Starting with a Zipoy-Voorhees line element we construct and study the three parameter family of solutions describing a deformed black string with arbitrary tension.
We review the properties of static, higher dimensional black hole solutions in theories where non-abelian gauge fields are minimally coupled to gravity. It is shown that black holes with hyperspherically symmetric horizon topology do not exist in $d
> 4$, but that hyperspherically symmetric black holes can be constructed numerically in generalized Einstein-Yang-Mills models. 5-dimensional black strings with horizon topology S^2 x S^1 are also discussed. These are so-called undeformed and deformed non-abelian black strings, which are translationally invariant and correspond to 4-dimensional non-abelian black holes trivially extended into one extra dimensions. The fact that black strings can be deformed, i.e. axially symmetric for constant values of the extra coordinate is a new feature as compared to black string solutions of Einstein (-Maxwell) theory. It is argued that these non-abelian black strings are thermodynamically unstable.
We compute the gravitational wave energy $E_{rm rad}$ radiated in head-on collisions of equal-mass, nonspinning black holes in up to $D=8$ dimensional asymptotically flat spacetimes for boost velocities $v$ up to about $90,%$ of the speed of light. W
e identify two main regimes: Weak radiation at velocities up to about $40,%$ of the speed of light, and exponential growth of $E_{rm rad}$ with $v$ at larger velocities. Extrapolation to the speed of light predicts a limit of $12.9,%$ $(10.1,~7.7,~5.5,~4.5),%$. of the total mass that is lost in gravitational waves in $D=4$ $(5,,6,,7,,8)$ spacetime dimensions. In agreement with perturbative calculations, we observe that the radiation is minimal for small but finite velocities, rather than for collisions starting from rest. Our computations support the identification of regimes with super Planckian curvature outside the black-hole horizons reported by Okawa, Nakao, and Shibata [Phys.~Rev.~D {bf 83} 121501(R) (2011)].
All known stationary black hole solutions in higher dimensions possess additional rotational symmetries in addition to the stationary Killing field. Also, for all known stationary solutions, the event horizon is a Killing horizon, and the surface gra
vity is constant. In the case of non-degenerate horizons (non-extremal black holes), a general theorem was previously established [gr-qc/0605106] proving that these statements are in fact generally true under the assumption that the spacetime is analytic, and that the metric satisfies Einsteins equation. Here, we extend the analysis to the case of degenerate (extremal) black holes. It is shown that the theorem still holds true if the vector of angular velocities of the horizon satisfies a certain diophantine condition, which holds except for a set of measure zero.
We show that the causal properties of asymptotically flat spacetimes depend on their dimensionality: while the time-like future of any point in the past conformal infinity $mathcal{I}^-$ contains the whole of the future conformal infinity $mathcal{I}
^+$ in $(2+1)$ and $(3+1)$ dimensional Schwarzschild spacetimes, this property (which we call the Penrose property) does not hold for $(d+1)$ dimensional Schwarzschild if $d>3$. We also show that the Penrose property holds for the Kerr solution in $(3+1)$ dimensions, and discuss the connection with scattering theory in the presence of positive mass.
Spin networks, the quantum states of discrete geometry in loop quantum gravity, are directed graphs whose links are labeled by irreducible representations of SU(2), or spins. Cosmic strings are 1-dimensional topological defects carrying distributiona
l curvature in an otherwise flat spacetime. In this paper we prove that the classical phase space of spin networks coupled to cosmic strings may obtained as a straightforward discretization of general relativity in 3+1 spacetime dimensions. We decompose the continuous spatial geometry into 3-dimensional cells, which are dual to a spin network graph in a unique and well-defined way. Assuming that the geometry may only be probed by holonomies (or Wilson loops) located on the spin network, we truncate the geometry such that the cells become flat and the curvature is concentrated at the edges of the cells, which we then interpret as a network of cosmic strings. The discrete phase space thus describes a spin network coupled to cosmic strings. This work proves that the relation between gravity and spin networks exists not only at the quantum level, but already at the classical level. Two appendices provide detailed derivations of the Ashtekar formulation of gravity as a Yang-Mills theory and the distributional geometry of cosmic strings in this formulation.