We have shown previously that a merger of marginally outer trapped surfaces (MOTSs) occurs in a binary black hole merger and that there is a continuous sequence of MOTSs which connects the initial two black holes to the final one. In this paper, we confirm this scenario numerically and we detail further improvements in the numerical methods for locating MOTSs. With these improvements, we confirm the merger scenario and demonstrate the existence of self-intersecting MOTSs formed in the immediate aftermath of the merger. These results will allow us to track physical quantities across the non-linear merger process and to potentially infer properties of the merger from gravitational wave observations.
We examine potential deformations of inner black hole and cosmological horizons in Reissner-Nordstrom de-Sitter spacetimes. While the rigidity of the outer black hole horizon is guaranteed by theorem, that theorem applies to neither the inner black hole nor past cosmological horizon. Further for pure deSitter spacetime it is clear that the cosmological horizon can be deformed (by translation). For specific parameter choices, it is shown that both inner black hole and cosmological horizons can be infinitesimally deformed. However these do not extend to finite deformations. The corresponding results for general spherically symmetric spacetimes are considered.
Marginally outer trapped surfaces (MOTSs, or marginal surfaces in short) are routinely used in numerical simulations of black hole spacetimes. They are an invaluable tool for locating and characterizing black holes quasi-locally in real time while the simulation is ongoing. It is often believed that a MOTS can behave unpredictably under time evolution; an existing MOTS can disappear, and a new one can appear without any apparent reason. In this paper we show that in fact the behavior of a MOTS is perfectly predictable and its behavior is dictated by a single real parameter, the emph{stability parameter}, which can be monitored during the course of a numerical simulation. We demonstrate the utility of the stability parameter to fully understand the variety of marginal surfaces that can be present in binary black hole initial data. We also develop a new horizon finder capable of locating very highly distorted marginal surfaces and we show that even in these cases, the stability parameter perfectly predicts the existence and stability of marginal surfaces.
In classical numerical relativity, marginally outer trapped surfaces (MOTSs) are the main tool to locate and characterize black holes. For five decades it has been known that during a binary merger, a new outer horizon forms around the initial apparent horizons of the individual holes once they are sufficiently close together. However the ultimate fate of those initial horizons has remained a subject of speculation. Recent axisymmetric studies have shed new light on this process and this pair of papers essentially completes that line of research: we resolve the key features of the post-swallowing axisymmetric evolution of the initial horizons. This first paper introduces a new shooting-method for finding axisymmetric MOTSs along with a reinterpretation of the stability operator as the analogue of the Jacobi equation for families of MOTSs. Here, these tools are used to study exact solutions and initial data. In the sequel paper they are applied to black hole mergers.
In this paper, we perform a detailed investigation on the various geometrical properties of trapped surfaces and the boundaries of trapped region in general relativity. This treatment extends earlier work on LRS II spacetimes to a general 4 dimensional spacetime manifold. Using a semi-tetrad covariant formalism, that provides a set of geometrical and matter variables, we transparently demonstrate the evolution of the trapped region and also extend Hawkings topology theorem to a wider class of spacetimes. In addition, we perform a stability analysis for the apparent horizons in this formalism, encompassing earlier works on this subject. As examples, we consider the stability of MOTS of the Schwarzschild geometry and Oppenheimer-Snyder collapse.
We consider here the existence and structure of trapped surfaces, horizons and singularities in spherically symmetric static massless scalar field spacetimes. Earlier studies have shown that there exists no event horizon in such spacetimes if the scalar field is asymptotically flat. We extend this result here to show that this is true in general for spherically symmetric static massless scalar field spacetimes, whether the scalar field is asymptotically flat or not. Other general properties and certain important features of these models are also discussed.