On the Motion of Shells in General Relativity

We use Lanczos equations to analyze the motionof shells in the gravitational field of a sphericallysymmetric central body. A first integral of Israel'smatching conditions is used to show that the motion of the shell depends on the equation of stateof the shell matter. In particular, the case of abarotropic equation of state is analyzed. The questionof how the type of motion determines the equation of state for the matter of the shell is alsoinvestigated.     

Charged shells in general relativity and their gravitational collapse

The boundary conditions for the gravitational and electromagnetic fields on charged shells are formulated. The shells are characterized in geometrical terms and the boundary conditions are manifestly covariant. The formalism is applied to the study of the gravitational collapse of homogeneous charged spherical shells. The law of conservation of energy, obtained by integrating the equations of motion of the shell and interpreted in full analogy with the special theory of relativity, is the starting point in analyzing the equilibrium states and the motion of the shells. It is concluded that no charge, however high it may be, can stop the gravitational collapse of the shell below the upper Nordström radius.     

An exact general-relativity solution for the motion and intersections of self-gravitating shells in the field of a massive black hole

The motion with intersections of relativistic gravitating shells in the Schwarzschild gravitational field of a central body is considered. Formulas are derived for calculating parameters of the shells after intersection via their parameters before intersection. Such special cases as the Newtonian approximation, intersections of light shells, and intersections of a test shell with a gravitating shell are also considered. The ejection of one of the shells to infinity in the relativistic region is described. The equations of motion for the shells are analyzed numerically.     

Exact solutions for shells collapsing towards a pre-existing black hole

The gravitational collapse of a star is an important issue both for general relativity and astrophysics, which is related to the well-known “frozen star” paradox. This paradox has been discussed intensively and seems to have been solved in the comoving-like coordinates. However, to a real astrophysical observer within a finite time, this problem should be discussed in the point of view of the distant rest-observer, which is the main purpose of this Letter. Following the seminal work of Oppenheimer and Snyder (1939), we present the exact solution for one or two dust shells collapsing towards a pre-existing black hole. We find that the metric of the inner region of the shell is time-dependent and the clock inside the shell becomes slower as the shell collapses towards the pre-existing black hole. This means the inner region of the shell is influenced by the property of the shell, which is contrary to the result in Newtonian theory. It does not contradict the Birkhoff's theorem, since in our case we cannot arbitrarily select the clock inside the shell in order to ensure the continuity of the metric. This result in principle may be tested experimentally if a beam of light travels across the shell, which will take a longer time than without the shell. It can be considered as the generalized Shapiro effect, because this effect is due to the mass outside, but not inside as the case of the standard Shapiro effect. We also found that in real astrophysical settings matter can indeed cross a black hole's horizon according to the clock of an external observer and will not accumulate around the event horizon of a black hole, i.e., no “frozen star” is formed for an external observer as matter falls towards a black hole. Therefore, we predict that only gravitational wave radiation can be produced in the final stage of the merging process of two coalescing black holes. Our results also indicate that for the clock of an external observer, matter, after crossing the event horizon, will never arrive at the “singularity” (i.e. the exact center of the black hole), i.e., for all black holes with finite lifetimes their masses are distributed within their event horizons, rather than concentrated at their centers. We also present a worked-out example of the Hawking's area theorem.     

Quantum collapse of dust shells in 2 + 1 gravity

This paper considers the quantum collapse of infinitesimally thin dust shells in 2 + 1 gravity. In 2 + 1 gravity a shell is no longer a sphere, but a ring of matter. The classical equation of motion of such shells in terms of variables defined on the shell has been considered by Peleg and Steif (Phys Rev D 51:3992, 1995), using the 2 + 1 version of the original formulation of Israel (Nuovo Cimento B 44:1, 1966), and Crisóstomo and Olea (Phys Rev D 69:104023, 2004), using canonical methods. The minisuperspace quantum problem can be reduced to that of a harmonic oscillator in terms of the curvature radius of the shell, which allows us to use well-known methods to find the motion of coherent wave packets that give the quantum collapse of the shell. Classically, as the radius of the shell falls below a certain point, a horizon forms. In the quantum problem one can define various quantities that give “indications” of horizon formation. Without a proper definition of a “horizon” in quantum gravity, these can be nothing but indications.     

Spherical Gravitational Collapse: Tangential Pressure and Related Equations of State

We derive an equation for the acceleration of a fluid element in the spherical gravitational collapse of a bounded compact object made up of an imperfect fluid. We show that non-singular as well as singular solutions arise in the collapse of a fluid initially at rest and having only a tangential pressure. We obtain an exact solution of the Einstein equations, in the form of an infinite series, for collapse under tangential pressure with a linear equation of state. We show that if a singularity forms in the tangential pressure model, the conditions for the singularity to be naked are exactly the same as in the model of dust collapse.     

Dynamics of General Relativistic Spherically Symmetric Dust Thick Shells

We consider a spherical thick shell immersed in two different spherically symmetric space-times. Using the fact that the boundaries of the thick shell with two embedding space-times must be nonsingular hypersurfaces, we develop a scheme to obtain the underlying equation of motion for the thick shell in general. As a simple example, the equation of motion of a spherical dustlike shell in vacuum is obtained. To compare our formalism with the thin shell one, the dynamical equation of motion of the thick shell is then expanded to the first order of its thickness. It is easily seen that the thin shell limit of our dynamical equation is exactly that given in the literature for the dynamics of a thin shell. It turns out that the effect of thickness is to speed up the collapse of the shell.     

Expanding and collapsing scalar field thin shell

This paper deals with the dynamics of scalar field thin shell in the Reissner-Nordstr?m geometry. The Israel junction conditions between Reissner-Nordstr?m spacetimes are derived, which lead to the equation of motion of scalar field shell and Klien–Gordon equation. These equations are solved numerically by taking scalar field model with the quadratic scalar potential. It is found that solution represents the expanding and collapsing scalar field shell. For the better understanding of this problem, we investigate the case of massless scalar field (by taking the scalar field potential zero). Also, we evaluate the scalar field potential when p is an explicit function of R. We conclude that both massless as well as massive scalar field shell can expand to infinity at constant rate or collapse to zero size forming a curvature singularity or bounce under suitable conditions.     

Black Hole Formation by Canonical Dynamics of Gravitating Shells: An Equatorial View

Gravitating shells lead to simple minisuperspacemodels of black hole formation by gravitational collapseof matter. I interpret here the Hajicek–Kijowskivariational principle for spacetime with a shell as a Dirac–ADM action principle along atimelike foliation including the shell as a leaf. Byreducing this action by spherical symmetry, I obtain theHamiltonian constraint of a collapsing dust shell and use it as a prelude to canonicalquantization.     

Exact solutions for spherical gravitational collapse around a black hole:the effect of tangential pressure

Spherical gravitational collapse towards a black hole with non-zero tangential pressure is studied.Exact solutions corresponding to different equations of state are given.We find that when taking the tangential pressure into account,the exact solutions have three qualitatively different outcomes.For positive tangential pressure,the shell around a black hole may eventually collapse onto the black hole,or expand to infinity,or have a static but unstable solution,depending on the combination of black hole mass,mass of the shell and the pressure parameter.For vanishing or negative pressure,the shell will collapse onto the black hole.For all eventually collapsing solutions,the shell will cross the event horizon,instead of accumulating outside theeventhorizon,even if clocked by a distant stationary observer.     

Nonlinear stability of cylindrical shells subjected to axial flow: Theory and experiments

This paper, is concerned with the nonlinear dynamics and stability of thin circular cylindrical shells clamped at both ends and subjected to axial fluid flow. In particular, it describes the development of a nonlinear theoretical model and presents theoretical results displaying the nonlinear behaviour of the clamped shell subjected to flowing fluid. The theoretical model employs the Donnell nonlinear shallow shell equations to describe the geometrically nonlinear structure. The clamped beam eigenfunctions are used to describe the axial variations of the shell deformation, automatically satisfying the boundary conditions and the circumferential continuity condition exactly. The fluid is assumed to be incompressible and inviscid, and the fluid–structure interaction is described by linear potential flow theory. The partial differential equation of motion is discretized using the Galerkin method and the final set of ordinary differential equations are integrated numerically using a pseudo-arclength continuation and collocation techniques and the Gear backward differentiation formula. A theoretical model for shells with simply supported ends is presented as well. Experiments are also described for (i) elastomer shells subjected to annular (external) air-flow and (ii) aluminium and plastic shells with internal water flow. The experimental results along with the theoretical ones indicate loss of stability by divergence with a subcritical nonlinear behaviour. Finally, theory and experiments are compared, showing good qualitative and reasonable quantitative agreement.     

Thin charged shells and the violation of the third law of black hole mechanics

The collapse of an infinitely thin spherical shell of charged matter, which surrounds a spherically symmetric black hole or has a flat interior, is analyzed in connection with the laws of black hole mechanics and the cosmic censorship hypothesis. An effective potential is introduced to describe the motion of the shell. The process, proposed by Farrugia and Hajicek as a counterexample to the third law, is discussed and generalized to the case of nondust shells.     

Linearity,non self-interacting spherically symmetric gravitational fields,the “sphereland equivalence principle” and Hamiltonian bubbles

For a large class of spherically symmetric gravitational fields, when matter is dropped in a spherically symmetric way, it is possible to decompose this matter into free-falling shells such that their associated 2+1-dimensional (i.e. surface) energy-momentum tensor is conserved, that is, is not affected by the environment. Further non-interacting features can be found for this class of gravitational fields as can be seen by the fact that Einstein's equations are linear in this case. Matter of a shell falling in one of these fields obeys energy momentum conservation from the point of view of the 2+1-dimensional world-sheet of the shell. This means that in the case of a test particle moving in one of these free falling sheets, the motion follows a 2+1-dimensional geodesic equation, or what is the same, its dynamics is governed by a sphereland equivalence principle. As a result of this, a shell falling in such a gravitational field can be treated as a closed system which can be described by a 2+1-dimensionally defined Hamiltonian.     

f(R,L m ) gravity

We generalize the f(R) type gravity models by assuming that the gravitational Lagrangian is given by an arbitrary function of the Ricci scalar R and of the matter Lagrangian L _m . We obtain the gravitational field equations in the metric formalism, as well as the equations of motion for test particles, which follow from the covariant divergence of the energy-momentum tensor. The equations of motion for test particles can also be derived from a variational principle in the particular case in which the Lagrangian density of the matter is an arbitrary function of the energy density of the matter only. Generally, the motion is non-geodesic, and it takes place in the presence of an extra force orthogonal to the four-velocity. The Newtonian limit of the equation of motion is also considered, and a procedure for obtaining the energy-momentum tensor of the matter is presented. The gravitational field equations and the equations of motion for a particular model in which the action of the gravitational field has an exponential dependence on the standard general relativistic Hilbert–Einstein Lagrange density are also derived.     

On limiting field strengths in gravitation

We consider through the equivalence principle the existence of maximal and minimal field strengths in gravitation. We explore the consequences for gravitational collapse and for explaining the rotation curve of galaxies without invoking dark matter. Other interesting implications like maximal size of planetary systems are outlined.1. Note that, in our case, such results, both for electromagnetic and gravitational fields, are obtained when torsion is considered [8]: In fact, we have arrived at a minimum radius, for instance, of the electron, starting explicitly frm a modified Poisson's equation when a term containing the spin is incorporated through torsion.     

Horizonless,singularity-free,compact shells satisfying NEC

Gravitational collapse singularities are undesirable, yet inevitable to a large extent in General Relativity. When matter satisfying null energy condition (NEC) collapses to the extent a closed trapped surface is formed, a singularity is inevitable according to Penrose’s singularity theorem. Since positive mass vacuum solutions are generally black holes with trapped surfaces inside the event horizon, matter cannot collapse to an arbitrarily small size without generating a singularity. However, in modified theories of gravity where positive mass vacuum solutions are naked singularities with no trapped surfaces, it is reasonable to expect that matter can collapse to an arbitrarily small size without generating a singularity. Here we examine this possibility in the context of a modified theory of gravity with torsion in an extra dimension. We study singularity-free static shell solutions to evaluate the validity of NEC on the shell. We find that with sufficiently high pressure, matter can be collapsed to arbitrarily small size without violating NEC and without producing a singularity.     

A critical analysis of Helmholtz's argument against Weber's electrodynamics

We present Helmholtz's argument against Weber's electrodynamics. It is related with a fixed charged nonconducting spherical shell and a charged particle moving inside it. Then we utilize Weber's electrodynamics plus Schrödinger's expression for gravitational interactions in order to obtain the equation of motion and to study this situation. We show that this approach avoids the problems pointed out by Helmholtz. Moreover, it indicates that the effective inertial mass of the charged particle will depend not only on the electrostatic potential of the shell but also on its velocity. This is a relevant aspect of Weber's theory.     

Free vibrations of cylindrical shells with elastic-support boundary conditions

This paper concerns the free vibrations of cylindrical shells with elastic boundary conditions. Based on the Flügge classical thin shell theory, the equations of motion for the cylindrical shells are solved by the method of wave propagations. The wave numbers are obtained by directly solving an eighth order equation. The elastic-support boundary conditions can be arbitrarily specified in terms of 8 independent sets of distributed springs. All the classical homogeneous boundary conditions can be considered as the special cases when the stiffness for each set of springs is equal to either infinity or zero. The present solutions are validated by the results previously given by other researchers and/or obtained using finite element models. The effects on the frequency parameters of elastic restraints are investigated for shells of different geometrical characteristics.