Extremal Limit Research Articles

Remarks on the light ring images and the optical appearance of hairy black holes in Einstein–Maxwell-dilaton gravity

The behaviors of null geodesics in the spherical symmetric black holes in Einstein–Maxwell-dilaton (EMD) theory with coupling function f(Φ)=e-2αΦ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$f(\\Phi )=e^{-2\\alpha \\Phi }$$\\end{document} are meticulously analyzed. We investigate the effects of coupling constant α\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\alpha $$\\end{document} on the effective potential of photon trajectories within three ranges, namely 0<α<1\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$0<\\alpha <1$$\\end{document}, α=1\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\alpha =1$$\\end{document} and α>1\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\alpha >1$$\\end{document}. We find that the thicknesses of lensing and photon rings are smaller at larger α\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\alpha $$\\end{document} and fixed electric charge in the unit of mass q, whereas they are larger at fixed α\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\alpha $$\\end{document} and larger q. This behavior can be described by using the angular Lyapunov exponent γ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\gamma $$\\end{document} in the vicinity of the critical curve. Remarkably, the behaviors of photon trajectories are found to be more interesting when α>1\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\alpha >1$$\\end{document}. Namely, the radius of the black hole shadow Rs\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$R_\ ext {s}$$\\end{document} becomes to be smaller than the photon sphere radius rph\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$r_\ ext {ph}$$\\end{document} when α>1\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\alpha > 1$$\\end{document} and q>q∗\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$q>q^*$$\\end{document}. Moreover, Rs\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$R_\ ext {s}$$\\end{document} goes to zero as q saturates the extremal limit, beyond which the photon orbit becomes absent. Furthermore, we construct the optical appearance of black holes surrounded by optically and geometrically thin accretion disk with three cases of Gralla–Lupsasca–Marrone (GLM) emission profile. Our results indicate that the observed flux originating from the lensing and photon rings exhibits suppression as α\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\alpha $$\\end{document} increases, while it undergoes amplification with the increasing parameter q.

Near-extremal Kerr-like ECO in the Kerr/CFT correspondence in higher spin perturbations

The Kerr/CFT correspondence has been established to explore the quantum theory of gravity in the near-horizon geometry of an extreme Kerr black holes. The quantum gravitational corrections on the near-horizon region may manifest in form of a partially reflective membrane that replace the horizon. In such modification, the black holes now can be seen as a horizonless exotic compact object (ECO). In this paper, we consider the properties of Kerr-like ECOs in near-extremal condition using Kerr/CFT correspondence. We study the quasinormal modes and absorption cross-section in that background and compare these by using CFT dual computation. The corresponding dual CFT one needs to incorporate finite size/finite N effects in the dual CFT terminology. We also extend the dual CFT analysis for higher spin perturbations such as photon and graviton. We find consistency between properties of the ECOs from gravity sides and from CFT sides. The quasinormal mode spectrum is in line with non-extreme case, where the differences are in the length of the circle, on which the dual CFT lives, and phase shift of the incoming perturbation. The absorption cross-section has oscillatory feature that start to disappear near extremal limit. The particle spin determines the phase shift and conformal weight. We also obtain that the echo time-delay depends on the position of the membrane and extremality of the ECOs.

Hidden conformal symmetry and Schwinger effect in extremal magnetized Kerr black holes

This paper explores the near-extremal and extremal magnetized Kerr black hole, revealing the Schwinger effect in the absorption cross section at the spacetime's extremal limit. The agreement with CFT2 hints at hidden conformal symmetry. The analysis uncovers SL(2,R)L×SL(2,R)R symmetry for the massless scalar near the black hole, suggesting the Kerr/CFT correspondence for the magnetized Kerr black holes. Cardy formula of the conformal field theory is used to reproduce the black hole entropy in both extremal and near-extremal cases.

The pseudospectra of black holes in AdS

We study the stability of quasinormal modes (QNMs) in electrically charged black brane spacetimes that asymptote to AdS by means of the pseudospectrum. Methodologically, we adopt ingoing Eddington-Finkelstein coordinates to cast QNMs in terms of a generalised eigenvalue problem involving a non-selfadjoint operator; this simplifies the computation significantly in comparison with previous results in the literature. Our analysis reveals spectral instability for (neutral) scalar as well as gravitoelectric perturbations. This indicates that the equilibration process of perturbed black branes is sensitive to external perturbations. Particular attention is given on the hydrodynamic modes, which are found to be the least unstable. In contrast with computations in hyperboloidal coordinates, we find that the pseudospectral contour lines cross to the upper half plane. This indicates the existence of pseudo-resonances as well as the possibility of transient instabilities. We also investigate the asymptotic structure of pseudospectral contour levels and we find remarkable universality across all sectors, persistent in the extremal limit.

Sudden breakdown of effective field theory near cool Kerr-Newman black holes

It was recently shown that (near-)extremal Kerr black holes are sensitive probes of small higher-derivative corrections to general relativity. In particular, these corrections produce diverging tidal forces on the horizon in the extremal limit. We show that adding a black hole charge makes this effect qualitatively stronger. Higher-derivative corrections to the Kerr-Newman solution produce tidal forces that scale inversely in the black hole temperature. We find that, unlike the Kerr case, for realistic values of the black hole charge large tidal forces can arise before quantum corrections due to the Schwarzian mode become important, so that the near-horizon behavior of the black hole is dictated by higher-derivative terms in the effective theory.

Wormholes inside stars and black holes

We construct models of two exotic objects: (i) a wormhole whose throat is hidden by a stellar object like a neutron star; and (ii) a wormhole inside a black hole. We work within Einstein’s gravity coupled to two scalar fields with a specific choice of the scalar field Lagrangian. In general, the model contains ghosts, but they are eliminated using the constraints given by the Lagrange multiplier fields. The constraints are a generalization of the mimetic constraint, where nondynamical dark matter effectively appears. As a result, in our model, instead of the nondynamical dark matter, nondynamical exotic matter like a phantom effectively arises. For the mixed wormhole-plus-star system, we find the corresponding mass-radius relation and show that it is possible to get characteristics comparable to those of ordinary neutron stars. For the wormhole inside the black hole, we find an extremal limit where the radius of the throat coincides with the radius of the event horizon and demonstrate that the Hawking temperature vanishes in this limit. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Horizon as a natural boundary

We consider Einstein gravity extended with Riemann-squared term and construct the leading-order perturbative solution to the rotating black hole with all equal angular momenta in D=7. We find that in the extremal limit, the linear perturbation involves irrational powers in the near-horizon expansion. We argue that, despite that all curvature tensor invariants are regular on the horizon, the irrational power implies that the inside of the horizon is destroyed and the horizon becomes the natural boundary of the spacetime. We demonstrate that this vulnerability of the horizon regularity is an innate part of Einstein theory, and can arise in Einstein theory with minimally coupled matter. However, in fine-tuned theories such as supergravities, the black hole inside is preserved, which may be one of the criteria for a consistent theory of quantum gravity. We also show that the vulnerability occurs in general higher dimensions, which only a few sporadically distributed dimensions can evade. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Quasinormal modes of Reissner–Nordström–AdS: the approach to extremality

We consider the quasinormal spectrum of scalar and axial perturbations of the Reissner–Nordström–AdS black hole as the horizon approaches extremality. By considering a foliation of the black hole by spacelike surfaces which intersect the future horizon we implement numerical methods which are well behaved up to and including the extremal limit and which admit initial data which is nontrivial at the horizon. As extremality is approached we observe a transition whereby the least damped mode ceases to be oscillatory in time, and the late time signal changes qualitatively as a consequence.

Decoherence from horizons: General formulation and rotating black holes

Recent work by Danielson, Satishchandran, and Wald (DSW) has shown that black holes—and, in fact, Killing horizons more generally—impart a fundamental rate of decoherence on all nearby quantum superpositions. The effect can be understood from measurement and causality: An observer (Bob) in the black hole should be able to disturb outside quantum superpositions by measuring their superposed gravitational fields, but since his actions cannot (by causality) have this effect, the superpositions must automatically disturb themselves. DSW calculated the rate of decoherence up to an unknown numerical factor for distant observers in Schwarzschild spacetime, Rindler observers in flat spacetime, and static observers in de Sitter spacetime. Working in electromagnetic and Klein-Gordon analogs, we flesh out and generalize their calculation to derive a general formula for the precise decoherence rate for Killing observers near bifurcate Killing horizons. We evaluate the rate in closed form for an observer at an arbitrary location on the symmetry axis of a Kerr black hole. This fixes the numerical factor in the distant-observer Schwarzschild result, while allowing new exploration of near-horizon and/or near-extremal behavior. In the electromagnetic case we find that the decoherence vanishes entirely in the extremal limit, due to the “black hole Meissner effect” screening the Coulomb field from entering the black hole. This supports the causality picture: Since Bob is unable to measure the field of the outside superposition, no decoherence is necessary—and indeed none occurs. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Near-extremal Kerr-like ECO in the Kerr/CFT Correspondence

The Kerr/CFT correspondence has been established to explore the quantum theory of gravity in the near-horizon geometry of a extreme Kerr black holes. The horizon can be replaced by partially reflective membrane due to quantum gravitational corrections on the near-horizon region. Because of this modification, black holes now can be seen as a horizonless exotic compact object (ECO). In this work, with Kerr/CFT correspondence we study the properties of Kerr-like ECO in near-extremal condition. We compute the quasinormal modes and absorption cross-section and compare the results with CFT computation. The dual CFT one needs to consider finite size/finite N effects in the dual CFT terminology. We find consistency between properties of the ECOs from gravity side and from CFT side. The quasinormal mode spectrum is in line with non-extreme case with differences in the length of the circle where the dual CFT lives, and phase shift of the incoming perturbation. The absorption cross-section has oscillatory feature that start to vanish in near extremal limit. We also show that the echo time-delay depends on the position of the membrane and extremality of the ECOs.

Holographic two-point functions in medium

In this paper, we study two-point correlation function in a medium composed of two kinds of matter, which is the dual of a three-dimensional generalized p-brane gas geometry. Following the holographic prescription, we calculate temporal and spatial two-point functions in the medium. In general, the screening effect of the medium makes two-point functions decreases more rapidly than the CFTs two-point function. In the extremal limit, however, we find that a temporal two-point function is still conformal. This indicates that a two-dimensional UV CFT flows into a one-dimensional quantum mechanics in the IR limit. This is consistent with the fact that the near horizon geometry in the extremal limit reduces to AdS2. We also investigate holographic mutual information representing the correlation between two subsystems. We show that a critical distance in the IR region, where the mutual information vanishes, leads to a similar behavior to the correlation length of a two-point function.

Generalized hidden conformal symmetry in quadratic f(T) gravity

We find the nonextremal charged rotating charged black holes in quadratic [Formula: see text] gravity are holographically dual to two different hidden conformal field theories. The two conformal field theories can be merged to find a very general hidden conformal field theory, which is generated by the [Formula: see text] modular group. We also carry out the calculation to the extremal limit of the black holes, and find the corresponding dual quantities. Contrary to the existence of two different dual conformal field theories for the extremal charged rotating black holes in Einstein gravity, we find only one dual theory exists for the extremal charged rotating black holes in quadratic [Formula: see text] gravity.

Quantum complexity and bulk timelike singularities

Quantum complexity has already shed light on CFT states dual to bulk geometries containing spacelike singularities [1–3]. In this work, we turn our attention to the quantum complexity of CFT/quantum gravity states which are dual to bulk geometries containing a naked timelike singularity. The appearance of naked timelike singularities in semiclassical gravity is allowed in string theory, particularly in the context of holography, so long as they satisfy the Gubser criterion [4, 5] — those naked timelike singularities which arise as the extremal limits of geometries containing cloaked singularities are admissible. In this work, we use holographic complexity as a probe on geometries containing naked timelike singularities and explore potential relation to the Gubser criterion for detecting allowable naked timelike singularities. We study three specific cases of naked timelike singularities, namely the negative mass Schwarzschild-AdS spacetime, the timelike Kasner-AdS [6] and Einstein-dilaton system [7]. The first two cases are outright ruled out by the Gubser criterion while the third case is more subtle — according to the Gubser criterion the singularity switches from forbidden to admissible as the parameter α is dialed in the range [0, 1] across the transition point at α=1/3\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\alpha =1/\\sqrt{3} $$\\end{document}. We probe all three geometries using two holographic complexity prescriptions, namely CA and CV. For the case of the negative mass SAdS and timelike Kasner-AdS4 the complexities display no sign of pathology (both receive finite contribution from the naked singularity). For the Einstein-Dilaton case, action-complexity does display a sharp transition from physical positive values to patholgical negative divergent values (arising from the singularity) as one transcends the Gubser bound. Our study suggests that neither action-complexity (CA) nor volume-complexity (CV) can serve as a sensitive tool to investigate (naked) timelike singularities.

α′ corrections to 4-dimensional non-extremal stringy black holes

We compute the first-order α′ corrections to a family of 4-dimensional, 4-charge, non-extremal black hole solutions of Heterotic Supergravity in the case with 3 independent charges. The solutions are fully analytic, reproduce the extremal limit previously found in the literature and, applying T-duality, they transform as expected. If we reduce to the case with a single independent charge we obtain the corrections to four embeddings of the Reissner-Nordström black hole in string theory. We completely characterize the black hole thermodynamics computing the Hawking temperature, Wald entropy, mass, gauge charges and their dual thermodynamic potentials. We verify that all these quantities are related by the first law of extended black hole mechanics and the Smarr formula once we include a potential associated to the dimensionful parameter α′ and the scalar charges. We found that the latter are not identified with the poles at infinity of the scalar fields because they receive α′ corrections.

Like black holes, Buchdahl stars cannot be extremalized

It was shown long back in [1] that a non-extremal black hole cannot be converted into an extremal one by test particle adiabatic accretion. The Buchdahl star is the most compact object without horizon and is defined by Φ(R)=4/9, while black hole by Φ(R)=1/2. Here Φ(R) is the gravitational potential experienced by a particle, radially falling for static and axially for the rotating object. In this short note we examine the question of extremalization of the Buchdhal star and show that the same result holds good as for the black hole. That is, a non-extremal Buchdahl star cannot be extremalized by test particle accretion. Further since extremal limit for BS is >1, it could facilitate formation of extremal black holes by neutral and spinless accretion. That is perhaps the only way they could be formed.

Scalar Love numbers and Love symmetries of 5-dimensional Myers-Perry black holes

The near-zone “Love” symmetry resolves the naturalness issue of black hole Love number vanishing with SL (2, ℝ) representation theory. Here, we generalize this proposal to 5-dimensional asymptotically flat and doubly spinning (Myers-Perry) black holes. We consider the scalar response of Myers-Perry black holes and extract its static scalar Love numbers. In agreement with the naturalness arguments, these Love numbers are, in general, non-zero and exhibit logarithmic running unless certain resonant conditions are met; these conditions include new cases with no previously known analogs. We show that there exist two near-zone truncations of the equations of motion that exhibit enhanced SL (2, ℝ) Love symmetries that explain the vanishing of the static scalar Love numbers in the resonant cases. These Love symmetries can be interpreted as local SL (2, ℝ) SL (2, ℝ) near-zone symmetries spontaneously broken down to global SL (2, ℝ) × U (1) symmetries by the periodic identification of the azimuthal angles. We also discover an infinite-dimensional extension of the Love symmetry into SL (2, ℝ) ltimes hat{U}{(1)}_{mathcal{V}}^2 that contains both Love symmetries as particular subalgebras, along with a family of SL (2, ℝ) subalgebras that reduce to the exact near-horizon Myers-Perry black hole isometries in the extremal limit. Finally, we show that the Love symmetries acquire a geometric interpretation as isometries of subtracted (effective) black hole geometries that preserve the internal structure of the black hole and interpret these non-extremal SL (2, ℝ) structures as remnants of the enhanced isometry of the near-horizon extremal geometries.

Near-extremal limits of de Sitter black holes

We analyze the thermodynamic response near extremality of charged black holes in four-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell theory with a positive cosmological constant. The latter exhibit three different extremal limits, dubbed cold, Nariai and ultracold configurations, with near-horizon geometries AdS2 × S2, dS2 × S2, Mink2 × S2, respectively. For each of these three cases we analyze small deformations away from extremality, and contrast their response. We also construct the effective two-dimensional theory, obtained by dimensional reduction, that captures these features and provide a more detailed analysis of the perturbations around the near-horizon geometry for each case. Our results for the ultracold case in particular show an interesting interplay between the entropy variation and charge variation, realizing a different response in comparison to the other two near-extremal limits.

AdS2 holography and ModMax

We present a JT gravity set up in the presence of projected ModMax corrections in two dimensions. Our starting point is the Einstein’s gravity in four dimensions accompanied by the ModMax Lagrangian. The 2D gravity action is obtained following a suitable dimensional reduction which contains a 2D image of the 4D ModMax Lagrangian. We carry out a perturbative analysis to find out the vacuum structure of the theory which asymptotes to AdS2 in the absence of U(1) gauge fields. We estimate the holographic central charge and obtain corrections perturbatively upto quadratic order in the ModMax and the U(1) coupling. We also find out ModMax corrected 2D black hole solutions and discuss their extremal limits.

Breaking rotations without violating the KSS viscosity bound

We revisit the computation of the shear viscosity to entropy ratio in a holographic p-wave superfluid model, focusing on the role of rotational symmetry breaking. We study the interplay between explicit and spontaneous symmetry breaking and derive a simple horizon formula for η/s, which is valid also in the presence of explicit breaking of rotations and is in perfect agreement with the numerical data. We observe that a source which explicitly breaks rotational invariance suppresses the value of η/s in the broken phase, competing against the effects of spontaneous symmetry breaking. However, η/s always reaches a constant value in the limit of zero temperature, which is never smaller than the Kovtun-Son-Starinets (KSS) bound, 1/4π. This behavior appears to be in contrast with previous holographic anisotropic models which found a power-law vanishing of η/s at small temperature. This difference is shown to arise from the properties of the near-horizon geometry in the extremal limit. Thus, our construction shows that the breaking of rotations itself does not necessarily imply a violation of the KSS bound.

Quantum Kerr-de Sitter black holes in three dimensions

We use braneworld holography to construct a three-dimensional quantum-corrected Kerr-de Sitter black hole, exactly accounting for semi-classical backreaction effects due to a holographic conformal field theory. By contrast, classically there are no de Sitter black holes in three-dimensions, only geometries with a single cosmological horizon. The quantum Kerr black hole shares many qualitative features with the classical four-dimensional Kerr-de Sitter solution. Of note, backreaction induces inner and outer black hole horizons which hide a ring singularity. Moreover, the quantum-corrected geometry has extremal, Nariai, and ultracold limits, which appear as fibered products of a circle and two-dimensional anti-de Sitter, de Sitter, and Minkowski space, respectively. The thermodynamics of the classical bulk black hole, described by the rotating four-dimensional anti-de Sitter C-metric, has an interpretation on the brane as thermodynamics of the quantum black hole, obeying a semi-classical first law where the Bekenstein-Hawking area entropy is replaced by the generalized entropy. For purposes of comparison, we derive the renormalized quantum stress-tensor due to a free conformally coupled scalar field in the classical Kerr-de Sitter conical geometry and perturbatively solve for its backreaction.