Gravitational properties of monopole spacetimes near the black hole threshold
- Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027 (United States)
Although nonsingular spacetimes and those containing black holes are qualitatively quite different, there are continuous families of configurations that connect the two. In this paper we use self-gravitating monopole solutions as tools for investigating the transition between these two types of spacetimes. We show how causally distinct regions emerge as the black hole limit is achieved, even though the measurements made by an external observer vary continuously. We find that near-critical solutions have a naturally defined entropy, despite the absence of a true horizon, and that this has a clear connection with the Hawking-Bekenstein entropy. We find that certain classes of near-critical solutions display naked black hole behavior, although they are not truly black holes at all. Finally, we present a numerical simulation illustrating how an incident pulse of matter can induce the dynamical collapse of a monopole into an extremal black hole. We discuss the implications of this process for the third law of black hole thermodynamics. (c) 2000 The American Physical Society.
- OSTI ID:
- 20216814
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 61, Issue 12; Other Information: PBD: 15 Jun 2000; ISSN 0556-2821
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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