Naked singularities in a self-similar Tolman-Bondi spacetime

Following Lake and Zannias we show that naked strong curvature singularities develop in Tolman-Bondi inhomogeneous spherically symmetric spacetimes for all the three cases of a bound, unbound and marginally bound gravitational collapse. It is observed that the assumption of self-similarity rather than the spherical symmetry is crucial in determining the nature of the singularity in any gravitationally collapsing configuration.     

Singularity structure of a self-similar Tolman type model in a higher-dimensional spacetime

A Tolman-Bondi type inhomogeneous, spherically symmetric metric is obtained in an (n+2)-dimensional spacetime withn2. The metric form admits the familiar shell focusing singularity which, depending on the inhomogeneity parameter, may become naked. Moreover, for the particular case of a marginally bound collapsing model one may also obtain strong-curvature singularities, which provides yet another counterexample to the cosmic censorship hypothesis. It is interesting to point out that it is the assumption of self similarity rather than spherical symmetry which determines the nature of the singularity. This, however, extends an earlier observation of Lake and Zannias in four-dimensional spacetime.     

Acceleration of particles in Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton black holes

It has recently been pointed out that, under certain conditions, the energy of particles accelerated by black holes in the center-of-mass frame can become arbitrarily high. In this paper, we study the collision of two particles in the case of four-dimensional charged nonrotating, extremal charged rotating and near-extremal charged rotating Kaluza-Klein black holes as well as the naked singularity case in Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theory. We find that the center-of-mass energy for a pair of colliding particles is unlimited at the horizon of charged nonrotating Kaluza-Klein black holes, extremal charged rotating Kaluza-Klein black holes and in the naked singularity case.     

Dilatonic effects near naked singularities

Static spherically symmetric solutions of 4d Brans–Dicke theory include a set of naked singularity solutions. Dilatonic effects near the naked singularities result in either a shielding or an antishielding effect from intruding massive test particles. One result is that for a portion of the solution parameter space, no communication between the singularity and a distant observer is possible via massive particle exchanges. Kaluza–Klein gravity is considered as a special case.     

Gravitational collapse and naked singularities

Gravitational collapse is one of the most striking phenomena in gravitational physics. The cosmic censorship conjecture has provided strong motivation for research in this field. In the absence of a general proof for censorship, many examples have been proposed, in which naked singularity is the outcome of gravitational collapse. Recent developments have revealed that there are examples of naked singularity formation in the collapse of physically reasonable matter fields, although the stability of these examples is still uncertain. We propose the concept of ‘effective naked singularities’, which will be quite helpful because general relativity has limitation in its application at the high-energy end. The appearance of naked singularities is not detestable but can open a window for the new physics of strongly curved space-times.     

The general relativistic hydrogen atom

The general relativistic Dirac equation is formulated in an arbitrary curved space-time using differential forms. These equations are applied to spherically symmetric systems with arbitrary charge and mass. For the case of a black hole (with event horizon) it is shown that the Dirac Hamiltonian is self-adjoint, has essential spectrum the whole real line and no bound states. Although rigorous results are obtained only for a spherically symmetric system, it is argued that, in the presence of any event horizon there will be no bound states. The case of a naked singularity is investigated with the results that the Dirac Hamiltonian is not self-adjoint. The self-adjoint extensions preserving angular momentum are studied and their spectrum is found to consist of an essential spectrum corresponding to that of a free electron plus eigenvalues in the gap (–mc ², +mc ²). It is shown that, for certain boundary conditions, neutrino bound states exist.Supported in part by the National Science Foundation     

Classical and quantum properties of a two-sphere singularity

Recently Böhmer and Lobo have shown that a metric due to Florides, which has been used as an interior Schwarzschild solution, can be extended to reveal a classical singularity that has the form of a two-sphere. Here the singularity is shown to be a naked scalar curvature singularity that is both timelike and gravitationally weak. It is also shown to be a quantum singularity because the Klein–Gordon operator associated with quantum mechanical particles approaching the singularity is not essentially self-adjoint.     

Distinguishing between Kerr and rotating JNW space-times via frame dragging and tidal effects

We investigate two physical quantities that might observationally distinguish between Kerr black holes and rotating naked singularities. These are the Lense–Thirring precession frequency as measured by a Copernican observer, and tidal forces. We establish strong enhancement for both these quantities due to a Janis–Newman–Winicour naked singularity background, as compared to the Kerr case. We first show that the precession frequency of a test gyroscope at a given radius can be enhanced by almost an order of magnitude in the background of the naked singularity, as compared to the Kerr black hole. We then show that a critical mass for celestial objects below which these disintegrate due to tidal forces might increase by more than an order of magnitude in the naked singularity background, compared to the black hole. Our results complement the existing ones in the literature regarding differences in observable quantities in such backgrounds, and might be of significance in futuristic experiments.     

The structure of naked singularity in self-similar gravitational collapse

We study the structure and formation of naked singularities in selfsimilar gravitational collapse for an adiabatic perfect fluid. Conditions are obtained for the singularity to be either locally or globally naked and for the families of non-spacelike geodesics to terminate at the singularity in past. This is shown to be a strong curvature naked singularity in a powerful sense and an interesting relationship is pointed out between positivity of energy and occurrence of naked singularity.     

Fermionic greybody factors of two and five-dimensional dilatonic black holes

We analyze the persistence of curvature singularities when analyzed using quantum theory. First, quantum test particles obeying the Klein–Gordon and Chandrasekhar–Dirac equation are used to probe the classical timelike naked singularity. We show that the classical singularity is felt even by our quantum probes. Next, we use loop quantization to resolve a singularity hidden beneath the horizon. The singularity is resolved in this case.     

Stability of naked singularity arising in gravitational collapse of Type I matter fields

Considering gravitational collapse of Type I matter fields, we prove that, given an arbitrary C²-mass functionM(r, v) and a C¹-functionh(r, v) (through the corresponding C¹-metric functionν(t, r)), there exist infinitely many choices of energy distribution functionb(r) such that the ’true’ initial data(M, h(r,v)) leads the collapse to the formation of naked singularity. We further prove that the occurrence of such a naked singularity is stable with respect to small changes in the initial data. We remark that though the initial data leading to both black hole (BH) and naked singularity (NS) form a ’big’ subset of the true initial data set, their occurrence is not generic. The terms ’stability’ and ’genericity’ are appropriately defined following the theory of dynamical systems. The particular case of radial pressurep _r (r) has been illustrated in details to get a clear picture of how naked singularity is formed and how, it is stable with respect to initial data.     

Velocity and velocity bounds in static spherically symmetric metrics

We find simple expressions for velocity of massless particles with dependence on the distance, r, in Schwarzschild coordinates. For massive particles these expressions give an upper bound for the velocity. Our results apply to static spherically symmetric metrics. We use these results to calculate the velocity for different cases: Schwarzschild, Schwarzschild-de Sitter and Reissner-Nordström with and without the cosmological constant. We emphasize the differences between the behavior of the velocity in the different metrics and find that in cases with naked singularity there always exists a region where the massless particle moves with a velocity greater than the velocity of light in vacuum. In the case of Reissner-Nordström-de Sitter we completely characterize the velocity and the metric in an algebraic way. We contrast the case of classical naked singularities with naked singularities emerging from metric inspired by noncommutative geometry where the radial velocity never exceeds one. Furthermore, we solve the Einstein equations for a constant and polytropic density profile and calculate the radial velocity of a photon moving in spaces with interior metric. The polytropic case of radial velocity displays an unexpected variation bounded by a local minimum and maximum.     

Genericity and stability of naked singularities arising in an inhomogeneous dust collapse

In this paper, we consider an inhomogeneous dust collapse, and extend earlier works of Jhingan, Joshi, and Singh to the case where initial density and velocity distributions are finitely differentiable functions of co-moving coordinate r. We study the occurrence of naked singularities under various conditions on the derivatives of initial density and velocity distributions in marginally as well as non-marginally bound case. We then study their stability and genericity with respect to perturbations in the initial data in an appropriate topological sense.     

The repulsive nature of naked singularities from the point of view of Quantum Mechanics

We use the Dirac equation coupled to a background metric to examine what happens to quantum-mechanical observables like the probability density and the radial current in the vicinity of a naked singularity of the Reissner–Nordström type. We find that the wave function of the Dirac particle is regular in the point of the singularity. We show that the probability density is exactly zero at the singularity reflecting quantum-mechanically the repulsive nature of the naked singularity. Furthermore, the surface integral of the radial current over a sphere in the vicinity of the naked singularity turns out to be also zero.     

On the Eigenvalues of the Fermionic Angular Eigenfunctions in the Kerr Metric

In view of a result recently published in the context of the deformation theory of linear Hamiltonian systems, we reconsider the eigenvalue problem associated with the angular equation arising after the separation of the Dirac equation in the Kerr metric, and we show how a quasilinear first order PDE for the angular eigenvalues can be derived efficiently. We also prove that it is not possible to obtain an ordinary differential equation for the eigenvalues when the role of the independent variable is played by the particle energy or the black hole mass. Finally, we construct new perturbative expansions for the eigenvalues in the Kerr case and obtain an asymptotic formula for the eigenvalues in the case of a Kerr naked singularity.     

Naked Singularity of the Vaidya-de Sitter Spacetime and Cosmic Censorship Conjecture

We investigate the formation of a locally nakedsingularity in the collapse of radiation shells in anexpanding Vaidya-de Sitter background. This is achievedby considering the behaviour of non-spacelikeand radial geodesics originating at thesingularity. A specific condition is determined for theexistence of radially outgoing, null geodesicsoriginating at the singularity which, when thiscondition is satisfied, becomes locally naked. Thiscondition turns out to be the same as that in thecollapse of radiation shells in an asymptotically flatbackground. Therefore we have established, at least forthe case considered here, that the asymptoticflatness of the spacetime is not essential for thedevelopment of a locally naked singularity. Our resultthen unequivocally supports the view that no specialrole be given to asymptotic observers (or, for thatmatter, any set of observers) in the formulation of theCosmic Censorship Hypothesis.     

Is the cosmological singularity thermodynamically possible?

The four broad approaches that have been suggested heretofore to eliminate the initial singularity from cosmology are briefly reviewed. None is satisfactory, basically because one does not know enough about the microphysics involved in the process. Thermodynamics has often been used in such dilemmas, and it is proposed to answer the question of whether there was a Friedmann-like singularity in the universe by exploiting the bound on specific entropy that has been established for finite system. It is made applicable to the universe by considering only a causally connected spacelike region within the particle horizon of a given observer. It is found that the specific entropy of radiation in such a region can exceed the bound if the observer is too early in the universe. Faith in the bound leads to the conclusion that the Friedmann models cannot be extrapolated back to nearer than a few Planck-Wheeler times from the singularity. The Friedmann initial singularity thus appears to be thermodynamically unacceptable.     

A Numeric Solution for Einstein's Gravitational Theory with Proca Matter and Metric-Affine Gravity

A special case of metric-affine gauge theory of gravity (MAG) is equivalent to general relativity with Proca matter as source. We study in detail a corresponding numeric solution of the Reissner-Nordström type. It is static, spherically symmetric, and of electric type. In particular, this solution has no horizon, so it has a naked singularity at its origin.     

On the Global Visibility of the Singularity in Quasi-Spherical Collapse

We analyze here the issue of local versus global visibility of a singularity that forms in gravitational collapse of a dust cloud, which has important implications for the weak and strong versions of the cosmic censorship hypothesis. We find conditions for when a singularity will be only locally naked, rather than being globally visible, thus preserving the weak censorship hypothesis. The conditions for the formation of a black hole or a naked singularity in the Szekeres quasi-spherical collapse models are worked out. The causal behaviour of the singularity curve is studied by examining the outgoing radial null geodesics, and the final outcome of collapse is related to the nature of the regular initial data specified on an initial hypersurface from which the collapse evolves. An interesting feature that emerges is that the singularity in Szekeres spacetimes can be directionally naked.