Narrow Results

A new definition of a strong curvature singularity is proposed. This definition is motivated by the definitions given by Tipler and Królak, but is significantly different and more general. All causal geodesics terminating at these new singularities, which we call generalized strong curvature singularities, are classified into three possible types; the classification is based on certain relations between the causal structure and the curvature strength of the singularities. A cosmic censorship theorem is formulated and proved which shows that only one class of generalized strong curvature singularities, corresponding to a single type of geodesics according to our classification, can be naked. Implications of this result for the cosmic censorship hypothesis are indicated.

In this paper two consequences of the generalized uncertainty principle (GUP) are discussed in a heuristic manner. Both could be regarded as the evidences that prefer the cosmic censorship hypothesis (CCH). The first one is that the second law tends to decline the massless charged particles if the effects of the GUP on the thermodynamics of a de Sitter spacetime are considered. This weakens the threat to the horizon of an extreme charged black hole. The second one is that the uv/ir correspondence provides a constraint on the relation between the energy and the size of a system, which is incompatible to the naked singularities.

This paper is a further development of the approach to weak cosmic censorship proposed by the authors in Ref. 5. We state and prove a modified version of that work's main result under significantly relaxed assumptions on the asymptotic structure of spacetime. The result, which imposes strong constraints on the occurrence of naked singularities of the strong curvature type, is in particular applicable to physically realistic cosmological models.

In this work, we attempt to overcharge extremal and nearly extremal charged black holes in string theory, known as the Garfinkle–Horowitz–Strominger solution. We first show that extremal black holes cannot be overcharged analogous to the case of Reissner–Nordström (RN) black holes. Contrary to their analog in general relativity, nearly extremal black holes can neither be overcharged beyond extremality, nor can they be driven to extremality by the interaction with test particles. Therefore, the analysis in this work also implies that the third law of black hole thermodynamics holds for the relevant charged black holes in string theory perturbed by test particles. This can be interpreted as a stronger version of the third law since one can drop out the continuity proviso for the relevant process.

We study the weak cosmic censorship conjecture by overspinning the Kerr–Newman–Kasuya black hole with test particle. We consider the geodesic equation of motion and find the certain conditions on the angular momentum of the black hole. We find the expression of $\delta J_{min}$ and $\delta J_{max}$ and then check whether the inequality satisfies or not. The results suggest that the Kerr–Newman–Kasuya black hole can be overspun showing the violation of cosmic censorship conjecture.

Gravitational collapse of radiation shells in a non-self-similar higher dimensional spherically symmetric space–time is studied. Strong curvature naked singularities form a highly inhomogeneous collapse, violating the cosmic censorship conjecture. As a special case, self similar models can be constructed.

We study the spherically symmetric collapse of a fluid with nonvanishing radial pressure in higher dimensional space–time. We obtain the general exact solution in the closed form for the equation of state (P_r = γρ), which leads to the explicit construction of the root equation governing the nature (black hole versus naked singularity) of the central singularity. A remarkable feature of the root equation is its invariance for the cases; (D, γ = 0) and (D+1, γ = -1) where D is the dimension of space–time. For the ultimate end result of the collapse, these two cases are absolutely equivalent, which is indeed a very interesting new result that brings out the interplay between dimension D of space–time and the equation of state parameter γ.

A possible way to destroy the Tangherlini Reissner–Nordström black hole is discussed in the spirit of Wald’s gedanken experiment. By neglecting radiation and self force effects, the absorbing condition and destruction condition of the test point particle which is capable of destroying the black hole are obtained. We find that it is impossible to challenge the weak cosmic censorship for an initially extremal black hole in all dimensions. Instead, it is shown that the near extremal black hole will turn into a naked singularity in this particular process, in which case the allowed range of the particle’s energy is very narrow. The result indicates that the self-force effects may well change the outcome of the calculation.

We study the occurrence of naked singularities in the spherically symmetric collapse of a charged null fluid in an expanding de Sitter background — a piece of charged Vaidya–de Sitter spacetime. The naked singularities are found to be gravitationally strong in Tipler's sense and thus violate the cosmic censorship hypothesis.

We investigate the occurrence and nature of naked singularities in the gravitational collapse of an adiabatic perfect fluid in self-similar higher dimensional space–times. It is shown that strong curvature naked singularities could occur if the weak energy condition holds. Its implication for cosmic censorship conjecture is discussed. Known results of analogous studies in four dimensions can be recovered.

We discuss the spherical collapse of a two fluid system: a string fluid and a null fluid described by a generalized Vaidya metric. This led us to explicitly describe the effect of a string fluid on the established picture of a null fluid collapse (Vaidya collapse). It is found that there is a shrinkage of the initial data space for naked singularities of Vaidya collapse upon taking into account a string fluid. The implications of the results in the context of the cosmic censorship conjecture are discussed.

We investigate the nature of singularities arising in Husain solution. We analyze both spherical and non-spherical gravitational collapse in Husain spacetime. An interesting feature that emerges is that gravitational collapse of spherical cosmological Husain solution leads to the formation of naked singularities, while non-spherical cosmological collapse proceeds to form a black hole. Further strength of naked singularities arising in these spacetimes has been analyzed. It is found that these naked singularities are strong in Tipler's sense.

We analyze the dynamics of an apparent horizon in higher dimensional (HD) dust collapse. We have taken into consideration two different types of dust models. We propose the concept of a "trapped range" of initial data in different higher dimensional space–times. We show that "trapped range" of initial data increases with the increase in dimensions of the space–times.

We generalize the earlier studies on the spherically symmetric gravitational collapse in four-dimensional space–time to higher dimensions. It is found that the central singularities may be naked in higher dimensions but depend sensitively on the choices of the parameters. These naked singularities are found to be gravitationally strong that violate the cosmic censorship hypothesis.

In the present work, we investigate the influence of the monopole field on the occurrence of the space–time singularities in the gravitational collapse of anti-de Sitter–Vaidya space–time. It has been found that the spherically symmetric monopole-anti-de Sitter–Vaidya space–time contradicts the CCH, whereas the non-spherical collapse respects it.

We study the evolution of an N-dimensional anisotropic fluid with kinematic self-similarity of the second kind and find a class of solutions to the Einstein field equations by assuming an equation of state where the radial pressure of the fluid is proportional to its energy density (p_r = ωρ) and that the fluid moves along timelike geodesics. As in the four-dimensional case, the self-similarity requires ω = -1. The energy conditions and geometrical and physical properties of the solutions are studied. We find that, depending on the self-similar parameter α, they may represent black holes or naked singularities. We also study the presence of dark energy in some models, and find that their existence gives rise to some constraints on the dimensions of the space–times.

It has been shown previously that an extremal Reissner–Nordström or an extremal Kerr black hole cannot be overcharged or overspun by a test particle, if radiative and self-force effects are neglected. In this paper, we consider extremal charged and rotating black holes with cosmological constants. By studying the motion of test particles, we find the following results: An extremal Reissner–Nordström anti-de Sitter (RN–AdS) black hole can be overcharged by a test particle but an extremal Reissner–Nordström de Sitter (RN–dS) black hole cannot be overcharged. We also show that both extremal Kerr–de Sitter (Kerr–dS) and Kerr–anti-de Sitter (Kerr–AdS) black holes can be overspun by a test particle, implying a possible breakdown of the cosmic censorship conjecture. For the Kerr–AdS case, the overspinning requires that the energy of the particle be negative, a reminiscent of the Penrose process. In contrast to the extremal RN and Kerr black holes, in which cases the cosmic censorship is upheld, our results suggest some subtle relations between the cosmological constants and the cosmic censorship. We also discuss the effect of radiation reaction for the Kerr–dS case and find that the magnitude of energy loss due to gravitational radiation may not be enough to prevent the violation of the cosmic censorship.

Gravitational collapse of matter in the presence of rotation is a mostly unexplored topic but it might have important implications for cosmic censorship. Recently a convenient setup was identified to address this problem, by considering thin matter shells at the interface between two equal angular momenta Myers–Perry spacetimes in five dimensions. This note provides more details about the matching of such cohomogeneity-1 spacetimes and extends the results obtained therein to arbitrary higher odd dimensions. It is also pointed out that oscillatory orbits for shells in asymptotically flat spacetimes can be naturally obtained if the matter has a negative pressure component.

Using gauge/gravity duality, we deduce several nontrivial consequences of quantum gravity from simple properties of the dual field theory. These include: (1) a version of cosmic censorship, (2) restrictions on evolution through black hole singularities, and (3) the exclusion of certain cosmological bounces. In the classical limit, the latter implies a new singularity theorem.

I describe research done in collaboration with J. Sorce showing that one cannot over-charge and/or over-spin an initially slightly nonextremal Kerr–Newman black hole via the type of gedanken experiments proposed by Hubeny and others, assuming that the nonelectromagnetic stress-energy tensor of the matter entering the black hole satisfies the null energy condition. Analysis of such gedanken experiments requires that we calculate all effects on the final mass of the black hole that are second-order in the charge and the angular momentum carried into the black hole. We do so using Lagrangian methods, and our formula for the second-order correction to mass, ${\delta }^{2}M$, is obtained by generalizing the canonical energy analysis of Hollands and Wald to the Einstein–Maxwell case. Our formula for ${\delta }^{2}M$ automatically includes all self-force and finite size effects.