We study axisymmetric solution to the conformally invariant wave equation on a Kerr background by means of numerical and analytical methods. Our main focus is on the behaviour of the solutions near spacelike infinity, which is appropriately represented as a cylinder. Earlier studies of the wave equation on a Schwarzschild background have revealed important details about the regularity of the corresponding solutions. It was found that, on the cylinder, the solutions generically develop logarithmic singularities at infinitely many orders. Moreover, these singularities also `spread' to future null infinity. However, by imposing certain regularity conditions on the initial data, the lowest-order singularities can be removed. Here we are interested in a generalisation of these results to a rotating black hole background and study the influence of the rotation rate on the properties of the solutions. To this aim, we first construct a conformal compactification of the Kerr solution which yields a suitable representation of the cylinder at spatial infinity. Besides analytical investigations on the cylinder, we numerically solve the wave equation with a fully pseudospectral method, which allows us to obtain highly accurate numerical solutions. This is crucial for a detailed analysis of the regularity of the solutions. In the Schwarzschild case, the numerical problem could effectively be reduced to solving $(1+1)$-dimensional equations. Here we present a code that can perform the full $2+1$ evolution as required for axisymmetric waves on a Kerr background.
We study the scalar, conformally invariant wave equation on a four-dimensional Minkowski background in spherical symmetry, using a fully pseudospectral numerical scheme. Thereby, our main interest is in a suitable treatment of spatial infinity, which is represented as a cylinder. We consider both Cauchy problems, where we evolve data from a Cauchy surface to future null infinity, as well as characteristic initial value problems with data at past null infinity, and demonstrate that highly accurate numerical solutions can be obtained for a small number of grid points.
We extend earlier numerical and analytical considerations of the conformally invariant wave equation on a Schwarzschild background from the case of spherically symmetric solutions, discussed in Class. Quantum Grav. 34, 045005 (2017), to the case of general, nonsymmetric solutions. A key element of our approach is the modern standard representation of spacelike infinity as a cylinder. With a decomposition into spherical harmonics, we reduce the four-dimensional wave equation to a family of two-dimensional equations. These equations can be used to study the behaviour at the cylinder, where the s…
It has recently been demonstrated (Class. Quantum Grav. 31, 085010, 2014) that the conformally invariant wave equation on a Minkowski background can be solved with a fully pseudospectral numerical method. In particular, it is possible to include spacelike infinity into the numerical domain, which is appropriately represented as a cylinder, and highly accurate numerical solutions can be obtained with a moderate number of gridpoints. In this paper, we generalise these considerations to the spherically-symmetric wave equation on a Schwarzschild background. In the Minkowski case, a logarithmic sin…
Using asymptotic characterization results of spacetimes at conformal infinity, we prove that Kerr-Schild-de Sitter spacetimes are in one-to-one correspondence with spacetimes in the Kerr-de Sitter-like class with conformally flat $\mathscr{I}$. Kerr-Schild-de Sitter are spacetimes of Kerr-Schild form with de Sitter background that solve the $(Λ>0)$-vacuum Einstein equations and admit a smooth conformal compactification sharing $\mathscr{I}$ with the background metric. Kerr-de Sitter-like metrics with conformally flat $\mathscr{I}$ are a generalization of the Kerr-de Sitter metrics, defined ori…
Initial data for black hole collisions are commonly generated using the Bowen-York approach based on conformally flat 3-geometries. The standard (constant Boyer-Lindquist time) spatial slices of the Kerr spacetime are not conformally flat, so that use of the Bowen-York approach is limited in dealing with rotating holes. We investigate here whether there exist foliations of the Kerr spacetime that are conformally flat. We limit our considerations to foliations that are axisymmetric and that smoothly reduce in the Schwarzschild limit to slices of constant Schwarzschild time. With these restricti…
With the example of the spherically symmetric scalar wave equation on Minkowski space-time we demonstrate that a fully pseudospectral scheme (i.e. spectral with respect to both spatial and time directions) can be applied for solving hyperbolic equations. The calculations are carried out within the framework of conformally compactified space-times. In our formulation, the equation becomes singular at null infinity and yields regular boundary conditions there. In this manner it becomes possible to avoid "artificial" conditions at some numerical outer boundary at a finite distance. We obtain high…
We provide a classification of $Λ>0$-vacuum spacetimes which admit a Killing vector field with respect to which the associated "Mars-Simon tensor" (MST) vanishes and having a conformally flat $\mathcal{J}^-$ (or $\mathcal{J}^+$). To that end, we also give a complete classification of conformal Killing vector fields on the $3$-sphere $\mathbb{S}^3$ up to Möbius transformations shedding light on the two fundamental constants that characterize the family of Kerr-de Sitter-like spacetimes, which turn out to be well-defined geometrical invariants. The topology of $\mathcal{J}$ is determined in ever…
This work investigates the possibility of achieving a conformally flat slicing of the Kerr spacetime. We consider a hypersurface of the form $t = F(r,θ,a)$, where $(t,r,θ,ϕ)$ are the Boyer-Lindquist coordinates, solve for a vanishing Cotton-York tensor of the induced metric order by order in the spin parameter $a$, and show that the procedure fails at the fifth order. We also prove that no coordinate change can induce a spatially flat recasting of the Kerr(-de Sitter) metric, beyond linear order in $a$, adopting a more general ansatz depending on $ϕ$.
It is proved that a stationary solutions to the vacuum Einstein field equations with non-vanishing angular momentum have no Cauchy slice that is maximal, conformally flat, and non-boosted. The proof is based on results coming from a certain type of asymptotic expansions near null and spatial infinity --which also show that the developments of Bowen-York type of data cannot have a development admitting a smooth null infinity--, and from the fact that stationary solutions do admit a smooth null infinity.
We investigate the late time behavior of a scalar field on a fixed Kerr background using a 2+1 dimensional pseudospectral evolution code. We compare evolutions of pure axisymmetric multipoles in both Kerr-Schild and Boyer-Lindquist coordinates. We find that the late-time power-law decay rate depends upon the slicing of the background, confirming previous theoretical predictions for those decay rates. The accuracy of the numerical evolutions is sufficient to decide unambiguously between competing claims in the literature.
In this paper, the Penrose process is being used to extract rotational energy from regular black holes. Initially, we consider the rotating Simpson-Visser regular spacetime which describes the class of geometries of the Kerr black hole's mimickers. The Penrose process is then studied through conformally transformed rotating singular and regular black hole solutions. These both Simpson-Visser and conformally transformed geometries depend on mass, spin, and an additional regularisation parameter $l$. In both cases, we investigate how the spin and regularisation parameter $l$ affects the configur…
We obtain a coordinate independent algorithm to determine the class of conformal Killing vectors of a locally conformally flat $n$-metric $γ$ of signature $(r,s)$ modulo conformal transformations of $γ$. This is done in terms of endomorphisms in the pseudo-orthogonal Lie algebra $\mathfrak{o}(r+1,s+1)$ up to conjugation of the its group $O(r+1,s+1)$. The explicit classification is worked out in full for the Riemannian $γ$ case ($r = 0, s = n$). As an application of this result, we prove that the set of five dimensional, $(Λ>0)$-vacuum, algebraically special metrics with non-degenerate optical …
The standard approach to initial data for both analytic and numerical computations of black hole collisions has been to use conformally-flat initial geometry. Among other advantages, this choice allows the simple superposition of holes with arbitrary mass, location and spin. The conformally flat restriction, however, is inappropriate to the study of Kerr holes, for which the standard constant-time slice is not conformally flat. Here we point out that for axisymmetric arrangements of rotating holes, a nonconformally flat form of the 3-geometry can be chosen which allows fairly simple superposit…
We introduce three approaches to generate curvature invariants that transform covariantly under a conformal transformation of a four dimensional spacetime. For any black hole conformally related to a stationary black hole, we show how a set of conformally covariant invariants can be combined to produce a conformally covariant invariant that detects the event horizon of the conformally related black hole. As an application we consider the rotating dynamical black holes conformally related to the Kerr-NUT-(Anti)-de Sitter spacetimes and construct an invariant that detects the conformal Killing h…
We study the peeling on Kerr spacetime for fields satisfying conformally invariant linear and nonlinear scalar wave equations. We follow an approach initiated by L.J. Mason and the first author for the Schwarzschild metric, based on a Penrose compactification and energy estimates. This approach provides a definition of the peeling at all orders in terms of Sobolev regularity near ${\mathscr I}$ instead of ${\cal C}^k$ regularity at ${\mathscr I}$, allowing to characterise completely and without loss the classes of initial data ensuring a certain order of peeling at ${\mathscr I}$. This paper e…
We present covariant symmetry operators for the conformal wave equation in the (off-shell) Kerr-NUT-AdS spacetimes. These operators, that are constructed from the principal Killing-Yano tensor, its `symmetry descendants', and the curvature tensor, guarantee separability of the conformal wave equation in these spacetimes. We next discuss how these operators give rise to a full set of conformally invariant mutually commuting operators for the conformally rescaled spacetimes and underlie the $R$-separability of the conformal wave equation therein. Finally, by employing the WKB approximation we de…
We show that the Hawking temperature is modified in the presence of dark energy in an emergent gravity scenario for Kerr-Newman(KN) and Kerr-Newman-AdS(KNAdS) background metrics. The emergent gravity metric is not conformally equivalent to the gravitational metric. We calculate the Hawking temperatures for these emergent gravity metrics along $θ=0$. Also we show that the emergent black hole metrics are satisfying Einstein's equations for large $r$ and $θ=0$. Our analysis is done in the context of dark energy in an emergent gravity scenario having $k-$essence scalar fields $ϕ$ with a Dirac-Born…
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 double copy is a much-studied relationship between scattering amplitudes in gauge and gravity theories, that has subsequently been extended to classical field solutions. In nearly all previous examples, the graviton field is defined around Minkowski space. Recently, it has been suggested that one may set up a double copy for gravitons defined around a non-trivial background. We investigate this idea from the point of view of the classical double copy. First, we use Kerr-Schild spacetimes to construct graviton solutions in curved space, as double copies of gauge fields on non-zero gauge bac…
The classical action of quantum gravity, determined by renormalization, contains infinitely many independent couplings and can be expressed in different perturbatively equivalent ways. We organize it in a convenient form, which is based on invariants constructed with the Weyl tensor. We show that the FLRW metrics are exact solutions of the field equations in arbitrary dimensions, and so are all locally conformally flat solutions of the Einstein equations. Moreover, expanding the metric tensor around locally conformally flat backgrounds the quadratic part of the action is free of higher derivat…
The Kerr spacetime in Kaluza-Klein theory describes a rotating black hole in four dimensions from the Kaluza-Klein point of view and involves the signature of an extra dimension that shows up through the appearance of the electric and dilaton charges. In this paper, we study the separability properties of the Hamilton-Jacobi equation for geodesics and the associated hidden symmetries in the spacetime of the Kerr-Kaluza-Klein black hole. We show that the complete separation of variables occurs only for massless geodesics, implying the existence of hidden symmetries generated by a second rank co…
The deviations of non-linear perturbations of black holes from the linear case are important in the context of ringdown signals with large signal-to-noise ratio. To facilitate a comparison between the two we derive several results of linear perturbation theory in coordinates which may be adopted in numerical work. Specifically, our results are derived in Kerr-Schild coordinates adjusted by a general height function. In the first part of the paper we address the questions: for an initial configuration of a massless scalar field, what is the amplitude of the excited quasinormal mode (QNM) for an…
