Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: The quest for fundamental limitations on physical processes is old and venerable. Here, we investigate the maximum possible power, or luminosity, that any event can produce. We show, via full nonlinear simulations of Einstein's equations, that there exist initial conditions which give rise to arbitrarily large luminosities. However, the requirement that there is no past horizon in the spacetime seems to limit the luminosity to below the Planck value, ${\mathcal{L}}_{\mathrm{P}}={c}^{5}/G$. Numerical relativity simulations of critical collapse yield the largest luminosities observed to date, $\text{ }\ensuremath{\approx}\text{ }0.2{\mathcal{L}}_{\mathrm{P}}$. We also present an analytic solution to the Einstein equations which seems to give an unboundedly large luminosity; this will guide future numerical efforts to investigate super-Planckian luminosities.
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: Kindai University, Government of Canada, Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation, European Commission, European Cooperation in Science and Technology, Industry Canada, Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, H2020 European Research Council, H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
OpenAlex ID: W2796612134