arXiv subjects

Maxime Gadioux

Publications and source records attributed to Maxime Gadioux.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Violation of the third law of black hole mechanics in vacuum gravity

We demonstrate numerically the existence of solutions of five-dimensional vacuum gravity describing the formation, in finite time, of an extremal rotating black hole from a pre-existing Schwarzschild black hole. This is the first example of a violation of the third law of black hole mechanics in vacuum gravity and demonstrates that the third law is false independently of any matter model. We also demonstrate the existence of solutions describing the formation, in finite time, of an extremal rotating black hole from vacuum initial data that does not contain a black hole.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

Formation of extremal Reissner-Nordstr\"om black holes: insights from numerics

An extremal Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole can form in finite time in the gravitational collapse of a massless charged scalar field. The proof of this is based on the method of characteristic gluing, which involves making an Ansatz for the scalar field at the horizon. We perform a numerical investigation of the characteristic gluing procedure for several different Ans\"atze. In each case, gluing is possible only if the final black hole mass is large enough. We find that the minimum required mass varies significantly for different Ans\"atze. We also consider the effect of including a mass term for the scalar field. In this case, for each Ansatz we determine the maximum mass-to-charge ratio for the scalar field such that gluing is possible. Analogous results are obtained for a non-zero cosmological constant.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

The merger of a black hole with a cosmological horizon

In recent years there have been many studies on exactly solvable black hole mergers, based on a model by Emparan and Martinez where the mass of one black hole is blown up to infinity. Here we replace the large black hole by a cosmological horizon, and study how it merges with a black hole in the Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetime by considering an observer positioned at future null infinity. We describe the geometry of the horizon over time, including the role that caustics play in the merger process, and also examine the growth of the horizon area. We argue that in the limit of zero cosmological constant, the system reduces to the Emparan-Martinez Schwarzschild merger. This allows us to regularise the increase in the area during the merger, which otherwise diverges.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Evolution of creases on the event horizon of a black hole merger

A generic black hole merger occurs through a restructuring of creases (sharp edges) on the event horizon. This process is studied for a black hole merger in the limit of infinite mass ratio, for which constructing the event horizon reduces to finding a null hypersurface that asymptotes to a Rindler horizon in the Kerr spacetime. Geometrical properties of the creases on this horizon are determined and the results are compared with the predictions of an exact local description of the event horizon in a generic merger. The crease set is shown to have finite area. A recently proposed expression for the gravitational entropy of a crease is shown to diverge at the instant of merger. Caustics on (and off) the event horizon are determined by exploiting the correspondence with the problem of gravitational lensing by a Kerr black hole. Caustics form an "astroid tube" in spacetime, two edges of which lie on the event horizon of the merger. Perturbative expressions for the location of this tube are presented, extending previous work to much higher perturbative order.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

Creases, corners and caustics: properties of non-smooth structures on black hole horizons

The event horizon of a dynamical black hole is generically a non-smooth hypersurface. We classify the types of non-smooth structure that can arise on a horizon that is smooth at late time. The classification includes creases, corners and caustic points. We prove that creases and corners form spacelike submanifolds of dimension $2,1$ and that caustic points form a set of dimension at most $1$. We classify "perestroikas" of these structures, in which they undergo a qualitative change at an instant of time. A crease perestroika gives an exact local description of the event horizon near the "instant of merger" of a generic black hole merger. Other crease perestroikas describe horizon nucleation or collapse of a hole in a toroidal horizon. Caustic perestroikas, in which a pair of caustic points either nucleate or annihilate, provide a mechanism for creases to decay. We argue that properties of quantum entanglement entropy suggest that creases might contribute to black hole entropy. We explain that a "Gauss-Bonnet" term in the entropy is non-topological on a non-smooth horizon, which invalidates previous arguments against such a term.

gr-qc↗