arXiv subjects

Guan-Ru Li

Publications and source records attributed to Guan-Ru Li.

18 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Sensitivity of black hole spectral instability to ultraviolet perturbations

Black hole quasinormal modes are known to exhibit spectral instability under ultraviolet perturbations of the effective potential. In the present work, we investigate the sensitivity of the fundamental mode to different types of localized perturbations through a combination of analytic and numerical analyzes. We show that the instability is governed primarily by the effective size of the perturbation rather than by its specific shape. In particular, the instability may persist even in the limit where the width of the perturbation vanishes, provided that the integrated strength of the perturbation is not zero. While a delta-function perturbation destabilizes the fundamental mode through an outward spiral, its interplay with a jump-discontinuity-type perturbation gives rise to competing inward and outward spiral motions. We further show that the stability of the fundamental mode depends sensitively on how the magnitude of the perturbation decreases as it moves away from the compact object, leading to qualitatively distinct outward spirals, inward spirals, and rotational trajectories. Finally, we investigate the motion of the fundamental mode in perturbed Regge-Wheeler potentials containing a jump discontinuity associated with a thin matter shell surrounding the black hole. The resulting behavior qualitatively resembles the spiral structure observed in double-sided P\"oschl-Teller potentials, suggesting that the mechanisms identified in analytically tractable models persist in more realistic black hole effective potentials. The present results indicate that the spectral instability of low-lying black hole modes is considerably richer than previously anticipated and may have important implications for black hole spectroscopy in realistic astrophysical environments.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2026

On the mapping between bound states and black hole quasinormal modes via analytic continuation: a spectral instability perspective

In this work, we investigate the relation between bound states and quasinormal modes within black hole perturbation theory in the context of spectral instability. Our analysis indicates that the reliability of such spectral mapping stretches beyond the domain of validity of the analytic continuation employed to connect the perturbative bound-state problem to the corresponding open-system dynamics. However, for the numerical scheme proposed by V\"olkel to work, the transformations of the metric parameters must be carried out in a region where the underlying Taylor expansion is convergent. As analytically accessible explicit examples, we explore the perturbed delta-function and P\"oschl-Teller potential barriers. For the latter, we construct two distinct perturbative setups for which the convergence of the series expansion involved in the perturbation theory can be rigorously controlled. When the deformation is placed near the potential's extremum, the resulting corrections to the bound-state energies can be analytically continued to yield perturbed quasinormal frequencies, in agreement with known semi-analytic results. In contrast, when the perturbation is localized asymptotically far from the compact object, the bound states are only mildly modified and are accurately described by a perturbative expansion to the first order. However, the associated analytic continuation yields a strongly deformed spectrum that shows no clear connection to the quasinormal modes. These findings contribute to the effort to scrutinize the conditions under which bound states faithfully encode quasinormal spectra and to shed light on the underlying physics of black hole spectral instability.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2026

Continued fraction method for high overtone quasinormal modes in effective potentials with discontinuity

In this study, we extend Leaver's continued fraction method to evaluate black hole quasinormal modes (QNMs) in systems where the effective potential exhibits a discontinuity. Besides the low-lying modes, we particularly focus on high overtones, which are physically pertinent due to the substantial deformation of the QNM spectrum triggered by spectral instability. In our algorithm, we expand the wavefunction at the point of discontinuity, instead of the black hole horizon, and incorporate the Israel-Lanczos-Sen junction conditions. %As the wavefunction convergence condition becomes irrelevant, our proposed algorithm generalizes the original method by expanding the wavefunctions at the point of discontinuity, and the associated difficulty is mitigated by rectifying the recurrence relations between the expansion coefficients to incorporate the Israel-Lanczos-Sen junction conditions. We apply this algorithm to compute the QNMs of the modified Regge-Wheeler potential up to $2000$ modes with high precision. For the low-lying modes, the numerical results show excellent agreement with those obtained using the matrix and Prony methods. The high overtones are significantly deformed, owing to the presence of echoes due to the discontinuity. This deformation in the asymptotic QNM spectrum reveals universal features that are largely independent of the specific form of the discontinuity in the potential, seemingly coinciding with those observed in the modified P\"oschl-Teller effective potential. We speculate on whether the collective effect of the high overtones has an observational impact on gravitational wave signals.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2026

On the instability of the fundamental mode of the Regge-Wheeler effective potential

It was recently pointed out that the fundamental mode of the Regge-Wheeler effective potential is unstable against an insignificant Gaussian metric perturbation, which, in turn, might substantially challenge the black hole spectroscopy. This intriguing result has been interpreted by some authors as arising from essentially replacing the black hole's effective potential and its perturbation with two disjoint potential barriers. We argue that such an analysis may have oversimplified the real physical scenario. To be more precise, a metric perturbation planted farther away from the black hole horizon might not always be appropriately approximated by a disjoint minor barrier. Particularly, for the perturbed P\"oschl-Teller potential, joint and disjoint metric perturbations might lead to drastically different stability properties for the low-lying modes. Following this line of thought, this study conducts a refined analysis of the stability of the fundamental mode of the Regge-Wheeler effective potential by closely examining a few physically relevant ingredients. While our analysis qualitatively confirms the main findings of previous studies, as the stability of the fundamental mode is primarily determined by the imaginary part of the quasinormal frequency, we show that specific features of both the effective potential at spatial infinity and the metric perturbation can have a sizable impact on the instability. In contrast, the spiral period, governed by the real part of the quasinormal frequency, appears largely insensitive to the details of the black hole metric or its perturbations. The analytic estimates are in reasonable agreement with the numerical results.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

Spectral instability in modified P\"oschl-Teller effective potential triggered by deterministic and random perturbations

Owing to its substantial implications for black hole spectroscopy, spectral instability has attracted considerable attention in the literature. While the emergence of such instability is attributed to the non-Hermitian nature of the gravitational system, it remains sensitive to various factors. About the spatial scale of the metric deformation, spectral instability is particularly susceptible to ``ultraviolet'' metric perturbations. In this work, we conduct a focused analysis of black hole spectral instability using the P\"oschl-Teller potential as a toy model. We investigate the dependence of the resulting spectral instability on the magnitude, spatial scale, and localization of deterministic and random perturbations in the effective potential of the wave equation, and discuss the underlying physical interpretations. It is observed that small perturbations in the potential initially have a limited impact on the less damped black hole quasinormal modes with deviations typically around their unperturbed values, a phenomenon first derived by Skakala and Visser in a more restrictive context. In the higher overtone region, the deviation propagates, amplifies, and eventually gives rise to spectral instability and, inclusively, bifurcation in the quasinormal mode spectrum. While deterministic perturbations give rise to a deformed but well-defined quasinormal spectrum, random perturbations lead to uncertainties in the resulting spectrum. Nonetheless, the primary trend of the spectral instability remains consistent, being sensitive to both the strength and location of the perturbation. However, we demonstrate that the observed spectral instability might be suppressed for perturbations that are physically appropriate.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

On Hyperboloidal Foliations in the Study of Black Hole Quasinormal Modes

In this work, we demonstrate that the hyperboloidal foliation technique, applied to the study of black hole quasinormal modes, where the spatial boundary is shifted from spacelike infinity to the future event horizon and null infinity, is effectively equivalent to the continued fraction approach, in which the asymptotic wave function typically diverges at both ends of spatial infinity. Specifically, a given hyperboloidal slicing, corresponding to a particular choice of coordinates, always uniquely determines a scheme for extracting the asymptotic form of the wave function at the spatial boundary. Owing to the mathematical equivalence, it follows that the efficiency and precision observed using the hyperboloidal approach should be attributed, not to avoiding the pathological behavior at the spatial boundaries, but primarily to other factors, such as the use of Chebyshev grids.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

Asymptotic quasinormal modes, echoes, and black hole spectral instability: a brief review

We present a short review of the analytical aspects of recent progress in the study of black hole spectral instability and its potential observational consequences. This topic, inspired by earlier foundational works, has attracted considerable attention in the recent literature. It has been demonstrated that both the low-lying modes and high overtones of black hole quasinormal spectra can be substantially influenced by small deformations in the effective potential of the wave equation that describes black hole perturbations. The temporal evolution of gravitational wave signals is primarily governed by the first few low-lying quasinormal modes. In contrast, the asymptotic behavior of high overtones is closely associated with the phenomenon of black hole echoes. We review relevant studies on spectral instability in both regimes, highlighting their potential to produce substantial observational signatures in gravitational wave data. Additionally, recent proposals of Regge poles and reflectionless modes as alternative stable observables for probing black hole spacetimes are summarized.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

Regge poles, grey body factors, and absorption cross sections for black hole metrics with discontinuity

It was recently proposed by Rosato {\it et al.} and Oshita {\it et al.} that black hole greybody factors, as stable observables at relatively high frequencies, are more relevant quantities than quasinormal modes in modeling ringdown spectral amplitudes. It was argued that the overall contributions of spectrally unstable quasinormal modes conspire to produce stable observables through collective interference effects. In this regard, the present study investigates the Regge poles, the underlying quantities of the greybody factor governed by the singularities in the complex angular momentum plane, for perturbed black hole metrics. To this end, we generalize the matrix method to evaluate the Regge poles in black hole metrics with discontinuities. To verify our approach, the numerical results are compared with those obtained using a modified version of the continued fraction method. The obtained Regge pole spectrum is then used to calculate the scattering amplitude and cross-section. We show that the stability of these observables at moderate frequencies can be readily interpreted in terms of the stability of the Regge pole spectrum, particularly the low-lying modes. Nonetheless, destabilization still occurs at higher frequencies, characterized by the emergence of a bifurcation in the spectrum. The latter further evolves, leading to more significant deformation in the Regge poles, triggered by ultraviolet metric perturbations moving further away from the black hole. However, based on the validity of the WKB approximation, it is argued that such an instability in the spectrum is not expected to cause significant observable implications.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

Evolution of black hole echo modes and the causality dilemma

It has been shown that black hole quasinormal modes are subject to spectral instability, typically triggered by metric perturbations. These perturbations, which can introduce a minor bump in the effective potential of the wave equation, give rise to a novel branch of asymptotic quasinormal modes, dubbed the {\it echo modes}, which lie mainly parallel to the real frequency axis. This study explores the evolution of the echo modes and their interplay with the outward spiral motion observed in low-lying quasinormal modes. As the bump in the effective potential moves away from the central black hole, the echo modes collectively shift toward the real axis, with the spacing between successive modes decreasing uniformly. This collective motion occurs simultaneously with the spiral of the low-lying modes until the echo modes eventually take over the fundamental quasinormal mode. In the time domain, such a takeover coincides with a transition point for the temporal waveform, where the distinction between the original black hole's ringdown and the echoes becomes clear. This marks a transition in the characteristics of the waveform from primarily damped oscillations, dominated by the damping rate of the fundamental mode, to echo waves, characterized by periodic echo pulses. We argue that this phenomenon is universal by employing analytical and numerical analyses. We first elucidate our arguments using explicit but simplified toy models, where the effective potential barriers are disjoint. The derivations are then generalized to scenarios where perturbations are introduced on top of a black hole metric with a continuous effective potential. The observational implications, particularly the causality dilemma, are elaborated. We show that the echo modes can be extracted by applying the Fourier transform to ringdown waveforms, which can be important for gravitational wave observations.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

On the universality of instability in the fundamental quasinormal modes of black holes

We elaborate on a criterion for the emergence of instability in the fundamental mode recently observed by Cheung {\it et al.}, as a universal phenomenon in the context of black hole perturbations. Such instability is characterized by an exponential spiral, deviating from the quasinormal frequencies due to an insignificant perturbation moving away from the compact object. Our analysis begins with a specific case involving a truncated Pöschl-Teller potential for which we derive an explicit form of the criterion. Notably, it is shown analytically, contrary to other cases studied in the literature, that the fundamental mode is stable. These derivations are then generalized to a broader context, embracing two underlying mathematical formalisms. Specifically, the spiral is attributed to either the poles in the black hole's reflection amplitude or the zeros in the transmission amplitude. Additionally, we revisit and then generalize a toy model in which perturbations to the effective potential are disjointed, demonstrating that such a configuration invariably leads to instability in the fundamental mode, and the resulting outward spiral always occurs in the counter-clockwise direction. The derived criterion is not restricted to the fundamental mode but is generally relevant for the first few low-lying modes. We demonstrate numerically that the sprial's period and the frequency's relative deviation agree well with our analytical estimations.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

On bifurcation and spectral instability of asymptotic quasinormal modes in the modified Pöschl-Teller effective potential

The Pöchl-Teller effective potential mimics an asymptotically de Sitter black hole bounded by an event horizon and a cosmological one. Owing to the benefit of being analytically soluble, the asymptotic quasinormal modes in the modified Pöschl-Teller potential have been extensively explored in the literature by various authors, and the results bear distinct features. Specifically, for small discontinuities placed at the potential's peak, Skakala and Visser showed that the resulting modes lie primarily along the imaginary frequency axis, in line with the numerical results encountered for most black hole metrics. However, it was also suggested that under ultraviolet perturbations, asymptotic modes are expected to lie parallel to the real axis, closely intervening with recent developments on spectral instability. In this work, by numerical and semi-analytical approaches, we aim to resolve the above apparent ambiguity. The numerical scheme is based on an improved version of the matrix method, which is implemented in compactified hyperboloidal coordinates on the Chebyshev grid. It is demonstrated that both asymptotic behaviors indeed agree with the numerical findings, which is somewhat to one's surprise. Specifically, we report the emergence of a novel branch of purely imaginary modes originating from a bifurcation in the asymptotic quasinormal mode spectrum. Moreover, we demonstrate how the bifurcation and asymptotic modes evolve as the discontinuity moves away from the potential's peak, furnishing a dynamic picture as the spectral instability unfolds. It is further argued that they can be partly attributed to the observed parity-dependent deviations occurring for the low-lying perturbed modes of the original Pöschl-Teller effective potential.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

Optical appearance of a thin-shell wormhole with a Hayward profile

The optical properties of a thin-shell wormhole (TSW) with a Hayward profile is investigated. Adopting the ray-tracing method, we demonstrate that the TSW's contralateral spacetime is capable of reflecting a significant portion of light back to the observer spacetime. We analyze the effective potential, light deflection, and azimuthal angle of the TSW and find that these quantities are affected by the mass ratio of the black holes (BHs). Specifically, if the mass of the contralateral spacetime BH is greater than that of the original spacetime BH, and the impact parameter satisfies the condition $Hb_{\rm c2}<b_{1}<b_{\rm c1}$, the trajectory of the photon exhibits round-trip characteristics. Assuming the presence of a thin accretion disk surrounding the observing spacetime BH, our results indicate that the image formed by the TSW exhibits additional photon rings and a lensing band compared to an image produced by a BH alone.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

Phase transition grade and microstructure of AdS black holes in massive gravity

Considering that under the framework of the massive gravity theory, the interaction between the mass gravitons and Schwarzschild black hole (BH) could make it carry a scalar charge, the phase transition process caused by this scalar charge is investigated in this analysis. The phase transition grade and microstructure of those BHs are investigated from both macroscopic and microscopic points of view. From the macroscopic point of view, it is found that Ehrenfest equations are satisfied at the phase transition critical point, which implies that the phase transition grade of those BHs is second-order. Based on the BH molecules model and Landau continuous phase transition theory, the phase transition of those BHs from the microcosmic point of view is analyzed. The critical exponents obtained from the two perspectives are consistent. By investigating the Ruppeiner geometry, the microstructure feature of those BHs is revealed. These results suggest that the phase transition of BH in massive gravity is a standard second-order phase transition at the critical point, and the microscopic details of those BHs are different from the RN-AdS BH in standard Einstein gravity.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

High-order QED correction impacts on phase transition of the Euler-Heisenberg AdS black hole

Two-phase transition branches of the Euler-Heisenberg (EH) anti-de Sitter (AdS) black hole (BH) were derived from its phase transition critical behavior by Magos et al. [Phys. Rev. D. 102, 084011 (2020)]. We found that the phase transition is unstable. Considering the high-order quantum electrodynamics (QED) correction, we re-derive the EHAdS BH solution and investigate its critical thermodynamic quantities. It is found that the corrected EHAdS BH has only one stable phase transition branch, and its critical exponents are equivalent to that of the vdW system. From the microscopic point of view, we also derive its normalized scalar curvature based on the Ruppeiner geometry. Different from two concave surfaces of the scalar curvature without considering the high-order QED correction, we show that the corrected Ruppeiner geometry has only one concave surface. Our results indicate that the phase transition instability derived by Magos $et~al.$ is due to without considering the high-order QED correction.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

The shadow and photon sphere of the charged black hole in Rastall gravity

Considering a charged black hole (BH) surrounded by a perfect fluid radiation field (PFRF) in Rastall gravity, we investigate this BH shadow and photon sphere on different spherical accretions backgrounds. The effect of the PFRF parameter/BH charge on the critical impact parameter is studied by investigating the light deflection near this BH. The luminosity of these BH shadows in different spherical accretions is obtained, respectively. It is found that the shadow of this BH with infalling spherical accretion is darker than static spherical accretion, and the photon sphere with infalling spherical accretion is brighter than a static one. We creatively investigate the effects of the BH charge/PFRF parameter on the luminosity of BH shadow and photon sphere. The results implying that the BH shadow is a signature of space-time geometry, and the photon sphere luminosity is affected by accretion materials and BH itself.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

Observable characteristics of the charged black hole surrounded by thin disk accretion in Rastall gravity

The observable characteristics of the charged black hole (BH) surrounded by a thin disk accretion are investigated in the Rastall gravity. We found that the radii of the direct emission, lensing ring, and photon ring dramatically increased as the radiation field parameter increases, but they only weakly depend on the BH charge. Three positions of the radiation accretion disk relative to the BH are considered, i.e., the innermost accretion disk is closed to the radii of the innermost stable circular orbit, the photon ring of the BH, and the event horizon of the BH. The observed images in three cases respectively are obtained. It is found that the total observed flux is dominated by the direct emission, the lensing ring provides a small contribution, and the photon ring is negligible. The lensing and photon rings could not be observed in the blurred image with the EHT resolution. Our results suggest that the observable characteristics of the charged BH surrounded by the thin disk accretion in the Rastall gravity depend on both the BH space-time structure and the position of the radiating accretion disk with respect to the BH. The research of these BH images may serve as a probe for the BH-disk structure in M87$^{*}$ like nearby active galactic nuclei.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2022

Influence of Accretion Flow and Magnetic Charge on the Observed Shadows and Rings of the Hayward Black Hole

The feature of the observed shadows and rings of an astrophysical black hole (BH) may depend on its accretion flows and magnetic charge. We find that the shadow radii and critical impact parameters of the Hayward BH are decreased with the increase of the magnetic charge. Comparing the Schwarzschild BH with the Hayward BH using the ray-tracing method, we show that the density and deflection of lights increase with the magnetic charge, and the BH singularity does not affect the generation of the shadow. Based on three optically thin accretion flow models, the two-dimensional shadows in celestial coordinates are derived. It is found that the shadow and photon ring luminosities of a Hayward BH surrounded by infalling spherical accretion flow are dimmer than that of a static spherical accretion flow. Taking three kinds of inner radii at which the accretion flow stops radiating, we find that the observed luminosity of a Hayward BH surrounded by a thin disk accretion flow is dominated by the direct emission, and the photon ring emission has a weak influence on it. These results suggest that the size of the observed shadow is related to the space-time geometry, and the luminosities of both the shadows and rings are affected by the accretion flow property and the BH magnetic charge.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2022

Shadow thermodynamics of AdS black hole in regular spacetime

The dependence of the black hole (BH) shadow and thermodynamics may be structured in the regular spacetime. Taking the regular Bardeen-AdS BH as an example, the relationship between the shadow radius and the event horizon radius is derived. It is found that these two radii display a positive correlation, implying that the BH temperature can be rewritten as a function of shadow radius in the regular spacetime. By analyzing the phase transition curves under the shadow context, we found that the shadow radius can replace the event horizon radius to present the BH phase transition process, and the phase transition grade can also be revealed by the shadow radius, indicating that the shadow radius may serve as a probe for the phase structure in the regular spacetime. Utilizing the temperature-shadow radius function, the thermal profile of the Bardeen-AdS BH is established. We obtained that the temperature shows an N-type change trend in P<Pc situation. These results suggest that the phase transition process of the regular AdS BH can be completely presented in the thermal profile, and the relationship between the BH shadow and thermodynamics can also be established in the regular spacetime.

gr-qc↗