Nonlinear perturbations of the Kaluza-Klein monopole

We consider the nonlinear stability of the Kaluza-Klein monopole viewed as the static solution of the five dimensional vacuum Einstein equations. Using both numerical and analytical methods we give evidence that the Kaluza-Klein monopole is asymptotically stable within the cohomogeneity-two biaxial Bianchi IX ansatz recently introduced in \cite{bcs}. We also show that for sufficiently large perturbations the Kaluza-Klein monopole loses stability and collapses to a Kaluza-Klein black hole. The relevance of our results for the stability of BPS states in M/String theory is briefly discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Anomalously small wave tails in higher dimensions

We consider the late-time tails of spherical waves propagating on even-dimensional Minkowski spacetime under the influence of a long range radial potential. We show that in six and higher even dimensions there exist exceptional potentials for which the tail has an anomalously small amplitude and fast decay. Along the way we clarify and amend some confounding arguments and statements in the literature of the subject.Comment: 13 page

Scalar field critical collapse in 2+1 dimensions

We carry out numerical experiments in the critical collapse of a spherically symmetric massless scalar field in 2+1 spacetime dimensions in the presence of a negative cosmological constant and compare them against a new theoretical model. We approximate the true critical solution as the $n=4$ Garfinkle solution, matched at the lightcone to a Vaidya-like solution, and corrected to leading order for the effect of $\Lambda<0$. This approximation is only $C^3$ at the lightcone and has three growing modes. We {\em conjecture} that pointwise it is a good approximation to a yet unknown true critical solution that is analytic with only one growing mode (itself approximated by the top mode of our amended Garfinkle solution). With this conjecture, we predict a Ricci-scaling exponent of $\gamma=8/7$ and a mass-scaling exponent of $\delta=16/23$, compatible with our numerical experiments.Comment: 27 page

Critical behavior in vacuum gravitational collapse in 4+1 dimensions

We show that the 4+1 dimensional vacuum Einstein equations admit gravitational waves with radial symmetry. The dynamical degrees of freedom correspond to deformations of the three-sphere orthogonal to the $(t,r)$ plane. Gravitational collapse of such waves is studied numerically and shown to exhibit discretely self-similar Type II critical behavior at the threshold of black hole formation.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figure

Fractal Threshold Behavior in Vacuum Gravitational Collapse

We present the numerical evidence for fractal threshold behavior in the five dimensional vacuum Einstein equations satisfying the cohomogeneity-two triaxial Bianchi type-IX ansatz. In other words, we show that a flip of the wings of a butterfly may influence the process of the black hole formation.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, minor change

Codimension-two critical behavior in vacuum gravitational collapse

We consider the critical behavior at the threshold of black hole formation for the five dimensional vacuum Einstein equations satisfying the cohomogeneity-two triaxial Bianchi IX ansatz. Exploiting a discrete symmetry present in this model we predict the existence of a codimension-two attractor. This prediction is confirmed numerically and the codimension-two attractor is identified as a discretely self-similar solution with two unstable modes.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, typos correcte

A note on late-time tails of spherical nonlinear waves

We consider the long-time behavior of small amplitude solutions of the semilinear wave equation $\Box \phi =\phi^p$ in odd $d\geq 5$ spatial dimensions. We show that for the quadratic nonlinearity ($p=2$) the tail has an anomalously small amplitude and fast decay. The extension of the results to more general nonlinearities involving first derivatives is also discussed.Comment: 7 page