arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Kayll Lake.
The Tolman VII solution is an exact static spherically symmetric perfect fluid solution of Einstein's equations that exhibits a surprisingly good approximation to a neutron star. We show that this solution exhibits trapped null orbits in a causal region even for a tenuity (total radius to mass ratio) $> 3$. In this region the dynamical part of the potential for axial w - modes dominates over the centrifugal part.
We present a streamlined calculation of the Kretschmann scalar for 5D Vacua considered recently by Fukui et al. (gr-qc/0105112).
An explicit necessary condition for the occurrence of resonance scattering of axial gravitational waves, along with the internal trapping of null geodesics, is proposed for static spherically symmetric perfect fluid solutions to Einstein's equations. Some exact inhomogeneous solutions which exhibit this trapping are given with special attention to boundary conditions and the physical acceptability of the space times. In terms of the tenuity ($α= R/M$ at the boundary) all the examples given lie in the narrow range $2.8 < α< 2.9$. The tenuity can be raised to more interesting values by the addition of an envelope without altering the trapping.
This paper explores properties of the instantaneous ergo surface of a Kerr black hole. The surface area is evaluated in closed form. In terms of the mass ($m$) and angular velocity ($a$), to second order in $a$, the area of the ergo surface is given by $16 πm^2 + 4 πa^2$ (compared to the familiar $16 πm^2 - 4 πa^2$ for the event horizon). Whereas the total curvature of the instantaneous event horizon is $4 π$, on the ergo surface it ranges from $4 π$ (for $a=0$) to 0 (for $a=m$) due to conical singularities on the axis ($θ=0,π$) of deficit angle $2 π(1-\sqrt{1-(a/m)^2})$. A careful application of the Gauss-Bonnet theorem shows that the ergo surface remains topologically spherical. Isometric embeddings of the ergo surface in Euclidean 3-space are defined for $0 \leq a/m \leq 1$ (compared to $0 \leq a/m \leq \sqrt{3}/2$ for the horizon).
We examine the possibility that the gravitational contribution to the entropy of a system can be identified with some measure of the Weyl curvature. In this paper we consider homothetically self-similar spacetimes. These are believed to play an important role in describing the asymptotic properties of more general models. By exploiting their symmetry properties we are able to impose significant restrictions on measures of the Weyl curvature which could reflect the gravitational entropy of a system. In particular, we are able to show, by way of a more general relation, that the most widely used "dimensionless" scalar is \textit{not} a candidate for this measure along homothetic trajectories.
The recent analysis of Markovic and Shapiro on the effect of a cosmological constant on the evolution of a spherically symmetric homogeneous dust ball is extended to include the inhomogeneous and degenerate cases. The histories are shown by way of effective potential and Penrose-Carter diagrams.
GRLite and GRTensorJ are first and second generation graphical user interfaces to the computer algebra system GRTensorII. Current development centers on GRTensorJ, which provides fully customizable symbolic procedures that reduce many complex calculations to "elementary functions". Although still in development, GRTensorJ, which is now available (free of charge) over the internet, is sufficiently advanced to be of interest to researchers in general relativity and related fields.
We ask the following question: Of the exact solutions to Einstein's equations extant in the literature, how many could represent the field associated with an isolated static spherically symmetric perfect fluid source? The candidate solutions were subjected to the following elementary tests: i) isotropy of the pressure, ii) regularity at the origin, iii) positive definiteness of the energy density and pressure at the origin, iv) vanishing of the pressure at some finite radius, v) monotonic decrease of the energy density and pressure with increasing radius, and vi) subluminal sound speed. A total of 127 candidate solutions were found. Only 16 of these passed all the tests. Of these 16, only 9 have a sound speed which monotonically decreases with radius. The analysis was facilitated by use of the computer algebra system GRTensorII.
We use the computer algebra system \textit{GRTensorII} to examine invariants polynomial in the Riemann tensor for class $B$ warped product spacetimes - those which can be decomposed into the coupled product of two 2-dimensional spaces, one Lorentzian and one Riemannian, subject to the separability of the coupling: $ds^2 = ds_{Σ_1}^2 (u,v) + C(x^γ)^2 ds_{Σ_2}^2 (θ,ϕ)$ with $C(x^γ)^2=r(u,v)^2 w(θ,ϕ)^2$ and $sig(Σ_1)=0, sig(Σ_2)=2ε(ε=\pm 1)$ for class $B_{1}$ spacetimes and $sig(Σ_1)=2ε, sig(Σ_2)=0$ for class $B_{2}$. Although very special, these spaces include many of interest, for example, all spherical, plane, and hyperbolic spacetimes. The first two Ricci invariants along with the Ricci scalar and the real component of the second Weyl invariant $J$ alone are shown to constitute the largest independent set of invariants to degree five for this class. Explicit syzygies are given for other invariants up to this degree. It is argued that this set constitutes the largest functionally independent set to any degree for this class, and some physical consequences of the syzygies are explored.
Algebraic computing in relativity and gravitation dates back more than thirty years, but only relatively recently has hardware of sufficient power to tackle large scale calculations become commonplace. Whereas it is generally understood throughout the relativity community that there are a number of packages available, the diversity of problems that the available packages can help with is not so widely appreciated. This session was devoted to computer algebra for relativity and gravitation from the point of view of developers. In this summary I expand this to include some background and outline what is available for users in the field.
We examine the relative performance of algorithms for the calculation of curvature in spacetime. The classical coordinate component method is compared to two distinct versions of the Newman-Penrose tetrad approach for a variety of spacetimes, and distinct coordinates and tetrads for a given spacetime. Within the system GRTensorII, we find that there is no single preferred approach on the basis of speed. Rather, we find that the fastest algorithm is the one that minimizes the amount of time spent on simplification. This means that arguments concerning the theoretical superiority of an algorithm need not translate into superior performance when applied to a specific spacetime calculation. In all cases it is the global simplification strategy which is of paramount importance. An appropriate simplification strategy can change an untractable problem into one which can be solved essentially instantaneously.
Motivated by the recent determinations of the Hubble constant $(H_0)$ from observations of Cepheid variables in NGC4571 and M100, we plot the Tinsley diagram with level curves of the cosmological constant $(Λ)$. Based on current estimates of the absolute ages of globular clusters we conclude that $Λ> 0$ and, irrespective of the background spatial curvature, the universe will not recollapse. These conclusions hold for both relativistic and Newtonian models and are {\it independent} of the density parameter.
A one-fold infinity of explicit quasi-stationary regular line elements for the Schwarzschild geometry is obtained directly from the vacuum Einstein equations. The class includes the familiar Eddington-Finkelstein coordinates, and the coordinates discussed recently by Kraus and Wilczek.