arXiv subjects

Olivier Sarbach

Publications and source records attributed to Olivier Sarbach.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

$\ell$-Boson stars

We present new, fully nonlinear numerical solutions to the static, spherically symmetric Einstein-Klein-Gordon system for a collection of an arbitrary odd number $N$ of complex scalar fields with an internal $U(N)$ symmetry and no self-interactions. These solutions, which we dub $\ell$-boson stars, are parametrized by an angular momentum number $\ell=(N-1)/2$, an excitation number $n$, and a continuous parameter representing the amplitude of the fields. They are regular at every point and possess a finite total mass. For $\ell = 0$ the standard spherically symmetric boson stars are recovered. We determine their generalizations for $\ell > 0$, and show that they give rise to a large class of new static configurations which might have a much larger compactness ratio than $\ell=0$ stars.

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arXiv2018

Cauchy horizon stability in a collapsing spherical dust cloud. II: Energy bounds for test fields and odd-parity gravitational perturbations

We analyze the stability of the Cauchy horizon associated with a globally naked, shell-focussing singularity arising from the complete gravitational collapse of a spherical dust cloud. In previous work, we have studied the dynamics of spherical test scalar fields on such a background. In particular, we proved that such fields cannot develop any divergences which propagate along the Cauchy horizon. In the present work, we extend our analysis to the more general case of test fields without symmetries and to linearized gravitational perturbations with odd parity. To this purpose, we first consider test fields possessing a divergence-free stress-energy tensor satisfying the dominant energy condition, and we prove that a suitable energy norm is uniformly bounded in the domain of dependence of the initial slice. In particular, this result implies that free-falling observers co-moving with the dust particles measure a finite energy of the field, even as they cross the Cauchy horizon at points lying arbitrarily close to the central singularity. Next, for the case of Klein-Gordon fields, we derive point-wise bounds from our energy estimates which imply that the scalar field cannot diverge at the Cauchy horizon, except possibly at the central singular point. Finally, we analyze the behaviour of odd-parity, linear gravitational and dust perturbations of the collapsing spacetime. Similarly to the scalar field case, we prove that the relevant gauge-invariant combinations of the metric perturbations stay bounded away from the central singularity, implying that no divergences can propagate in the vacuum region. Our results are in accordance with previous numerical studies and analytic work in the self-similar case.

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arXiv2017

Self-gravitating black hole scalar wigs

It has long been known that no static, spherically symmetric, asymptotically flat Klein-Gordon scalar field configuration surrounding a nonrotating black hole can exist in general relativity. In a series of previous papers we proved that, at the effective level, this no-hair theorem can be circumvented by relaxing the staticity assumption: for appropriate model parameters there are quasi-bound scalar field configurations living on a fixed Schwarzschild background which, although not being strictly static, have a larger lifetime than the age of the universe. This situation arises when the mass of the scalar field distribution is much smaller than the black hole mass, and following the analogies with the hair in the literature we dubbed these long-lived field configurations wigs. Here we extend our previous work to include the gravitational backreaction produced by the scalar wigs. We derive new approximate solutions of the spherically symmetric Einstein-Klein-Gordon system which represent self-gravitating scalar wigs surrounding black holes. These configurations interpolate between boson star configurations and Schwarzschild black holes dressed with the long-lived scalar test field distributions discussed in previous papers. Nonlinear numerical evolutions of initial data sets extracted from our approximate solutions support the validity of our approach. Arbitrarily large lifetimes are still possible, although for the parameter space that we analyze in this paper they seem to decay faster than the quasi-bound states. Finally, we speculate about the possibility that these configurations could describe the innermost regions of dark matter halos.

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arXiv2017

Accretion of a relativistic, collisionless kinetic gas into a Schwarzschild black hole

We provide a systematic study for the accretion of a collisionless, relativistic kinetic gas into a nonrotating black hole. To this end, we first solve the relativistic Liouville equation on a Schwarzschild background spacetime. The most general solution for the distribution function is given in terms of appropriate symplectic coordinates on the cotangent bundle, and the associated observables, including the particle current density and stress energy-momentum tensor, are determined. Next, we explore the case where the flow is steady-state and spherically symmetric. Assuming that in the asymptotic region the gas is described by an equilibrium distribution function, we determine the relevant parameters of the accretion flow as a function of the particle density and the temperature of the gas at infinity. In particular, we find that in the low temperature limit the tangential pressure at the horizon is about an order of magnitude larger than the radial one, showing explicitly that a collisionless gas, despite exerting kinetic pressure, behaves very differently than an isotropic perfect fluid, and providing a partial explanation for the known fact that the accretion rate is much lower than in the hydrodynamic case of Bondi-Michel accretion. Finally, we establish the asymptotic stability of the steady-state spherical flows by proving pointwise convergence results which show that a large class of (possibly nonstationary and nonspherical) initial conditions for the distribution function lead to solutions of the Liouville equation which relax in time to a steady-state, spherically symmetric configuration.

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arXiv2017

Spherical steady-state accretion of a relativistic collisionless gas into a Schwarzschild black hole

In previous work, we derived the most general solution of the collisionless Boltzmann equation describing the accretion of a kinetic gas into a Schwarzschild black hole background, and we gave explicit expressions for the corresponding observables (the current density and stress energy-momentum tensor) in terms of certain integrals over the distribution function. In this article, we numerically compute these integrals for the particular case of the steady-state, spherical symmetric accretion flows which, at infinity, are described by an equilibrium distribution function of given temperature. We analyze in detail the behavior of the observables as a function of the temperature and the radial coordinate, comparing our results with the perfect fluid model of Bondi-Michel accretion.

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arXiv2017

Evolution of scalar fields surrounding black holes on compactified constant mean curvature hypersurfaces

Motivated by the goal for high accuracy modeling of gravitational radiation emitted by isolated systems, recently, there has been renewed interest in the numerical solution of the hyperboloidal initial value problem for Einstein's field equations in which the outer boundary of the numerical grid is placed at null infinity. In this article, we numerically implement the tetrad-based approach presented in [J.M. Bardeen, O. Sarbach, and L.T. Buchman, Phys. Rev. D 83, 104045 (2011)] for a spherically symmetric, minimally coupled, self-gravitating scalar field. When this field is massless, the evolution system reduces to a regular, first-order symmetric hyperbolic system of equations for the conformally rescaled scalar field which is coupled to a set of singular elliptic constraints for the metric coefficients. We show how to solve this system based on a numerical finite-difference approximation, obtaining stable numerical evolutions for initial black hole configurations which are surrounded by a spherical shell of scalar field, part of which disperses to infinity and part of which is accreted by the black hole. As a non-trivial test, we study the tail decay of the scalar field along different curves, including one along the marginally trapped tube, one describing the world line of a timelike observer at a finite radius outside the horizon, and one corresponding to a generator of null infinity. Our results are in perfect agreement with the usual power-law decay discussed in previous work. This article also contains a detailed analysis for the asymptotic behavior and regularity of the lapse, conformal factor, extrinsic curvature and the Misner-Sharp mass function along constant mean curvature slices.

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arXiv2016

The Emergence of Gravitational Wave Science: 100 Years of Development of Mathematical Theory, Detectors, Numerical Algorithms, and Data Analysis Tools

On September 14, 2015, the newly upgraded Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) recorded a loud gravitational-wave (GW) signal, emitted a billion light-years away by a coalescing binary of two stellar-mass black holes. The detection was announced in February 2016, in time for the hundredth anniversary of Einstein's prediction of GWs within the theory of general relativity (GR). The signal represents the first direct detection of GWs, the first observation of a black-hole binary, and the first test of GR in its strong-field, high-velocity, nonlinear regime. In the remainder of its first observing run, LIGO observed two more signals from black-hole binaries, one moderately loud, another at the boundary of statistical significance. The detections mark the end of a decades-long quest, and the beginning of GW astronomy: finally, we are able to probe the unseen, electromagnetically dark Universe by listening to it. In this article, we present a short historical overview of GW science: this young discipline combines GR, arguably the crowning achievement of classical physics, with record-setting, ultra-low-noise laser interferometry, and with some of the most powerful developments in the theory of differential geometry, partial differential equations, high-performance computation, numerical analysis, signal processing, statistical inference, and data science. Our emphasis is on the synergy between these disciplines, and how mathematics, broadly understood, has historically played, and continues to play, a crucial role in the development of GW science. We focus on black holes, which are very pure mathematical solutions of Einstein's gravitational-field equations that are nevertheless realized in Nature, and that provided the first observed signals.

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arXiv2016

Black holes in nonlinear electrodynamics: quasi-normal spectra and parity splitting

We discuss the quasi-normal oscillations of black holes which are sourced by a nonlinear electrodynamic field. While previous studies have focused on the computation of quasi-normal frequencies for the wave or higher spin equation on a fixed background geometry described by such black holes, here we compute for the first time the quasi-normal frequencies for the coupled electromagnetic-gravitational linear perturbations. To this purpose, we consider a parametrized family of Lagrangians for the electromagnetic field which contains the Maxwell Lagrangian as a special case. In the Maxwell case, the unique spherically symmetric black hole solutions are described by the Reissner-Nordström family and in this case it is well-known that the quasi-normal spectra in the even- and odd-parity sectors are identical to each other. However, when moving away from the Maxwell case, we obtain deformed Reissner-Nordström black holes, and we show that in this case there is a parity splitting in the quasi-normal mode spectra. A partial explanation for this phenomena is provided by considering the eikonal (high-frequency) limit.

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arXiv2015

Observational distinction between black holes and naked singularities: the role of the redshift function

We suggest that the redshift of photons traveling from past to future null infinity through a collapsing object could provide an observational signature capable of differentiating between the formation of a globally naked singularity and the formation of an event horizon. Supporting evidence for this idea is drawn from the analysis of photons with zero angular momentum through the center of a collapsing spherical dust cloud. We show that the frequency shift as a function of proper time with respect to stationary observers has distinct features depending on whether the object collapses to a black hole or a naked singularity.

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arXiv2015

Michel accretion of a polytropic fluid with adiabatic index gamma > 5/3: Global flows versus homoclinic orbits

We analyze the properties of a polytropic fluid which is radially accreted into a Schwarzschild black hole. The case where the adiabatic index gamma lies in the range 1 < gamma <= 5/3 has been treated in previous work. In this article we analyze the complementary range 5/3 < gamma <= 2. To this purpose, the problem is cast into an appropriate Hamiltonian dynamical system whose phase flow is analyzed. While for 1 < gamma <= 5/3 the solutions are always characterized by the presence of a unique critical saddle point, we show that when 5/3 < gamma <= 2, an additional critical point might appear which is a center point. For the parametrization used in this paper we prove that whenever this additional critical point appears, there is a homoclinic orbit.

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arXiv2015

Quasi-normal acoustic oscillations in the transonic Bondi flow

In recent work, we analyzed the dynamics of spherical and nonspherical acoustic perturbations of the Michel flow, describing the steady radial accretion of a relativistic perfect fluid into a nonrotating black hole. We showed that such perturbations undergo quasi-normal oscillations and computed the corresponding complex frequencies as a function of the black hole mass M and the radius r_c of the sonic horizon. It was found that when r_c is much larger than the Schwarzschild radius r_H = 2GM/c^2 of the black hole, these frequencies scale like the surface gravity of the analogue black hole associated with the acoustic metric. In this work, we analyze the Newtonian limit of the Michel solution and its acoustic perturbations. In this limit, the flow outside the sonic horizon reduces to the transonic Bondi flow, and the acoustic metric reduces to the one introduced by Unruh in the context of experimental black hole evaporation. We show that for the transonic Bondi flow, Unruh's acoustic metric describes an analogue black hole and compute the associated quasi-normal frequencies. We prove that they do indeed scale like the surface gravity of the acoustic black hole, thus providing an explanation for our previous results in the relativistic setting.

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arXiv2015

Shadow of a naked singularity

We analyze the redshift suffered by photons originating from an external source, traversing a collapsing dust cloud and finally being received by an asymptotic observer. In addition, we study the shadow that the collapsing cloud casts on the sky of the asymptotic observer. We find that the resulting redshift and properties of the shadow depend crucially on whether the final outcome of the complete gravitational collapse is a black hole or a naked singularity. In the black hole case, the shadow is due to the high redshift acquired by the photons as they approach the event horizon, implying that their energy is gradually redshifted toward zero within a few crossing times associated with the event horizon radius. In contrast to this, a naked singularity not only absorbs photons originating from the source, but it also emits infinitely redshifted photons with and without angular momenta. This emission introduces an abrupt cutoff in the frequency shift of the photons detected in directions close to the radial one, and it is responsible for the shadow masking the source in the naked singularity case. Furthermore, even though the shadow forms and begins to grow immediately after the observer crosses the Cauchy horizon, it takes many more crossing times than in the black hole case for the source to be occulted from the observer's eyes. We discuss possible implications of our results for testing the weak cosmic censorship hypothesis. Even though at late times the image of the source perceived by the observer looks the same in both cases, the dynamical formation of the shadow and the redshift images has distinct features and time scales in the black hole versus the naked singularity case. For stellar collapse, these time scales seem to be too short to be resolved with existing technology. However, our results may be relevant for the collapse of seeds leading to supermassive black holes.

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arXiv2015

Radial accretion flows on static spherically symmetric black holes

We analyze the steady radial accretion of matter into a nonrotating black hole. Neglecting the self-gravity of the accreting matter, we consider a rather general class of static, spherically symmetric and asymptotically flat background spacetimes with a regular horizon. In addition to the Schwarzschild metric, this class contains certain deformation of it which could arise in alternative gravity theories or from solutions of the classical Einstein equations in the presence of external matter fields. Modeling the ambient matter surrounding the black hole by a relativistic perfect fluid, we reformulate the accretion problem as a dynamical system, and under rather general assumptions on the fluid equation of state, we determine the local and global qualitative behavior of its phase flow. Based on our analysis and generalizing previous work by Michel, we prove that for any given positive particle density number at infinity, there exists a unique radial, steady-state accretion flow which is regular at the horizon. We determine the physical parameters of the flow, including its accretion and compression rates, and discuss their dependency on the background metric.

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arXiv2015

Quasi-normal acoustic oscillations in the Michel flow

We study spherical and nonspherical linear acoustic perturbations of the Michel flow, which describes the steady radial accretion of a perfect fluid into a nonrotating black hole. The dynamics of such perturbations are governed by a scalar wave equation on an effective curved background geometry determined by the acoustic metric, which is constructed from the spacetime metric and the particle density and four-velocity of the fluid. For the problem under consideration in this article the acoustic metric has the same qualitative features as an asymptotically flat, static and spherically symmetric black hole, and thus it represents a natural astrophysical analogue black hole. As for the case of a scalar field propagating on a Schwarzschild background, we show that acoustic perturbations of the Michel flow exhibit quasi-normal oscillations. Based on a new numerical method for determining the solutions of the radial mode equation, we compute the associated frequencies and analyze their dependency on the radii of the event and sonic horizons and the angular momentum number. Our results for the fundamental frequencies are compared to those obtained from an independent numerical Cauchy evolution, finding good agreement between the two approaches. When the radius of the sonic horizon is large compared to the event horizon radius, we find that the quasi-normal frequencies scale approximately like the surface gravity associated with the sonic horizon.

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arXiv2015

On the behaviour of non-radial null geodesics in self-similar Tolman-Bondi collapse

Motivated by recent work on the structure of the singularity in inhomogeneous Tolman-Bondi collapse models, we investigate the behaviour of null geodesics in the particular case where the collapse is self-similar. The presence of the homothetic Killing vector field implies that the geodesic equation can be described by an integrable Hamiltonian system, and exploiting this fact we provide a full qualitative picture for its phase flow.

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arXiv2014

The gravitational redshift of photons traversing a collapsing dust cloud and observable consequences

We analyze the frequency shift of photons propagating on an asymptotically flat spacetime describing a collapsing, spherical dust cloud. We focus on the case where the interaction of the photons with the matter can be neglected. Under fairly general assumptions on the initial data characterizing the collapse, we show that photons with zero angular momentum which travel from past to future null infinity, crossing the collapsing cloud through its center, are always redshifted with respect to stationary observers. We compute this redshift as a function of proper time of a distant stationary observer and discuss its dependency on the mass distribution of the cloud. Possible implications of this redshift effect for weak cosmic censorship and light propagation in cosmological spacetimes are also briefly discussed.

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arXiv2014

The evolution of a spatially homogeneous and isotropic universe filled with a collisionless gas

We review the evolution of a spatially homogeneous and isotropic universe described by a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetime filled with a collisionless, neutral, simple, massive gas. The gas is described by a one-particle distribution function which satisfies the Liouville equation and is assumed to be homogeneous and isotropic. Making use of the isometries of the spacetime, we define precisely the homogeneity and isotropicity property of the distribution function, and based on this definition we give a concise derivation of the most general family of such distribution functions. For this family, we construct the particle current density and the stress-energy tensor and consider the coupled Einstein-Liouville system of equations. We find that as long as the distribution function is collisionless, homogenous and isotropic, the evolution of a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe exhibits a singular origin. Its future development depends upon the curvature of the spatial sections: spatially flat or hyperboloid universes expand forever and this expansion dilutes the energy density and pressure of the gas, while a universe with compact spherical sections reaches a maximal expansion, after which it reverses its motion and recollapses to a final crunch singularity where the energy density and isotropic pressure diverge. Finally, we analyze the evolution of the universe filled with the collisionless gas once a cosmological constant is included.

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arXiv2014

The geometry of the tangent bundle and the relativistic kinetic theory of gases

This article discusses the relativistic kinetic theory for a simple collisionless gas from a geometric perspective. We start by reviewing the rich geometrical structure of the tangent bundle TM of a given spacetime manifold, including the splitting of the tangent spaces of TM into horizontal and vertical subspaces and the natural metric and symplectic structure it induces on TM. Based on these structures we introduce the Liouville vector field L and a suitable Hamiltonian function H on TM. The Liouville vector field turns out to be the Hamiltonian vector field associated to H. On the other hand, H also defines the mass shells as Lorentzian submanifolds of the tangent bundle. A simple collisionless gas is described by a distribution function on a particular mass shell, satisfying the Liouville equation. Together with the Liouville vector field the distribution function can be thought of as defining a fictitious incompressible fluid on the mass shells, with associated conserved current density. Flux integrals of this current density provide the averaged properties of the gas, while suitable fibre integrals of the distribution function define divergence-free tensor fields on the spacetime manifold such as the current density and stress-energy tensor. Finally, we discuss the relationship between symmetries of the spacetime manifold and symmetries of the distribution function. As a first application of our formalism we derive the most general spherically symmetric distribution function on any spherically symmetric spacetime and write the Einstein-Liouville equations as effective field equations on the two-dimensional radial manifold. As a second application we derive the most general collisionless distribution function on a Kerr black hole spacetime background.

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