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.     

Astrophysical Black Holes: A Compact Pedagogical Review

Black holes are among the most extreme objects that can be found in the Universe and an ideal laboratory for testing fundamental physics. Here, the basic properties of black holes as expected from general relativity, the main astronomical observations, and the leading astrophysical techniques to probe the strong gravity region of these objects are reviewed. The main intention is to provide a compact introductory overview on astrophysical black holes to new students entering this research field, as well as to senior researchers working in general relativity and alternative theories of gravity, who wish to quickly learn the state of the art of astronomical observations of black holes.     

黑洞与奇点

黑洞可以说是引力最极端的体现,其视界内是个连光也逃不出去的时空区域。近来黑洞在天 文观测方面取得令人惊讶的发展,这其中包括：黑洞碰撞的引力波探测以及M87 星系的超大质量 黑洞的所谓第一张黑洞照片。但是在理论的层面上,黑洞物理尚有许多未解之谜。其中,信息遗失 的悖论是最有名的。但是,有另一个问题至少和信息的丢失一样{甚至更加{令人费解的,就是黑洞 内部的奇点性质。时空奇点是广义相对论本身无法描述的,在那里究竟发生什么事？黑洞内部的奇 点和宇宙大爆炸时的奇点有何不同？奇点是否会裸露在黑洞外面？所谓“宇宙监督猜想”的假设目 前有何进展？我们在这篇半科普的文章中简单的介绍这些课题,希望本文章对物理和数学的本科生 有所帮助。     

Difficulties of quantitative tests of the Kerr-hypothesis with X-ray observations of mass accreting black holes

X-ray studies of stellar mass black holes in X-ray binaries and mass-accreting supermassive black holes in Active Galactic Nuclei have achieved a high degree of maturity and have delivered detailed information about the astrophysical sources and the physics of black hole accretion. In this article, I review recent progress made towards using the X-ray observations for testing the “Kerr hypothesis” that the background spacetimes of all astrophysical quasi-stationary black holes are described by the Kerr metric. Although the observations have indeed revealed clear evidence for relativistic effects in strong-field gravity, quantitative tests of the Kerr hypothesis still struggle with theoretical and practical difficulties. In this article, I describe several recently introduced test metrics and review the status of constraining the background spacetimes of mass accreting stellar mass and supermassive black holes with these test metrics. The main conclusion of the discussion is that astrophysical uncertainties are large compared to the rather small observational differences between the Kerr and non-Kerr metrics precluding quantitative constraints on deviations from the Kerr metric at this point in time. I conclude with discussing future progress enabled by more detailed numerical simulations and by future X-ray spectroscopy, timing, polarimetry, and interferometry missions.     

Light-cone distribution amplitudes of the ground state bottom baryons in HQET

We prove the existence of hidden symmetries in the general relativity theory defined by exact solutions with generic off-diagonal metrics, nonholonomic (non-integrable) constraints, and deformations of the frame and linear connection structure. A special role in characterization of such spacetimes is played by the corresponding nonholonomic generalizations of Stackel–Killing and Killing–Yano tensors. There are constructed new classes of black hole solutions and we study hidden symmetries for ellipsoidal and/or solitonic deformations of “prime” Kerr–Sen black holes into “target” off-diagonal metrics. In general, the classical conserved quantities (integrable and not-integrable) do not transfer to the quantized systems and produce quantum gravitational anomalies. We prove that such anomalies can be eliminated via corresponding nonholonomic deformations of fundamental geometric objects (connections and corresponding Riemannian and Ricci tensors) and by frame transforms.     

银河系中心超大质量黑洞的探索历程

经过逾半个世纪的探索,天文学家确认在我们银河系的中心存在一个4百万倍太阳质量的致密天体,很可能是爱因斯坦广义相对论所预言的黑洞。文章简要回顾了探索这个大质量致密天体过程中的若干里程碑。     

Gravitational collapse: The story so far

An outstanding problem in gravitation theory and relativistic astrophysics today is to understand the final outcome of an endless gravitational collapse. Such a continual collapse would take place when stars more massive than few times the mass of the sun collapse under their own gravity on exhausting their nuclear fuel. According to the general theory of relativity, this results either in a black hole, or a naked singularity — which can communicate with far away observers in the universe. While black holes are (almost) being detected and are increasingly used to model high energy astrophysical phenomena, naked singularities have turned into a topic of active discussion, aimed at understanding their structure and implications. Recent developments here are reviewed, indicating future directions.     

Nonsingular black holes in quadratic Palatini gravity

We find that if general relativity is modified at the Planck scale by a Ricci-squared term, electrically charged black holes may be nonsingular. These objects concentrate their mass in a microscopic sphere of radius $r_{\mathrm{core}}\approx N_{q}^{1/2}l_{\mathrm{P}}/3$ , where l _P is the Planck length and N _q is the number of electric charges. The singularity is avoided if the mass of the object satisfies the condition $M_{0}^{2}\approx m_{\mathrm{P}}^{2} \alpha_{\mathrm{em}}^{3/2} N_{q}^{3}/2$ , where m _P is the Planck mass and α _em is the fine-structure constant. For astrophysical black holes this amount of charge is so small that their external horizon almost coincides with their Schwarzschild radius. We work within a first-order (Palatini) approach.     

Space-time foam as the universal regulator

A distribution of virtual black holes in the vacuum will induce modifications in the density of states for small perturbations of gravitational and matter fields. If the virtual black holes fill the volume of a typical spacelike surface then perturbation theory becomes more convergent and may even be finite, depending on how fast the number of virtual black holes increases as their size decreases. For distributions of virtual black holes which are scale invariant the effective dimension of space-time is lowered to a noninteger value less than 4, leading to an interpretation in terms of fractal geometry. In this case general relativity is renormalizable in the 1/N expansion without higher derivative terms. As the Hamiltonian is not modified the theory is stable.This essay received the second award from the Gravity Research Foundation for the year 1985—Ed.     

Charged black holes and additional dimensions

A multidimensional generalization is obtained for the Reissner-Nordstrom solution of general relativity theory for the case of n Ricci-plane internal spaces with inclusion of the dilaton field. A two-parameter family of solutions that describe black holes of arbitrary dimensionality D is identified. It is shown that nontrivial black holes with dimensionality D > 4 exist only for nonzero electric charge. The observational consequences, particularly a violation of Coulomb's law, are discussed.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 7, pp. 24–28, July, 1991.     

Gravitational waves and astrophysical sources

In linear approximation to general relativity, gravitational waves can be thought of as perturbation of the background metric that propagate at the speed of light. A time-varying quadrupole of matter distribution causes the emission of gravitational waves. Application of Einsteinʼs quadrupole formula to radio binary pulsars has confirmed the existence of gravitational waves and vindicated general relativity to a phenomenal degree of accuracy. Gravitational radiation is also thought to drive binary supermassive black holes to coalescence – the final chapter in the dynamics of galaxy collisions. Binaries of compact stars (i.e., neutron stars and/or black holes) are expected to be the most luminous sources of gravitational radiation. The goal of this review is to provide a heuristic picture of what gravitational waves are, outline the worldwide effort to detect astronomical sources, describe the basic tools necessary to estimate their amplitudes and discuss potential sources of gravitational waves and their detectability with detectors that are currently being built and planned for the future.     

Return of the quantum cosmic censor

The influential theorems of Hawking and Penrose demonstrate that spacetime singularities are ubiquitous features of general relativity, Einstein's theory of gravity. The utility of classical general relativity in describing gravitational phenomena is maintained by the cosmic censorship principle. This conjecture, whose validity is still one of the most important open questions in general relativity, asserts that the undesirable spacetime singularities are always hidden inside of black holes. In this Letter we reanalyze extreme situations which have been considered as counterexamples to the cosmic censorship hypothesis. In particular, we consider the absorption of fermion particles by a spinning black hole. Ignoring quantum effects may lead one to conclude that an incident fermion wave may over spin the black hole, thereby exposing its inner singularity to distant observers. However, we show that when quantum effects are properly taken into account, the integrity of the black-hole event horizon is irrefutable. This observation suggests that the cosmic censorship principle is intrinsically a quantum phenomena.     

Spacetime Embedding Diagrams for Black Holes

We show that the 1 + 1 dimensional reduction(i.e., the radial plane) of the Kruskal black hole canbe embedded in 2 + 1 Minkowski spacetime and discuss howfeatures of this spacetime can be seen from theembedding diagram. The purpose of this work iseducational: The associated embedding diagrams may beuseful for explaining aspects of black holes to studentswho are familiar with special relativity, but notgeneral relativity.     

Theory of Gravitational-Inertial Field of Universe

In this paper the basic proposition is a generalization of the metric tensor by introduction of an inertial field tensor satisfying ?_ig_lm ? g_lm;i ≠ 0. On the basis of variational equations a system of more general covariant equations of gravitational-inertial field is obtained. In Einstein's approximation these equations reduce to the field equations of Einstein. The solution of fundamental problems of generl taheory of relativity by means of the new equations give the same results as Einstein's equations. However application of these equations to the cosmologic problem leads to following results: 1. All Galaxies in the Universe (actually all bodies if gravitational attraction is not considered) “disperse” from each other according to Hubble's law. Thus contrary to Friedmann's theory (according to which the “expansion of Universe” began from the singular state with an infinite velocity) the velocity of “dispersion” of bodies begins from the zero value and in the limit tends to the velocity of light. 2. The “dispertion” of bodies represents a free motion in the inertial field and Hubble's law represents a law of motion of free bodies in the inertial field - the law of inertia. All critical systems (with Schwarzschild radius) are specific because they exist in maximal inertial and gravitational potentials. The Universe represents a critical system, it exists under the Schwarzschild radius. In the high-potential inertial and gravitational fields the material mass in a static state or in the process of motion with decelleration is subject to an inertial and gravitational “annihilation”. Under the maximal value of inertial and gravitational potentials (= c²) the material mass is completely “evaporated” transforming into a radiation mass. The latter is concentrated in the “horizon” of the critical system. All critical systems –“black holes”- represent geon systems, i.e., the local formations of gravitational-electromagnetic radiations, held together by their own gravitational and inertial fields. The Universe, being a critical system, is “wrapped” in a geon crown. The Universe is in a state of dynamical equilibrium. Near the external part of its boundary surface a transformation of matter into electromagnetic-gravitational-neutrineal energy (geon mass) takes place. Inside the Universe, in the galaxies takes place the synthesis of matter from geon mass, penetrating from the external part of the world (from geon crown) by means of a tunneling mechanism. The geon system may be considered as a natural entire cybernetic system.     

Energy and Momentum of Higher Dimensional Black Holes

In this paper, we devote to investigate the energy-momentum problem of higher dimensional black holes in the general theory of relativity. The energy and momentum complex of M?ller has been used for the calculations. Also, total energy and total momentum of some special cases for higher dimensional black holes such as Schwarzschild-like black holes, Reissner-Nordstr?m-like charged black holes, AdS-like black holes, topological black holes, BTZ-like and charged BTZ-like black holes were obtained. It is invented that the momentum of black holes vanishes everywhere while the energy of black holes are not equal to zero in higher dimension. Also the results agree with Yang and Radinschi or Vagenas results in three and four dimensional black holes, respectively (Jang and Radinschi in AIP Conf. Proc. 895, 325, 2007; Vagenas in Mod. Phys. Lett. A 21, 1947, 2006).     

Geometrothermodynamics for black holes and de Sitter space

A general method to extract thermodynamic quantities from solutions of the Einstein equation is developed. In 1994, Wald established that the entropy of a black hole could be identified as a Noether charge associated with a Killing vector of a global space-time (pseudo-Riemann) manifold. We reconstruct Wald’s method using geometrical language, e.g., via differential forms defined on the local space-time (Minkowski) manifold. Concurrently, the abstract thermodynamics are also reconstructed using geometrical terminology, which is parallel to general relativity. The correspondence between the thermodynamics and general relativity can be seen clearly by comparing the two expressions. This comparison requires a modification of Wald’s method. The new method is applied to Schwarzschild, Kerr, and Kerr–Newman black holes and de Sitter space. The results are consistent with previous results obtained using various independent methods. This strongly supports the validity of the area theorem for black holes.     

Hawking radiation and strong gravity black holes

We show that the strong gravity theory of Salam et al. places severe restrictions on black hole evaporation. Two major implications are that: mini black holes (down to masses ～ 10^?16 kg) would be stable in the present epoch; and that some suggested mini black hole mechanisms to explain certain astrophysical phenomena would not work. The first result implies that f-gravity appears to make black holes much safer by removing the possibility of extremely violent black hole explosions suggested by Hawking.     

Testing general relativity with atom interferometry

The unprecedented precision of atom interferometry will soon lead to laboratory tests of general relativity to levels that will rival or exceed those reached by astrophysical observations. We propose such an experiment that will initially test the equivalence principle to 1 part in 10(15) (300 times better than the current limit), and 1 part in 10(17) in the future. It will also probe general relativistic effects - such as the nonlinear three-graviton coupling, the gravity of an atom's kinetic energy, and the falling of light - to several decimals. In contrast with astrophysical observations, laboratory tests can isolate these effects via their different functional dependence on experimental variables.