Year: 2005
Type: article
Abstract: Most general relativity textbooks devote considerable attention to the simplest example of a black hole containing a singularity, the Schwarzschild geometry. Only a few discuss the dynamical process of gravitational collapse by which black holes and singularities form. We present two simple analytical models that describe this process. The first involves collapsing spherical shells of light and is analyzed mainly in Eddington-Finkelstein coordinates; the second involves collapsing spheres filled with a perfect fluid and is analyzed mainly in Painleve-Gullstrand coordinates. Our main goal is simplicity and algebraic completeness, but we also present a few more sophisticated results such as the collapse of a light shell in Kruskal-Szekeres coordinates.
Source: American Journal of Physics
DOI: 10.1119/1.2117187
Authors: R. J. Adler, J. D. Bjorken, P. Chen, J. S. Liu
Institutions: Stanford University, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2102600756