Tidal forces are an important feature of General Relativity, which are related to the curvature tensor. We analyze the tidal tensor in Kerr spacetime, with emphasis on the case along the symmetry axis of the Kerr black hole, noting that tidal forces may vanish at a certain point, unlike in the Schwarzschild spacetime, using Boyer-Lindquist coordinates. We study in detail the effects of vanishing tidal forces in a body constituted of dust infalling along the symmetry axis. We find the geodesic deviation equations and solve them, numerically and analytically, for motion along the symmetry axis of the Kerr geometry. We also point out that the intrinsic Gaussian curvature of the event horizon at the symmetry axis is equal to the component along this axis of the tidal tensor there.
General relativistic tidal equations are formulated with respect to the rest frame of a central gravitational source described by the Kerr gravitational field. 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 generalized Jacobi equation for the free motion of a test particle is worked out within the Fermi coordinate system established along the world line of a fiducial observer at rest on the symmetry axis of the exterior Kerr background. The nature of th…
We generalize to the Kerr spacetime existing self-force results on tidal invariants for particles moving along circular orbits around a Schwarzschild black hole. We obtain linear-in-mass-ratio corrections to the quadratic and cubic electric-type invariants and the quadratic magnetic-type invariant in series of the rotation parameter up to the fourth order. We then construct the eigenvalues of both electric and magnetic tidal tensors and analytically compute them through high post-Newtonian orders.
We calculate the linear vacuum perturbations of a Kerr black hole surrounded by a slowly-varying external spacetime to third order in the ratio of the black-hole mass to the radius of curvature of the external spacetime. This expansion applies to two relevant physical scenarios: (i) a small Kerr black hole immersed in the gravitational field of a much larger external black hole, and (ii) a Kerr black hole moving slowly around another external black hole of comparable mass. This small-hole/slow-motion approximation allows us to parametrize the perturbation through slowly-varying, time-dependent…
We study tidal effects on self-gravitating Newtonian stars rotating around a Kerr black hole in stable circular orbits away from the equatorial plane. Such cases are exemplified by a non-vanishing Carter's constant. Here, we calculate the tidal disruption limit (Roche limit) of the star numerically, in Fermi normal coordinates. The Roche limit is found to depend strongly on the choice of the orbit, and differs significantly from the equatorial plane result as one approaches nearly polar orbits. As expected, this difference is large when the star is close to the black hole (near to the innermos…
The observer-dependent tidal effects associated with the electric and magnetic parts of the Riemann tensor with respect to an arbitrary family of observers are discussed in a general spacetime in terms of certain "tidal indicators." The features of such indicators are then explored by specializing our considerations to the family of stationary circularly rotating observers in the equatorial plane of the Kerr spacetime. There exist a number of observer families which are special for several reasons and for each of them such indicators are evaluated. The transformation laws of tidal indicators w…
The rates at which the mass and angular momentum of a small black hole change as a result of a tidal interaction with a much larger black hole are calculated to leading order in the small mass ratio. The small black hole is either rotating or nonrotating, and it moves on a circular orbit in the equatorial plane of the large Kerr black hole. The orbits are fully relativistic, and the rates are computed to all orders in the orbital velocity V < V_{isco}, which is limited only by the size of the innermost stable circular orbit. We show that as V \to V_{isco}, the rates take on a limiting value th…
We calculate the energy and angular momentum fluxes across the event horizon of a tidally deformed, rapidly rotating black hole to next-to-leading order in the curvature of the external spacetime. These are expressed in terms of tidal quadrupole moments and their time derivatives, which provide a characterization of a generic tidal environment. As an application of our results, we provide an expression for the energy and angular-momentum fluxes across the horizon when the black hole is a member of a binary system on a slowly-moving, quasi-circular orbit. Our expressions are accurate to 1.5 pos…
We study the non-monotonic Keplerian velocity profiles related to locally non-rotating frames (LNRF) in the field of near-extreme braneworld Kerr black holes and naked singularities in which the non-local gravitational effects of the bulk are represented by a braneworld tidal charge $b$ and the 4D geometry of the spacetime structure is governed by the Kerr-Newman geometry. We show that positive tidal charge has a tendency to restrict the values of the black hole dimensionless spin $a$ admitting existence of the non-monotonic Keplerian LNRF-velocity profiles; the non-monotonic profiles exist in…
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…
The motion of free nearby test particles relative to a stable equatorial circular geodesic orbit about a Kerr source is investigated. It is shown that the nonlinear generalized Jacobi equation can be transformed in this case to an autonomous form. Tidal dynamics beyond the critical speed c/sqrt(2) is studied. We show, in particular, that a free test particle vertically launched from the circular orbit parallel or antiparallel to the Kerr rotation axis is tidally accelerated if its initial relative speed exceeds c/sqrt(2). Possible applications of our results to high-energy astrophysics are bri…
We study the scattering of monochromatic bosonic plane waves impinging upon a rotating black hole, in the special case that the direction of incidence is aligned with the spin axis. We present accurate numerical results for electromagnetic Kerr scattering cross sections for the first time, and give a unified picture of the Kerr scattering for all massless bosonic fields.
An extended body orbiting a compact object undergoes tidal deformations by the background gravitational field. Tidal invariants built up with the Riemann tensor and their derivatives evaluated along the world line of the body are essential tools to investigate both geometrical and physical properties of the tidal interaction. For example, one can determine the tidal potential in the neighborhood of the body by constructing a body-fixed frame, which requires Fermi-type coordinates attached to the body itself, the latter being in turn related to the spacetime metric and curvature along the consi…
Within the framework of general relativity, we investigate the tidal acceleration of astrophysical jets relative to the central collapsed configuration ("Kerr source"). We neglect electromagnetic forces throughout. The rest frame of the Kerr source is locally defined via the set of hypothetical static observers in the spacetime exterior to the source. Relative to such a fiducial observer fixed on the rotation axis of the Kerr source, jet particles are tidally accelerated to almost the speed of light if their outflow speed is above a certain threshold, given roughly by one half of the Newtonian…
The open question of whether a Kerr black hole can become tidally deformed or not has profound implications for fundamental physics and gravitational-wave astronomy. We consider a Kerr black hole embedded in a weak and slowly varying, but otherwise arbitrary, multipolar tidal environment. By solving the static Teukolsky equation for the gauge-invariant Weyl scalar $ψ_0$, and by reconstructing the corresponding metric perturbation in an ingoing radiation gauge, for a general harmonic index $\ell$, we compute the linear response of a Kerr black hole to the tidal field. This linear response vanis…
We have investigated the acceleration of the unbound high energy particles moving along the rotation axis in the Kerr-Taub-NUT spacetime, and then study the dependence of the repulsive effects on the NUT charge for the particles in the spacetime. Whether the repulsive effects with the NUT charge become stronger depends on the Carter constant, the position and velocity of the particles themselves. We also present numerically the changes of the observable velocity and acceleration with the NUT charge for the unbound particles in the Kerr-Taub-NUT spacetime.
The structural properties of geodesic currents in an ambient Kerr background is studied from an analytical point of view. The geodesics in the congruence correspond to charged particles that carry energy and angular momentum from the black hole through the Blandford-Znajek mechanism. It is shown that the resulting magnetosphere naturally satisfies the Znajek regularity condition. Particular attention is paid here to the energy extracted by matter currents rather than by electromagnetic Poynting fluxes.
We investigate null geodesics impinging parallel to the rotation axis of a Kerr-Newman black hole, and show that the absorption cross section for a massless scalar field in the eikonal limit can be described in terms of the photon orbit parameters. We compare our sinc and low-frequency approximations with numerical results, showing that they are in excellent agreement.
In this paper, we first investigate some aspects of frame dragging in strong gravity. The computations are carried out for the Kerr black hole and for the rotating Janis-Newman-Winicour solution, that is known to have a naked singularity on a surface at a finite radius. For the Kerr metric, a few interesting possibilities of gyroscope precession frequency, as measured by a Copernican observer outside the ergoregion, are pointed out. It is shown that for certain angular velocities of a stationary observer, this frequency might vanish exactly, close to the ergoregion. Similar computations are re…
We study evolution of the braneworld Kerr--Newman (K-N) naked singularities, namely their mass $M$ , spin $a$, and tidal charge $b$ characterizing the role of the bulk space, due to matter in-falling from Keplerian accretion disk. We construct the evolution in two limiting cases applied to the tidal charge. In the first case we assume $b$ = const during the evolution, in the second one we assume that the dimensionless tidal charge $β\equiv b/M^2$ = const. For positive values of the tidal charge the evolution is equivalent to the case of the standard K-N naked singularity under accretion of ele…
Tidal perturbations of an extreme mass ratio inspiral around a Kerr black hole
Università di Perugia（佩鲁贾大学）；Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen University（哥本哈根大学尼尔斯·玻尔研究所）；Nordita, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University（诺迪塔，皇家理工学院与斯德哥尔摩大学）；Johns Hopkins University（约翰斯·霍普金斯大学）；Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)（马克斯·普朗克引力物理研究所（爱因斯坦研究所））
We present a semi-analytic study of the equilibrium models of close binary systems containing a fluid star (mass $m$ and radius $R_0$) and a Kerr black hole (mass $M$) in circular orbit. We consider the limit $M\gg m$ where spacetime is described by the Kerr metric. The tidally deformed star is approximated by an ellipsoid, and satisfies the polytropic equation of state. The models also include fluid motion in the stellar interior, allowing binary models with nonsynchronized stellar spin (as expected for coalescing neutron star-black hole binaries) to be constructed. Tidal disruption occurs at…
We show that the~braneworld rotating Kerr--Newman black hole and naked singularity spacetimes with both positive and negative braneworld tidal charge parameter can be separated into fourteen classes according to properties of circular geodesics governing the~Keplerian accretion. We determine efficiency of the~Keplerian accretion disks for all braneworld Kerr--Newman spacetimes. We demonstrate occurrence of an~infinitely deep gravitational potential in Kerr--Newman naked singularity spacetimes having the~braneworld dimensionless tidal charge $b \in (1/4,1)$ and the~dimensionless spin $a \in (2\…
The shadow of a black hole can be one of the strong observational evidences for stationary black holes. If we see shadows at the center of galaxies, we would say whether the observed compact objects are black holes. In this paper, we consider a formula for the contour of a shadow in an asymptotically-flat, stationary, and axisymmetric black hole spacetime. We show that the formula is useful for obtaining the contour of the shadow of several black holes such as the Kerr-Newman black hole and rotating regular black holes. Using the formula, we can obtain new examples of the contour of the shadow…
Astrophysical phenomena involving massive black holes (BHs) in close binaries are expected to leave detectable signatures in the electromagnetic and gravitational-wave spectrum. Such imprints may provide precious information to probe the space-time around rotating BHs and to reveal new insights on the nature of gravity in the strong-field regime. To support this observational window, it is crucial to develop suitable tests to verify the predictions of General Relativity. In this framework, the metric recently proposed by Johannsen and Psaltis parametrizes strong-field deviations from a Kerr sp…
The Teukolsky master equation -- a fundamental equation for test fields of any spin, or perturbations, in type D spacetimes -- is classically treated in its separated form. Then the solutions representing even the simplest sources -- point particles -- are expressed in terms of series. The only known exception is a static particle (charge or mass) in the vicinity of Schwarzschild black hole. Here, we present a generalization of this result to a static point particle of arbitrary spin at the axis of Kerr black hole. A simple algebraic formula for the Debye potential from which all the NP compon…
Recently, there have been efforts to solve Einstein's equation in the context of a conformal compactification of space-time. Of particular importance in this regard are the so called CMC-foliations, characterized by spatial hyperboloidal hypersurfaces with a constant extrinsic mean curvature K. However, although of interest for general space-times, CMC-slices are known explicitly only for the spherically symmetric Schwarzschild metric. This work is devoted to numerically determining axisymmetric CMC-slices within the Kerr solution. We construct such slices outside the black hole horizon throug…
Relativistic Tidal Transitions of Saturated Kerr Boson Clouds
State Key Laboratory of Radio Astronomy and Technology, Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory, CAS（中国科学院新疆天文台射电天文技术国家重点实验室）；College of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学天文与空间科学学院）；Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Radio Astrophysics（新疆射电天体物理重点实验室）
An important aspect of General Relativity is to study properties of geodesics. A useful tool for describing geodesic behavior is the geodesic deviation equation. It allows to describe the tidal properties of gravitating objects through the curvature of spacetime. This article focuses on the study of the axially symmetric Taub-NUT metric. We study tidal effects in this metric using the geodesic deviation equation. Radial geodesics along the symmetry axis of spacetime are considered. We show that all spatial components of tidal forces always change sign under the event horizon. We find a solutio…
In recent papers, we and colleagues have introduced a way to visualize the full vacuum Riemann curvature tensor using frame-drag vortex lines and their vorticities, and tidal tendex lines and their tendicities. We have also introduced the concepts of horizon vortexes and tendexes and 3-D vortexes and tendexes (regions where vorticities or tendicities are large). Using these concepts, we discover a number of previously unknown features of quasinormal modes of Schwarzschild and Kerr black holes. These modes can be classified by mode indexes (n,l,m), and parity, which can be electric [(-1)^l] or …
Stationary axisymmetric binary systems of unequal counterrotating Kerr-Newman sources with a massless strut in between are studied. By means of the choice of a suitable parametrization, the axis conditions and the absence of individual magnetic charges are fulfilled; thus, the entire metric reduces to a 6-parametric asymptotically flat exact solution. Later on, with the purpose to describe interacting black holes, the analytic functional form of the horizon half-length parameter $σ_{k}$ is obtained explicitly in terms of physical Komar parameters: mass $M_{k}$, electric charge $Q_{k}$, angular…
We present here the general expressions for the acceleration of massive test particles along the symmetry axis of the Kerr metric, and then study the main properties of this acceleration in different regions of the spacetime. In particular, we show that there exists a region near the black hole in which the gravitational field is repulsive. We provide possible physical interpretations about the role of this effect in terms of the different conserved parameters. The studies of these geodesics are important not only to understand better the structure of the Kerr spacetime but also to its use as …
We analyze the behavior of causal geodesics on a Kerr-de Sitter spacetime with particular emphasis on their completeness property. We set up an initial value problem (IVP) whose solutions lead to a global understanding of causal geodesics on these spacetime. Causal geodesics that avoid the rotation axis are complete except the ones that hit the ring-like curvature singularity and those that encounter the ring singularity are necessary equatorial ones. We also show the existence of geodesics that cross or lie on the rotation axis. The equations governing the latter family show the repulsive nat…
Equilibrium conditions and spin dynamics of spinning test particles are discussed in the stationary and axially symmetric Kerr-de Sitter black-hole or naked-singularity spacetimes. The general equilibrium conditions are established, but due to their great complexity, the detailed discussion of the equilibrium conditions and spin dynamics is presented only in the simple and most relevant cases of equilibrium positions in the equatorial plane and on the symmetry axis of the spacetimes. It is shown that due to the combined effect of the rotation of the source and the cosmic repulsion the equilibr…
The open question of whether a black hole can become tidally deformed by an external gravitational field has profound implications for fundamental physics, astrophysics and gravitational-wave astronomy. Love tensors characterize the tidal deformability of compact objects such as astrophysical (Kerr) black holes under an external static tidal field. We prove that all Love tensors vanish identically for a Kerr black hole in the nonspinning limit or for an axisymmetric tidal perturbation. In contrast to this result, we show that Love tensors are generically nonzero for a spinning black hole. Spec…
We construct a one-parameter family of stationary axisymmetric and asymptotically flat spacetimes solutions to the Einstein-Vlasov system bifurcating from the Kerr spacetime. The constructed solutions have the property that the spatial support of the matter is a finite, axisymmetric shell located away from the black hole. Our proof is mostly based on the analysis of the set of trapped timelike geodesics for stationary axisymmetric spacetimes close to Kerr, where the geodesic flow is not necessarily integrable. Moreover, the analysis of the Einstein field equations relies on the modified Carter…
In this Letter we consider the radial infall along the symmetry axis of an ultra-relativistic point particle into a rotating Kerr black hole. We use the Sasaki-Nakamura formalism to compute the waveform, energy spectra and total energy radiated during this process. We discuss possible connections between these results and the black hole-black hole collision at the speed of light process.
Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science（印度科学培养协会）；Sapienza Università di Roma（罗马第一大学）；INFN, Sezione di Roma（意大利国家核物理研究所罗马分部）；University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学）
In this paper, binary systems of unequal Kerr-Newman black holes located on the axis and apart by a massless strut are investigated. After adopting a fitting parametrization, the conditions on the axis and the one eliminating the individual magnetic charges are solved exactly with the aim to obtain a 7-parametric asymptotically flat exact solution. It is also deduced explicit analytical formulas for each half-length horizon $σ_{i}$, $i = 1,2$, in terms of arbitrary physical Komar parameters: mass $M_{i}$, electric charge $Q_{i}$, angular momentum $J_{i}$, and a coordinate distance $R$. All the…
An attempt is made to supplement Carter's partial investigation of the global structure of Kerr-Newman spacetime on the symmetry axis. Namely, the global structure of θ= const. timelike submanifolds of Kerr-Newman metric starting from the symmetry axis all the way down to the equatorial plane are studied by introducing a new time coordinate slightly different from the usual Boyer-Lindquist time coordinate. It turns out that the maximal anaytic extension of θ= θ_0 (0 \leq θ_0 < π/2) submanifolds is the same as that of the symmetry axis first studied by Carter whereas θ= π/2 equatorial plane has…
Tidal indicators are commonly associated with the electric and magnetic parts of the Riemann tensor (and its covariant derivatives) with respect to a given family of observers in a given spacetime. Recently, observer-dependent tidal effects have been extensively investigated with respect to a variety of special observers in the equatorial plane of the Kerr spacetime. This analysis is extended here by considering a more general background solution to include the case of matter which is also endowed with an arbitrary mass quadrupole moment. Relation with curvature invariants and Bel-Robinson ten…
