Light rings (LRs) play an important role in gravitational wave observations and black hole photographs. In this paper, we investigate general features of LRs in stationary, axisymmetric, asymptotically flat spacetimes with or without horizons. For a nonextremal black hole, we show explicitly that there always exist at least two LRs propagating in opposite directions, where the outermost one is radially unstable. For an extremal black hole, we show that there exists at least one retrograde LR. We find that there is at least one LR which is angularly stable. The stability analysis does not involve any energy condition. Our method also applies to horizonless spacetimes and we prove that LRs always appear in pairs. Only some natural and generic assumptions are used in our proof. The results are applicable to general relativity as well as most modified theories of gravity. In contrast to previous works on this issue, we obtain much stronger results with a much more straightforward approach.
Three natural classes of orthonormal frames, namely Frenet-Serret, Fermi-Walker and parallel transported frames, exist along any timelike world line in spacetime. Their relationships are investigated for timelike circular orbits in stationary axisymmetric spacetimes, and illustrated for black hole spacetimes.
Two theorems are proved concerning how stationary axisymmetric electrovac spacetimes that are equatorially symmetric or equatorially antisymmetric can be characterized correctly in terms of the Ernst potentials $\E$ and $Φ$ or in terms of axis-data.
We present a non-perturbative proof of the no hair theorems corresponding to scalar and Proca fields for stationary axisymmetric de Sitter black hole spacetimes. Our method also applies to asymptotically flat and under a reasonable assumption, to asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetimes.
The conditions for the existence of Killing-Yano tensors, which are closely related to the appearance of non-generic world-line SUSY, are presented for static axisymmetric spacetimes. Imposing the vacuum Einstein equation, the set of solutions admitting Killing-Yano tensors is considered. In particular, it is shown that static, axisymmetric and asymptotically flat vacuum solutions admitting Killing-Yano tensors are only the Schwarzschild solution.
We prove that for sub-extremal axisymmetric and stationary black holes with arbitrary surrounding matter the inequality $8π|J|<A$ holds, where $J$ is the angular momentum and $A$ the horizon area of the black hole.
Following the method of Hoenselaers and Perjés we present a new corrected and dimensionally consistent set of multipole gravitational and electromagnetic moments for stationary axisymmetric spacetimes. Furthermore, we use our results to compute the multipole moments, both gravitational and electromagnetic, of a Kerr-Newman black hole.
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.
It is shown that within conformally flat stationary axisymmetric spacetimes, besides of the static family, there exists a new class of metrics, which is always stationary and axisymmetric. All these spacetimes, the static and the stationary ones, are endowed with an arbitrary function depending on the two non--Killingian coordinates. The explicit form of this function can be determined once the coupled matter, i.e., the energy--momentum tensor is given. One might hope possible extensions of this result to black holes on two--branes in four dimensions.
In this second paper devoted to the equatorial symmetry/antisymmetry of stationary axisymmetric electrovac spacetimes we show how two theorems proved in our previous paper (Ernst, Manko and Ruiz 2006 Class. Quantum Grav. 23, 4945) can be utilized to construct exact solutions that are equatorially symmetric or antisymmetric.
Einstein's equations for stationary axisymmetric fields are reformulated as the equations for affine geodesics in a two--dimensional space. The affine collineations of this space are investigated and used to relate explicit solutions of Einstein's equations with different physical properties. Particularly, the solutions describing the exterior fields of a dyon and a slowly rotating body are discussed.
It has been shown by one of the authors$^1$ that in isotropic spherical coordinates there is a relation between the mass of a static spherical gravitating body and the pressure distribution inside it. In this paper the result is generalized for the case of stationary axisymmetric configurations.
Main results concerning allowable additional symmetries of axially symmetric electrovacuum spacetimes are summarized. These are translational Killing vectors and the boost Killing vector. However, this is only the boost symmetry that does not exclude radiation and permit a spacetime to be asymptotically flat with global null infinity.
Clairin's method of obtaining Bäcklund transformations is applied to Einstein's field equations for the interior of a uniformly rotating stationary axisymmetric perfect fluid. It is shown that for arbitrary pressure $p$ and mass density $μ$ the method does not give non-trivial Bäcklund transformations, while if $μ+ 3p =0$ it gives the transformation of Ehlers.
In this work we present an approximate solution of the Einstein equations describing a global model for the gravitational field generated by a bounded, self-gravitating stationary and axisymmetric body rotating rigidly with constant angular velocity.
Physically admissible choice of the "essential" coordinates identified with components of the metric tensor and co-moving frame of reference reduced to the formulation of the stationary axisymmetric GR problem. Such nontraditional approach allows to obtain new 4-parametric vacuum solution. In special static case this solution becomes the set well-known GR exact solutions for degenerate vacuum gravitational fields, in some special stationary case, after transformations coincides with Kerr solution. In other special stationary case the founded solution turn into modified NUT solution.
In this paper we prove that in a stationary axisymmetric SU(2) Einstein-Yang-Mills theory the most reasonable circularity conditions that can be considered for the Yang-Mills fields imply in fact that the field is of embedded Abelian type, or else that the metric is not asymptotically flat.
Axisymmetric and stationary solutions are constructed to the Einstein--Vlasov and Vlasov--Poisson systems. These solutions are constructed numerically, using finite element methods and a fixed-point iteration in which the total mass is fixed at each step. A variety of axisymmetric stationary solutions are exhibited, including solutions with toroidal, disk-like, spindle-like, and composite spatial density configurations, as are solutions with non-vanishing net angular momentum. In the case of toroidal solutions, we show for the first time, solutions of the Einstein--Vlasov system which contain …
Stationary, axisymmetric, vacuum, solutions of Einstein's equations are obtained as critical points of the total mass among all axisymmetric and $(t,ϕ)$ symmetric initial data with fixed angular momentum. In this variational principle the mass is written as a positive definite integral over a spacelike hypersurface. It is also proved that if absolute minimum exists then it is equal to the absolute minimum of the mass among all maximal, axisymmetric, vacuum, initial data with fixed angular momentum. Arguments are given to support the conjecture that this minimum exists and is the extreme Kerr i…
We reduce Einstein's field equations for the interior of a uniformly rotating, axisymmetric perfect fluid to a system of six second order partial differential equations for the pressure p the energy density $μ$ and four dependent variables.Four of these equations do not depend on p and $μ$ and the other two determine p and $μ$.
We present a proof of the no hair theorems corresponding to free massive non-perturbative Pauli-Fierz spin-2 and perturbative massive spin-1/2 fields for stationary axisymmetric de Sitter black hole spacetimes of dimension four with two commuting Killing vector fields. The applicability of these results for asymptotically flat and anti-de Sitter spacetimes are also discussed.
In this paper, the problem of finding an axisymmetric stationary spacetime from a specified set of multipole moments, is studied. The condition on the multipole moments, for existence of a solution, is formulated as a convergence condition on a power series formed from the multipole moments. The methods in this paper can also be used to give approximate solutions to any order as well as estimates on each term of the resulting power series.
A formulation for stationary axisymmetric electromagnetic fields in general relativity is derived by casting them into the form of an anisotropic fluid. Several simplifications of the formalism are carried out in order to analyze different features of the fields, such as the derivation of electromagnetic sources for the Maxwell field in the form of thin layers, construction of new solutions, and generation techniques.
A procedure is described for matching a given stationary axisymmetric perfect fluid solution to a not necessarily asymptotically flat vacuum exterior. Using data on the zero pressure surface, the procedure yields the Ernst potential of the matching vacuum metric on the symmetry axis. From this the full metric can be constructed using a variety of well established procedures.
We present the fundamentals of the recently proposed geometric description of photon regions in terms of foliation into fundamental photon hypersurfaces, which satisfies the umbilic condition for the subbundle of the tangent bundle defined by the generalized impact parameter.
The tools developed in a preceding article for interpreting spacetime geometry in terms of all possible space-plus-time splitting approaches are applied to circular orbits in some familiar stationary axisymmetric spacetimes. This helps give a more intuitive picture of their rotational features including spin precession effects, and puts related work of Abramowicz, de Felice, and others on circular orbits in black hole spacetimes into a more general context.
Here, we present a new definition of {intrinsic angular momentum} at future null infinity, based on the charge-integral approach. This definition is suitable for the general case of radiating spacetimes without symmetries, which does not suffer from supertranslations ambiguities. In the case of axial symmetry this new definition agrees with the Komar integral.
We investigate the existence and phenomenology of stable photon orbits (SPOs) in stationary axisymmetric electrovacuum spacetimes in four dimensions. First, we review the classification of equatorial circular photon orbits on Kerr-Newman spacetimes in the charge-spin plane. Second, using a Hamiltonian formulation, we show that Reissner-Nordström di-holes (a family encompassing the Majumdar-Papapetrou and Weyl-Bach special cases) admit SPOs, in a certain parameter regime that we investigate. Third, we explore the transition from order to chaos for typical SPOs bounded within a toroidal region a…
We apply the energy-momentum tensor which is coordinate independent to calculate the energy content of the axisymmetric solutions. Our results are compared with what have been obtained before within the framework of Einstein general relativity and Møler's tetrad theory of gravitation.
A simple formula, invariant under the duality rotation Φ-> exp(iα) Φ, is obtained for the Poynting vector within the framework of the Ernst formalism, and its application to the known exact solutions for a charged massive magnetic dipole is considered.
In this article we study multipole moments of axisymmetric stationary asymptotically flat spacetimes. We show how the tensorial recursion of Geroch and Hansen can be reduced to a recursion of scalar functions. We also demonstrate how a careful choice of conformal factor collects all moments into one complex valued function on R, where the moments appear as the derivatives at 0. As an application, we calculate the moments of the Kerr solution. We also discuss the freedom in choosing the potential for the moments.
We present a method for generating exact solutions of Einstein equations in vacuum using harmonic maps, when the spacetime possesses two commutating Killing vectors. This method consists in writing the axisymmetric stationry Einstein equations in vacuum as a harmonic map which belongs to the group SL(2,R), and decomposing it in its harmonic "submaps". This method provides a natural classification of the solutions in classes (Weil's class, Lewis' class etc).
The problem of obtaining an explicit representation for the fourth invariant of geodesic motion (generalized Carter constant) of an arbitrary stationary axisymmetric vacuum spacetime generated from an Ernst Potential is considered. The coupling between the non-local curvature content of the spacetime as encoded in the Weyl tensor, and the existence of a Killing tensor is explored and a constructive, algebraic test for a fourth order Killing tensor suggested. The approach used exploits the variables defined for the Bäckland transformations to clarify the relationship between Weyl curvature, con…
Garcia and Campuzano claim to have found a previously overlooked family of stationary and axisymmetric conformally flat spacetimes, contradicting an old theorem of Collinson. In both these papers it is tacitly assumed that the isometry group is orthogonally transitive. Under the same assumption, we point out here that Collinson's result still holds if one demands the existence of an axis of symmetry on which the axial Killing vector vanishes. On the other hand if the assumption of orthogonal transitivity is dropped, a wider class of metrics is allowed and it is possible to find explicit counte…
The interpretation of so-called cosmic string in black hole spacetimes has settled down to an unsatisfactory state. In this article we try to provide a different model for these cosmic strings by explicit construction of these spacetimes from the Bonnor rocket solution. It is shown that the correct stress-energy tensor is that of null dust with a rather strange energy density --- first derivative of Dirac delta distribution. We will discuss the Schwarzschild solution and the C--metric. In the latter case we will show that there is a momentum flux through the cosmic string, causing the accelera…
We present the first numerical code based on the Galerkin and Collocation methods to integrate the field equations of the Bondi problem. The Galerkin method like all spectral methods provide high accuracy with moderate computational effort. Several numerical tests were performed to verify the issues of convergence, stability and accuracy with promising results. This code opens up several possibilities of applications in more general scenarios for studying the evolution of spacetimes with gravitational waves.
In this paper a new method is derived for constructing electromagnetic surface sources for stationary axisymmetric electrovac spacetimes endowed with non-smooth or even discontinuous Ernst potentials. This can be viewed as a generalization of some classical potential theory results, since lack of continuity of the potential is related to dipole density and lack of smoothness, to monopole density. In particular this approach is useful for constructing the dipole source for the magnetic field. This formalism involves solving a linear elliptic differential equation with boundary conditions at inf…
We present the complete scheme of the application of the one-and two dimensional subspace and subgroups method to five-dimensional gravity with a $G_{3}$ group of motion. We do so in the space time and in the potential space formalisms. From this method one obtains the Kramer, Belinsky-Ruffini, Dobiasch-Maison, Clément, Gross-Perry-Sorkin solutions etc. as special cases.
Stationary axisymmetric spacetimes containing a pair of oppositely-rotating periodically-intersecting circular geodesics allow the study of various so-called `clock effects' by comparing either observer or geodesic proper time periods of orbital circuits defined by the observer or the geodesic crossing points. This can be extended from a comparison of clocks to a comparison of parallel transported vectors, leading to the study of special elements of the spacetime holonomy group. The band of holonomy invariance found for a dense subset of special geodesic orbits outside a certain radius in the …
By using the Bondi-Sachs-van der Burg formalism we analyze the asymptotic properties at null infinity of axisymmetric electrovacuum spacetimes with a translational Killing vector and, in general, an infinite ``cosmic string'' (represented by a conical singularity) along the axis. Such spacetimes admit only a local null infinity. There is a non-vanishing news function due to the existence of the string even though there is no radiation. We prove that if null infinity has a smooth compact cross section and the spacetime is not flat in a neighbourhood of null infinity, then the translational Kill…
Recently Kordas (1995, Class. Quantum Grav. 12 2037) and Meinel and Neugebauer (1995, Class. Quantum Grav. 12 2045) studied the conditions for reflection symmetry in stationary axisymmetric space--times in vacuum. They found that a solution to the Einstein field equations is reflectionally symmetric if their Ernst's potential ${\cal E}(ρ=0,z)= e(z)$ on a portion of the positive z-axis extending to infinity satisfies the condition $e_{+}(z){e}_{+}^{*}(-z)=1$. In this note, we formulate an analogous conditions for two complex Ernst potentials in electrovacuum. We also present the special case of…
The Cumulative Drag Index defined recently by Prasanna has been generalised to include the centrifugal acceleration. We have studied the behaviour of the drag index for the Kerr metric and the Neugebauer-Meinel metric representing a self-gravitating rotating disk and their Newtonian approximations. The similarity of the behaviour of the index for a given set of parameters both in the full and approximated forms, suggests that the index characterises an intrinsic property of spacetime with rotation. Analysing the index for a given set of parameters shows possible constraints on them.
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.
Parallel transport along circular orbits in orthogonally transitive stationary axisymmetric spacetimes is described explicitly relative to Lie transport in terms of the electric and magnetic parts of the induced connection. The influence of both the gravitoelectromagnetic fields associated with the zero angular momentum observers and of the Frenet-Serret parameters of these orbits as a function of their angular velocity is seen on the behavior of parallel transport through its representation as a parameter-dependent Lorentz transformation between these two inner-product preserving transports w…
Photon region (PR) in the strong gravitational field is defined as a compact region where photons can travel endlessly without going to infinity or disappearing at the event horizon. In Schwarzschild metric PR degenerates to the two-dimensional photon sphere $r=3r_g/2$ where closed circular photon orbits are located. The photon sphere as a three-dimensional hypersurface in spacetime is umbilic (its second quadratic form is pure trace). In Kerr metric the equatorial circular orbits have different radii for prograde, $r_p$, and retrograde, $r_r$, motion (where $r$ is Boyer-Lindquist radial varia…
By using the 't Hooft "brick wall" model and the Pauli-Villars regularization scheme we calculate the statistical-mechanical entropy arising from the minimally coupled scalar fields which rotate with the azimuthal angular velocity $Ω_0=Ω_H$ ($Ω_H$ is the angular velocity of the black hole horizon) in the general four-dimensional non-extreme stationary axisymmetric black hole space-time. We also show, for the Kerr-Newman and the Einstein-Maxwell dilaton-axion black holes, that the statistical-mechanical entropy obtained from our derivation and the quantum thermodynamical entropy by the conical …
Perturbed stationary axisymmetric isolated bodies, e.g. stars, represented by a matter-filled interior and an asymptotically flat vacuum exterior joined at a surface where the Darmois matching conditions are satisfied, are considered. The initial state is assumed to be static. The perturbations of the matching conditions are derived and used as boundary conditions for the perturbed Ernst equations in the exterior region. The perturbations are calculated to second order. The boundary conditions are overdetermined: necessary and sufficient conditions for their compatibility are derived. The spec…
Axially symmetric static vacuum exact solution (ASSVES) in Weyl coordinates are studied in $f(R)$ theories of gravity. In particular, we obtain a general explicit expression for the dependence between $df(R)/dR$ and the $r$ and $z$ coordinates and then the corresponding explicit form of $f(R)$ is obtained. Next, we present in detail the explicit solution of the modified field equations corresponding to the Newtonian potential due to a punctual mass placed at the origin of coordinates and also the Schwarzschild solution to the modified field equations.
The extended scalar-tensor and vector-tensor theories admit black hole solutions with the nontrivial profiles of the scalar and vector fields, respectively. The disformal transformation maps a solution in a class of the scalar-tensor or vector-tensor theories to that in another class, and hence it can be a useful tool to construct a new nontrivial solution from the known one. First, we investigate how the stationary and axisymmetric solutions in the vector-tensor theories without and with the $U(1)$ gauge symmetry are disformally transformed. We start from a stationary and axisymmetric solutio…
This work contains the teleparallel version of the stationary axisymmetric solutions. We obtain the tetrad and the torsion fields representing these solutions. The tensor, vector and axial-vector parts of the torsion tensor are evaluated. It is found that the axial-vector has component only along $ρ$ and $z$ directions. The three possibilities of the axial vector depending on the metric function $B$ are discussed. The vector related with spin has also been evaluated and the corresponding extra Hamiltonian is furnished. Further, we use the teleparallel version of M$\ddot{o}$ller prescription to…
We review explicit solutions to the stationary axisymmetric Einstein-Maxwell equations which can be interpreted as disks of charged dust. The disks of finite or infinite extension are infinitesimally thin and constitute a surface layer at the boundary of an electro-vacuum. The Einstein-Maxwell equations in the presence of one Killing vector are obtained by using a projection formalism. The SU(2,1) invariance of the stationary Einstein-Maxwell equations can be used to construct solutions for the electro-vacuum from solutions to the pure vacuum case via a so-called Harrison transformation. It is…
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…
Symmetries of spacetimes with null dust field as a source compatible with asymptotic flatness are studied by using the Bondi-Sachs-van der Burg formalism. It is shown that in an axially symmetric spacetime with null dust field in which at least locally a smooth null infinity in the sense of Penrose exists, the only allowable additional Killing vector forming with the axial one a two-dimensional Lie algebra (the axial and the additional Killing vector are not assumed to be hypersurface orthogonal) is a supertranslational Killing vector and the gravitational field is then non-radiative (the Weyl…
An analytic understanding of the geodesic structure around non-Kerr spacetimes will result in a powerful tool that could make the mapping of spacetime around massive quiescent compact objects possible. To this end, I present an analytic closed form expression for the components of a the fourth order Killing tensor for Stationary Axisymmetric Vacuum (SAV) Spacetimes. It is as yet unclear what subset of SAV spacetimes admit this solution. The solution is written in terms of an integral expression involving the metric functions and two specific Greens functions. A second integral expression has t…
We investigate the interior of regular axisymmetric and stationary black holes surrounded by matter and find that for non-vanishing angular momentum of the black hole the space time can always be extended regularly up to and including an inner Cauchy horizon. We provide an explicit relation for the regular metric at the inner Cauchy horizon in terms of that at the event horizon. As a consequence, we obtain the universal equality $(8πJ)^2 = A^+ A^-$ where $J$ is the black hole's angular momentum and $A^-$ and $A^+$ denote the horizon areas of inner Cauchy and event horizon, respectively. We als…
Spherically symmetric spacetimes admit the so-called Kodama vector, which provides a locally conserved current and a preferred time even for dynamical spacetime without any time translation symmetry. A charge associated with this conserved current leads to a quasilocal mass which agrees with the Misner-Sharp mass. In three dimensions, spherically symmetric spacetimes correspond to axisymmetric ones, while axisymmetry allows spacetimes to be rotating with angular momentum. We extend the notion of the Kodama vector to axisymmetric rotating spacetimes in three dimensions. We also define a quasilo…
The world lines of null particles admit arbitrary parametrizations. In the presence of a family of observers one may introduce along a null world line an extension of the so-called Cattaneo's relative standard time parameter (valid for massive particles) which plays a special role. Another possibility is to use the coordinate time itself as a parameter. The relation between relative standard time and coordinate time allows for the introduction of an observer-dependent optical path and associated refraction index. Both these quantities are studied here working out explicit examples concerning f…
From Newtonian potential-density pairs we construct three-dimensional axisymmetric relativistic sources for a Majumdar-Papapetrou type conformastatic spacetime. As simple examples, we build two family of relativistic thick disks from of the first two Miyamoto-Nagai potential-density pairs used in Newtonian gravity to model flat galaxies, and a three-component relativistic model of galaxy (bulge, disk and dark matter halo). We study the equatorial circular motion of test particles around such structures. Also the stability of the orbits is analyzed for radial perturbation using an extension of …
