This paper is the first of a series regarding the Teukolsky equation of spin $\pm 1$ and spin $\pm 2$ on Kerr backgrounds in the full subextremal range of parameters $|a|<M$. In the present paper, we study fixed frequency solutions of the transformed system of equations introduced by Dafermos, Holzegel and Rodnianski, obtaining estimates which are uniform in the separation parameters. A corollary of our result, to be laid out in the second paper of the series, is that solutions of the Teukolsky equation on subextremal Kerr arising from regular initial data remain bounded and decay in time. This is a key step in establishing the full linear stability of Kerr under electromagnetic and gravitational perturbations. Our estimates can also be applied to understanding more delicate features of the Teukolsky equation, such as their scattering properties.
This paper concludes the study, initiated by the authors in arXiv:2007.07211, of the Teukolsky equation of spin $\pm 1$ and spin $\pm 2$ on Kerr backgrounds in the full subextremal range of parameters $|a| < M$. In our previous arXiv:2007.07211, we obtained uniform-in-frequency estimates for the ODEs governing separable solutions to the Teukolsky equation. In this paper, by adapting the techniques developed by the first author with Dafermos and Rodnianski for scalar waves, we show that our ODE estimates can be upgraded to estimates for the Teukolsky PDE. In particular, we conclude the proof th…
We derive the large time asymptotics of initially regular and localized solutions of the Teukolsky equation on the exterior of a subextremal Kerr black hole for any half integer spin. More precisely, we obtain the leading order term (predicted by Price's law) in the large time regime assuming that the initial data have compact support and have enough (but finite) Sobolev regularity. For initial data with less spatial decay (typically decaying like r^{--1--$α$} with $α$ $\in$ (0, 1)), we prove that the solution has a pointwise decay of order t^{--1--$α$--s--|s|+} on spatially compact regions. I…
We prove that there are no exponentially growing modes nor modes on the real axis for the Teukolsky equation on Kerr black hole spacetimes, both in the extremal and subextremal case. We also give a quantitative refinement of mode stability. As an immediate application, we show that the transmission and reflection coefficients of the scattering problem are bounded, independently of the specific angular momentum of the black hole, in any compact set of real frequencies excluding zero frequency and the superradiant threshold. While in the subextremal setting these results were known previously, t…
We prove boundedness and polynomial decay statements for solutions to the spin $\pm1$ Teukolsky-type equation projected to the $\ell=1$ spherical harmonic on Reissner-Nordström spacetime. The equation is verified by a gauge-invariant quantity which we identify and which involves the electromagnetic and curvature tensor. This gives a first description in physical space of gauge-invariant quantities transporting the electromagnetic radiation in perturbations of a charged black hole. The proof is based on the use of derived quantities, introduced in previous works on linear stability of Schwarzsc…
We prove boundedness and polynomial decay statements for solutions to the spin $\pm2$ generalized Teukolsky system on a Reissner-Nordström background with small charge. The first equation of the system is the generalization of the standard Teukolsky equation in Schwarzschild for the extreme component of the curvature $α$. The second equation, coupled with the first one, is a new equation for a new gauge-invariant quantity involving the electromagnetic curvature components. The proof is based on the use of derived quantities, introduced in previous works on linear stability of Schwarzschild. Th…
We prove boundedness and polynomial decay statements for solutions of the spin $\pm2$ Teukolsky equation on a Kerr exterior background with parameters satisfying $|a|\ll M$. The bounds are obtained by introducing generalisations of the higher order quantities $P$ and $\underline{P}$ used in our previous work on the linear stability of Schwarzschild. The existence of these quantities in the Schwarzschild case is related to the transformation theory of Chandrasekhar. In a followup paper, we shall extend this result to the general sub-extremal range of parameters $|a|<M$. As in the Schwarzschild …
We prove the linear stability of subextremal Reissner-Nordström spacetimes as solutions to the Einstein-Maxwell equation. We make use of a novel representation of gauge-invariant quantities which satisfy a symmetric system of coupled wave equations. This system is composed of two of the three equations separately derived in previous works, where the estimates required arbitrary smallness of the charge. Here, the estimates are obtained by defining a combined energy-momentum tensor for the system in terms of the symmetric structure of the right hand sides of the equations. We obtain boundedness …
We consider solutions of the massless scalar wave equation $\Box_gψ=0$, without symmetry, on fixed subextremal Kerr backgrounds $(\mathcal M, g)$. It follows from previous analyses in the Kerr exterior that for solutions $ψ$ arising from sufficiently regular data on a two ended Cauchy hypersurface, the solution and its derivatives decay suitably fast along the event horizon $\mathcal H^+$. Using the derived decay rate, we show that $ψ$ is in fact uniformly bounded, $|ψ|\leq C$, in the black hole interior up to and including the bifurcate Cauchy horizon $\mathcal C\mathcal H^+$, to which $ψ$ in…
We consider solutions of the scalar wave equation $\Box_gϕ=0$, without symmetry, on fixed subextremal Reissner-Nordström backgrounds $({\mathcal M}, g)$ with nonvanishing charge. Previously, it has been shown that for $ϕ$ arising from sufficiently regular data on a two ended Cauchy hypersurface, the solution and its derivatives decay suitably fast on the event horizon ${\mathcal H}^+$. Using this, we show here that $ϕ$ is in fact uniformly bounded, $|ϕ| \leq C$, in the black hole interior up to and including the bifurcate Cauchy horizon ${\mathcal C}{\mathcal H}^+$, to which $ϕ$ in fact extend…
This paper concludes the series begun in [M. Dafermos and I. Rodnianski, Decay for solutions of the wave equation on Kerr exterior spacetimes I-II: the cases |a| << M or axisymmetry, arXiv:1010.5132], providing the complete proof of definitive boundedness and decay results for the scalar wave equation on Kerr backgrounds in the general subextremal |a| < M case without symmetry assumptions. The essential ideas of the proof (together with explicit constructions of the most difficult multiplier currents) have been announced in our survey [M. Dafermos and I. Rodnianski, The black hole stability pr…
Adapting and extending the techniques developed in recent work with Vasy for the study of the Cauchy horizon of cosmological spacetimes, we obtain boundedness, regularity and decay of linear scalar waves on subextremal Reissner-Nordström and (slowly rotating) Kerr spacetimes, without any symmetry assumptions; in particular, we provide simple microlocal and scattering theoretic proofs of analogous results by Franzen. We show polynomial decay of linear waves relative to a Sobolev space of order slightly above $1/2$. This complements the generic $H^1_{\mathrm{loc}}$ blow-up result of Luk and Oh.
We develop a definitive physical-space scattering theory for the scalar wave equation on Kerr exterior backgrounds in the general subextremal case |a|<M. In particular, we prove results corresponding to "existence and uniqueness of scattering states" and "asymptotic completeness" and we show moreover that the resulting "scattering matrix" mapping radiation fields on the past horizon and past null infinity to radiation fields on the future horizon and future null infinity is a bounded operator. The latter allows us to give a time-domain theory of superradiant reflection. The boundedness of the …
We review our recent work on linear stability for scalar perturbations of Kerr spacetimes, that is to say, boundedness and decay properties for solutions of the scalar wave equation \Box_gψ = 0 on Kerr exterior backgrounds. We begin with the very slowly rotating case |a| \ll M, where first boundedness and then decay has been shown in rapid developments over the last two years, following earlier progress in the Schwarzschild case a = 0. We then turn to the general subextremal range |a| < M, where we give here for the first time the essential elements of a proof of definitive decay bounds for so…
