Benson Way

Numerical methods for finding stationary gravitational solutions

The wide applications of higher dimensional gravity and gauge/gravity duality have fuelled the search for new stationary solutions of the Einstein equation (possibly coupled to matter). In this topical review, we explain the mathematical foundations and give a practical guide for the numerical solution of gravitational boundary value problems. We present these methods by way of example: resolving asymptotically flat black rings, singly-spinning lumpy black holes in anti-de Sitter (AdS), and the Gregory-Laflamme zero modes of small rotating black holes in AdS

Holographic Josephson junctions.

_5\times S^5

Causality and hyperbolicity of Lovelock theories

. We also include several tools and tricks that have been useful throughout the literature.

Rings, ripples, and rotation: connecting black holes to black rings

We construct a gravitational dual of a Josephson junction. Calculations on the gravity side reproduce the standard relation between the current across the junction and the phase difference of the condensate. We also study the dependence of the maximum current on the temperature and size of the junction and reproduce familiar results.

Black holes with a single Killing vector field: black resonators

In Lovelock theories, gravity can travel faster or slower than light. The causal structure is determined by the characteristic hypersurfaces. We generalise a recent result of Izumi to prove that any Killing horizon is a characteristic hypersurface for all gravitational degrees of freedom of a Lovelock theory. Hence gravitational signals cannot escape from the region inside such a horizon. We investigate the hyperbolicity of Lovelock theories by determining the characteristic hypersurfaces for various backgrounds. First we consider Ricci flat type N spacetimes. We show that characteristic hypersurfaces are generically all non-null and that Lovelock theories are hyperbolic in any such spacetime. Next we consider static, maximally symmetric black hole solutions of Lovelock theories. Again, characteristic surfaces are generically non-null. For some small black holes, hyperbolicity is violated near the horizon. This implies that the stability of such black holes is not a well-posed problem.

Lumpy AdS5× S5 black holes and black belts

A bstractSingly-spinning Myers-Perry black holes in d ≥ 6 spacetime dimensions are unstable for sufficiently large angular momentum. We numerically construct (in d = 6 and d = 7) two new stationary branches of lumpy (rippled) black hole solutions which bifurcate from the onset of this ultraspinning instability. We give evidence that one of these branches connects through a topology-changing merger to black ring solutions which we also construct numerically. The other branch approaches a solution with large curvature invariants. We are also able to compare the d = 7 ring solutions with results from finite-size corrections to the blackfold approach, finding excellent agreement.

Evidence for an electrifying violation of cosmic censorship

A bstractWe numerically construct asymptotically anti-de Sitter (AdS) black holes in four dimensions that contain only a single Killing vector field. These solutions, which we coin black resonators, link the superradiant instability of Kerr-AdS to the nonlinear weakly turbulent instability of AdS by connecting the onset of the superradiance instability to smooth, horizonless geometries called geons. Furthermore, they demonstrate non-uniqueness of Kerr-AdS by sharing asymptotic charges. Where black resonators coexist with Kerr-AdS, we find that the black resonators have higher entropy. Nevertheless, we show that black resonators are unstable and comment on the implications for the endpoint of the superradiant instability.

Hovering black holes from charged defects

A bstractSufficiently small Schwarzschild black holes in global AdS5×S5 are Gregory-Laflamme unstable. We construct new families of black hole solutions that bifurcate from the onset of this instability and break the full SO(6) symmetry group of the S5 down to SO(5). These new “lumpy” solutions are labelled by the harmonics ℓ. We find evidence that the ℓ = 1 branch never dominates the microcanonical/canonical ensembles and connects through a topology-changing merger to a localised black hole solution with S8 topology. We argue that these S8 black holes should become the dominant phase in the microcanonical ensemble for small enough energies, and that the transition to Schwarzschild black holes is first order. Furthermore, we find two branches of solutions with ℓ = 2. We expect one of these branches to connect to a solution containing two localised black holes, while the other branch connects to a black hole solution with horizon topology S4 × S4 which we call a “black belt”.

Neutral Black Rings in Five Dimensions are Unstable.

We present a plausible counterexample to cosmic censorship in four dimensional Einstein-Maxwell theory with asymptotically anti-de Sitter boundary conditions. Smooth initial data evolves to a region of arbitrarily large curvature that is visible to distant observers. Our example is based on a holographic model of an electrically charged, localised defect which was previously studied at zero temperature. We partially extend those results to nonzero temperatures.

Holographic partition functions and phases for higher genus Riemann surfaces

We construct the holographic dual of an electrically charged, localised defect in a conformal field theory at strong coupling, by applying a spatially dependent chemical potential. We find that the IR behaviour of the spacetime depends on the spatial falloff of the potential. Moreover, for sufficiently localized defects with large amplitude, we find that a new gravitational phenomenon occurs: a spherical extremal charged black hole nucleates in the bulk: a hovering black hole. This is a second order quantum phase transition. We construct this new phase with several profiles for the chemical potential and study its properties. We find an apparently universal behaviour for the entropy of the defect as a function of its amplitude. We comment on the possible field theory implications of our results.