Om Spacetime Research Articles

Hawking radiation inside a charged black hole

Here we analyze the Hawking radiation detected by an inertial observer in an arbitrary position in a Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetime, with special emphasis on the asymptotic behavior of the Hawking spectrum as an observer approaches the inner or outer horizon. Two different methods are used to analyze the Hawking flux: first, we calculate an effective temperature quantifying the rate of exponential redshift experienced by an observer from an emitter's vacuum modes, which reproduces the Hawking effect provided the redshift is sufficiently adiabatic. Second, we compute the full Bogoliubov graybody spectrum observed in the three regimes where the wave equation can be solved analytically (at infinity and at the outer and inner horizons). We find that for an observer at the event horizon, the effective Hawking temperature is finite and becomes negative when $(Q/M)^2>8/9$, while at the inner horizon, the effective temperature is always negative and infinite in every direction the observer looks, coinciding with an ultraviolet-divergent spectrum.

Bounce corrections to gravitational lensing, quasinormal spectral stability, and gray-body factors of Reissner-Nordström black holes

Gravitational lensing in the weak field limit, quasinormal spectra, and gray-body factors are investigated in the Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetime corrected by bounce parameters. Using the Gauss-Bonnet theorem, we analyze the effects of bounce corrections to the weak gravitational deflection angle and find that the divergence of the deflection angle can be suppressed by a bounce correction in the Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetime. We also notice that the bounce correction plays the same role as the Morse potential in the deflection angle. Moreover, we derive the perturbation equations with spin-dependent effective potentials and discuss the quasinormal spectral stability. We observe that the quasinormal spectra have the same behavior in large bounce parameters for different multiple numbers and they decrease significantly if the bounce parameter is much bigger than the charge. We further study the transmission probability of particles scattered by the effective potentials and reveal that the bounce correction introduced into the Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetime increases the gray-body factors of perturbation fields.

Bona-Massó slices of Reissner-Nordström spacetimes

Motivated by recent numerical relativity simulations of charged black holes and their interactions, we explore the properties of common slicing conditions in Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetimes. Specifically, we consider different choices for the so-called Bona-Mass\'o function, and construct static and spherically symmetric slices of the Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetime satisfying the corresponding slicing conditions. For some of these functions the construction is entirely analytical, while for others we use numerical root-finding to solve quartic equations. Our solutions are parameterized by the charge-to-mass ratio $\lambda = Q/M$ and approach a unique slice, independent of the Bona-Mass\'o functions considered here, in the extremal limit $\lambda \to 1$.

Comment on “Analog Schwarzschild-like geometry in fluids with external pressure”

In Ref. [1], exact (not only conformally related) analogue models for the Schwarzschild and Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetimes were found. The background non-relativistic fluid flow was sustained by an external body force which is not affected by the linearised fluctuations. Following a different route, by modelling the external force as the gradient of an external pressure, it was shown in~\cite{bilic} that the speed of sound is significantly modified. This effective speed of sound turns out to be inconsistent with the continuity equation. In this comment we analyse these two contradictory conclusions. We first show that the heuristic justification for the introduction of the external force via a variational principle given in Ref. [2] is conceptually incorrect. Then, by adding the external force appropriately, we show that the conclusions in [1] remain valid.

Electrically charged spherical matter shells in higher dimensions: Entropy, thermodynamic stability, and the black hole limit

We study the thermodynamic properties of a static electrically charged spherical thin shell in $d$ dimensions by imposing the first law of thermodynamics on the shell. The shell is at radius $R$, inside it the spacetime is Minkowski, and outside it the spacetime is Reissner-Nordstr\"om. We obtain that the shell thermodynamics is fully described by giving two additional reduced equations of state, one for the temperature and another for the electrostatic potential. We choose the equation of state for the temperature as a power law in the gravitational radius $r_+$ with exponent $a$, such that the $a=1$ case gives the temperature of a shell with black hole thermodynamic properties, and for the electrostatic potential we choose an equation of state characteristic of a Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole spacetime. The entropy of the shell is found to be proportional to $A_+^a$, where $A_+$ is the gravitational area corresponding to $r_+$, with $a>0$. We are then able to perform the black hole limit $R=r_+$, find the Smarr formula, and recover the thermodynamics of a $d$-dimensional Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole. We study the intrinsic thermodynamic stability of the shell with the chosen equations of state. We obtain that for $0<a\leq \frac{d-3}{d-2}$ all the configurations of the shell are thermodynamically stable, for $\frac{d-3}{d-2}<a<1$ stability depends on the mass and electric charge, and for $a>1$ all the configurations are unstable, except for the shell at its own gravitational radius, which is marginally stable. We rewrite the stability conditions in terms of laboratory variables. We find that the sufficient condition for the stability of these shells is when the isothermal electric susceptibility $\chi_{p,T}$ is positive, marginal stability happening when this quantity is infinite, and instability arising for configurations with a negative electric susceptibility.

Is there a trade-off relation between efficiency and power in a collisional Penrose process in an extreme Reissner-Nordström spacetime?

We investigate the power of a collisional Penrose process with an unbound energy extraction from an extreme Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole. This process takes infinite time in a time coordinate at a constant radial coordinate outside of the black hole. For black holes as a power plant, the power of the process for an observer far away from the black hole can be useful. We define the power as energy gain from the extreme Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole divided by the time interval of the process in a coordinate time; we estimate the upper bound of the power in a near-horizon limit, while the efficiency of the process can be arbitrary large in that limit. Thus, we conclude that there is no trade-off relation between the efficiency and power in the collisional Penrose process in extreme Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetime.

Charged black holes in de Sitter space: Superradiant amplification of charged scalar waves and resonant hyperradiation

Black holes typically inhabit highly dynamical galactic environments and are frequently permeated by accretion media. The inevitable scattering of scalar, electromagnetic, and gravitational waves off rotating and charged black holes provides a remarkable demonstration of the energy extraction and subsequent amplification of scattered waves under the expense of the compact object's rotational and electromagnetic energy, a phenomenon known as superradiance. Certain circumstances tremendously favor the energy extraction process in such extent that linear superradiant instabilities are triggered. We examine the superradiant amplification of monochromatic charged scalar fields impinging Reissner-Nordstr\"om-de Sitter black holes which are known to exhibit superradiantly unstable quasinormal modes. We find that even though the frequency range of superradiance is reduced when a positive cosmological constant is incorporated, the amplification factors are significantly elevated with respect to those occurring in Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetime. Intriguingly, we confirm that the long-lived quasinormal resonances that reside in the superradiant regime induce resonant peaks when the wave's frequency matches the real part of the quasinormal mode, regardless of the spacetime's modal stability.

Gravitational analog of Faraday rotation in the magnetized Kerr and Reissner-Nordström spacetimes

It is known that the gravitational analog of the Faraday rotation arises in the rotating spacetime due to the nonzero gravitomagnetic field. In this paper, we show that it also arises in the "nonrotating" Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetime, if it is immersed in a uniform magnetic field. The non-zero angular momentum (due to the presence of electric charge and magnetic field) of the electromagnetic field acts as the twist potential to raise the gravitational Faraday rotation as well as the gravitational Stern-Gerlach effect in the said spacetimes. The twisting can still exist even if the mass of the spacetime vanishes. In other words, the massless charged particle(s) immersed in a uniform magnetic field are able to twist the spacetime in principle, and responsible for the rotation of the plane of polarization of light. This, in fact, could have applications in the basic physics and the analog models of gravity. Here, we also study the effect of magnetic fields in the Kerr and Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetimes, and we derive the exact expressions for the gravitational Faraday rotation and the gravitational Stern-Gerlach effect in the magnetized Kerr and Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetimes. Calculating the lowest order of the gravitational Faraday effect arisen due to the presence of a magnetic field, we show that the logarithm correction of the distance of the source and observer in the gravitational Faraday rotation and gravitational Stern-Gerlach effect for the said spacetimes is an important consequence of the presence of the magnetic field. From the astrophysical point of view, our result could be helpful to study the effects of (gravito)magnetic fields on the propagation of polarized photons in the strong gravity regime of the collapsed object.

Second post-Newtonian motion in Reissner-Nordström spacetime

We derived the second post-Newtonian solution for the quasi-Keplerian motion of a charged test particle in the Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetime under the harmonic coordinates. The solution is formulated in terms of the test particle's orbital energy and angular momentum, both of which are constants at the second post-Newtonian order. The charge effects on the test particle's motion including the orbital period and perihelion precession are displayed explicitly. Our results can be applied to the cases in which the test particle has small charge-to-mass ratio, or the test particle has arbitrary charge-to-mass ratio but the multiplication of the test particle and the gravitational source's charge-to-mass-ratios is much smaller than 1.

Electric Penrose process: High-energy acceleration of ionized particles by nonrotating weakly charged black hole

In many astrophysical scenarios the charge of the black hole is often neglected due to unrealistically large values of the charge required for the Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetime metric. However, black holes may possess small electric charge due to various selective accretion mechanisms. In this paper we investigate the effect of a small hypothetical electric charge of a Schwarzschild black hole on the ionization of a freely falling neutral particle and subsequent escape of the ionized particle from the black hole. We show that the energy of ionized particle can grow ultra-high and discuss distinguishing signatures of particle acceleration by weakly charged black holes. We also discuss a possible application of the proposed mechanism as an alternative cosmic ray acceleration scenario. In particular we show that the Galactic centre supermassive black hole is capable to act as a PeVatron of protons. The presented mechanism can serve as a simple toy model of a non-rotating compact object acting as a particle accelerator with a potential astrophysical implementations related to the cosmic ray physics and beyond.

Pseudospectrum of Reissner-Nordström black holes: Quasinormal mode instability and universality

Black hole spectroscopy is a powerful tool to probe the Kerr nature of astrophysical compact objects and their environment. The observation of multiple ringdown modes in gravitational waveforms could soon lead to high-precision gravitational spectroscopy, so it is critical to understand if the quasinormal mode spectrum is stable against perturbations. It was recently shown that the pseudospectrum can shed light on the spectral stability of black hole quasinormal modes. We study the pseudospectrum of Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetimes and we find a spectral instability of scalar and gravitoelectric quasinormal modes in subextremal and extremal black holes, extending similar findings for the Schwarzschild spacetime. The asymptotic structure of pseudospectral contour levels is the same for scalar and gravitoelectric perturbations. By making different gauge choices in the hyperboloidal slicing of the spacetime, we find that the broad features of the pseudospectra are remarkably gauge-independent. The gravitational-led and electromagnetic-led quasinormal modes of extremal Reissner-Nordstr\"om black holes exhibit "strong" isospectrality: not only their spectrum coincides, but the whole pseudospectrum is the same for both classes of perturbations. We observe that a conformal duality between the extremal horizon and spacetime boundaries at infinity is responsible for such "strong" isospectrality property.

Singularity theorems for the Reissner-Nordström spacetime and topology change in regular black holes

In this work we show several singularity theorems which can be applied to the Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetime. To date, only two results [Phys. Rev. D 50, 3692 (1994); Lett. Math. Phys. 110, 2383 (2020)] have predicted null incompleteness in this case. In addition, we show that regular black holes in the Bardeen category have noncompact slices without the standard assumption regarding the knowledge of regions at infinity and, therefore, that they exhibit topology changes.

Analogue models for Schwarzschild and Reissner-Nordström spacetimes

We present analogue models for the Schwarzschild and Reissner-Nordstr\"om (RN) spacetimes based on unidirectional hydrodynamic flows. We show that, with appropriate coordinate transformations, sound waves in a moving fluid propagate as scalar fields at the equatorial sections of Schwarzschild and RN black holes. The coordinate associated with the direction of the flow plays the role of the radial coordinate in standard Schwarzschild/RN coordinates, while the transversal spatial coordinate is related to the angular coordinate on each equatorial slice. The magnitude of the flow velocity is related to the mass and charge of the analogue black hole. Physical quantities like pressure and density remain finite at the analogue horizon, thereby resulting in sound waves that are well defined almost everywhere, except possibly at the analogue black hole singularity.

All fundamental electrically charged thin shells in general relativity: From star shells to tension shell black holes, regular black holes, and beyond

We classify all fundamental electrically charged thin shells in general relativity, i.e., static spherically symmetric perfect fluid thin shells with a Minkowski spacetime interior and a Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetime exterior, characterized by the spacetime mass and electric charge. The fundamental shell can exist in three states, nonextremal, extremal, and overcharged. The nonextremal state allows the shell to be located such that its radius can be outside its own gravitational radius, or can be inside its own Cauchy radius. The extremal state allows the shell to be located such that its radius can be outside its own gravitational radius, or can be inside it. The overcharged state allows the shell to be located anywhere. There is a further division, one has to specify the orientation of the shell, i.e., whether the normal out of the shell points toward increasing or decreasing radii. There is still a subdivision in the extremal state when the shell is at the gravitational radius, in that the shell can approach it from above or from below. The shell is assumed to be composed of an electrically charged perfect fluid, and the energy conditions are tested. Carter-Penrose diagrams are drawn for the shell spacetimes. There are fourteen cases in the classification of the fundamental shells, namely, nonextremal star shells, nonextremal tension shell black holes, nonextremal tension shell regular and nonregular black holes, nonextremal compact shell naked singularities, Majumdar-Papapetrou star shells, extremal tension shell singularities, extremal tension shell regular and nonregular black holes, Majumdar-Papapetrou compact shell naked singularities, Majumdar-Papapetrou shell quasiblack holes, extremal null shell quasinonblack holes, extremal null shell singularities, Majumdar-Papapetrou null shell singularities, overcharged star shells, and overcharged compact shell naked singularities.

Innermost stable circular orbit of charged particles in Reissner-Nordström, Kerr-Newman, and Kerr-Sen spacetimes

In this article we study the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) of electrically charged particles in the electrically charged Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetime, the Kerr-Newman spacetime and the Kerr-Sen spacetime. We find that the radius of the ISCO increases with an increasing particle-black hole charge product $|qQ|$ in the case of attractive Coulomb interaction $qQ<0$. For repulsive Coulomb interaction, the ISCO radius first decreases to a minimum and then increases again, until it diverges as the charge product approaches one. If the charge $Q$ of the black hole is very small, the minimum of the ISCO radius lies at $qQ=0$. Repulsive and attractive Coulomb interactions will always increase the ISCO radius in this limit. Stable bound orbits of charged particles cease to exist in the Reissner-Nordstr\"om and Kerr-Newman spacetime for $qQ\geq 1$. In the Kerr-Sen spacetime the limiting case depends on the charge of the black hole and if dilaton coupling is applied to the test particle. We find $qQ\geq 1+Q^2$ without dilaton-coupling and $qQ\geq 1+\frac{3}{2}Q^2$ with dilaton coupling $\alpha=1$.

Soft factors from classical scattering on the Reissner-Nordström spacetime

We consider perturbations of the $4$ dimensional Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetime induced by the probe scattering of a point particle with charge and mass moving on an unbound trajectory with an asymptotically large velocity. The resulting classical radiative solutions are the gravitational and electromagnetic bremmstrahlung. We use these classical solutions to derive the universal photon and graviton soft factor contributions at the tree level, which have the same form as noted in the literature. The soft factor expressions enable us to investigate the tail contribution to the memory effect in late time gravitational and electromagnetic waveforms. We find that generically, the contribution from the charge dominates that from the mass in the late time radiation.

Structure and stability of traversable thin-shell wormholes in Palatini f(R) gravity

We study the structure and stability of traversable wormholes built as (spherically symmetric) thin shells in the context of Palatini $f(\mathcal{R})$ gravity. Using a suitable junction formalism for these theories we find that the effective number of degrees of freedom on the shell is reduced to a single one, which fixes the equation of state to be that of massless stress-energy fields, contrary to the general relativistic and metric $f(R)$ cases. Another major difference is that the surface energy density threading the thin-shell, needed in order to sustain the wormhole, can take any sign, and may even vanish, depending on the desired features of the corresponding solutions. We illustrate our results by constructing thin-shell wormholes by surgically grafting Schwarzschild space-times, and show that these configurations are always linearly unstable. However, surgically joined Reissner-Nordstr\"om space-times allow for linearly stable, traversable thin-shell wormholes supported by a positive energy density provided that the (squared) mass-to-charge ratio, given by $y=Q^2/M^2$, satisfies the constraint $1<y<9/8$ (corresponding to overcharged Reissner-Nordstr\"om configurations having a photon sphere) and lies in a region bounded by specific curves defined in terms of the (dimensionless) radius of the shell $x_0=R/M$.

A model problem for quasinormal ringdown of asymptotically flat or extremal black holes

We consider a wave equation with a potential on the half-line as a model problem for wave propagation close to an extremal horizon or the asymptotically flat end of a black hole spacetime. We propose a definition of quasinormal frequencies (QNFs) as eigenvalues of the generator of time translations for a null foliation, acting on an appropriate (Gevrey based) Hilbert space. We show that this QNF spectrum is discrete in a subset of C, which includes the region {Rs&amp;gt;−b,Is&amp;gt;K} for any b &amp;gt; 0 and some K = K(b) ≫ 1. As a corollary, we establish the meromorphicity of the scattering resolvent in a sector args&amp;lt;φ0 for some φ0&amp;gt;2π3 and show that the poles occur only at quasinormal frequencies according to our definition. Finally, we show that QNFs computed by the continued fraction method of Leaver are necessarily QNFs according to our new definition. A companion to our paper (arXiv:1910.08481), which deals with the QNFs of the wave equation on the extremal Reissner–Nördstrom black hole.

Compact, charged boson stars and shells in the CPN gravitating nonlinear sigma model

We study $U(1)$ gauged gravitating compact $Q$-ball, $Q$-shell solutions in a nonlinear sigma model with the target space $\mathbb{C}P^N$. The models with odd integer $N$ and a special potential can be parameterized by $N$-th complex scalar fields and they support compact solutions. Implementing the $U(1)$ gauge field in the model, the behavior of the solutions become complicated than the global model. Especially, they exhibit branch, i.e., two independent solutions with same shooting parameter. The energy of the solutions in the first branch behaves as $E\sim Q^{5/6}$ for small $Q$, where $Q$ stands for the $U(1)$ Noether charge. For the large $Q$, it gradually deviates from the scaling $E\sim Q^{5/6}$ and, for the $Q$-shells it is $E\sim Q^{7/6}$, which forms the second branch. A coupling with gravity allows for harboring of the Schwarzschild black holes for the $Q$-shell solutions, forming the charged boson shells. The space-time then consist of a charged black hole in the interior of the shell, surrounded by a $Q$-shell, and the outside becomes a Reissner-Nordstr\"om space-time. These solutions inherit the scaling behavior of the flat space-time.

Charged black holes in Einsteinian cubic gravity and nonuniqueness

Black holes are the simplest objects in the universe. They correspond to extreme deformations of spacetime geometry, and can exist even devoid of matter. In general relativity, (electro)vacuum black holes are uniquely determined by their mass, charge and angular momentum. This feature follows from a uniqueness theorem, which can be evaded if one considers higher dimensions or matter fields coupled to gravity. Here we find that Einsteinian cubic gravity, a well-motivated modification of Einstein gravity that includes third-order curvature corrections in accordance with low-energy effective theory expectations, admits black hole solutions with charge greater than mass, when minimally coupled to a Maxwell field. Moreover, we find that, in this regime, there can be two asymptotically flat black holes with the same charge and mass, posing the first example of vacuum black hole nonuniqueness in four dimensions that is free from pathologies. Examination of these black hole's thermodynamics reveals that when two branches coexist only the larger black hole is thermodynamically stable, while the smaller branch has negative specific heat. Einsteinian cubic gravity unveils two further surprising features. The charged black holes do not possess an inner horizon, in contrast with the usual Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetime, thus avoiding the need to resort to strong cosmic censorship to uphold determinism. In addition to black holes, there exists a one-parameter family of naked singularity spacetimes sharing the same mass and charge as the former, but not continuously connected with them. These naked singularities exist in the under-extremal regime, being present even in pure (uncharged) Einsteinian cubic gravity.