Improved decay rates with small regularity loss for the wave equation about a Schwarzschild black hole

We consider a very general class of nonlinear wave equations, which admit trivial solutions and not necessarily verify any form of null conditions. For compactly supported small data, one can only have a semi-global result which states that the solutions are well-posed upto a finite time-span depending on the size of the Cauchy data. For some of the equations of the class, the solutions blow up within a finite time for the compactly supported data of any size. For data prescr...

The Schwarzschild and Reissner-Nordstrom solutions to Einstein's equations describe space- times which contain spherically symmetric black holes. We consider solutions to the linear wave equation in the exterior of a fixed black hole space- time of this type. We show that for solutions with initial data which decay at infinite, a weighted $L^6$ norm in space decays like $t^{-1/3}$. This weight vanishes at the event horizon, but not at infinite.

In this paper, we study the long time dynamics of solutions to the defocusing semilinear wave equation $\Box_g\phi=|\phi|^{p-1}\phi$ on the Schwarzschild black hole spacetimes. For $\frac{1+\sqrt{17}}{2}<p<5$ and sufficiently smooth and localized initial data, we show that the solution decays like $|\phi|\lesssim t^{-1+\epsilon}$ in the domain of outer communication. The proof relies on the $r$-weighted vector field method of Dafermos-Rodnianski together with the Strichartz e...

These lecture notes, based on a course given at the Zurich Clay Summer School (June 23-July 18, 2008), review our current mathematical understanding of the global behaviour of waves on black hole exterior backgrounds. Interest in this problem stems from its relationship to the non-linear stability of the black hole spacetimes themselves as solutions to the Einstein equations, one of the central open problems of general relativity. After an introductory discussion of the Schwa...

We consider solutions to the massless Vlasov equation on the domain of outer communications of the Schwarschild black hole. By adapting the r^p-weighted energy method of Dafermos and Rodnianski, used extensively in order to study wave equations, we prove arbitrary decay for a non-degenerate energy flux of the Vlasov field f through a well-chosen foliation. An essential step of this methodology consists in proving a non-degenerate integrated local energy decay. For this, we ta...

In this paper we establish a conformal scattering theory for the defocusing semilinear wave equations on the Schwarzschild spacetime. We combine the energy and pointwise decay results of solutions obtained in \cite{Yang} and a Sobolev embedding on spacelike hypersurfaces to establish the energy estimates in two sides between the energy flux of solution through the Cauchy initial hypersurface $\Sigma_0=\left\{ t=0 \right\}$ and the one through the null conformal boundaries $\m...

We consider solutions of the scalar wave equation $\Box_g\phi=0$, without symmetry, on fixed subextremal Reissner-Nordstr\"om backgrounds $({\mathcal M}, g)$ with nonvanishing charge. Previously, it has been shown that for $\phi$ arising from sufficiently regular data on a two ended Cauchy hypersurface, the solution and its derivatives decay suitably fast on the event horizon ${\mathcal H}^+$. Using this, we show here that $\phi$ is in fact uniformly bounded, $|\phi| \leq C$,...

We study solutions of the decoupled Maxwell equations in the exterior region of a Schwarzschild black hole. In stationary regions, where the Schwarzschild coordinate $r$ ranges over $2M < r_1 < r < r_2$, we obtain a decay rate of $t^{-1}$ for all components of the Maxwell field. We use vector field methods and do not require a spherical harmonic decomposition. In outgoing regions, where the Regge-Wheeler tortoise coordinate is large, $r_*>\epsilon t$, we obtain decay for th...

We study dispersive properties for the wave equation in the Schwarzschild space-time. The first result we obtain is a local energy estimate. This is then used, following the spirit of earlier work of Metcalfe-Tataru, in order to establish global-in-time Strichartz estimates. A considerable part of the paper is devoted to a precise analysis of solutions near the trapping region, namely the photon sphere.

We derive precise late-time asymptotics for solutions to the wave equation on spherically symmetric, stationary and asymptotically flat spacetimes including as special cases the Schwarzschild and Reissner-Nordstrom families of black holes. We also obtain late-time asymptotics for the time derivatives of all orders and for the radiation field along null infinity. We show that the leading-order term in the asymptotic expansion is related to the existence of the conserved Newman...