Ultra compact stars: reconstructing the perturbation potential

Abstract

In this work we demonstrate how different semi-classical methods can be combined in a novel way to reconstruct the perturbation potential of ultra compact stars. Besides rather general assumptions, the only specific information entering this approach is the spectrum of the trapped axial quasi-normal modes. In general it is not possible to find a unique solution for the potential in the inverse problem, but instead a family of potentials producing the same spectrum. Nevertheless, this already determines important properties of the involved potential and can be used to rule out many candidate models. A unique solution was found based on the additional natural assumption that the exterior part () is described by the Regge–Wheeler potential. This is true in general relativity for any non-rotating spherically symmetric object. This technique can be potentially applied for the study of deviations from general relativity. The methods we demonstrate are easy to implement and rather general, therefore we expect them also to be interesting for other fields where inverse spectrum problems are studied, e.g. quantum physics and molecular spectroscopy.