Princeton University Gravity Initiative Seminar

Abstract:  In this talk, I will present upcoming work studying dynamical solutions, near extremal Reissner—Nordström, of fully coupled Einstein—Maxwell theory with a spherically symmetric neutral scalar field. We prove mathematically that extremal Reissner—Nordström lies on the threshold of black hole formation, and all nearby threshold solutions are asymptotically extremal black holes. Moreover, our methods allow us to capture sharp universal scaling laws for the final horizon area, temperature, and position near the extremal threshold, as well as prove rigorously the occurrence of the celebrated Aretakis instability for the full nonlinear system. Finally, we will relate this to a recent conjecture concerning what we dub “extremal critical collapse,” which complements the traditional picture of threshold naked singularities by Choptuik. This is joint work with Angelopoulos (BIMSA) and Kehle (MIT).