars associated with the disk of our Galaxy, and a further 103
pulsars in 24 of the Galactic globular clusters. Recent highlights have been
the discovery of the first ever double pulsar system and a recent flurry of
discoveries in globular clusters, in particular Terzan 5.Comment: 77 pages, 30 figures, available on-line at
http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2005-