Black holes and rotation

In this article, we first consider briefly the basic properties of the non-rotating Schwarzschild black hole and the rotating Kerr black hole Rotational effects are then described in static and stationary spacetimes with arial symmetry by studying inertial forces, gyroscopic precession and gravi-electromagnetism. The results are applied to the black hole spacetimes

Black Holes in Non-flat Backgrounds: the Schwarzschild Black Hole in the Einstein Universe

As an example of a black hole in a non-flat background a composite static spacetime is constructed. It comprises a vacuum Schwarzschild spacetime for the interior of the black hole across whose horizon it is matched on to the spacetime of Vaidya representing a black hole in the background of the Einstein universe. The scale length of the exterior sets a maximum to the black hole mass. To obtain a non-singular exterior, the Vaidya metric is matched to an Einstein universe. The behaviour of scalar waves is studied in this composite model.Comment: 8 pages, 3 postscript figures, minor corrections Journal Ref: accepted for Physical Review

The Stability of the Schwarzschild Metric

The stability of the Schwarzschild exterior metric against small perturbations is investigated. The exterior extending from the Schwarzschild radius r =2m to spatial infinity is visualized as having been produced by a spherically symmetric mass distribution that collapsed into the Schwarzschild horizon in the remote past. As a preamble to the stability analysis, the phenomenon of spherically symmetric gravitational collapse is discussed under the conditions of zero pressure, absence of rotation and adiabatic flow. This is followed by a brief study of the Kruskal coordinates in which the apparent singularity at r = 2m is no longer present; the process of spherical collapse and the consequent production of the Schwarzschild empty space geometry down to the Schwarzschild horizon are depicted on the Kruskal diagram. The perturbations superposed on the Schwarzschild background metric are the same as those given by Regge and Wheeler consisting of odd and even parity classes, and with the time dependence exp(-ikt), where k is the frequency. An analysis of the Einstein field equations computed to first order in the perturbations away from the Schwarzschild background metric shows that when the frequency is made purely imaginary, the solutions that vanish at large values of r, conforming to the requirement of asymptotic flatness, will diverge near the Schwarzschild surface in the Kruskal coordinates even at the initial instant t = 0. Since the background metric itself is finite at this surface, the above behaviour of the perturbation clearly contradicts the basic assumption that the perturbations are small compared to .the background metric. Thus perturbations with imaginary frequencies that grow exponentially with time are physically unacceptable and hence the metric is stable. In the case of the odd perturbations, the above proof of stability is made rigorous by showing that the radial functions for real values of k form a complete set, by superposition of which any well behaved initial perturbation can be represented so that the time development of such a perturbation is non-divergent, since each of the component modes is purely oscillatory in time. A similar rigorous extension of the proof of stability has not been possible in the case of the even perturbations because the frequency (or k2) does not appear linearly in the differential equation. A study of stationary perturbations (k = 0) shows that the only nontrivial stationary perturbation that can exist is that due to the rotation of the source which is given by the odd perturbation with the angular momentum £ = 1. Finally, complex frequencies are introduced under the boundary conditions of only outgoing waves at infinity and purely incoming waves at the Schwarzschild surface. The physical significance of this situation is discussed and its connection with phenomena such as radiation damping and resonance scattering, and with the idea of causality is pointed out

Scalar Deformations of Schwarzschild Holes and Their Stability

We construct two solutions of the minimally coupled Einstein-scalar field equations, representing regular deformations of Schwarzschild black holes by a self-interacting, static, scalar field. One solution features an exponentially decaying scalar field and a triple-well interaction potential; the other one is completely analytic and sprouts Coulomb-like scalar hair. Both evade the no-hair theorem by having partially negative potential, in conflict with the dominant energy condition. The linear perturbation theory around such backgrounds is developed in general, and yields stability criteria in terms of effective potentials for an analog Schr\"odinger problem. We can test for more than half of the perturbation modes, and our solutions prove to be stable against those.Comment: 24 pp, 16 figs, Latex; version published in Int. J. Mod. Phys.

Dirac Quasinormal modes of Schwarzschild black hole

The quasinormal modes (QNMs) associated with the decay of Dirac field perturbation around a Schwarzschild black hole is investigated by using continued fraction and Hill-determinant approaches. It is shown that the fundamental quasinormal frequencies become evenly spaced for large angular quantum number and the spacing is given by $\omega_{\lambda+1}- \omega_{\lambda}=0.38490-0.00000i$. The angular quantum number has the surprising effect of increasing real part of the quasinormal frequencies, but it almost does not affect imaginary part, especially for low overtones. In addition, the quasinormal frequencies also become evenly spaced for large overtone number and the spacing for imaginary part is $Im(\omega_{n+1})-Im(\omega_n)\approx -i/4M$ which is same as that of the scalar, electromagnetic, and gravitational perturbations.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure

Scalar waves in the Witten bubble spacetime

Massless scalar waves in the Witten bubble spacetime are studied. The timelike and angular parts of the separated Klein-Gordon equation are written in terms of hyperbolic harmonics characterized by the generalized frequency ω. The radial equation is cast into the Schrödinger form. The above mathematical formulation is applied to study the scattering problem, the bound states, and the corresponding stability criteria. The results confirm the concept of a bubble wall as a perfectly reflecting expanding sphere

The Vaidya solution in higher dimensions

The Vaidya metric representing the gravitational field of a radiating star is generalized to spacetimes of dimensions greater than four

The Frenet Serret Description of Gyroscopic Precession

The phenomenon of gyroscopic precession is studied within the framework of Frenet-Serret formalism adapted to quasi-Killing trajectories. Its relation to the congruence vorticity is highlighted with particular reference to the irrotational congruence admitted by the stationary, axisymmetric spacetime. General precession formulae are obtained for circular orbits with arbitrary constant angular speeds. By successive reduction, different types of precessions are derived for the Kerr - Schwarzschild - Minkowski spacetime family. The phenomenon is studied in the case of other interesting spacetimes, such as the De Sitter and G\"{o}del universes as well as the general stationary, cylindrical, vacuum spacetimes.Comment: 37 pages, Paper in Late

Neutrinos in compact objects

The trapping of neutrinos in strong gravitational fields is considered. The zero-mass Dirac equation for curved space-time is specialized to the case of a static spherically symmetric object of constant density. The WKB method is applied to obtain the energy spectrum of the semibound states of the neutrinos. The probability of penetration through the barrier presented by the gravitational field is calculated for each level and the lifetime of a neutrino in the well obtained. It is shown that in the energy domains of interest the classical approximation is applicable and the total fraction of neutrinos trapped after emission is obtained. It is shown that neutrino trapping may take place in neutron stars with stiff equations of state