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Title: Gravitational collapse of scalar fields via spectral methods

Journal Article · · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields
; ;  [1]
  1. Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Fisica-Departamento de Fisica Teorica, CEP 20550-013 Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

In this paper we present a new numerical code based on the Galerkin method to integrate the field equations for the spherical collapse of massive and massless scalar fields. By using a spectral decomposition in terms of the radial coordinate, the field equations were reduced to a finite set of ordinary differential equations in the space of modes associated with the Galerkin expansion of the scalar field, together with algebraic sets of equations connecting modes associated with the metric functions. The set of ordinary differential equations with respect to the null coordinate is then integrated using an eighth-order Runge-Kutta method. The numerical tests have confirmed the high accuracy and fast convergence of the code. As an application we have evaluated the whole spectrum of black hole masses which ranges from infinitesimal to large values obtained after varying the amplitude of the initial scalar field distribution. We have found strong numerical evidence that this spectrum is described by a nonextensive distribution law.

OSTI ID:
21509929
Journal Information:
Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 82, Issue 10; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.82.104023; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0556-2821
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English