Gravitational Shock Waves for Schwarzschild and Kerr Black Holes

Considerable attention has recently focused on gravity theories obtained by extending general relativity with additional scalar, vector, or tensor degrees of freedom. In this paper, we show that the black-hole solutions of these theories are essentially indistinguishable from those of general relativity. Thus, we conclude that a potential observational verification of the Kerr metric around an astrophysical black hole cannot, in and of itself, be used to distinguish between t...

We describe the Kerr black hole in the ingoing and outgoing Kerr-Schild horizon penetrating coordinates. Starting from the null vector naturally defined in these coordinates, we construct the null tetrad for each case, as well as the corresponding geometrical quantities allowing us to explicitly derive the field equations for the ${\Psi_0}^{(1)}$ and ${\Psi_4}^{(1)}$ perturbed scalar projections of the Weyl tensor, including arbitrary source terms. This perturbative descripti...

We investigate the interiors of 3+1 dimensional asymptotically flat charged and rotating black holes as described by observers who fall into the black holes at late times, long after any perturbations of the exterior region have decayed. In the strict limit of late infall times, the initial experiences of such observers are precisely described by the region of the limiting stationary geometry to the past of its inner horizon. However, we argue that late infall-time observers ...

We prove that a regular stationary black-hole solution of the Einstein vacuum equations which is "close" to some Kerr solution is, in fact, isometric to that Kerr solution.

In this paper, we discuss how the shadow of a Kerr black hole depends on the motion of the observer. In particular, we derive an analytical formula for the boundary curve of the shadow for an observer moving with given four-velocity at given Boyer--Lindquist coordinates. We visualize the shadow for various values of parameters.

We present a new geometrical approach to the study of accretion flows onto rotating (Kerr) black holes. Instead of Boyer-Lindquist coordinates, the standard choice in all existing numerical simulations in the literature, we employ the simplest example of a horizon adapted coordinate system, the Kerr-Schild coordinates. This choice eliminates boundary ambiguities and unphysical divergent behavior at the event horizon. Computations of Bondi-Hoyle accretion onto extreme Kerr bla...

According to Albert Einstein, gravitation is analogous to an optical medium. Building on this idea, various definitions of the gradient-index (GRIN) medium representing curved spacetime have been proposed; often, these approaches demand advanced knowledge of General Relativity and its associated mathematical methods. This paper introduces a novel approach for generating the form of GRIN media that reproduces the behavior of light in the presence of a Schwarzschild black hole ...

In this methodological paper we consider geodesic motion of particles in a spherically symmetric black hole space-times. We develop an approach based on splitting the velocity of a freely falling particle to the flow velocity, which depends only on a metric, and deviation from it (a peculiar velocity). It applies to a wide class of spherically symmetric metrics and is exploited under the horizon of the Schwarzschild black hole. The present work generalizes previous results ob...

The recent observation of gravitational waves confirms one of the most interesting predictions in general relativity: the black holes. Because the gravitational waves detected by LIGO fit very well within general relativity as a phenomenon produced by two colliding black holes. Then the reality of black holes seems almost undoubted today. However, a stronger proof on the reality of black holes would be indicated by the observation of the event horizon, which is what defines i...

We introduce what we call a locally inertial Godunov method with dynamical time dilation, and use it to simulate a new one parameter family of general relativistic shock wave solutions of the Einstein equations for a perfect fluid. The forward time solutions resolve the secondary reflected wave (an incoming shock wave) in the Smoller-Temple shock wave model for an explosion into a static singular isothermal sphere. The backward time solutions indicate black hole formation fro...