Collapse Of Scalar Field Research Articles

Critical collapse of massless scalar fields in asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetime* *Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11925503) and the Guangdong Major project of Basic and Applied Basic Research (2019B030302001). The computation is completed on the HPC Platform of Huazhong University of Science and Technology

We conduct numerical investigations on the critical collapse of spherically symmetric massless scalar fields in asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetime. Our primary focus is on the behavior of the critical amplitude under various initial configurations of the scalar field. Through our numerical results, we obtain a formula that determines critical amplitude in terms of cosmological constant Λ: , where σ denotes the initial width of the scalar field and is the initial position of the scalar field. Notably, we highlight that the slope of this linear relationship depends on the initial configuration of the scalar field.

Twist-free axisymmetric critical collapse of a complex scalar field

Twist-free axisymmetric critical collapse of a complex scalar field

Global Models of Collapsing Scalar Field: Endstate

The study of dynamic singularity formation in spacetime, focusing on scalar field collapse models, is analyzed. We revisit key findings regarding open spatial topologies, concentrating on minimal conditions necessary for singularity and apparent horizon formation. Moreover, we examine the stability of initial data in the dynamical system governed by Einstein’s equations, considering variations in parameters that influence naked singularity formation. We illustrate how these results apply to a family of scalar field models, concluding with a discussion on the concept of genericity in singularity studies.

Conformal diagrams for stationary and dynamical strong-field hyperboloidal slices

Conformal Carter–Penrose diagrams are used for the visualization of hyperboloidal slices, which are smooth spacelike slices reaching null infinity. The focus is on the Schwarzschild black hole geometry in spherical symmetry, whose Penrose diagrams are introduced in a pedagogical way. The stationary regime involves time-independent slices. In this case, different options are given for integrating the height function—the main ingredient for constructing hyperboloidal foliations. The dynamical regime considers slices changing in time, which are evolved together with the spacetime using the eikonal equation. It includes the relaxation of hyperboloidal Schwarzschild trumpet slices and the collapse of a massless scalar field into a black hole, for which Penrose diagrams are presented.

Gravitational collapse of scalar and vector fields

Gravitational collapse of scalar and vector fields

Curvature and dynamical spacetimes: can we peer into the quantum regime?

Stationary compact astrophysical objects such as black holes and neutron stars behave as classical systems from the gravitational point of view. Their (observable) curvature is everywhere ‘small’. Here we investigate whether mergers of such objects, or other strongly dynamical spacetimes such as collapsing configurations, may probe the strong-curvature regime of general relativity. Our results indicate that dynamical black hole spacetimes always result in a modest increase in the Kretschmann scalar, relative to the stationary state. In contrast, we find that the Kretschmann scalar can dynamically increase by orders of magnitude, during the gravitational collapse of scalar fields, and that the (normalized) peak curvature does not correspond to that of the critical solution. Nevertheless, without fine tuning of initial data, this increase lies far below that needed to render quantum-gravity corrections important.

Critical gravitational collapse of a massive complex scalar field

We study the critical collapse of a massive complex scalar field coupled minimally to gravity. Taking as initial data a simple gaussian pulse with a shape similar to the harmonic ansatz for boson stars, we obtain critical collapse of type type I and II when varying the gaussian width $\sigma$. For $\sigma \leq 0.5$ we find collapse of type II with a critical exponent $\gamma=0.38\pm0.01$ and an echoing period $\Delta=3.4\pm0.1$. These values are very similar to the known results for a real massless scalar field. On the other hand, for $\sigma \geq 2.5$ we obtain collapse of type I. In this case we find that the critical solutions turn out to be an unstable boson stars in the ground state: all the data obtained from our simulations can be contrasted with the characteristic values for unstable boson stars and their corresponding Lyapunov exponents.

Critical gravitational collapse of a nonminimally coupled scalar field

We study the critical gravitational collapse of a massless scalar field non-minimally coupled to gravity, using a quadratic coupling function with a strength parameter $\xi$. We concentrate on critical phenomena of type II, and determine with an accuracy of at least $10^{-12}$ the value of the critical amplitude for collapse to a black hole, as well as the values of the critical and echoing exponents. Obtaining such high accuracy in the critical amplitude requires us to do a coordinate radial transformation that effectively increases resolution near the central regions by a factor of at least $10^3$. As expected, we find that for the case of small coupling the critical behaviour is very similar to that of a minimally coupled scalar field. On the other hand, for high coupling the dynamics become so violent that we need to introduce a special slicing condition, known as the shock-avoiding slicing condition, in order to avoid gauge pathologies that would otherwise cause our simulations to fail. With this new gauge condition we are able to perform high accuracy simulations even in the strong coupling regime, where we find that the critical and echoing exponents become significantly smaller, and that the echoing behavior is richer and can not be modelled by a single harmonic.

Singularity resolution in gravitational collapse

We investigate the unhindered gravitational collapse of a homogeneous scalar field with nonzero potential, a two-dimensional analog of the Mexican hat-shaped Higgs field potential. The collapsing scalar field is surrounded by an exterior retarded (outgoing) generalized Vaidya spacetime. We prove that the density dependence on the scale factor cannot be expressed as an algebraic function in such a scenario. For a certain transcendental expression of the density of such a field as a function of scale factor, we then show that the collapse evolves to a singularity at an infinite comoving time, which is equivalent to saying that the singularity is avoided altogether. An ultra high density region of the order of Planck length can, however, be reached in a finite comoving time. The absence of the formation of trapped surfaces makes this ultra high density region globally visible.

NRPyCritCol & SFcollapse1D: an open-source, user-friendly toolkit to study critical phenomena

We present a new open-source, user-friendly toolkit of two codes—SFcollapse1D and NRPyCritCol—to study critical phenomena in the context of gravitational collapse. SFcollapse1D is a C/C++ tool designed to solve the problem of gravitational collapse of massless, spherically symmetric scalar fields with the ADM formalism in spherical-like coordinates. NRPyCritCol is a collection of Python modules that leverage the NRPy+ infrastructure to generate a highly optimized C-code for evolving massless scalar fields within a covariant BSSN formalism. The toolkit was developed with user-friendliness and code efficiency in mind, enabling the exploration of critical phenomena with consumer-grade computers. We present a study of critical phenomena from the collapse of massless scalar fields in spherical symmetry, using only these two codes and a laptop computer.

Universality of Curvature Invariants in Critical Vacuum Gravitational Collapse.

We report on a numerical study of gravitational waves undergoing gravitational collapse due to their self-interaction. We consider several families of asymptotically flat initial data which, similar to the well-known Choptuik's discovery, can be fine-tuned between dispersal into empty space and collapse into a black hole. We find that near-critical spacetimes exhibit behavior similar to scalar-field collapse: For different families of initial data, we observe universal "echoes" in the form of irregularly repeating, approximate, scaled copies of the same piece of spacetime.

Dynamics near the central singularity in spherical collapse

We study the dynamics near the central singularity in spherically symmetric collapse of a massless scalar field toward Schwarzschild black hole formation. The equations of motion take different simplified forms in the early and late stages of the singularity curve. We report some fine structures of the analytic solutions and universal features for the metric functions and matter near the singularity.

New class of solutions in conformally symmetric massless scalar field collapse

In this paper we explicitly show the existence of a class of conformally symmetric solutions of spherically symmetric massless scalar field collapse with a given conformal factor, where the spatial variations of the conformal factor can be neglected in the latter stages of collapse. We obtain an equivalent and simpler form of the Roberts model for a massless scalar field. Our solution becomes self-similar near the central singularity and the critical phenomenon that is observed in self-similar collapse, will also be valid for this new class of solutions.

Type II critical collapse on a single fixed grid: a gauge-driven ingoing boundary method

We develop a numerical method suitable for gravitational collapse based on Cauchy evolution with an ingoing characteristic boundary. Unlike similar methods proposed recently (Ripley; Bieri et al. in Class Quantum Grav 37:045015, 2020), the numerical grid remains fixed during the evolution and no points need to be removed or added. Increasing coordinate refinement of the central region as the field collapses is achieved solely through the choice of spatial gauge and particularly its boundary condition. We apply this method to study critical collapse of a massless scalar field in spherical symmetry using maximal slicing and isotropic coordinates. Known results on mass scaling, discrete self-similarity and universality of the critical solution (Choptuik in Phys Rev Lett 70:9, 1993) are reproduced using this considerably simpler numerical method.

Cosmic censorship of trans-Planckian field ranges in gravitational collapse

A classical solution where the (scalar) field value moves by an O(1) range in Planck units is believed to signal the breakdown of Effective Field Theory (EFT). One heuristic argument for this is that such a field will have enough energy to be inside its own Schwarzschild radius, and will result in collapse. In this paper, we consider an inverse problem: what kind of field ranges arise during the gravitational collapse of a classical field? Despite the fact that collapse has been studied for almost a hundred years, most of the discussion is phrased in terms of fluid stress tensors, and not fields. An exception is the scalar collapse made famous by Choptuik. We re-consider Choptuik-like systems, but with the emphasis now on the evolution of the scalar. We give strong evidence that generic spherically symmetric collapse of a massless scalar field leads to super-Planckian field movement. But we also note that in every such supercritical collapse scenario, the large field range is hidden behind an apparent horizon. We also discuss how the familiar perfect fluid models for collapse like Oppenheimer-Snyder and Vaidya should be viewed in light of our results.

Phase diagram of stability for massive scalars in anti–de Sitter spacetime

We diagram the behavior of 5-dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime against horizon formation in the gravitational collapse of a scalar field, treating the scalar field mass and width of initial data as free parameters, which we call the stability phase diagram. We find that the class of stable initial data becomes larger and shifts to smaller widths as the field mass increases. In addition to classifying initial data as stable or unstable, we identify two other classes based on nonperturbative behavior. The class of metastable initial data forms a horizon over longer time scales than suggested by the lowest order perturbation theory at computationally accessible amplitudes, and irregular initial data can exhibit non-monotonic and possibly chaotic behavior in the horizon formation times. Our results include evidence for chaotic behavior even in the collapse of a massless scalar field.

Real-Time Dynamics of Plasma Balls from Holography.

Plasma balls are droplets of deconfined plasma surrounded by a confining vacuum. We present the first holographic simulation of their real-time evolution via the dynamics of localized, finite-energy black holes in the five-dimensional anti-de Sitter (AdS) soliton background. The dual gauge theory is four-dimensional N=4 super Yang-Mills theory compactified on a circle with supersymmetry-breaking boundary conditions. We consider horizonless initial data sourced by a massless scalar field. Prompt scalar field collapse produces an excited black hole at the bottom of the geometry together with gravitational and scalar radiation. The radiation disperses to infinity in the noncompact directions and corresponds to particle production in the dual gauge theory. The black hole evolves toward the dual of an equilibrium plasma ball on a time scale longer than naively expected. This feature is a direct consequence of confinement and is caused by long-lived, periodic disturbances bouncing between the bottom of the AdS soliton and the AdS boundary.

Affine-null formulation of the gravitational equations: Spherical case

A new evolution algorithm for the characteristic initial value problem based upon an affine parameter rather than the areal radial coordinate used in the Bondi-Sachs formulation is applied in the spherically symmetric case to the gravitational collapse of a massless scalar field. The advantages over the Bondi-Sachs version are discussed, with particular emphasis on the application to critical collapse. Unexpected quadratures lead to a simple evolution algorithm based upon ordinary differential equations which can be integrated along the null rays. For collapse to a black hole in a Penrose compactified spacetime, these equations are regularized throughout the exterior and interior of the horizon up to the final singularity. They are implemented as a global numerical evolution code based upon the Galerkin method. New results regarding the global properties of critical collapse are presented.

Electromagnetic effect on scalar field collapse in higher curvature gravity

We consider a “Scalar-Maxwell–Einstein–Gauss–Bonnet” theory in four dimension, where the scalar field couples non-minimally with the Gauss–Bonnet (GB) term. This coupling with the scalar field ensures the non topological character of the GB term. In such higher curvature scenario, we explore the effect of electromagnetic field on scalar field collapse. Our results reveal that the presence of a time dependent electromagnetic field requires an anisotropy in the background spacetime geometry and such anisotropic spacetime allows a collapsing solution for the scalar field. The singularity formed as a result of the collapse is found to be a curvature singularity which may be point like or line like depending on the strength of the anisotropy. We also show that the singularity is always hidden from exterior by an apparent horizon.

Dynamics of critical collapse

Critical collapse of a massless scalar field in spherical symmetry is systematically studied. We combine numerical simulations and asymptotic analysis, and synthesize critical collapse, spacetime singularities, and complex science. First set of approximate analytic expressions near the center are obtained. We observe that, near the center, the spacetime is nearly conformally flat, the dynamics is not described by the Kasner solution, and the Kreschmann scalar is proportional to r^{-5.30}, where r is the areal radius. These features are significantly different from those in black hole singularities. It is speculated that the scalar field in critical collapse may be a special standing wave.