On the stability of the Kerr metric

DOI10.1007/S002200100494MaRDI QIDQ5953665zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Publication date 27 January 2002

Published in Communications in Mathematical Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0008236

Kerr metric Klein-Gordon equation Schwarzschild black hole stability wave equation

Wave equation (35L05) PDEs in connection with relativity and gravitational theory (35Q75) Exact solutions to problems in general relativity and gravitational theory (83C15) Black holes (83C57)

Abstract: The reduced (in the angular coordinate

p h i

) wave equation and Klein-Gordon equation are considered on a Kerr background and in the framework of

C^{0}

-semigroup theory. Each equation is shown to have a well-posed initial value problem,i.e., to have a unique solution depending continuously on the data. Further, it is shown that the spectrum of the semigroup's generator coincides with the spectrum of an operator polynomial whose coefficients can be read off from the equation. In this way the problem of deciding stability is reduced to a spectral problem and a mathematical basis is provided for mode considerations. For the wave equation it is shown that the resolvent of the semigroup's generator and the corresponding Green's functions can be computed using spheroidal functions. It is to be expected that, analogous to the case of a Schwarzschild background, the quasinormal frequencies of the Kerr black hole appear as {it resonances}, i.e., poles of the analytic continuation of this resolvent. Finally, stability of the background with respect to reduced massive perturbations is proven for large enough masses.

Review text

The author of this interesting paper considers the reduced (in the angular coordinate \(\varphi \)) wave equation and Klein-Gordon equation on a Kerr background and in the framework of \(C^0\)-semigroup theory. The Kerr metric in Boyer-Lindquist coordinates \(t,r,\theta , \varphi \) has the form \[ g=(1-2Mr/\Sigma) dr^2+(4Mar\sin^2\theta /\Sigma) dt d\varphi -(\Sigma /\triangle) dr^2-\Sigma d\theta^2- \] \[ -(r^2+a^2+2Ma^2r\sin^2\theta /\Sigma)\sin\theta d\varphi^2, \] where \(M\) is the mass, \(a\in [0,M]\) is the rotational parameter, \(\triangle\equiv r^2-2Mr+a^2\), \(\Sigma\equiv r^2+a^2\cos^2\theta \). Here \(-\infty <t<+\infty \), \(r_+<r<+\infty \), \(-\pi <\varphi <\pi \), \(0<\theta <\pi \) (\(r_+\equiv M+\sqrt {M^2-a^2}\)). For each equation it is shown that the initial value problem is well-posed. This means that there exists a unique solution which depends continuously on the data. It is shown that the spectrum of the semigroup's generator coincides with the spectrum of an operator polynomial whose coefficients can be read off from the equation. In this way, the problem of deciding stability is reduced to a spectral problem. For the wave equation, it is shown that the resolvent of the semigroup's generator and the corresponding Green's functions can be computed using spheroidal functions. It is to be expected that, analogous to the case of a Schwarzschild background, the quasinormal frequencies of the Kerr black hole appear as resonances. The stability of the solutions of the reduced Klein-Gordon equation is proven for sufficiently large masses.

Recommendations

Cited in

(17)

This page was built for publication: On the stability of the Kerr metric

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q5953665)