Killing-Yano Tensors Research Articles

Quasinormal modes and universality of the Penrose limit of black hole photon rings

We study the physics of photon rings in a wide range of axisymmetric black holes admitting a separable Hamilton-Jacobi equation for the geodesics. Utilizing the Killing-Yano tensor, we derive the Penrose limit of the black holes, which describes the physics near the photon ring. The obtained plane wave geometry is directly linked to the frequency matrix of the massless wave equation, as well as the instabilities and Lyapunov exponents of the null geodesics. Consequently, the Lyapunov exponents and frequencies of the photon geodesics, along with the quasinormal modes, can be all extracted from a Hamiltonian in the Penrose limit plane wave metric. Additionally, we explore potential bounds on the Lyapunov exponent, the orbital and precession frequencies, in connection with the corresponding inverted harmonic oscillators and we discuss the possibility of photon rings serving as effective holographic horizons in a holographic duality framework for astrophysical black holes. Our formalism is applicable to spacetimes encompassing various types of black holes, including stationary ones like Kerr, Kerr-Newman, as well as static black holes such as Schwarzschild, Reissner-Nordström, among others.

Charges and topology in linearised gravity

Covariant conserved 2-form currents for linearised gravity are constructed by contracting the linearised curvature with conformal Killing-Yano tensors. The corresponding conserved charges were originally introduced by Penrose and have recently been interpreted as the generators of generalised symmetries of the graviton. We introduce an off-shell refinement of these charges and find the relation between these improved Penrose charges and the linearised version of the ADM momentum and angular momentum. If the graviton field is globally well-defined on a background Minkowski space then some of the Penrose charges give the momentum and angular momentum while the remainder vanish. We consider the generalisation in which the graviton has Dirac string singularities or is defined locally in patches, in which case the conventional ADM expressions are not invariant under the graviton gauge symmetry in general. We modify them to render them gauge-invariant and show that the Penrose charges give these modified charges plus certain magnetic gravitational charges. We discuss properties of the Penrose charges, generalise to toroidal Kaluza-Klein compactifications and check our results in a number of examples.

Hyper-Kähler instantons, symmetries, and flat spaces

We find all hyper-Kähler 4-manifolds admitting conformal Kähler structures with respect to either orientation, and we show that these structures can be expressed as a combination of twistor elementary states (and possibly a self-dual dyon) in locally flat spaces. The complex structures of different flat pieces are not compatible however, reflecting that the global geometry is not a linear superposition. For either orientation, the space must be Gibbons–Hawking (thus excluding the Atiyah–Hitchin metric), and, if the orientations are opposite, it must also be toric and have an irreducible Killing tensor. We also show that the only hyper-Kähler 4-metric with a non-constant Killing–Yano tensor is the half-flat Taub–NUT instanton.

Geometry, conformal Killing-Yano tensors and conserved “currents”

In this paper we discuss the construction of conserved tensors (currents) involving conformal Killing-Yano tensors (CKYTs), generalising the corresponding constructions for Killing-Yano tensors (KYTs). As a useful preparation for this, but also of intrinsic interest, we derive identities relating CKYTs and geometric quantities. The behaviour of CKYTs under conformal transformations is also given, correcting formulae in the literature. We then use the identities derived to construct covariantly conserved “currents”. We find several new CKYT currents and also include a known one by Penrose which shows that “trivial” currents are also useful. We further find that rank-n currents based on rank-n CKYTs k must have a simple form in terms of dk. By construction, these currents are covariant under a general conformal rescaling of the metric. How currents lead to conserved charges is then illustrated using the Kerr-Newman and the C-metric in four dimensions. Separately, we study a rank-1 current, construct its charge and discuss its relation to the recently constructed Cotton current for the Kerr-Newman black hole.

CFT duals for black rings and black strings

Holographic dualities between certain gravitational theories in four and five spacetime dimensions and 2D conformal field theories (CFTs) have been proposed based on hidden conformal symmetry exhibited by the radial Klein-Gordon (KG) operator in a so-called near-region limit. In this paper, we examine hidden conformal symmetry of black rings and black strings solutions, thus demonstrating that the presence of hidden conformal symmetry is not linked to the separability of the KG-equation (or the existence of a Killing-Yano tensor). Further, we will argue that these classes of non-extremal black holes have a dual 2D CFT. New revised monodromy techniques are developed to encompass all the cases we consider.

Killing-Yano charges of asymptotically maximally symmetric black holes

We construct an asymptotic conserved charge for a current that has been defined using Killing-Yano tensors. We then calculate the corresponding conserved charges of the Kerr and AdS-Kerr black holes, and their higher-dimensional generalizations, Myers-Perry and Gibbons-Lü-Page-Pope black holes. The new charges all turn out to be proportional to the angular momenta of their parent black holes.

Chiral anomalies in black hole spacetimes

We study the properties of chiral anomalies in a wide class of spacetimes which possess a principal Killing-Yano tensor. This class includes metrics of charged rotating black holes as a special physically important case. The spacetimes which admit a principal Killing-Yano tensor possess a number of remarkable properties. In particular, such spacetimes have two commuting Killing vectors and a Killing tensor responsible for their hidden symmetries. We calculate the gravitational and electromagnetic contributions to the axial anomaly currents in the spacetime of a charged rotating black hole, and demonstrate that the equation for the chiral anomaly current has special solutions which respect both explicit and hidden symmetries. Two of these solutions have the form of currents propagating along two principal null directions, which are null eigenvectors of the Riemann tensor. These solutions describe chiral currents for the incoming and outgoing polarization fluxes. It is demonstrated that these principal chiral currents can be written explicitly in the form which contains the off-shell metric coefficients and their derivatives. We discuss conditions where the principle chiral anomaly current is regular at the horizon and the axes of symmetry. We demonstrate that for states where the current vanishes at the past horizon and at the past null infinity, there exist chirality fluxes at both the future horizon and future infinity. The latter is directly related to the polarization asymmetry of Hawking radiation for massless spinning particles. We also calculate the Chern-Simons currents for both gravitational and electromagnetic chiral anomalies in the black hole spacetime, and discuss the properties of the chirality fluxes associated with these currents.

TCFHs, hidden symmetries and M-theory backgrounds

We present the twisted covariant form hierarchy (TCFH) of 11-dimensional supergravity and so demonstrate that the form bilinears of supersymmetric solutions satisfy a generalisation of the conformal Killing-Yano equation with resepct to the TCFH connection. We also compute the Killing-Stäckel, KY and closed conformal Killing-Yano tensors of all spherically symmetric M-branes that include the M2-brane, M5-brane, KK-monopole and pp-wave and demonstrate that their geodesic flows are completely integrable by giving all independent conserved charges in involution. We then find that all form bilinears of pp-wave and KK-monopole solutions generate (hidden) symmetries for spinning particle probes propagating on these backgrounds. Moreover, there are Killing spinors such that some of the 1-, 2- and 3-form bilinears of the M2-brane solution generate symmetries for spinning particle probes. We also explore the question on whether the form bilinears are sufficient to prove the integrability of particle probe dynamics on 11-dimensional supersymmetric backgrounds.

TCFHs, hidden symmetries and type II theories

We present the twisted covariant form hierarchies (TCFH) of type IIA and IIB 10-dimensional supergravities and show that all form bilinears of supersymmetric backgrounds satisfy the conformal Killing-Yano equation with respect to a TCFH connection. We also compute the Killing-Stäckel, Killing-Yano and closed conformal Killing-Yano tensors of all spherically symmetric type II brane backgrounds and demonstrate that the geodesic flow on these solutions is completely integrable by giving all independent charges in involution. We then identify all form bilinears of common sector and D-brane backgrounds which generate hidden symmetries for particle and string probe actions. We also explore the question on whether charges constructed from form bilinears are sufficient to prove the integrability of probes on supersymmetric backgrounds.

Tensionless strings and Killing(-Yano) tensors

We construct invariants for bosonic and spinning tensionless (null) strings in backgrounds that carry Killing tensors or Killing-Yano tensors of mixed type. This is facilitated by the close relation of these strings to point particles. We apply the construction to the Minkowski and to the Kerr-Newman backgrounds.

Astrophysically viable Kerr-like spacetime

Based on carefully selected physical requirements, we develop and analyze a rotating regular black hole with asymptotically Minkowski core. This Kerr-like geometry possesses the full ``Killing tower'' of nontrivial Killing tensor, Killing-Yano tensor, and principal tensor. The Hamilton-Jacobi equation, Klein-Gordon equation, and Maxwell's equations are separable. Energy-condition violating physics is pushed into an arbitrarily small region in the deep core. Extraction of astrophysical observables falsifiable/verifiable by the observational community is straightforward.

Slowly rotating black holes with exact Killing tensor symmetries

We present a novel family of slowly rotating black hole solutions in four, and higher dimensions, that extend the well known Lense-Thirring spacetime and solve the field equations to linear order in rotation parameter. As "exact metrics" in their own right, the new (non-vacuum) spacetimes feature the following two remarkable properties: i) near the black hole horizon they can be cast in the, manifestly regular, Painlev\'e-Gullstrand form and ii) they admit exact Killing tensor symmetries. We show these symmetries are inherited from the principal Killing-Yano tensor of the exact rotating black hole geometry in the slow rotation limit. This provides a missing link as to how the exact hidden symmetries emerge as rotation is switched on. Remarkably, in higher dimensions the novel generalized Lense-Thirring spacetimes feature a rapidly growing number of exact irreducible rank-2, as well as higher-rank, Killing tensors -- giving a first example of a physical spacetime with more hidden than explicit symmetries.

Killing-Yano Cotton currents

We discuss conserved currents constructed from the Cotton tensor and (conformal) Killing-Yano tensors (KYTs). We consider the corresponding charges generally and then exemplify with the four-dimensional Plebański-Demiański metric where they are proportional to the sum of the squares of the electric and the magnetic charges. As part of the derivation, we also find the two conformal Killing-Yano tensors of the Plebański-Demiański metric in the recently introduced coordinates of Podolsky and Vratny. The construction of asymptotic charges for the Cotton current is elucidated and compared to the three-dimensional construction in Topologically Massive Gravity. For the three-dimensional case, we also give a conformal superspace multiplet that contains the Cotton current in the bosonic sector. In a mathematical section, we derive potentials for the currents, find identities for conformal KYTs and for KYTs in torsionful backgrounds.

The eye of the storm: a regular Kerr black hole

We analyse in some detail a highly tractable non-singular modification of the Kerr geometry, dubbed the “eye of the storm” — a rotating regular black hole with an asymptotically Minkowski core. This is achieved by “exponentially suppressing” the mass parameter in the Kerr spacetime: m → m e-ℓ/r . The single suppression parameter ℓ quantifies the deviation from the usual Kerr spacetime. Some of the classical energy conditions are globally satisfied, whilst certain choices for ℓ force any energy-condition-violating physics into the deep core. The geometry possesses the full “Killing tower” of principal tensor, Killing-Yano tensor, and nontrivial Killing tensor, with associated Carter constant; hence the Hamilton-Jacobi equations are separable, and the geodesics integrable. Both the Klein-Gordon equation and Maxwell's equations are also separable on this candidate spacetime. The tightly controlled deviation from Kerr renders the physics extraordinarily tractable when compared with analogous candidates in the literature. This spacetime will be amenable to straightforward extraction of astrophysical observables falsifiable/ verifiable by the experimental community.

Complete set of quasi-conserved quantities for spinning particles around Kerr

We revisit the conserved quantities of the Mathisson-Papapetrou-Tulczyjew equations describing the motion of spinning particles on a fixed background. Assuming Ricci-flatness and the existence of a Killing-Yano tensor, we demonstrate that besides the two non-trivial quasi-conserved quantities, i.e. conserved at linear order in the spin, found by Rüdiger, non-trivial quasi-conserved quantities are in one-to-one correspondence with non-trivial mixed-symmetry Killing tensors. We prove that no such stationary and axisymmetric mixed-symmetry Killing tensor exists on the Kerr geometry. We discuss the implications for the motion of spinning particles on Kerr spacetime where the quasi-constants of motion are shown not to be in complete involution.

Killing Tensor and Carter Constant for Painlevé–Gullstrand Form of Lense–Thirring Spacetime

Recently, the authors have formulated and explored a novel Painlevé–Gullstrand variant of the Lense–Thirring spacetime, which has some particularly elegant features, including unit-lapse, intrinsically flat spatial 3-slices, and some particularly simple geodesics—the “rain” geodesics. At the linear level in the rotation parameter, this spacetime is indistinguishable from the usual slow-rotation expansion of Kerr. Herein, we shall show that this spacetime possesses a nontrivial Killing tensor, implying separability of the Hamilton–Jacobi equation. Furthermore, we shall show that the Klein–Gordon equation is also separable on this spacetime. However, while the Killing tensor has a 2-form square root, we shall see that this 2-form square root of the Killing tensor is not a Killing–Yano tensor. Finally, the Killing-tensor-induced Carter constant is easily extracted, and now, with a fourth constant of motion, the geodesics become (in principle) explicitly integrable.

Symmetry operators for the conformal wave equation in rotating black hole spacetimes

We present covariant symmetry operators for the conformal wave equation in the (off-shell) Kerr-NUT-AdS spacetimes. These operators, that are constructed from the principal Killing-Yano tensor, its `symmetry descendants', and the curvature tensor, guarantee separability of the conformal wave equation in these spacetimes. We next discuss how these operators give rise to a full set of conformally invariant mutually commuting operators for the conformally rescaled spacetimes and underlie the $R$-separability of the conformal wave equation therein. Finally, by employing the WKB approximation we derive the associated Hamilton-Jacobi equation with a scalar curvature potential term and show its separability in the Kerr-NUT-AdS spacetimes.

New currents with Killing–Yano tensors

New relations involving the Riemann, Ricci and Einstein tensors that have to hold for a given geometry to admit Killing–Yano tensors (KYTs) are described. These relations are then used to introduce novel conserved ‘currents’ involving such KYTs. For a particular current based on the Einstein tensor, we discuss the issue of conserved charges and consider implications for matter coupled to gravity. The condition on the background geometry to allow asymptotic conserved charges for a current introduced by Kastor and Traschen is found and a number of other new aspects of this current are commented on. In particular we show that it vanishes for rank (D − 1) KYTs in D dimensions.

Conformal geodesics on gravitational instantons

AbstractWe study the integrability of the conformal geodesic flow (also known as the conformal circle flow) on the SO(3)–invariant gravitational instantons. On a hyper–Kähler four–manifold the conformal geodesic equations reduce to geodesic equations of a charged particle moving in a constant self–dual magnetic field. In the case of the anti–self–dual Taub NUT instanton we integrate these equations completely by separating the Hamilton–Jacobi equations, and finding a commuting set of first integrals. This gives the first example of an integrable conformal geodesic flow on a four–manifold which is not a symmetric space. In the case of the Eguchi–Hanson we find all conformal geodesics which lie on the three–dimensional orbits of the isometry group. In the non–hyper–Kähler case of the Fubini–Study metric on $\mathbb{CP}^2$ we use the first integrals arising from the conformal Killing–Yano tensors to recover the known complete integrability of conformal geodesics.

Charged black-bounce spacetimes

Given the recent development of rotating black-bounce-Kerr spacetimes,for both theoretical and observational purposes it becomes interesting to see whether it might be possible to construct black-bounce variants of the entire Kerr-Newman family.Specifically, herein we shall consider black-bounce-Reissner-Nordström and black-bounce-Kerr-Newman spacetimes as particularly simple and clean everywhere-regular black hole “mimickers” that deviate from the Kerr-Newman family in a precisely controlled and minimal manner, and smoothly interpolate between regular black holes and traversable wormholes.While observationally the electric charges on astrophysical black holes are likely to be extremely low, |Q|/m ≪ 1, introducing any non-zero electric charge has a significant theoretical impact. In particular, we verify the existence of a Killing tensor (and associated Carter-like constant) but without the full Killing tower of principal tensor and Killing-Yano tensor, also we discuss how, assuming general relativity, the black-bounce-Kerr-Newman solution requires an interesting, non-trivial matter/energy content.