We revisit the Kerr metric in Boyer-Lindquist coordinates and construct the corresponding class of nonstandard solutions of Einstein's equations. These solutions can be used to describe the outer part of spiral galaxies without assuming dark matter.
We show that the Schwarzschild solution can be embedded in a class of nonstandard solutions of the vacuum Einstein's equations with arbitrary rotation curves. These nonstandard solutions have to be taken as physical if dark matter as needed in the standard theory cannot be found. As a consequence general relativity is considered as a classical field theory in Minkowski space and not as a geometric theory in the sense of Einstein.
We study Einstein's equations with matter in hydrostatic equilibrium in the nonstandard gauge which was recently investigated in the vacuum case. We obtain spherically symmetric solutions for any given rotation curve. These solutions can be used to describe the bulge of a galaxy without assuming dark matter.
We study in some detail the "extended Kerr-Schild" formulation of general relativity, which decomposes the gauge-independent degrees of freedom of a generic metric into two arbitrary functions and the choice of a flat background tetrad. We recast Einstein's equations and spacetime curvatures in the extended Kerr-Schild form and discuss their properties, illustrated with simple examples.
In the present work, the spin-coefficient formalism of Newman and Penrose is used to formulate geometric constraints for the existence of Kerr-Schild groups, i.e. continuous groups of generalized Kerr-Schild transformations. In addition, by characterizing the geometric structure of the deformed Einstein tensor of the generalized Kerr-Schild class, restrictions are imposed on the existence of apparent conservation laws in generic spacetimes, which are defined via considering special Kerr-Schild currents whose associated Kerr-Schild vector fields coincide with timelike Killing vector fields of p…
We discuss a recently presented boosted Kerr black hole solution which had already been used by other authors. This boosted metric is based on wrong assumptions regarding asymptotic inertial observers and moreover the performed boost is not a proper Lorentz transformation. This note aims to clarify some of the issues when boosting black holes and the necessary care in order to interpret them. As it is wrongly claimed that the presented boosted Kerr metric is of Bondi-Sachs type, we recall out some of the necessary requirements and difficulties, when the casting the Kerr metric into a metric wi…
In this paper we study some features of the Kerr metric both from an analytic and a visual point of view by performing accurate raytracing in various situations. We focus on features that are unique to the maximal analytic extension of the Kerr metric as compared to that of the Schwarzschild or even the Reissner-Nordström one. A large number of new, yet underexplored phenomena appear, especially regarding the structure of bounded null geodesics and the aspect of the negative gravity regions whose visual characteristics are shown both from outside and inside it.
Although the Kerr solution is common to many gravity theories, its perturbations are different in different theories. Hence, perturbed Kerr black holes can probe deviations from General Relativity.
Using a constrained formalism for Einstein equations in Dirac gauge, we propose to compute excised quasistationary initial data for black hole spacetimes in full general relativity. Vacuum spacetime settings are numerically constructed by using the isolated horizon formalism; we especially tackle the conformal metric part of our equations, assuming global stationarity. We show that a no-boundary treatment can be used on the horizon for the equation related to the conformal metric. We relate this finding to previous suggestions in the literature, and use our results to assess the widely used co…
The exact (closed form) solutions of the equations of motion in the theory of general relativity that describe motion of test particle and photon in Kerr and Kerr-(anti) de Sitter spacetimes all involve the multivariable hypergeometric function of Lauricella $F_D$: Kraniotis [Class. Quantum Grav. {\bf 21} 2004, 4743; Class. Quantum Grav. {\bf 22} 2005, 4391; Class. Quantum Grav. {\bf 24} 2007, 1775]. The domain of variables ${\cal D}_n$ of the corresponding function depends on the first integrals of motion associated with the isometries of the Kerr-(anti) de Sitter metric and Carter's constant…
A general Hamiltonian approach to black hole thermodynamics is used to study entropy and conserved charges for Kerr-AdS solutions in general relativity. These thermodynamic variables are first consistently defined by choosing suitable boundary conditions, and then, they are shown to satisfy the first law of black hole dynamics
Black hole thermodynamics of the Kerr-AdS spacetime in three-dimensional general relativity is analyzed using a Hamiltonian approach. The values of the conserved charges and entropy, obtained by a proper treatment of the AdS asymptotic conditions, are shown to satisfy the first law of black hole dynamics.
The pseudo-complex General Relativity (pc-GR) is further considered. A new projection method is proposed. It is shown, that the pc-GR introduces automatically terms into the system which can be interpreted as dark energy. The modified pseudo-complex Schwarzschild solution is investigated. The dark energy part is treated as a liquid and possible solutions are discussed. As a consequence, the collapse of a large stellar mass into a singularity at $r=0$ is avoided and no event-horizon is formed. Thus, black holes don't exist. The resulting object can be viewed as a gray star. It contains no singu…
The paper presents equations determining the particle spin evolution in the post-Newtonian approximation in the problem of motion of two mass and spin possessing particles. The equations are derived with the Einstein-Infeld-Hoffmann method from the condition of metric tensor symmetry. The consideration uses the condition of coordinate harmonicity and the metric coincidence nearby the particles with expansions of the Kerr solution written in the harmonic coordinates. For gyroscopes on satellites Gravity Probe B, for example, the equations yield a deviation of the axis of revolution, which is, f…
This is a master thesis concerning the search for a Kerr-type metric in the pseudocomplex General Relativity. Two different ways of deriving the standard Kerr-metric are presented and a solution for a Kerr-type metric in the pseudocomplex formalism is found.
The complete solution of the vacuum Kerr-Schild equations in general relativity is presented, including the space-times with a curved background metric. The corresponding result for a flat background has been obtained by Kerr.
Recent measurements of gravitational-wave ringdown following the merger of binary black holes raise the prospect of precision black hole spectroscopy in the near future. To perform the most sensitive tests of the nature of black holes using ringdown measurements, it is critical to compute the deviations to the spectrum of black holes in particular extensions of relativity. These spectral shifts are also needed to interpret any violations of the predictions of relativity that may be detected during ringdown. Here we present a first step towards computing the shifts to the spectrum of Kerr black…
We derive the Teukolsky equation for perturbations of a Kerr spacetime when the spacetime metric is written in either ingoing or outgoing Kerr-Schild form. We also write explicit formulae for setting up the initial data for the Teukolsky equation in the time domain in terms of a three metric and an extrinsic curvature. The motivation of this work is to have in place a formalism to study the evolution in the ``close limit'' of two recently proposed solutions to the initial value problem in general relativity that are based on Kerr-Schild slicings. A perturbative formalism in horizon penetrating…
Relativistic tidal equations are formulated with respect to the rest frame of a central gravitational source and their solutions are studied. The existence of certain relativistic critical tidal currents are thereby elucidated. Specifically, observers that are spatially at rest in the exterior Kerr spacetime are considered in detail; in effect, these fiducial observers define the rest frame of the Kerr source. The general tidal equations for the free motion of test particles are worked out with respect to the Kerr background. The analytic solutions of these equations are investigated and the e…
Considerable attention has recently focused on gravity theories obtained by extending general relativity with additional scalar, vector, or tensor degrees of freedom. In this paper, we show that the black-hole solutions of these theories are essentially indistinguishable from those of general relativity. Thus, we conclude that a potential observational verification of the Kerr metric around an astrophysical black hole cannot, in and of itself, be used to distinguish between these theories. On the other hand, it remains true that detection of deviations from the Kerr metric will signify the nee…
It is usually accepted that General Relativity is the only consistent theory which can be obtained starting from the linear Fiertz-Pauli Lagrangian. It is the aim of the present paper to study whether, under certain requirements, a different and consistent theory can be found. These requirements will be the common ones encountered in flat field theory: removal of the non physical degrees of freedom and conservation of the energy momentum currents determined by Noether's Theorem. It will be shown that imposing certain constraint (related to the elimination of the undesired components of the red…
We analyse the expression for the mass of a stationary axisymmetric configuration in general relativity obtained in our previous work [1]. From the generality of our formula and its incompatibility with the corresponding expression in Kerr space-time we argue that a stationary equilibrium distribution of a real matter cannot be a source of the Kerr metric.
Metrics representing black holes in General Relativity may exhibit naked singularities for certain values of their parameters. This is the case for super-extremal ($J^2 > M>0$) Kerr and super-extremal ($|Q|>M>0$) Reissner-Nördstrom spacetimes, and also for the negative mass Schwarzschild spacetime. We review our recent work where we show that these nakedly singular spacetimes are unstable under linear gravitational perturbations, a result that supports the cosmic censorship conjecture, and also that the inner stationary region beyond the inner horizon of a Kerr black hole ($J^2 <M$) is linearl…
Repulsive gravity is not very popular in physics. However, one comes across it in at least two main occurrences in general relativity: in the negative-$r$ region of Kerr spacetime, and as the result of the gravitational interaction between matter and antimatter, when the latter is assumed to be CPT-transformed matter. Here we show how these two independent developments of general relativity are perfectly consistent in predicting gravitational repulsion and how the above Kerr negative-$r$ region can be interpreted as the habitat of antimatter. As a consequence, matter particles traveling along …
In this paper we study the Hawking radiation in Reissner-Nordstrom and Kerr-Newman black holes by considering the charge to be the function of radial coordinate.
We compare and contrast the emission of gravitational waves and waveforms for the recently established "helicoidal-drifting-sequence" of a test particle around a Kerr black hole with the publicly available waveform templates of numerical-relativity. The merger of two black holes of comparable mass are considered. We outline a final smooth merging of the test particle into the final Kerr black hole. We find a surprising and unexpected agreement between the two treatments if we adopt, for the mass of the particle and the Kerr black hole a Newtonian-center-of-mass description, and for the Kerr bl…
The observation of the bending of light by mass, now known as gravitational lensing, was key in establishing general relativity as one of the pillars of modern physics. In the past couple of decades, there has been increasing interest in using gravitational lensing to test general relativity beyond the weak deflection limit. Black holes and neutron stars produce the strong gravitational fields needed for such tests. For a rotating compact object, the distinction between prograde and retrograde photon trajectories becomes important. In this paper, we explore subtleties that arise in interpretin…
An electromagnetic analog of the Kerr-Newman solution in general relativity is derived, based on Minkowski's formulation for electromagnetic fields in moving media. The equivalent system is a distribution of charges and currents largely localized within a spinning disk of radius a. This occurs in a rotating medium of inhomogeneous index of refraction and "frame dragging" at exactly half the angular velocity of the electrical charge.
We construct initial data sets which satisfy the vacuum constraint equa- tions of General Relativity with positive cosmologigal constant. More pre- silely, we deform initial data with ends asymptotic to Schwarzschild-de Sitter to obtain non-trivial initial data with exactly Kerr-de Sitter ends. The method is inspired from Corvino's gluing method. We obtain here a extension of a previous result for the time-symmetric case by Chruściel and Pollack.
The Teukolsky formalism of black hole perturbation theory describes weak gravitational radiation generated by a mildly dynamical hole near equilibrium. A particular null tetrad of the background Kerr geometry, due to Kinnersley, plays a singularly important role within this formalism. In order to apply the rich physical intuition of Teukolsky's approach to the results of fully non-linear numerical simulations, one must approximate this Kinnersley tetrad using raw numerical data, with no a priori knowledge of a background. This paper addresses this issue by identifying the directions of the tet…
In the context of the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity, we obtain the tetrad and the torsion fields of the stationary axisymmetric Kerr spacetime. It is shown that, in the slow rotation and weak field approximations, the axial-vector torsion plays the role of the gravitomagnetic component of the gravitational field, and is thus the responsible for the Lense-Thirring effect.
This work derives the elements of classical Einstein Cartan theory (EC) from classical general relativity (GR) in two ways. (I) Derive discrete versions of torsion (translational holonomy) and the spin torsion field equation of EC from one Kerr solution in GR. (II) Derive the field equations of EC as the continuum limit of a distribution of many Kerr masses in classical GR. The convergence computations employ epsilon delta arguments, and are not as rigorous as convergence in Sobolev norm. Inequality constraints needed for convergence restrict the limits from continuing to an infinitesimal leng…
A solution of Einstein's vacuum field equation is derived that describes a general boosted Kerr black hole relative to a Lorentz frame at future null infinity. The metric contains five independent parameters -- mass $m$, rotation $ω$, boost parameter $v/c$ and the boost direction defined by $(n_1,n_2,n_3)$ satisfying $(n_1)^2+(n_2)^2+(n_3)^2=1$ -- and reduces to the Kerr black hole when the boost parameter is zero and $n_1=1$. The solution describes the most general configuration that an astrophysical black hole must have. The black hole rotates about the $z$-axis with angular momentum proport…
General Relativity's Kerr metric is famous for its many symmetries which are responsible for the separability of the Hamilton-Jacobi equation governing the geodesic motion and of the Teukolsky equation for wave dynamics. We show that there is a unique stationary and axisymmetric Newtonian gravitational potential that has exactly the same dual property of separable point-particle and wave motion equations. This `Kerr metric analogue' of Newtonian gravity is none other than Euler's 18th century problem of two-fixed gravitating centers.
We present the whole class of Gaussian coordinate systems for the Kerr metric. This is achieved through the uses of the relationship between Gaussian observers and the relativistic Hamilton-Jacobi equation. We analyze the completeness of this coordinate system. In the appendix we present the equivalent JEK formulation of General Relativity -- the so-called quasi-Maxwellian equations -- which acquires a simpler form in the Gaussian coordinate system. We show how this set of equations can be used to obtain the internal metric of the Schwazschild solution, as a simple example. We suggest that thi…
The spacetime singularities in classical general relativity are inevitable, which are also predicated by the celebrated singularity theorems. However, it is general belief that singularities do not exist in the nature and they are the limitations of the general relativity. In the absence of a well defined quantum gravity, models of regular black holes have been studied. We employ probability distribution inspired mass function $m(r)$ to replace Kerr black hole mass $M$ to present a nonsingular rotating black hole that is identified asymptotically ($r \gg k$, $k>0$ constant) exactly as the Kerr…
Singularities in the metric of the classical solutions to the Einstein equations (Schwarzschild, Kerr, Reissner -- Nordström and Kerr -- Newman solutions) lead to appearance of generalized functions in the Einstein tensor that are not usually taken into consideration. The generalized functions can be of a more complex nature than the Dirac $\d$-function. To study them, a technique has been used based on a limiting solution sequence. The solutions are shown to satisfy the Einstein equations everywhere, if the energy-momentum tensor has a relevant singular addition of non-electromagnetic origin.…
In the first part of this thesis, Kerr-Schild metrics and extended Kerr-Schild metrics are analyzed in the context of higher dimensional general relativity. Employing the higher dimensional generalizations of the Newman-Penrose formalism and the algebraic classification of spacetimes based on the existence and multiplicity of Weyl aligned null directions, we establish various geometrical properties of the Kerr-Schild congruences, determine compatible Weyl types and in the expanding case discuss the presence of curvature singularities. We also present known exact solutions admitting these Kerr-…
In this contribution, we calculate the light deflection, perihelium shift, time delay and gravitational redshift using an approximate metric that contains the Kerr metric and an approximaction of the Erez-Rosen spacetime. The results were obtained directly using Mathematica. The results agree with the ones presented in the literature, but they are extended until second order terms of mass, angular momentum and mass quadrupole.
Observations of the black hole shadow of supermassive black holes, such as Sagittarius A* at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, allow us to study the properties of black holes and the nature of strong-field gravity. According to the Kerr hypothesis, isolated, stationary, and axisymmetric astrophysical black holes are described by the Kerr metric. The Kerr hypothesis holds in General Relativity and in some modified gravity theories, but there are others in which it is violated. In principle, black hole shadow observations can be used to determine if the Kerr metric is the correct description f…
Black hole based tests of general relativity have proliferated in recent times with new and improved detectors and telescopes. Modelling of the black hole neighborhood, where most of the radiation carrying strong-field signature originates, is of utmost importance for robust and accurate constraints on possible violations of general relativity. As a first step, this paper presents the extension of general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of thin accretion disks to parametrically deformed black holes that generalize the Kerr solution. The extension is based on \textsc{harmpi}, a pub…
In general relativity, the Kerr metric uniquely represents the geometry surrounding an isolated, rotating black hole. An identification of significant non-Kerr features in some astrophysical source would then provide a `smoking-gun' for the break-down of general relativity in the strong-field regime. On the other hand, Kerr black holes are common to many other theories of gravity, and thus a validation of the Kerr metric does not necessarily favour general relativity amongst all possibilities. The nature of gravitational perturbations will however differ between different theories of gravity. …
Black hole solutions in general relativity come with pathologies such as singularity and mass inflation instability, which are believed to be cured by a yet-to-be-found quantum theory of gravity. Without such consistent description, one may model theory-agnostic phenomenological black holes that bypass the aforesaid issues. These so-called regular black holes are extensively studied in the literature using parameterized modifications over the black hole solutions of general relativity. However, since there exist several ways to model such black holes, it is important to study the consistency a…
We obtain a geometrical condition on vacuum, stationary, asymptotically flat spacetimes which is necessary and sufficient for the spacetime to be locally isometric to Kerr. Namely, we prove a theorem stating that an asymptotically flat, stationary, vacuum spacetime such that the so-called Killing form is an eigenvector of the self-dual Weyl tensor must be locally isometric to Kerr. Asymptotic flatness is a fundamental hypothesis of the theorem, as we demonstrate by writing down the family of metrics obtained when this requirement is dropped. This result indicates why the Kerr metric plays such…
Modified theories of gravity are often built such that they contain general relativity as a limiting case. This inclusion property implies that the Kerr metric is common to many families of theories. For example, all analytic $f(R)$ theories with vanishing constant term admit the Kerr solution. In any given theory, however, the response of the gravitational field to astrophysical disturbances is tied to the structure of the field equations. As such, even if black holes are Kerr, the underlying theory can, in principle, be probed through gravitational distortions. In this paper, we study linear…
We explore the (non)-universality of Martinez's conjecture, originally proposed for Kerr black holes, within and beyond general relativity. The conjecture states that the Brown-York quasilocal energy at the outer horizon of such a black hole reduces to twice its irreducible mass, or equivalently, to \sqrt{A} /(2\sqrt{pi}), where `A' is its area. We first consider the charged Kerr black hole. For such a spacetime, we calculate the quasilocal energy within a two-surface of constant Boyer-Lindquist radius embedded in a constant stationary-time slice. Keeping with Martinez's conjecture, at the out…
Three static and axially symmetric (Weyl-type) ring singularities -- the Majumdar-Papapetrou--type (extremally charged) ring, the Bach-Weyl ring and the Appell ring -- are studied in general relativity in order to show how remarkably the geometries in their vicinity differ from each other. This is demonstrated on basic measures of the rings and on invariant characteristics given by the metric and by its first and second derivatives (lapse, gravitational acceleration and curvature), and also on geodesic motion. The results are also compared against the Kerr space-time which possesses a ring sin…
A very general class of axially-symmetric metrics in general relativity (GR) that includes rotations is used to discuss the dynamics of rotationally-supported galaxies. The exact vacuum solutions of the Einstein equations for this extended Weyl class of metrics allow us to deduce rigorously the following: (i) GR rotational velocity always exceeds the Newtonian velocity (thanks to Lenz's law in GR); (ii) A non-vanishing intrinsic angular momentum ($J$) for a galaxy demands the asymptotic constancy of the Weyl (vectorial) length parameter ($a$) -a behavior identical to that found for the Kerr me…
Astrophysical black hole systems are the ideal laboratories for testing Einstein's theory of gravity in the strong field regime. We have recently developed a framework which uses the reflection spectrum of black hole systems to perform precision tests of general relativity by testing the Kerr black hole hypothesis. In this paper, we analyze XMM-Newton and NuSTAR observations of the supermassive black hole in the Seyfert 1 galaxy MCG-06-30-15 with our disk reflection model. We consider the Johannsen metric with the deformation parameters $α_{13}$ and $α_{22}$, which quantify deviations from the…
Stationary rotating matter configurations in general relativity are considered. A formalism for general stationary space times is developed. Axisymmetric systems are discussed by the use of a nonholonomic and nonrigid frame in the three-space of the time-like Killing trajectories. Two symmetric and trace-free tensors are constructed. They characterize a class of matter states in which both the interior Schwarzschild and the Kerr solution are contained. Consistency relations for this class of perfect fluids are derived. Incompressible fluids characterized by these tensors are investigated, and …
General relativity has been tested by many experiments, which, however, almost exclusively probe weak spacetime curvatures. In this thesis, I create two frameworks for testing general relativity in the strong-field regime with observations of black holes in the electromagnetic spectrum using current or near-future instruments. In the first part of this thesis, I design tests of the no-hair theorem, which uniquely characterizes the nature of black holes in general relativity in terms of their masses and spins and which states that these compact objects are described by the Kerr metric. I invest…
Einstein's theory of General Relativity predicts that the spacetime metric around astrophysical black holes is described by the Kerr solution. In this work, we employ state-of-the-art in relativistic reflection modeling to analyze a selected set of NuSTAR spectra of Galactic black holes to obtain the most robust and precise constraints on the Kerr black hole hypothesis possible today. Our constraints are much more stringent than those from other electromagnetic techniques, and with some sources we get stronger constraints than those currently available from gravitational waves.
In previous papers, explicit symplectic integrators were designed for nonrotating black holes, such as a Schwarzschild black hole. However, they fail to work in the Kerr spacetime because not all variables can be separable, or not all splitting parts have analytical solutions as explicit functions of proper time. To cope with this difficulty, we introduce a time transformation function to the Hamiltonian of Kerr geometry so as to obtain a time-transformed Hamiltonian consisting of five splitting parts, whose analytical solutions are explicit functions of the new coordinate time. The chosen tim…
The angular momentum of the Kerr singularity should not be larger than a threshold value so that it is enclosed by an event horizon: The Kerr singularity with the angular momentum exceeding the threshold value is naked. This fact suggests that if the cosmic censorship exists in our Universe, an over-spinning body without releasing its angular momentum cannot collapse to spacetime singularities. A simple kinematical estimate of two particles approaching each other supports this expectation and suggests the existence of a minimum size of an over-spinning body. But this does not imply that the ge…
Recently, we have extended the X-ray reflection model relxill to test the spacetime metric in the strong gravitational field of astrophysical black holes. In the present Letter, we employ this extended model to analyze XMM-Newton, NuSTAR, and Swift data of the supermassive black hole in 1H0707-495 and test deviations from a Kerr metric parametrized by the Johannsen deformation parameter $α_{13}$. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that the spacetime metric around the black hole in 1H0707-495 is described by the Kerr solution.