Black Hole Dynamics Research Articles

Prigogine’s Second Law and Determination of the EUP and GUP Parameters in Small Black Hole Thermodynamics

In 1974, Stephen Hawking made the groundbreaking discovery that black holes emit thermal radiation, characterized by a specific temperature now known as the Hawking temperature. While his original derivation is intricate, retrieving the exact expressions for black hole temperature and entropy in a simpler, more intuitive way without losing the core physical principles behind Hawking’s assumptions is possible. This is obtained by employing the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, which is known to be connected to thenvacuum fluctuation. This exercise allows us to easily perform more complex calculations involving the effects of quantum gravity. This work aims to answer the following question: Is it possible to reconcile Prigogine’s second law of thermodynamics for open systems and the second law of black hole dynamics with Hawking radiation? Due to quantum gravity effects, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle has been extended to the Generalized Uncertainty Principle (GUP) and successively to the Extended Uncertainty Principle (EUP). The expression for the EUP parameter is obtained by conjecturing that Prigogine’s second law of thermodynamics and the second law of black holes are not violated by the Hawking thermal radiation mechanism. The modified expression for the entropy of a Schwarzschild black hole is also derived.

Properties of dynamical black hole entropy

We study the first law for non-stationary perturbations of a stationary black hole whose event horizon is a Killing horizon, that relates the first-order change in the mass and angular momentum to the change in the entropy of an arbitrary horizon cross-section. Recently, Hollands, Wald and Zhang [1] have shown that the dynamical black hole entropy that satisfies this first law, for general relativity, is Sdyn = (1 − v∂v)SBH, where v is the affine parameter of the null horizon generators and SBH is the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy, and for general diffeomorphism covariant theories of gravity Sdyn = (1 − v∂v)SWall, where SWall is the Wall entropy. They obtained the first law by applying the Noether charge method to non-stationary perturbations and arbitrary cross-sections. In this formalism, the dynamical black hole entropy is defined as an “improved” Noether charge, which is unambiguous to first order in the perturbation. In the present article we provide a pedagogical derivation of the physical process version of the non-stationary first law for general relativity by integrating the linearised Raychaudhuri equation between two arbitrary horizon cross-sections. Moreover, we generalise the derivation of the first law in [1] to non-minimally coupled matter fields that are smooth on the horizon, using boost weight arguments rather than Killing field arguments, and we relax some of the gauge conditions on the perturbations by allowing for non-zero variations of the horizon Killing field and surface gravity. Finally, for f(Riemann) theories of gravity we show explicitly using Gaussian null coordinates that the improved Noether charge is Sdyn = (1 − v∂v)SWall, which is a non-trivial check of [1].

Weak energy condition, trapped surfaces and black hole third law

We consider the third law of thermodynamics for families of 4- and n-dimensional Vaidya black holes, including many of interest. Since there are several versions of the definition of surface gravity as well as the extremality condition for dynamical black holes, we first show that for the considered 4- and n-dimensional Vaidya families, these definitions are consistent with each other. We assume, first, that a non-extremal black hole evolves to an extremality state after a finite time and second, that the weak energy condition for the source holds at all times. We then compare the results of these assumptions and investigate whether there are ranges of black hole parameters where these two assumptions are in conflict.

Quantum focusing conjecture in two-dimensional evaporating black holes

We consider the quantum focusing conjecture (QFC) for two-dimensional evaporating black holes in the Russo-Susskind-Thorlacius (RST) model. The QFC is closely related to the behavior of the generalized entropy. In the context of the black hole evaporation, the entanglement entropy of the Hawking radiation is decreasing after the Page time, and therefore it is not obvious whether the QFC holds. One of the present authors previously addressed this problem in a four-dimensional spherically symmetric dynamical black hole model and showed that the QFC is satisfied. However, the background spacetime considered was approximated by the Vaidya metric, and quantum effects of matters in the semiclassical regime were not fully taken into consideration. It remains to be seen if the QFC in fact holds for exact solutions of the semiclassical Einstein equations. In this paper, we address this problem in the RST model, which allows us to solve the semiclassical equations of motion exactly. We prove that the QFC is satisfied for evaporating black holes in the RST model with the island formation taken into account.

Signatures of Ultralight Bosons in the Orbital Eccentricity of Binary Black Holes.

We show that the existence of clouds of ultralight particles surrounding black holes during their cosmological history as members of a binary system can leave a measurable imprint on the distribution of masses and orbital eccentricities observable with future gravitational-wave detectors. Notably, we find that for nonprecessing binaries with chirp masses M≲10M_{⊙}, formed exclusively in isolation, larger-than-expected values of the eccentricity, i.e., e≳10^{-2} at gravitational-wave frequencies f_{GW}≃10^{-2} Hz, would provide tantalizing evidence for a new particle of mass between [0.5,2.5]×10^{-12} eV in nature. The predicted evolution of the eccentricity can also drastically affect the in-band phase evolution and peak frequency. These results constitute unique signatures of boson clouds of ultralight particles in the dynamics of binary black holes, which will be readily accessible with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, as well as future midband and decihertz detectors.

A calibrated model for N-body dynamical friction acting on supermassive black holes

Abstract Black holes are believed to be crucial in regulating star formation in massive galaxies, which makes it essential to faithfully represent the physics of these objects in cosmological hydrodynamics simulations. Limited spatial and mass resolution and the associated discreteness noise make following the dynamics of black holes especially challenging. In particular, dynamical friction, which is responsible for driving massive black holes towards the centres of galaxies, cannot be accurately modelled with softened N-body interactions. A number of subgrid models have been proposed to mimic dynamical friction or directly include its full effects in simulations. Each of these methods has its individual benefits and shortcomings, while all suffer from a common issue of being unable to represent black holes with masses below a few times the simulated dark matter particle mass. In this paper, we propose a correction for unresolved dynamical friction, which has been calibrated on simulations run with the code KETJU, in which gravitational interactions of black holes are not softened. We demonstrate that our correction is able to sink black holes with masses greater than the dark matter particle mass at the correct rate. We show that the impact of stochasticity is significant for low-mass black holes (MBH ≤ 5MDM) and propose a correction for stochastic heating. Combined, this approach is applicable to next generation cosmological hydrodynamics simulations that jointly track galaxy and black hole growth with realistic black hole orbits.

Gradient conformal stationarity and the CMC condition in LRS spacetimes

Abstract We study the existence of gradient conformal Killing vectors (CKVs) in the class of locally rotationally symmetric (LRS) spacetimes which generalizes spherically symmetric spacetimes, and investigate some implications for the evolutionary character of marginally outer trapped surfaces. We first study existence of gradient CKVs via the obtention of a relationship between the Ricci curvature and the gradient of the divergence of the CKV. This provides an alternative set of equations, for which the integrability condition is obtained, to analyze the existence of gradient CKVs. A uniqueness result is obtained in the case of perfect fluids, where it is demonstrated that the Robertson-Walker solution is the unique perfect fluid solution with a nonvanishing pressure, admitting a timelike gradient CKV. The constant mean curvature condition for LRS spacetimes is also obtained, characterized by three distinct conditions which are specified by a set of three scalars. Linear combinations of these scalars, whose vanishing define the constant mean curvature condition, turn out to be related to the evolutions of null expansions of 2-spheres along their null normal directions. As such, some implications for the existence of black holes and the character of the associated horizons are obtained. It is further shown that dynamical black holes of increasing area, with a non-vanishing heat flux across the horizon, will be in equilibrium, with respect to the frame of the conformal observers.

Null states and time evolution in a toy model of black hole dynamics

Spacetime wormholes can provide non-perturbative contributions to the gravitational path integral that make the actual number of states eS in a gravitational system much smaller than the number of states eSp\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {e}^{S_{\ extrm{p}}} $$\\end{document} predicted by perturbative semiclassical effective field theory. The effects on the physics of the system are naturally profound in contexts in which the perturbative description actively involves N = O(eS) of the possible eSp\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {e}^{S_{\ extrm{p}}} $$\\end{document} perturbative states; e.g., in late stages of black hole evaporation. Such contexts are typically associated with the existence of non-trivial quantum extremal surfaces. However, by forcing a simple topological gravity model to evolve in time, we find that such effects can also have large impact for N ≪ eS (in which case no quantum extremal surfaces can arise). In particular, even for small N, the insertion of generic operators into the path integral can cause the non-perturbative time evolution to differ dramatically from perturbative expectations. On the other hand, this discrepancy is small for the special case where the inserted operators are non-trivial only in a subspace of dimension D ≪ eS. We thus study this latter case in detail. We also discuss potential implications for more realistic gravitational systems.

Exploring The Formation and Dynamics of Black Holes

Exploring The Formation and Dynamics of Black Holes

Exact dynamical black hole solutions in five or higher dimensions

We construct new classes of the dynamical black hole solutions in five or higher dimensional Einstein–Maxwell theory, coupled to a dilaton field, in the presence of an arbitrary cosmological constant. The dilaton field interacts non-trivially with the Maxwell field, as well as the cosmological constant, with two arbitrary coupling constants. The solutions are non-stationary, and almost conformally regular everywhere. To construct the solutions, we use the four-dimensional Bianchi type IX geometry, as the base space. We find three different classes of solutions, based on the values of the coupling constants. We notice that our solutions could be asymptotically de-Sitter, anti-de-Sitter or flat. We find the relevant quantities of the solutions, and discuss the properties of the solutions.

Dynamical Black holes in the FLRW universe

Observations show that massive black holes, thought to be at the center of galaxies and galaxy clusters, are dynamical objects and interact with their environments. Black holes are characterized by their mass and angular momentum, and they are time-varying objects embedded in the cosmological Friedman-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) universe. Finding analytical solutions for the dynamical black holes with all these properties is very important in theoretical physics. In the present work, we obtain Einstein’s field equations for our predicted dynamical black hole geometry and obtain analytical solutions using the energy-momentum tensor obeying imperfect fluid dynamics. Misner-Sharp-Hernandez mass, turnaround radius, and apparent horizon are analyzed and compared with the recent observations.

The Hawking temperature of dynamical black holes via conformal transformations

In this second part of our two-series on extracting the Hawking temperature of dynamical black holes, we focus into spacetimes that are conformal transformations of static spacetimes. Our previous investigation builds upon the Unruh–Hawking analogy, which relates the spacetime of a uniformly accelerating observer to the near-horizon region of a black hole, to obtain the Hawking temperature. However, in this work, we explicitly compute the Bogoliubov coefficients associated with incoming and outgoing modes, which not only yields the temperature but also thermal spectrum of particles emitted by a black hole. For illustration, we take the simplest nontrivial example of the linear Vaidya spacetime, which is conformal to the static metric and using this property, we analytically solve the massless scalar field in its background. This allows the explicit computations of the Bogoliubov coefficients to study the particle production in this spacetime. We also derive an expression for the total mass of such dynamical spacetimes using the conformal Killing vector. We then perform differential variations of the mass formula to determine whether the laws of dynamical black hole mechanics correspond to the laws of thermodynamics.

Entanglement island and Page curve for one-sided charged black hole

In this paper, we extend the method of calculating the entanglement entropy of Hawking radiation of black holes using the “in” vacuum state, which describes one-sided asymptotically flat neutral black hole formed by gravitational collapse, to dynamic charged black holes. We explore the influence of charge on the position of the boundary of island ∂I and the Page time. Due to their distinct geometric structures, we discuss non-extremal and extremal charged black holes separately. In non-extremal cases, the emergence of island saves the bound of entropy at late times, and the entanglement entropy of Hawking radiation satisfies the Page curve. Moreover, we also find that the position of the boundary of island ∂I depends on the position of the cutoff surface (observers), differing from the behavior in eternal charged black holes. In extremal black holes, when the island exists, the entanglement entropy is approximately equal to the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy, while the entanglement entropy becomes ill-defined when island is absent. Our analysis underscores how different geometric configurations significantly influence the behavior of entropy.

Entropy of dynamical black holes

Entropy of dynamical black holes

Graviton Physics: A Concise Tutorial on the Quantum Field Theory of Gravitons, Graviton Noise, and Gravitational Decoherence

The detection of gravitational waves in 2015 ushered in a new era of gravitational wave (GW) astronomy capable of probing the strong field dynamics of black holes and neutron stars. It has opened up an exciting new window for laboratory and space tests of Einstein’s theory of classical general relativity (GR). In recent years, two interesting proposals have aimed to reveal the quantum nature of perturbative gravity: (1) theoretical predictions on how graviton noise from the early universe, after the vacuum of the gravitational field was strongly squeezed by inflationary expansion; (2) experimental proposals using the quantum entanglement between two masses, each in a superposition (gravitational cat, or gravcat) state. The first proposal focuses on the stochastic properties of quantum fields (QFs), and the second invokes a key concept of quantum information (QI). An equally basic and interesting idea is to ask whether (and how) gravity might be responsible for a quantum system becoming classical in appearance, known as gravitational decoherence. Decoherence due to gravity is of special interest because gravity is universal, meaning, gravitational interaction is present for all massive objects. This is an important issue in macroscopic quantum phenomena (MQP), underlining many proposals in alternative quantum theories (AQTs). To fully appreciate or conduct research in these exciting developments requires a working knowledge of classical GR, QF theory, and QI, plus some familiarity with stochastic processes (SPs), namely, noise in quantum fields and decohering environments. Traditionally a new researcher may be conversant in one or two of these four subjects: GR, QFT, QI, and SP, depending on his/her background. This tutorial attempts to provide the necessary connective tissues between them, helping an engaged reader from any one of these four subjects to leapfrog to the frontier of these interdisciplinary research topics. In the present version, we shall address the three topics listed in the title, excluding gravitational entanglement, because, despite the high attention some recent experimental proposals have received, its nature and implications in relation to quantum gravity still contain many controversial elements.

Hawking Temperature Modification and the Physical Dynamics of Black Holes: A Study of the Influence of Internal and Cosmological Variables

<p>The main objective of the study is to develop a model that modifies the traditional Hawking temperature by considering the influence of internal variables such as radius, mass, electric charge, angular momentum, and cosmological constant. The research method involves mathematical analysis and computational modeling based on the modified Hawking temperature equation. The results show that the modified Hawking temperature produces non-linear corrections that show the interaction between black holes and the quantum structure of spacetime. graphical representations visualize the variation of Hawking temperature with changes in area, electric charge, angular momentum, and cosmological parameters. The implications of the research extend to the understanding of the thermal properties of black holes in the context of gravitational and quantum theories. The research identifies gaps in the knowledge of the effects of cosmological parameters on black hole thermodynamics and introduces Hawking temperature modifications that have not been mapped in detail before. The study concludes that the Hawking temperature modification provides a strong foundation for further research in black hole physics, particularly in the effect of physical and cosmological parameters on the thermal properties of black holes.</p>

Fully extremal black holes: A black hole graveyard?

While the standard point of view is that the ultimate endpoint of black hole evolution is determined by Hawking evaporation, there is a growing evidence that classical and semi-classical instabilities affect both black holes with inner horizons as well as their ultra-compact counterparts. In this paper we start from this evidence pointing towards extremal black holes as stable endpoints of the gravitational collapse, and develop a general class of spherical and axisymmetric solutions with multiple extremal horizons. Excluding more exotic possibilities, entailing regular cores supporting wormhole throats, we argue that these configurations could be the asymptotic graveyard, the end-point, of dynamical black hole evolution — albeit the timescale of such evolution are still unclear and possibly long and compatible with current astrophysical observations.

The difficult path to coalescence: massive black hole dynamics in merging low-mass dark matter haloes and galaxies

ABSTRACT We present a high-resolution numerical study of the sinking and merging of massive black holes (MBHs) with masses in the range of $10^3 - 10^7 \, \mathrm{M}_\odot$ in multiple minor mergers of low-mass dark matter haloes without and with galaxies ($4\times 10^8 \, \mathrm{M}_\odot \lesssim {M}_{\mathrm{halo}} \lesssim 2\times 10^{10} \, \mathrm{M}_\odot)$. The ketju simulation code, a combination of the gadget tree solver with accurate regularized integration, uses unsoftened forces between the star/dark matter components and the MBHs for an accurate treatment of dynamical friction and scattering of dark matter/stars by MBH binaries or multiples. Post-Newtonian corrections up to order 3.5 for MBH interactions allow for coalescence by gravitational wave emission and gravitational recoil kicks. Low-mass MBHs ($\lesssim 10^5 \, \mathrm{M}_\odot$) hardly sink to the centre or merge. Sinking MBHs have various complex evolution paths – binaries, triplets, free-floating MBHs, and dynamically or recoil ejected MBHs. Collisional interactions with dark matter alone can drive MBHs to coalescence. The highest mass MBHs of $\gtrsim 10^6 \, \rm M_\odot$ mostly sink to the centre and trigger the scouring of dark matter and stellar cores. The scouring can transform a centrally baryon-dominated system into a dark-matter-dominated system. Our idealized high-resolution study highlights the difficulty to bring in and keep low-mass MBHs in the centres of low-mass haloes/galaxies – a remaining challenge for merger assisted MBH seed growth mechanisms.

Forming off-center massive black hole binaries in dwarf galaxies through Jacobi capture

It is well established that black holes reside in the central regions of virtually all types of known galaxies. Recent observational and numerical studies however challenge this picture, suggesting that intermediate-mass black holes in dwarf galaxies may be found on orbits far from the center. In particular, constant-density cores minimize orbital energy losses due to dynamical friction, and allow black holes to settle on stable off-center orbits. Using controlled simulations, we study the dynamics of off-center black holes in dwarf galaxies with such cores. We propose a new scenario to describe off-center mergers of massive black holes, starting with a Jacobi capture. We focus on initially circular and co-planar black hole orbits and explore a large parameter space of black hole masses and orbital parameters. We find that Jacobi captures are a complex and chaotic phenomenon that occurs in about 13% of cases in this simplified setup, and we quantify how the likelihood of capture depends on the simulation parameters. We note that this percentage is likely an upper limit of the general case. Nevertheless, we show that Jacobi captures in cored dwarf galaxies can facilitate the formation of off-center black hole binaries, and that this process is sufficiently common to have a substantial effect on black hole growth. While our setup only allows for temporary captures, we expect dissipative forces from baryons and post-Newtonian corrections to maintain the captures over time and to lead to the formation of stable binary systems. This motivates future studies of the effectiveness of such dissipative forces, within stripped nuclei or globular clusters, in forming stable bound systems.

Kodama-like vector fields in axisymmetric spacetimes

We extend the concept of the Kodama symmetry, a quasi-local time translation symmetry for dynamical spherically symmetric spacetimes, to a specific class of dynamical axisymmetric spacetimes, namely the families of Kerr–Vaidya and Kerr–Vaidya–de Sitter spacetimes. We study some geometrical properties of the asymptotically flat Kerr–Vaidya metric, such as the Brown–York mass and the Einstein tensor. Furthermore, we propose a generalization of the Kerr–Vaidya metric to an asymptotic de Sitter background. We show that for these classes of dynamical axisymmetric black hole spacetimes, there exists a timelike vector field that exhibits similar properties to the Kodama vector field in spherical symmetry. This includes the construction of a covariantly conserved current and a corresponding locally conserved charge, which in the Kerr–Vaidya case converges to the Brown–York mass in the asymptotically flat region.