Quasinormal modes and absorption probabilities of spin- 3/2 fields in D -dimensional Reissner-Nordström black hole spacetimes

Abstract

In this paper we consider spin-3/2 fields in a $D$-dimensional Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole spacetime. As these spacetimes are not Ricci-flat, it is necessary to modify the covariant derivative to the supercovariant derivative, by including terms related to the background electromagnetic fields, so as to maintain the gauge symmetry. Using this supercovariant derivative we arrive at the corresponding Rarita-Schwinger equation in a charged black hole background. As in our previous works, we exploit the spherically symmetry of the spacetime and use the eigenspinor-vectors on an $N$-sphere to derive the radial equations for both non-transverse-traceless (non-TT) modes and TT modes. We then determine the quasi-normal mode and absorption probabilities of the associated gauge-invariant variables using the WKB approximation and the asymptotic iteration method. We then concentrate on how these quantities change with the charge of the black hole, especially when they reach the extremal limits.