arXiv subjects

Harvey S. Reall

Publications and source records attributed to Harvey S. Reall.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Higher derivative corrections to Kerr black hole thermodynamics

In an effective field theory approach to gravity, the Einstein-Hilbert action is supplemented by higher derivative terms. In the absence of matter, four derivative terms can be eliminated by a field redefinition. We use the Euclidean action to calculate analytically the corrections to thermodynamic quantities of the Kerr solution arising from terms with six or eight derivatives. The eight derivative terms make a non-negative correction to the entropy (at fixed mass and angular momentum) if their coefficients have appropriate signs. The correction from the six derivative terms does not have a definite sign.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

The BTZ black hole violates strong cosmic censorship

We investigate the stability of the inner horizon of a rotating BTZ black hole. We show that linear perturbations arising from smooth initial data are arbitrarily differentiable at the inner horizon if the black hole is sufficiently close to extremality. This is demonstrated for scalar fields, for massive Chern-Simons fields, for Proca fields, and for massive spin-2 fields. Thus the strong cosmic censorship conjecture is violated by a near-extremal BTZ black hole in a large class of theories. However, we show that a weaker "rough" version of the conjecture is respected. We calculate the renormalized energy-momentum tensor of a scalar field in the Hartle-Hawking state in the BTZ geometry. We show that the result is finite at the inner horizon of a near-extremal black hole. Hence the backreaction of vacuum polarization does not enforce strong cosmic censorship.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

Predictability of subluminal and superluminal wave equations

It is sometimes claimed that Lorentz invariant wave equations which allow superluminal propagation exhibit worse predictability than subluminal equations. To investigate this, we study the Born-Infeld scalar in two spacetime dimensions. This equation can be formulated in either a subluminal or a superluminal form. Surprisingly, we find that the subluminal theory is less predictive than the superluminal theory in the following sense. For the subluminal theory, there can exist multiple maximal globally hyperbolic developments arising from the same initial data. This problem does not arise in the superluminal theory, for which there is a unique maximal globally hyperbolic development. For a general quasilinear wave equation, we prove theorems establishing why this lack of uniqueness occurs, and identify conditions on the equation that ensure uniqueness. In particular, we prove that superluminal equations always admit a unique maximal globally hyperbolic development. In this sense, superluminal equations exhibit better predictability than generic subluminal equations.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

Strong cosmic censorship: taking the rough with the smooth

It has been argued that the strong cosmic censorship conjecture is violated by Reissner-Nordström-de Sitter black holes: for near-extremal black holes, generic scalar field perturbations arising from smooth initial data have finite energy at the Cauchy horizon even though they are not continuously differentiable there. In this paper, we consider the analogous problem for coupled gravitational and electromagnetic perturbations. We find that such perturbations exhibit a much worse violation of strong cosmic censorship: for a sufficiently large near-extremal black hole, perturbations arising from smooth initial data can be extended through the Cauchy horizon in an arbitrarily smooth way. This is in apparent contradiction with an old argument in favour of strong cosmic censorship. We resolve this contradiction by showing that this old argument is valid only for initial data that is not smooth. This is in agreement with the recent proposal that, to recover strong cosmic censorship, one must allow rough initial data.

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arXiv2018

Strong cosmic censorship for charged de Sitter black holes with a charged scalar field

It has been shown recently that the strong cosmic censorship conjecture is violated by near-extremal Reissner-Nordström-de Sitter black holes. We investigate whether the introduction of a charged scalar field can rescue strong cosmic censorship. We find that such a field improves the situation but there is always a neighbourhood of extremality in which strong cosmic censorship is violated by perturbations arising from smooth initial data.

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arXiv2018

Strong cosmic censorship in de Sitter space

Recent work indicates that the strong cosmic censorship hypothesis is violated by nearly extremal Reissner-Nordstrom-de Sitter black holes. It was argued that perturbations of such a black hole decay sufficiently rapidly that the perturbed spacetime can be extended across the Cauchy horizon as a weak solution of the equations of motion. In this paper we consider the case of Kerr-de Sitter black holes. We find that, for any non-extremal value of the black hole parameters, there are quasinormal modes which decay sufficiently slowly to ensure that strong cosmic censorship is respected. Our analysis covers both scalar field and linearized gravitational perturbations.

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arXiv2017

Is there a breakdown of effective field theory at the horizon of an extremal black hole?

Linear perturbations of extremal black holes exhibit the Aretakis instability, in which higher derivatives of a scalar field grow polynomially with time along the event horizon. This suggests that higher derivative corrections to the classical equations of motion may become large, indicating a breakdown of effective field theory at late time on the event horizon. We investigate whether or not this happens. For extremal Reissner-Nordstrom we argue that, for a large class of theories, general covariance ensures that the higher derivative corrections to the equations of motion appear only in combinations that remain small compared to two derivative terms so effective field theory remains valid. For extremal Kerr, the situation is more complicated since backreaction of the scalar field is not understood even in the two derivative theory. Nevertheless we argue that the effects of the higher derivative terms will be small compared to the two derivative terms as long as the spacetime remains close to extremal Kerr.

hep-th↗

arXiv2017

On the local well-posedness of Lovelock and Horndeski theories

We investigate local well-posedness of the initial value problem for Lovelock and Horndeski theories of gravity. A necessary condition for local well-posedness is strong hyperbolicity of the equations of motion. Even weak hyperbolicity can fail for strong fields so we restrict to weak fields. The Einstein equation is known to be strongly hyperbolic in harmonic gauge so we study Lovelock theories in harmonic gauge. We show that the equation of motion is always weakly hyperbolic for weak fields but, in a generic weak-field background, it is not strongly hyperbolic. For Horndeski theories, we prove that, for weak fields, the equation of motion is always weakly hyperbolic in any generalized harmonic gauge. For some Horndeski theories there exists a generalized harmonic gauge for which the equation of motion is strongly hyperbolic in a weak-field background. This includes "k-essence" like theories. However, for more general Horndeski theories, there is no generalized harmonic gauge for which the equation of motion is strongly hyperbolic in a generic weak-field background. Our results show that the standard method used to establish local well-posedness of the Einstein equation does not extend to Lovelock or general Horndeski theories. This raises the possibility that these theories may not admit a well-posed initial value problem even for weak fields.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2016

Instability of supersymmetric microstate geometries

We investigate the classical stability of supersymmetric, asymptotically flat, microstate geometries with five non-compact dimensions. Such geometries admit an "evanescent ergosurface": a timelike hypersurface of infinite redshift. On such a surface, there are null geodesics with zero energy relative to infinity. These geodesics are stably trapped in the potential well near the ergosurface. We present a heuristic argument indicating that this feature is likely to lead to a nonlinear instability of these solutions. We argue that the precursor of such an instability can be seen in the behaviour of linear perturbations: nonlinear stability would require that all linear perturbations decay sufficiently rapidly but the stable trapping implies that some linear perturbation decay very slowly. We study this in detail for the most symmetric microstate geometries. By constructing quasinormal modes of these geometries we show that generic linear perturbations decay slower than any inverse power of time.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

Evanescent ergosurfaces and ambipolar hyperkähler metrics

A supersymmetric solution of 5d supergravity may admit an `evanescent ergosurface': a timelike hypersurface such that the canonical Killing vector field is timelike everywhere except on this hypersurface. The hyperkähler `base space' of such a solution is `ambipolar', changing signature from $(++++)$ to $(----)$ across a hypersurface. In this paper, we determine how the hyperkähler structure must degenerate at the hypersurface in order for the 5d solution to remain smooth. This leads us to a definition of an ambipolar hyperkähler manifold which generalizes the recently-defined notion of a `folded' hyperkähler manifold. We prove that such manifolds can be constructed from `initial' data prescribed on the hypersurface. We present an `initial value' construction of supersymmetric solutions of 5d supergravity, in which such solutions are determined by data prescribed on a timelike hypersurface, both for the generic case and for the case of an evanescent ergosurface.

hep-th↗

arXiv2015

Twisting algebraically special solutions in five dimensions

We determine the general form of the solutions of the five-dimensional vacuum Einstein equations with cosmological constant for which (i) the Weyl tensor is everywhere type II or more special in the null alignment classification of Coley et al., and (ii) the $3 \times 3$ matrix encoding the expansion, shear and twist of the aligned null direction has rank 2. The dependence of the solution on 2 coordinates is determined explicitly, so the Einstein equation reduces to PDEs in the 3 remaining coordinates, just as for four-dimensional algebraically special solutions. The solutions fall into several families. One of these consists of warped products of four-dimensional algebraically special solutions. The others are new.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2015

Graviton time delay and a speed limit for small black holes in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory

Camanho, Edelstein, Maldacena and Zhiboedov have shown that gravitons can experience a negative Shapiro time delay, i.e. a time advance, in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory. They studied gravitons propagating in singular "shock-wave" geometries. We study this effect for gravitons propagating in smooth black hole spacetimes. For a small enough black hole, we find that gravitons of appropriate polarisation, and small impact parameter, can experience time advance. Such gravitons can also exhibit a deflection angle less than $π$, characteristic of a repulsive short-distance gravitational interaction. We discuss problems with the suggestion that the time advance can be used to build a "time machine". In particular, we argue that a small black hole cannot be boosted to a speed arbitrarily close to the speed of light, as would be required in such a construction.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2015

Uniqueness of the Kerr-de Sitter spacetime as an algebraically special solution in five dimensions

We determine the most general solution of the five-dimensional vacuum Einstein equation, allowing for a cosmological constant, with (i) a Weyl tensor that is type II or more special in the classification of Coley et al., (ii) a non-degenerate "optical matrix" encoding the expansion, rotation and shear of the aligned null direction. The solution is specified by three parameters. It is locally isometric to the 5d Kerr-de Sitter solution, or related to this solution by analytic continuation or taking a limit. This is in contrast with four dimensions, where there exist infinitely many solutions with properties (i) and (ii).

gr-qc↗

arXiv2014

Causality and Hyperbolicity of Lovelock Theories

In Lovelock theories, gravity can travel faster or slower than light. The causal structure is determined by the characteristic hypersurfaces. We generalise a recent result of Izumi to prove that any Killing horizon is a characteristic hypersurface for all gravitational degrees of freedom of a Lovelock theory. Hence gravitational signals cannot escape from the region inside such a horizon. We investigate the hyperbolicity of Lovelock theories by determining the characteristic hypersurfaces for various backgrounds. First we consider Ricci flat type N spacetimes. We show that characteristic hypersurfaces are generically all non-null and that Lovelock theories are hyperbolic in any such spacetime. Next we consider static, maximally symmetric black hole solutions of Lovelock theories. Again, characteristic surfaces are generically non-null. For some small black holes, hyperbolicity is violated near the horizon. This implies that the stability of such black holes is not a well-posed problem.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Shock Formation in Lovelock Theories

We argue that Lovelock theories of gravity suffer from shock formation, unlike General Relativity. We consider the propagation of (i) a discontinuity in curvature, and (ii) weak, high frequency, gravitational waves. Such disturbances propagate along characteristic hypersurfaces of a "background" spacetime and their amplitude is governed by a transport equation. In GR the transport equation is linear. In Lovelock theories, it is nonlinear and its solutions can blow up, corresponding to the formation of a shock. We show that this effect is absent in some simple cases e.g. a flat background spacetime, and demonstrate its presence for a plane wave background. We comment on weak cosmic censorship, the evolution of shocks, and the nonlinear stability of Minkowski spacetime, in Lovelock theories.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Algebraically special solutions in AdS/CFT

We investigate the AdS/CFT interpretation of the class of algebraically special solutions of Einstein gravity with a negative cosmological constant. Such solutions describe a CFT living in a 2+1 dimensional time-dependent geometry that, generically, has no isometries. The algebraically special condition implies that the expectation value of the CFT energy-momentum tensor is a local function of the boundary metric. When such a spacetime is slowly varying, the fluid/gravity approximation is valid and one can read off the values of certain higher order transport coefficients. To do this, we introduce a formalism for studying conformal, relativistic fluids in 2+1 dimensions that reduces everything to the manipulation of scalar quantities.

hep-th↗

arXiv2013

What happens at the horizon(s) of an extreme black hole?

A massless scalar field exhibits an instability at the event horizon of an extreme black hole. We study numerically the nonlinear evolution of this instability for spherically symmetric perturbations of an extreme Reissner-Nordstrom (RN) black hole. We find that generically the endpoint of the instability is a non-extreme RN solution. However, there exist fine-tuned initial perturbations for which the instability never decays. In this case, the perturbed spacetime describes a time-dependent extreme black hole. Such solutions settle down to extreme RN outside, but not on, the event horizon. The event horizon remains smooth but certain observers who cross it at late time experience large gradients there. Our results indicate that these dynamical extreme black holes admit a C^1 extension across an inner (Cauchy) horizon.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

On the horizon instability of an extreme Reissner-Nordström black hole

Aretakis has proved that a massless scalar field has an instability at the horizon of an extreme Reissner-Nordström black hole. We show that a similar instability occurs also for a massive scalar field and for coupled linearized gravitational and electromagnetic perturbations. We present numerical results for the late time behaviour of massless and massive scalar fields in the extreme RN background and show that instabilities are present for initial perturbations supported outside the horizon, e.g.\ an ingoing wavepacket. For a massless scalar we show that the numerical results for the late time behaviour are reproduced by an analytic calculation in the near-horizon geometry. We relate Aretakis' conserved quantities at the future horizon to the Newman-Penrose conserved quantities at future null infinity.

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