Superradiant scattering processes are studied in general relativistic systems which, unlike rotating and/or charged black holes, do not exhibit an event horizon. Inspired by Zel'dovich's seminal works on the amplification of waves by a rotating cylinder, we analyse, in the context of General Relativity, the possibility of superradiance for electromagnetic waves reflecting off a rotating star and for charged scalar perturbations impinging on a charged sphere. The role of energy dissipation in these systems is analysed and compared with the role of the event horizon in black hole superradiance.
Bargmann-Wigner equations are formulated to represent bosonic fields in terms of fermionic fields in curved spacetime. The superradiance phenomena of bosons and fermions in rotating black hole spacetime are studied in the Bargmann-Wigner formulation. As a result of the consistent description between scalar bosons and spinor fermions, superradiance phenomena of the type of positive frequency $(0<ω)$ and negative momentum near horizon $(p_{H}<0)$ are shown not to occur.
We studied the superradiance effect of a charge black hole immersed in an expanding Universe. We considered a test massive charged scalar field scattered off the horizon of the charge McVittie black hole. We carried out a detailed analysis of the electric energy extracted from the horizon of McVittie black hole in two different epochs of the expansion of the Universe, the dust dominated and radiation dominated epochs. We found that we have the superradiance effect in both epochs of the expansion of the Universe. Our study also provides evidence that we have extraction of energy from the horizo…
We analyse the necessary and sufficient conditions for the occurrence of superradiance. Starting with a wave equation we examine the possibility of superradiance in terms of an effective potential and boundary conditions. In particular, we show that the existence of an ergoregion is not sufficient; an appropriate boundary condition, e.g. only ingoing group velocity waves at an event horizon, is also crucial. After applying our scheme to the standard examples of superradiance, we show that analogue models of gravity without an event horizon do not necessarily exhibit superradiance. Particularly…
We study ``draining bathtub'' as an acoustic analogue of a three-dimensional rotating black hole. Rotating fluid near the sonic horizon necessarily gives rise to the superradiant modes, which are partially responsible for the thermodynamic quantities in this rotating vortex-like hole. Using the recently suggested thin-layer method overcoming some difficulties from the well-known brick-wall method, we explicitly calculate the free energy of the system by treating the superradiance carefully and obtain the desirable entropy formula.
Ongoing observations in the strong-field regime are in optimal agreement with general relativity, although current errors still leave room for small deviations from Einstein's theory. Here we summarise our recent results on superradiance of scalar and electromagnetic test fields in Kerr-like spacetimes, focusing mainly on the Konoplya--Zhidenko metric. We observe that, while for large deformations with respect to the Kerr case superradiance is suppressed, it can be nonetheless enhanced for small deformations. We also study the superradiant instability caused by massive scalar fields, and we pr…
Institute for Basic Science (IBS)（韩国基础科学研究所）；Cosmology, Gravity, and Astroparticle Physics Group, Center for Theoretical Physics of the Universe（宇宙学、引力与天体物理组，宇宙理论物理中心）；Center for Geometry and Physics（几何与物理中心）
I discuss the no hair principle, the recently found hairy solutions, generic properties of nonvacuum spherical static black holes, and the new no scalar hair theorems. I go into the generic phenomenon of superradiance, first uniform linear motion superradiance, then Kerr black hole superradiance, and finally general rotational superradiance and its possible applications in the laboratory. I show that the horizon area of a nearly stationary black hole can be regarded as an adiabatic invariant. This invariance suggests that quantum horizon area is quantized in multiples of a basic unit. Consider…
We construct hairy black hole solutions that merge with the anti-de Sitter (AdS$_4$) Reissner-Nordström black hole at the onset of superradiance. These hairy black holes have, for a given mass and charge, higher entropy than the corresponding AdS$_4$-Reissner-Nordström black hole. Therefore, they are natural candidates for the endpoint of the charged superradiant instability. On the other hand, hairy black holes never dominate the canonical and grand-canonical ensembles. The zero-horizon radius of the hairy black holes is a soliton (i.e. a boson star under a gauge transformation). We construct…
Using the Kerr-Schild formalism to solve the Einstein-Maxwell equations, we study energy transport due to time-dependent electromagnetic perturbations around a Kerr black hole, which may work as a mechanism to illuminate a disk located on the equatorial plane. For such a disk-hole system it is found that the energy extraction from the hole can occur under the well-known superradiance condition for wave frequency, even though the energy absorption into the hole should be rather dominant near the polar region of the horizon. We estimate the efficiency of the superradiant amplification of the dis…
Since 1970's, gedanken experiments have been devised to challenge the weak cosmic censorship conjecture (WCCC), which is the expectation that spacetime singularities will be hidden from faraway observers by event horizons so that classical predictability in a spacetime is preserved. These experiments involve the interaction of an extremal or a slightly sub-extremal black hole with a test particle or field, attempting to destroy the horizon, i.e. to create a so-called naked singularity. They usually conclude that WCCC cannot be violated starting from an extremal black hole, but may be violated …
Recent strong-field regime tests of gravity are so far in agreement with general relativity. In particular, astrophysical black holes appear all to be consistent with the Kerr spacetime, but the statistical error on current observations allows for small yet detectable deviations from this description. Here we study superradiance of scalar and electromagnetic test fields around the Kerr-like Konoplya--Zhidenko black hole and we observe that for large values of the deformation parameter superradiance is highly suppressed with respect to the Kerr case. Surprisingly, there exists a range of small …
In this work we investigate if the interaction of the Kerr-Taub-NUT spacetime with test scalar and neutrino fields can lead to the destruction of the event horizon. It turns out that both extremal and nearly extremal black holes can be destroyed by scalar and neutrino fields if the initial angular momentum of the spacetime is sufficiently large relative to its mass and NUT charge. This is the first example in which a classical field satisfying the null energy condition can actually destroy an extremal black hole. For scalar fields, the modes that can lead to the destruction of the horizon are …
Superradiance is a radiation enhancement process that involves dissipative systems. With a 60 year-old history, superradiance has played a prominent role in optics, quantum mechanics and especially in relativity and astrophysics. In General Relativity, black-hole superradiance is permitted by the ergoregion, that allows for energy, charge and angular momentum extraction from the vacuum, even at the classical level. Stability of the spacetime is enforced by the event horizon, where negative energy-states are dumped. Black-hole superradiance is intimately connected to the black-hole area theorem…
Tidal effects have long ago locked the Moon in synchronous rotation with the Earth and progressively increase the Earth-Moon distance. This "tidal acceleration" hinges on dissipation. Binaries containing black holes may also be tidally accelerated, dissipation being caused by the event horizon - a flexible, viscous one-way membrane. In fact, this process is known for many years under a different guise: superradiance. In General Relativity, tidal acceleration is obscured by gravitational-wave emission. However, when coupling to light scalar degrees of freedom is allowed, an induced dipole momen…
In this thesis we study the phenomenon of superradiance and its implications to the stability of black-holes (BH) and perfect-fluid stars. Superradiance is a radiation enhancement process that involves rotating dissipative systems. In BH spacetimes, superradiance is due to dissipation at the event horizon, with interesting associated phenomena, namely floating orbits and BH-bombs. BH superradiance is a very interdisciplinary topic, and its study allows us to obtain important results in the area of particle physics. The scattering of a scalar field by a rotating BH leads to the formation of qua…
We consider a Lorentz violating non-commutating Kerr-like spacetime and studied the superradiance effect and the shadow cast by the back hole. We extensively study the different aspects of the black hole associated with a generalized Kerr-like spacetime metric endowed with the corrections licked with Lorentz violation and non-commutativity effect jointly. We investigate the superradiance effect, deviation of shape, and size of the ergosphere, energy emission rate, and black hole shadow in this generalized situation and study their variation taking different admissible values of Lorentz violati…
We investigate the ringdown waveform and reflectivity of a Lifshitz scalar field around a fixed Schwarzschild black hole. The radial wave equation is modified due to the Lorentz breaking terms, which leads to a diversity of ringdown waveforms. Also, it turns out that Lifshitz waves scattered by the Schwarzschild black hole exhibits superradiance. The Lorentz breaking terms lead to superluminal propagation and high-frequency modes can enter and leave the interior of the Killing horizon where negativity of energy is not prohibited. This allows the Lifshitz waves to carry out additional positive …
In this paper we show that electrically charged black holes in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity suffer from a superradiant instability. It is triggered by a charged scalar field that fulfills Dirichlet boundary conditions at a mirror located outside the horizon. As in General Relativity, the unstable modes exist provided the mirror is located beyond a critical radius, making the instability a long wavelength one. We explore the effects of the Gauss-Bonnet corrections on the critical radius and find evidence that the critical radius decreases as the Gauss-Bonnet coupling $α$ increases. Due to the,…
Dirac cloud is in absence in general relativity since the superradiance mechanism fails to work for Dirac fields. For the first time we find a novel mechanism to support Dirac clouds, which is independent on superradiance mechanism. We study quasi bound states of Dirac particles around a charged spherical black hole in dilatonic gravity. We find that the quasi bound states become real bound states when the central black hole becomes extremal. We make an intensive study of the energy spectrum of the stationary clouds for different fine structure constant $μM$, and reveal the existence condition…
We discuss the conditions under which plane electromagnetic and gravitational waves can be amplified by a rotating black hole due to superradiant scattering. We show, in particular, that amplification can occur for low-frequency waves with an incidence angle parametrically close to 0 (or $π$) with respect to the black hole spin axis and with a parametrically small left (or right) polarization. This is the case of the radiation emitted by a spinning electric/magnetic dipole or gravitational quadrupole orbiting a black hole companion at large radius and co-rotating with the latter. This can yiel…
In 2016, the Nottingham group detected the rotational superradiance effect. While this experiment demonstrated the robustness of the superradiance process, it still lacks a complete theoretical description due to the many effects at stage in the experiment. In this paper, we shine new light on this experiment by deriving an estimate of the reflection coefficient in the dispersive regime by means of a WKB analysis. This estimate is used to evaluate the reflection coefficient spectrum of counter rotating modes in the Nottingham experiment. Our finding suggests that the vortex flow in the superra…
Ultralight bosons, as important candidates of dark matter, can condense around spinning black holes (BHs) to form long-lived ``boson clouds'' due to superradiance instability. The boson-BH system can be observed through gravitational wave detection and may become a new window to find traces of ultralight bosons. In this letter we explore the effects on the superradiant instability of BHs from the near-horizon microstructure. By introducing the reflection parameter near a BH horizon, we derived analytical results on the corrections to both energy levels of bosonic cloud and its characteristic f…
This thesis explores two avenues into understanding the physics of black holes and horizons beyond general relativity, via analogue models and Lorentz violating theories. Analogue spacetimes have wildly different dynamics to general relativity; this allows the possibility of non-Killing horizons in stationary solutions. In the case of non-Killing horizons different definitions of surface gravity are truly different quantities. This also has application to modified theories of gravity, where there is no reason to expect all horizons to be Killing horizons. In Lorentz violating theories, the sit…
We present techniques and methods for analyzing the dynamics of event horizons in numerically constructed spacetimes. There are three classes of analytical tools we have investigated. The first class consists of proper geometrical measures of the horizon which allow us comparison with perturbation theory and powerful global theorems. The second class involves the location and study of horizon generators. The third class includes the induced horizon 2-metric in the generator comoving coordinates and a set of membrane-paradigm like quantities. Applications to several distorted, rotating, and col…
We show that the magnetic dipole and gravitational radiation emitted by a pulsar can undergo superradiant scattering off a spinning black hole companion. We find that the relative amount of superradiant modes in the radiation depends on the pulsar's angular position relative to the black hole's equatorial plane. In particular, when the pulsar and black hole spins are aligned, superradiant modes are dominant at large angles, leading to an amplification of the pulsar's luminosity, whereas for small angles the radiation is dominantly composed of non-superradiant modes and the signal is attenuated…
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…
This is the first paper in a series on event horizons in numerical relativity. In this paper we present methods for obtaining the location of an event horizon in a numerically generated spacetime. The location of an event horizon is determined based on two key ideas: (1) integrating backward in time, and (2) integrating the whole horizon surface. The accuracy and efficiency of the methods are examined with various sample spacetimes, including both analytic (Schwarzschild and Kerr) and numerically generated black holes. The numerically evolved spacetimes contain highly distorted black holes, ro…
This work is devoted to investigate some consequences of black holes physics beyond the domain of general relativity, mainly in effective extra dimensional models. The investigation is carried along three gravitational effects, namely the Hawking radiation, the strong deflection of gravitational lensing and the formation of quantum black holes. A cosmological thick brane solution is also investigated. Effective theories and models provide a prominent approach for testing the limits of known theories and show what would be expected beyond that. Based on such idea we have used effective models f…
We present a coordinate-independent method for extracting mass (M) and angular momentum (J) of a black hole in numerical simulations. This method, based on the isolated horizon framework, is applicable both at late times when the black hole has reached equilibrium, and at early times when the black holes are widely separated. We show how J and M can be determined in numerical simulations in terms of only those quantities which are intrinsic to the apparent horizon. We also present a numerical method for finding the rotational symmetry vector field (required to calculate J) on the horizon.
We examine the black hole bomb model which consists of a rotating black hole of five-dimenensional minimal ungauged supergravity and a reflecting mirror around it. For low-frequency scalar perturbations, we find solutions to the Klein-Gordon equation in the near-horizon and far regions of the black hole spacetime. To avoid solutions with logarithmic terms, we assume that the orbital quantum number $ l $ takes on nearly, but not exactly, integer values and perform the matching of these solutions in an intermediate region. This allows us to calculate analytically the frequency spectrum of quasin…
With Advanced LIGO detecting the gravitational waves emitted from a pair of merging black holes in late 2015, we have a new perspective into the strong field regime of binary black hole systems. Event horizons are the defining features of such black hole spacetimes. We introduce a new code for locating event horizons in numerical simulations based on a Delaunay triangulation on a topological sphere. The code can automatically refine arbitrary regions of the event horizon surface to find and explore features such as the hole in a toroidal event horizon, as discussed in our companion paper. We a…
We show the existence of superradiant modes of massive scalar fields propagating in BTZ black holes when certain Robin boundary conditions, which never include the commonly considered Dirichlet boundary conditions, are imposed at spatial infinity. These superradiant modes are defined as those solutions whose energy flux across the horizon is towards the exterior region. Differently from rotating, asymptotically flat black holes, we obtain that not all modes which grow up exponentially in time are superradiant; for some of these, the growth is sourced by a bulk instability of AdS3, triggered by…
Since the work of Hartle in the 1970s, and the subsequent development of the the Membrane Paradigm approach to black hole physics it has been widely accepted that superradiant scattering of gravitational waves bears strong similarities with the phenomenon of ``tidal friction'' (well-known from Newtonian gravity) operating in binary systems of viscous material bodies. In this paper we revisit the superradiance-tidal friction analogy within the context of ultracompact relativistic bodies. We advocate that as long as these bodies have non-zero viscosity they should undergo tidal friction that can…
We present a series of test beds for numerical codes designed to find apparent horizons. We consider three apparent horizon finders that use different numerical methods: one of them in axisymmetry, and two fully three-dimensional. We concentrate first on a toy model that has a simple horizon structure, and then go on to study single and multiple black hole data sets. We use our finders to look for apparent horizons in Brill wave initial data where we discover that some results published previously are not correct. For pure wave and multiple black hole spacetimes, we apply our finders to survey…
We present an introduction to dynamical trapping horizons as quasi-local models for black hole horizons, from the perspective of an Initial Value Problem approach to the construction of generic black hole spacetimes. We focus on the geometric and structural properties of these horizons aiming, as a main application, at the numerical evolution and analysis of black hole spacetimes in astrophysical scenarios. In this setting, we discuss their dual role as an "a priori" ingredient in certain formulations of Einstein equations and as an "a posteriori" tool for the diagnosis of dynamical black hole…
Black holes have turned into cosmic laboratories to search for ultra-light scalars by virtue of the superradiant instability. In this paper we present a detailed study of the impact of the superradiant evolution on the black hole shadow and investigate the exciting possibility to explore it with future observations of Very Long Baseline Interferometry. We simulated the superradiant evolution numerically, in the adiabatic regime, and derived analytic approximations modelling the process. Driven by superradiance, we evolve the black hole shadow diameter and (i) find that it can change by a few $…
We study the superradiant scattering of gravitational waves by a nearly extremal black hole (dimensionless spin $a=0.99$) by numerically solving the full Einstein field equations, thus including backreaction effects. This allows us to study the dynamics of the black hole as it loses energy and angular momentum during the scattering process. To explore the nonlinear phase of the interaction, we consider gravitational wave packets with initial energies up to $10%$ of the mass of the black hole. We find that as the incident wave energy increases, the amplification of the scattered waves, as well …
Dynamical, non-asymptotically flat black holes are best characterized by their apparent horizons. Cosmological black hole solutions of General Relativity exhibit two types of apparent horizon behaviours which, thus far, appeared to be completely disconnected. By taking the limit to General Relativity of a class of Brans-Dicke spacetimes, it is shown how one of these two behaviours is really a limit of the other.
We show that the higher order curvature corrections to general relativity in the strong gravity regime of near horizon scales produce a rapidly oscillating and infalling Ricci scalar fireball just outside the horizon. This can generate the ringdown modes of gravitational waves having the same natural frequency as those which are generated by the black hole mergers. Our analysis provides a viable explanation to the echoes in the ringdown modes recently detected from the LIGO data, without invoking the existence of any exotic structures at the horizon.
