Black Holes with Zero Mass

We consider the spacetimes corresponding to static Global Monopoles with interior boundaries corresponding to a Black Hole Horizon and analyze the behavior of the appropriate ADM mass as a function of the horizon radius r_H. We find that for small enough r_H, this mass is negative as in the case of the regular global monopoles, but that for large enough r_H the mass becomes positive encountering an intermediate value for which we have a Black Hole with zero ADM mass.Comment: 10 pages, 2 ps figures, REVTeX, some minor change

Boundary definition of a multiverse measure

We propose to regulate the infinities of eternal inflation by relating a late time cut-off in the bulk to a short distance cut-off on the future boundary. The light-cone time of an event is defined in terms of the volume of its future light-cone on the boundary. We seek an intrinsic definition of boundary volumes that makes no reference to bulk structures. This requires taming the fractal geometry of the future boundary, and lifting the ambiguity of the conformal factor. We propose to work in the conformal frame in which the boundary Ricci scalar is constant. We explore this proposal in the FRW approximation for bubble universes. Remarkably, we find that the future boundary becomes a round three-sphere, with smooth metric on all scales. Our cut-off yields the same relative probabilities as a previous proposal that defined boundary volumes by projection into the bulk along timelike geodesics. Moreover, it is equivalent to an ensemble of causal patches defined without reference to bulk geodesics. It thus yields a holographically motivated and phenomenologically successful measure for eternal inflation.Comment: 39 pages, 4 figures; v2: minor correction

Pre-selectable integer quantum conductance of electrochemically fabricated silver point contacts

The controlled fabrication of well-ordered atomic-scale metallic contacts is of great interest: it is expected that the experimentally observed high percentage of point contacts with a conductance at non-integer multiples of the conductance quantum G_0 = 2e^2/h in simple metals is correlated to defects resulting from the fabrication process. Here we demonstrate a combined electrochemical deposition and annealing method which allows the controlled fabrication of point contacts with pre-selectable integer quantum conductance. The resulting conductance measurements on silver point contacts are compared with tight-binding-like conductance calculations of modeled idealized junction geometries between two silver crystals with a predefined number of contact atoms

Vacuum Spacetimes with Future Trapped Surfaces

In this article we show that one can construct initial data for the Einstein equations which satisfy the vacuum constraints. This initial data is defined on a manifold with topology $R^3$ with a regular center and is asymptotically flat. Further, this initial data will contain an annular region which is foliated by two-surfaces of topology $S^2$. These two-surfaces are future trapped in the language of Penrose. The Penrose singularity theorem guarantees that the vacuum spacetime which evolves from this initial data is future null incomplete.Comment: 19 page

Quantum Formation of Black Hole and Wormhole in Gravitational Collapse of a Dust Shell

Quantum-mechanical model of self-gravitating dust shell is considered. To clarify the relation between classical and quantum spacetime which the shell collapse form, we consider various time slicing on which quantum mechanics is developed. By considering the static time slicing which corresponds to an observer at a constant circumference radius, we obtain the wave functions of the shell motion and the discrete mass spectra which specify the global structures of spherically symmetric spacetime formed by the shell collapse. It is found that wormhole states are forbidden when the rest mass is comparable with Plank mass scale due to the zero-point quantum fluctuations.Comment: 10 pages in twocolumn, 8 figures, RevTeX 3.

On Static n-body Configurations in Relativity

The static n-body problem of General Relativity states that there are, under a reasonable energy condition, no static $n$-body configurations for $n > 1$, provided the configuration of the bodies satisfies a suitable separation condition. In this paper we solve this problem in the case that there exists a closed, noncompact, totally geodesic surface disjoint from the bodies. This covers the situation where the configuration has a reflection symmetry across a noncompact surface disjoint from the bodies.Comment: 10 pages; result generalized to allow for more than one asymptotically flat en

A simple remark on a flat projective morphism with a Calabi-Yau fiber

If a K3 surface is a fiber of a flat projective morphisms over a connected noetherian scheme over the complex number field, then any smooth connected fiber is also a K3 surface. Observing this, Professor Nam-Hoon Lee asked if the same is true for higher dimensional Calabi-Yau fibers. We shall give an explicit negative answer to his question as well as a proof of his initial observation.Comment: 8 pages, main theorem is generalized, one more remark is added, mis-calculation and typos are corrected etc

On the topology and area of higher dimensional black holes

Over the past decade there has been an increasing interest in the study of black holes, and related objects, in higher (and lower) dimensions, motivated to a large extent by developments in string theory. The aim of the present paper is to obtain higher dimensional analogues of some well known results for black holes in 3+1 dimensions. More precisely, we obtain extensions to higher dimensions of Hawking's black hole topology theorem for asymptotically flat ($\Lambda=0$) black hole spacetimes, and Gibbons' and Woolgar's genus dependent, lower entropy bound for topological black holes in asymptotically locally anti-de Sitter ($\Lambda<0$) spacetimes. In higher dimensions the genus is replaced by the so-called $\sigma$-constant, or Yamabe invariant, which is a fundamental topological invariant of smooth compact manifolds.Comment: 15 pages, Latex2e; typos corrected, a convention clarified, resulting in the simplification of certain formulas, other improvement

A Mass Bound for Spherically Symmetric Black Hole Spacetimes

Requiring that the matter fields are subject to the dominant energy condition, we establish the lower bound $(4\pi)^{-1} \kappa {\cal A}$ for the total mass $M$ of a static, spherically symmetric black hole spacetime. (${\cal A}$ and $\kappa$ denote the area and the surface gravity of the horizon, respectively.) Together with the fact that the Komar integral provides a simple relation between $M - (4\pi)^{-1} \kappa A$ and the strong energy condition, this enables us to prove that the Schwarzschild metric represents the only static, spherically symmetric black hole solution of a selfgravitating matter model satisfying the dominant, but violating the strong energy condition for the timelike Killing field $K$ at every point, that is, $R(K,K) \leq 0$. Applying this result to scalar fields, we recover the fact that the only black hole configuration of the spherically symmetric Einstein-Higgs model with arbitrary non-negative potential is the Schwarzschild spacetime with constant Higgs field. In the presence of electromagnetic fields, we also derive a stronger bound for the total mass, involving the electromagnetic potentials and charges. Again, this estimate provides a simple tool to prove a ``no-hair'' theorem for matter fields violating the strong energy condition.Comment: 16 pages, LATEX, no figure

Positivity of Quasilocal Mass

Motivated by the important work of Brown adn York on quasilocal energy, we propose definitions of quasilocal energy and momentum surface energy of a spacelike 2-surface with positive intrinsic curvature in a spacetime. We show that the quasilocal energy of the boundary of a compact spacelike hypersurface which satisfies the local energy condition is strictly positive unless the spacetime is flat along the spacelike hypersurface.Comment: 4 pages; final published versio