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Robert M. Wald

Publications and source records attributed to Robert M. Wald.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2019

Black Hole Shadows, Photon Rings, and Lensing Rings

The presence of a bright "photon ring" surrounding a dark "black hole shadow" has been discussed as an important feature of the observational appearance of emission originating near a black hole. We clarify the meaning and relevance of these heuristics with analytic calculations and numerical toy models. The standard usage of the term "shadow" describes the appearance of a black hole illuminated from all directions, including from behind the observer. A backlit black hole casts a somewhat larger shadow. Neither shadow heuristic is particularly relevant to understanding the appearance of emission originating near the black hole, where the emission profile and gravitational redshift play the dominant roles in determining the observed size of the central dark area. A photon ring results from light rays that orbit near the black hole before escaping to infinity, where they arrive near a ring-shaped "critical curve" on the image plane. Although the brightness can become arbitrarily large near this critical curve in the case of optically thin emitting matter, we show that the enhancement is only logarithmic, and hence is of no relevance to present observations. For optically thin emission from a geometrically thin or thick disk, photons that make only a fraction of an orbit will generically give rise to a much wider "lensing ring," which is a demagnified image of the back of the disk, superimposed on top of the direct emission. The lensing ring is centered at a radius ~5% larger than the photon ring and its width is ~0.5-1M. It can be relatively brighter by a factor of 2-3 and thus could provide a significant feature in high resolution images. Nevertheless, the characteristic features of the observed image are dominated by the location and properties of the emitting matter near the black hole. We comment on the recent M87* Event Horizon Telescope observations and mass measurement.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2019

Information Content of the Gravitational Field of a Quantum Superposition

When a massive quantum body is put into a spatial superposition, it is of interest to consider the quantum aspects of the gravitational field sourced by the body. We argue that in order to understand how the body may become entangled with other massive bodies via gravitational interactions, it must be thought of as being entangled with its own Newtonian-like gravitational field. Thus, a Newtonian-like gravitational field must be capable of carrying quantum information. Our analysis supports the view that table-top experiments testing entanglement of systems interacting via gravity do probe the quantum nature of gravity, even if no ``gravitons'' are emitted during the experiment.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2019

The Asymptotic Behavior of Massless Fields and the Memory Effect

We investigate the behavior of massless scalar, electromagnetic, and linearized gravitational perturbations near null infinity in d \geq 4 dimensional Minkowski spacetime (of both even and odd dimension) under the assumption that these fields admit a suitable expansion in 1/r. We also investigate the behavior of asymptotically flat, nonlinear gravitational perturbations near null infinity in all dimensions d\geq 4. We then consider the memory effect in fully nonlinear general relativity. We show that in even dimensions, the memory effect first arises at Coulombic order--i.e., order 1/r^{d-3}--and can naturally be decomposed into `null memory' and `ordinary memory.' Null memory is associated with an energy flux to null infinity. We show that ordinary memory is associated with the metric failing to be stationary at one order faster fall-off than Coulombic in the past and/or future. In odd dimensions, we show that the total memory effect at Coulombic order and slower fall-off always vanishes. Null memory is always of `scalar type', but the ordinary memory can be of any (i.e., scalar, vector, or tensor) type. In 4-spacetime dimensions, we give an explicit example in linearized gravity which gives rise to a nontrivial vector (i.e., magnetic parity) ordinary memory effect at order 1/r. We show that scalar memory is described by a diffeomorphism; vector and tensor memory cannot be. In d=4 dimensions, we show that there is a close relationship between memory and the charge and flux expressions associated with supertranslations. We analyze the behavior of solutions that are stationary at Coulombic order and show how these suggest `antipodal matching' between future and past null infinity, which gives rise to conservation laws. The relationship between memory and infrared divergences of the `out' state in quantum gravity is analyzed, and the nature of the `soft theorems' is explained.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2018

Quantum Superposition of Massive Objects and the Quantization of Gravity

We analyse a gedankenexperiment previously considered by Mari et al. that involves quantum superpositions of charged and/or massive bodies ("particles") under the control of the observers, Alice and Bob. In the electromagnetic case, we show that the quantization of electromagnetic radiation (which causes decoherence of Alice's particle) and vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field (which limits Bob's ability to localize his particle to better than a charge-radius) both are essential for avoiding apparent paradoxes with causality and complementarity. We then analyze the gravitational version of this gedankenexperiment. We correct an error in the analysis of Mari et al. and of Baym and Ozawa, who did not properly account for the conservation of center of mass of an isolated system. We show that the analysis of the gravitational case is in complete parallel with the electromagnetic case provided that gravitational radiation is quantized and that vacuum fluctuations limit the localization of a particle to no better than a Planck length. This provides support for the view that (linearized) gravity should have a quantum field description.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2018

Canonical Energy and Hertz Potentials for Perturbations of Schwarzschild Spacetime

Canonical energy is a valuable tool for analyzing the linear stability of black hole spacetimes; positivity of canonical energy for all perturbations implies mode stability, whereas the failure of positivity for any perturbation implies instability. Nevertheless, even in the case of $4$-dimensional Schwarzschild spacetime --- which is known to be stable --- manifest positivity of the canonical energy is difficult to establish, due to the presence of constraints on the initial data as well as the gauge dependence of the canonical energy integrand. Consideration of perturbations generated by a Hertz potential would appear to be a promising way to improve this situation, since the constraints and gauge dependence are eliminated when the canonical energy is expressed in terms of the Hertz potential. We prove that the canonical energy of a metric perturbation of Schwarzschild that is generated by a Hertz potential is positive. We relate the energy quantity arising in the linear stability proof of Dafermos, Holzegel and Rodnianski (DHR) to the canonical energy of an associated metric perturbation generated by a Hertz potential. We also relate the Regge-Wheeler variable of DHR to the ordinary Regge-Wheeler and twist potential variables of the associated perturbation. Since the Hertz potential formalism can be generalized to a Kerr black hole, our results may be useful for the analysis of the linear stability of Kerr.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2018

Memory Effect for Particle Scattering in Odd Spacetime Dimensions

We investigate the gravitational memory effect for linearized perturbations off of Minkowski space in odd spacetime dimensions $d$ by examining the effects of gravitational radiation from classical point particle scattering. We also investigate analogous memory effects for electromagnetic and scalar radiation. We find that there is no gravitational memory effect in all odd dimensions. For scalar and electromagnetic fields, there is no memory effect for $d\geq 7$; for $d=3$ there is an infinite momentum memory effect, whereas for $d=5$ there is no momentum memory effect but the displacement of a test particle will grow unboundedly with time. Our results are further elucidated by analyzing the memory effect for any slowly moving source of compact spatial support in odd dimensions.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2017

Stability of stationary-axisymmetric black holes in vacuum general relativity to axisymmetric electromagnetic perturbations

We consider arbitrary stationary and axisymmetric black holes in general relativity in $(d +1)$ dimensions (with $d \geq 3$) that satisfy the vacuum Einstein equation and have a non-degenerate horizon. We prove that the canonical energy of axisymmetric electromagnetic perturbations is positive definite. This establishes that all vacuum black holes are stable to axisymmetric electromagnetic perturbations. Our results also hold for asymptotically deSitter black holes that satisfy the vacuum Einstein equation with a positive cosmological constant. Our results also apply to extremal black holes provided that the initial perturbation vanishes in a neighborhood of the horizon.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2017

Gedanken Experiments to Destroy a Black Hole II: Kerr-Newman Black Holes Cannot be Over-Charged or Over-Spun

We consider gedanken experiments to destroy an extremal or nearly extremal Kerr-Newman black hole by causing it to absorb matter with sufficient charge and/or angular momentum as compared with energy that it cannot remain a black hole. It was previously shown by one of us that such gedanken experiments cannot succeed for test particle matter entering an extremal Kerr-Newman black hole. We generalize this result here to arbitrary matter entering an extremal Kerr-Newman black hole, provided only that the non-electromagnetic contribution to the stress-energy tensor of the matter satisfies the null energy condition. We then analyze the gedanken experiments proposed by Hubeny and others to over-charge and/or over-spin an initially slightly non-extremal Kerr-Newman black hole. Analysis of such gedanken experiments requires that we calculate all effects on the final mass of the black hole that are second-order in the charge and angular momentum carried into the black hole, including all self-force effects. We obtain a general formula for the full second order correction to mass, $δ^2 M$, which allows us to prove that no gedanken experiments of the generalized Hubeny type can ever succeed in over-charging and/or over-spinning a Kerr-Newman black hole, provided only that the non-electromagnetic stress-energy tensor satisfies the null energy condition. Our analysis is based upon Lagrangian methods, and our formula for the second-order correction to mass is obtained by generalizing the canonical energy analysis of Hollands and Wald to the Einstein-Maxwell case. Remarkably, we obtain our formula for $δ^2 M$ without having to explicitly compute self-force or finite size effects. Indeed, in an appendix, we show explicitly that our formula incorporates both the self-force and finite size effects for the special case of a charged body slowly lowered into an uncharged black hole.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2017

The Memory Effect for Particle Scattering in Even Spacetime Dimensions

We explicitly calculate the gravitational wave memory effect for classical point particle sources in linearized gravity off of an even dimensional Minkowski background. We show that there is no memory effect in $d>4$ dimensions, in agreement with the general analysis of Hollands, Ishibashi, and Wald (2016).

gr-qc↗
arXiv2017

Information Loss

The complete gravitational collapse of a body in general relativity will result in the formation of a black hole. Although the black hole is classically stable, quantum particle creation processes will result in the emission of Hawking radiation to infinity and corresponding mass loss of the black hole, eventually resulting in the complete evaporation of the black hole. Semiclassical arguments strongly suggest that, in the process of black hole formation and evaporation, a pure quantum state will evolve to a mixed state, i.e., there will be "information loss." There has been considerable controversy over this issue for more than 40 years. In this review, we present the arguments in favor of information loss, and analyze some of the counter-arguments and alternative possibilities.

hep-th↗
arXiv2016

BMS Supertranslations and Memory in Four and Higher Dimensions

We consider the memory effect in even dimensional spacetimes of dimension $d \ge 4$ arising from a burst of gravitational radiation. When $d=4$, the natural frames in the stationary eras before and after the burst differ by the composition of a boost and supertranslation, and this supertranslation characterizes the "memory effect," i.e., the permanent displacement of test particles near infinity produced by the radiation burst. However, we show that when $d > 4$, this supertranslation and the corresponding memory effect vanish. Consequently, when $d >4$, it is natural to impose stronger asymptotic conditions at null infinity that reduce the asymptotic symmetry group to the Poincare group. Conversely, when $d=4$, the asymptotic symmetry group at null infinity must be taken to be the BMS group.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2016

A Variational Principle for the Axisymmetric Stability of Rotating Relativistic Stars

It is well known that all rotating perfect fluid stars in general relativity are unstable to certain non-axisymmetric perturbations via the Chandrasekhar-Friedman-Schutz (CFS) instability. However, the mechanism of the CFS instability requires, in an essential way, the loss of angular momentum by gravitational radiation and, in many instances, it acts on too long a timescale to be physically/astrophysically relevant. It is therefore of interest to examine the stability of rotating, relativistic stars to axisymmetric perturbations, where the CFS instability does not occur. In this paper, we provide a Rayleigh-Ritz type variational principle for testing the stability of perfect fluid stars to axisymmetric perturbations, which generalizes to axisymmetric perturbations of rotating stars a variational principle given by Chandrasekhar for spherical perturbations of static, spherical stars. Our variational principle provides a lower bound to the rate of exponential growth in the case of instability. The derivation closely parallels the derivation of a recently obtained variational principle for analyzing the axisymmetric stability of black holes.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2016

The Cosmological Memory Effect

The "memory effect" is the permanent change in the relative separation of test particles resulting from the passage of gravitational radiation. We investigate the memory effect for a general, spatially flat FLRW cosmology by considering the radiation associated with emission events involving particle-like sources. We find that if the resulting perturbation is decomposed into scalar, vector, and tensor parts, only the tensor part contributes to memory. Furthermore, the tensor contribution to memory depends only on the cosmological scale factor at the source and observation events, not on the detailed expansion history of the universe. In particular, for sources at the same luminosity distance, the memory effect in a spatially flat FLRW spacetime is enhanced over the Minkowski case by a factor of $(1 + z)$.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2016

A Simple, Heuristic Derivation of our "No Backreaction" Results

We provide a simple discussion of our results on the backreaction effects of density inhomogeneities in cosmology, without mentioning one-parameter families or weak limits. Emphasis is placed on the manner in which "averaging" is done and the fact that one is solving Einstein's equation. The key assumptions and results that we rigorously derived within our original mathematical framework are thereby explained in a heuristic way.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2015

Superradiant instabilities of asymptotically anti-de Sitter black holes

We study the linear stability of asymptotically anti-de Sitter black holes in general relativity in spacetime dimension $d\ge4$. Our approach is an adaptation of the general framework of Hollands and Wald, which gives a stability criterion in terms of the sign of the canonical energy, $\mathcal{E}$. The general framework was originally formulated for static or stationary and axisymmetric black holes in the asymptotically flat case, and the stability analysis for that case applies only to axisymmetric perturbations. However, in the asymptotically anti-de Sitter case, the stability analysis requires only that the black hole have a single Killing field normal to the horizon and there are no restrictions on the perturbations (apart from smoothness and appropriate behavior at infinity). For an asymptotically anti-de Sitter black hole, we define an ergoregion to be a region where the horizon Killing field is spacelike; such a region, if present, would normally occur near infinity. We show that for black holes with ergoregions, initial data can be constructed such that $\mathcal{E}<0$, so all such black holes are unstable. To obtain such initial data, we first construct an approximate solution to the constraint equations using the WKB method, and then we use the Corvino-Schoen technique to obtain an exact solution. We also discuss the case of charged asymptotically anti-de Sitter black holes with generalized ergoregions.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2015

Black Hole Instabilities and Exponential Growth

Recently, a general analysis has been given of the stability with respect to axisymmetric perturbations of stationary-axisymmetric black holes and black branes in vacuum general relativity in arbitrary dimensions. It was shown that positivity of canonical energy on an appropriate space of perturbations is necessary and sufficient for stability. However, the notions of both "stability" and "instability" in this result are significantly weaker than one would like to obtain. In this paper, we prove that if a perturbation of the form $£_t δg$---with $δg$ a solution to the linearized Einstein equation---has negative canonical energy, then that perturbation must, in fact, grow exponentially in time. The key idea is to make use of the $t$- or ($t$-$ϕ$)-reflection isometry, $i$, of the background spacetime and decompose the initial data for perturbations into their odd and even parts under $i$. We then write the canonical energy as $\mathscr E\ = \mathscr K + \mathscr U$, where $\mathscr K$ and $\mathscr U$, respectively, denote the canonical energy of the odd part (kinetic energy) and even part (potential energy). One of the main results of this paper is the proof that $\mathscr K$ is positive definite for any black hole background. We use $\mathscr K$ to construct a Hilbert space $\mathscr H$ on which time evolution is given in terms of a self-adjoint operator $\tilde {\mathcal A}$, whose spectrum includes negative values if and only if $\mathscr U$ fails to be positive. Negative spectrum of $\tilde{\mathcal A}$ implies exponential growth of the perturbations in $\mathscr H$ that have nontrivial projection into the negative spectral subspace. This includes all perturbations of the form $£_t δg$ with negative canonical energy. A "Rayleigh-Ritz" type of variational principle is derived, which can be used to obtain lower bounds on the rate of exponential growth.

gr-qc↗