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Abstract In classical general relativity, the values of fields on spacetime are uniquely determined by their values at an initial time within the domain of dependence of this initial data surface. However, it may occur that the spacetime under consideration extends beyond this domain of dependence, and fields, therefore, are not entirely determined by their initial data. This occurs, for example, in the well-known (maximally) extended Reissner–Nordström or Reissner–Nordström–deSitter (RNdS) spacetimes. The boundary of the region determined by the initial data is called the ‘Cauchy horizon.’ It is located inside the black hole in these spacetimes. The strong cosmic censorship conjecture asserts that the Cauchy horizon does not, in fact, exist in practice because the slightest perturbation (of the metric itself or the matter fields) will become singular there in a sufficiently catastrophic way that solutions cannot be extended beyond the Cauchy horizon. Thus, if strong cosmic censorship holds, the Cauchy horizon will be converted into a ‘final singularity,’ and determinism will hold. Recently, however, it has been found that, classically this is not the case in RNdS spacetimes in a certain range of mass, charge, and cosmological constant. In this paper, we consider a quantum scalar field in RNdS spacetime and show that quantum theory comes to the rescue of strong cosmic censorship. We find that for any state that is nonsingular (i.e., Hadamard) within the domain of dependence, the expected stress-tensor blows up with affine parameter,V, along a radial null geodesic transverse to the Cauchy horizon asTVV∼C/V2withCindependent of the state andC≠ 0 generically in RNdS spacetimes. This divergence is stronger than in the classical theory and should be sufficient to convert the Cauchy horizon into a singularity through which the spacetime cannot be extended as a (weak) solution of the semiclassical Einstein equation. This behavior is expected to be quite general, although it is possible to haveC= 0 in certain special cases, such as the BTZ black hole.
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This content will become publicly available on June 20, 2025
Strong cosmic censorship in the presence of matter: the decisive effect of horizon oscillations on the black hole interior geometry
Motivated by the strong cosmic censorship conjecture in the presence of matter, we study the Einstein equations coupled with a charged/massive scalar field with spherically symmetric characteristic data relaxing to a Reissner–Nordström event horizon. Contrary to the vacuum case, the relaxation rate is conjectured to be slow (nonintegrable), opening the possibility that the matter fields and the metric coefficients blow up in amplitude at the Cauchy horizon, not just in energy. We show that whether this blow-up in amplitude occurs or not depends on a novel oscillation condition on the event horizon which determines whether or not a resonance is excited dynamically. If the oscillation condition is satisfied, then the resonance is not excited and we show boundedness and continuous extendibility of the matter fields and the metric across the Cauchy horizon. If the oscillation condition is violated, then by the combined effect of slow decay and the resonance being excited, we show that the massive uncharged scalar field blows up in amplitude. In a companion paper, we will show that in that case a novel null contraction singularity forms at the Cauchy horizon, across which the metric is not continuously extendible in the usual sense. Heuristic arguments in the physics literature indicate that the oscillation condition should be satisfied generically on the event horizon. If these heuristics are true, then our result falsifies the continuous-formulation of strong cosmic censorship by means of oscillation.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2247376
- PAR ID:
- 10519010
- Publisher / Repository:
- Analysis & PDE
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Analysis & PDE
- Volume:
- 17
- Issue:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 2157-5045
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1501 to 1592
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- strong cosmic censorship, black hole, Einstein equations, scattering, charged scalar field
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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