Killing spinor data on distorted black hole horizons and the uniqueness of stationary vacuum black holes

Abstract

We make use of the black hole holograph construction of Rácz (2014 Class. Quantum Grav. 31 035006) to analyse the existence of Killing spinors in the domain of dependence of the horizons of distorted black holes. In particular, we provide conditions on the bifurcation sphere ensuring the existence of a Killing spinor. These conditions can be understood as restrictions on the curvature of the bifurcation sphere and ensure the existence of an axial Killing vector on the 2-surface. We obtain the most general 2D metric on the bifurcation sphere for which these curvature conditions are satisfied. Remarkably, these conditions are found to be so restrictive that, in the considered particular case, the free data on the bifurcation surface (determining a distorted black hole spacetime) is completely determined by them. In addition, we formulate further conditions on the bifurcation sphere ensuring that the Killing vector associated to the Killing spinor is Hermitian. Once the existence of a Hermitian Killing vector is guaranteed, one can use a characterisation of the Kerr spacetime due to Mars to identify the particular subfamily of 2-metrics giving rise to a member of the Kerr family in the black hole holograph construction. Our analysis sheds light on the role of asymptotic flatness and curvature conditions on the bifurcation sphere in the context of the problem of uniqueness of stationary black holes. The Petrov type of the considered distorted black hole spacetimes is also determined.