James Lucietti

Near-horizon symmetries of extremal black holes

Recent work has demonstrated an attractor mechanism for extremal rotating black holes subject to the assumption of a near-horizon SO(2, 1) symmetry. We prove the existence of this symmetry for any extremal black hole with the same number of rotational symmetries as known four- and five-dimensional solutions (including black rings). The result is valid for a general two-derivative theory of gravity coupled to Abelian vectors and uncharged scalars, allowing for a non-trivial scalar potential. We prove that it remains valid in the presence of higher-derivative corrections. We show that SO(2, 1)-symmetric near-horizon solutions can be analytically continued to give SU(2)-symmetric black hole solutions. For example, the near-horizon limit of an extremal 5D Myers–Perry black hole is related by analytic continuation to a non-extremal cohomogeneity-1 Myers–Perry solution.

A classification of near-horizon geometries of extremal vacuum black holes

We consider the near-horizon geometries of extremal, rotating black hole solutions of the vacuum Einstein equations, including a negative cosmological constant, in four and five dimensions. We assume the existence of one rotational symmetry in four dimensions (4D), two commuting rotational symmetries in five dimensions (5D), and in both cases nontoroidal horizon topology. In 4D we determine the most general near-horizon geometry of such a black hole and prove it is the same as the near-horizon limit of the extremal Kerr-AdS4 black hole. In 5D, without a cosmological constant, we determine all possible near-horizon geometries of such black holes. We prove that the only possibilities are one family with a topologically S1×S2 horizon and two distinct families with topologically S3 horizons. The S1×S2 family contains the near-horizon limit of the boosted extremal Kerr string and the extremal vacuum black ring. The first topologically spherical case is identical to the near-horizon limit of two different black...

Supersymmetric multi-charge AdS(5) black holes

A new supersymmetric, asymptotically anti-de Sitter, black hole solution of five-dimensional U(1)3 gauged supergravity is presented. All known examples of such black holes arise as special cases of this solution, which is characterized by three charges and two angular momenta, with one constraint relating these five quantities. Analagous solutions of U(1)n gauged supergravity are also presented.

Gravitational Perturbations of Higher Dimensional Rotating Black Holes: Tensor Perturbations

Assessing the stability of higher-dimensional rotating black holes requires a study of linearized gravitational perturbations around such backgrounds. We study perturbations of Myers-Perry black holes with equal angular momenta in an odd number of dimensions (greater than five), allowing for a cosmological constant. We find a class of perturbations for which the equations of motion reduce to a single radial equation. In the asymptotically flat case we find no evidence of any instability. In the asymptotically anti-de Sitter case, we demonstrate the existence of a superradiant instability that sets in precisely when the angular velocity of the black hole exceeds the speed of light from the point of view of the conformal boundary. We suggest that the endpoint of the instability may be a stationary, nonaxisymmetric black hole.

Classification of near-horizon geometries of extremal black holes

Any spacetime containing a degenerate Killing horizon, such as an extremal black hole, possesses a well-defined notion of a near-horizon geometry. We review such near-horizon geometry solutions in a variety of dimensions and theories in a unified manner. We discuss various general results including horizon topology and near-horizon symmetry enhancement. We also discuss the status of the classification of near-horizon geometries in theories ranging from vacuum gravity to Einstein-Maxwell theory and supergravity theories. Finally, we discuss applications to the classification of extremal black holes and various related topics. Several new results are presented and open problems are highlighted throughout.

Extremal vacuum black holes in higher dimensions

We consider extremal black hole solutions to the vacuum Einstein equations in dimensions greater than five. We prove that the near-horizon geometry of any such black hole must possess an SO(2,1) symmetry in a special case where one has an enhanced rotational symmetry group. We construct examples of vacuum near-horizon geometries using the extremal Myers-Perry black holes and boosted Myers-Perry strings. The latter lead to near-horizon geometries of black ring topology, which in odd spacetime dimensions have the correct number rotational symmetries to describe an asymptotically flat black object. We argue that a subset of these correspond to the near-horizon limit of asymptotically flat extremal black rings. Using this identification we provide a conjecture for the exact “phase diagram” of extremal vacuum black rings with a connected horizon in odd spacetime dimensions greater than five.

Ricci solitons, Ricci flow, and strongly coupled CFT in the Schwarzschild Unruh or Boulware vacua

The elliptic Einstein–DeTurck equation may be used to numerically find Einstein metrics on Riemannian manifolds. Static Lorentzian Einstein metrics are considered by analytically continuing to Euclidean time. The Ricci–DeTurck flow is a constructive algorithm to solve this equation, and is simple to implement when the solution is a stable fixed point, the only complication being that Ricci solitons may exist which are not Einstein. Here we extend previous work to consider the Einstein–DeTurck equation for Riemannian manifolds with boundaries, and those that continue to static Lorentzian spacetimes which are asymptotically flat, Kaluza–Klein, locally AdS or have extremal horizons. Using a maximum principle, we prove that Ricci solitons do not exist in these cases and so any solution is Einstein. We also argue that the Ricci–DeTurck flow preserves these classes of manifolds. As an example, we simulate the Ricci–DeTurck flow for a manifold with asymptotics relevant for AdS5/CFT4. Our maximum principle dictates that there are no soliton solutions, and we give strong numerical evidence that there exists a stable fixed point of the flow which continues to a smooth static Lorentzian Einstein metric. Our asymptotics are such that this describes the classical gravity dual relevant for the CFT on a Schwarzschild background in either the Unruh or Boulware vacua. It determines the leading O(N2c) part of the CFT stress tensor, which interestingly is regular on both the future and past Schwarzschild horizons.

Gravitational instability of an extreme Kerr black hole

Aretakis has proved the existence of an instability of a massless scalar field at the horizon of an extreme Kerr or Reissner-Nordstrblack hole: for generic initial data, a transverse derivative of the scalar field at the horizon does not decay, and higher transverse derivatives blow up. We show that a similar instability occurs for linearized gravitational, and electromagnetic, perturbations of an extreme Kerr black hole. We show also that the massless scalar field instability occurs for extreme black hole solutions of a large class of theories in various spacetime dimensions.

On the horizon instability of an extreme Reissner-Nordström black hole

A bstractAretakis has proved that a massless scalar field has an instability at the horizon of an extreme Reissner-Nordström black hole. We show that a similar instability occurs also for a massive scalar field and for coupled linearized gravitational and electromagnetic perturbations. We present numerical results for the late time behaviour of massless and massive scalar fields in the extreme RN background and show that instabilities are present for initial perturbations supported outside the horizon, e.g. an ingoing wavepacket. For a massless scalar we show that the numerical results for the late time behaviour are reproduced by an analytic calculation in the near-horizon geometry. We relate Aretakis’ conserved quantities at the future horizon to the Newman-Penrose conserved quantities at future null infinity.

Near-horizon geometries of supersymmetric AdS5 black holes

We provide a classification of near-horizon geometries of supersymmetric, asymptotically antide Sitter, black holes of five-dimensional U(1) 3 -gauged supergravity which admit two rotational symmetries. We find three possibilities: a topologically spherical horizon, an S 1 × S 2 horizon and a toroidal horizon. The near-horizon geometry of the topologically spherical case turns out to be that of the most general known supersymmetric, asymptotically anti-de Sitter, black hole of U(1) 3 -gauged supergravity. The other two cases have constant scalars and only exist in particular regions of this moduli space – in particular they do not exist within minimal gauged supergravity. We also find a solution corresponding to the near-horizon geometry of a threecharge supersymmetric black ring held in equilibrium by a conical singularity; when lifted to type IIB supergravity this solution can be made regular, resulting in a discrete family of warped AdS3 geometries. Analogous results are presented in U(1) n gauged supergravity.