What Happens to Apparent Horizons in a Binary Black Hole Merger?

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review

Authors

  • Daniel Pook-Kolb
  • Robie A. Hennigar
  • Ivan Booth

Research Organisations

External Research Organisations

  • Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
  • Memorial University of Newfoundland
  • University of Waterloo
  • Wilfrid Laurier University
View graph of relations

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number181101
JournalPhysical review letters
Volume127
Issue number18
Early online date25 Oct 2021
Publication statusPublished - 29 Oct 2021

Abstract

We resolve the fate of the two original apparent horizons during the head-on merger of two nonspinning black holes. We show that, following the appearance of the outer common horizon and subsequent interpenetration of the original horizons, they continue to exist for a finite period of time before they are individually annihilated by unstable marginally outer trapped surfaces (MOTSs). The inner common horizon vanishes in a similar, though independent, way. This completes the understanding of the analog of the event horizon's ``pair of pants'' diagram for the apparent horizon. Our result is facilitated by a new method for locating MOTSs based on a generalized shooting method. We also discuss the role played by the MOTS stability operator in discerning which among a multitude of MOTSs should be considered as black hole boundaries.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Cite this

What Happens to Apparent Horizons in a Binary Black Hole Merger? / Pook-Kolb, Daniel; Hennigar, Robie A.; Booth, Ivan.
In: Physical review letters, Vol. 127, No. 18, 181101, 29.10.2021.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review

Pook-Kolb D, Hennigar RA, Booth I. What Happens to Apparent Horizons in a Binary Black Hole Merger? Physical review letters. 2021 Oct 29;127(18):181101. Epub 2021 Oct 25. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2104.10265, 10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.181101
Pook-Kolb, Daniel ; Hennigar, Robie A. ; Booth, Ivan. / What Happens to Apparent Horizons in a Binary Black Hole Merger?. In: Physical review letters. 2021 ; Vol. 127, No. 18.
Download
@article{3af10b1a419e468fa1bd9be25d49db0c,
title = "What Happens to Apparent Horizons in a Binary Black Hole Merger?",
abstract = "We resolve the fate of the two original apparent horizons during the head-on merger of two nonspinning black holes. We show that, following the appearance of the outer common horizon and subsequent interpenetration of the original horizons, they continue to exist for a finite period of time before they are individually annihilated by unstable marginally outer trapped surfaces (MOTSs). The inner common horizon vanishes in a similar, though independent, way. This completes the understanding of the analog of the event horizon's ``pair of pants'' diagram for the apparent horizon. Our result is facilitated by a new method for locating MOTSs based on a generalized shooting method. We also discuss the role played by the MOTS stability operator in discerning which among a multitude of MOTSs should be considered as black hole boundaries.",
author = "Daniel Pook-Kolb and Hennigar, {Robie A.} and Ivan Booth",
note = "Funding Information: We would like to express our gratitude to Graham Cox, Jose Luis Jaramillo, Badri Krishnan, Hari Kunduri, and the members of the Memorial University Gravity Journal Club for valuable discussions and suggestions. I. B. was supported by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant No. 2018-0473. The work of R. A. H. was supported by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada through the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship program and also by AOARD Grant No. FA2386-19-1-4077.",
year = "2021",
month = oct,
day = "29",
doi = "10.48550/arXiv.2104.10265",
language = "English",
volume = "127",
journal = "Physical review letters",
issn = "0031-9007",
publisher = "American Physical Society",
number = "18",

}

Download

TY - JOUR

T1 - What Happens to Apparent Horizons in a Binary Black Hole Merger?

AU - Pook-Kolb, Daniel

AU - Hennigar, Robie A.

AU - Booth, Ivan

N1 - Funding Information: We would like to express our gratitude to Graham Cox, Jose Luis Jaramillo, Badri Krishnan, Hari Kunduri, and the members of the Memorial University Gravity Journal Club for valuable discussions and suggestions. I. B. was supported by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant No. 2018-0473. The work of R. A. H. was supported by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada through the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship program and also by AOARD Grant No. FA2386-19-1-4077.

PY - 2021/10/29

Y1 - 2021/10/29

N2 - We resolve the fate of the two original apparent horizons during the head-on merger of two nonspinning black holes. We show that, following the appearance of the outer common horizon and subsequent interpenetration of the original horizons, they continue to exist for a finite period of time before they are individually annihilated by unstable marginally outer trapped surfaces (MOTSs). The inner common horizon vanishes in a similar, though independent, way. This completes the understanding of the analog of the event horizon's ``pair of pants'' diagram for the apparent horizon. Our result is facilitated by a new method for locating MOTSs based on a generalized shooting method. We also discuss the role played by the MOTS stability operator in discerning which among a multitude of MOTSs should be considered as black hole boundaries.

AB - We resolve the fate of the two original apparent horizons during the head-on merger of two nonspinning black holes. We show that, following the appearance of the outer common horizon and subsequent interpenetration of the original horizons, they continue to exist for a finite period of time before they are individually annihilated by unstable marginally outer trapped surfaces (MOTSs). The inner common horizon vanishes in a similar, though independent, way. This completes the understanding of the analog of the event horizon's ``pair of pants'' diagram for the apparent horizon. Our result is facilitated by a new method for locating MOTSs based on a generalized shooting method. We also discuss the role played by the MOTS stability operator in discerning which among a multitude of MOTSs should be considered as black hole boundaries.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85118403350&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.48550/arXiv.2104.10265

DO - 10.48550/arXiv.2104.10265

M3 - Article

VL - 127

JO - Physical review letters

JF - Physical review letters

SN - 0031-9007

IS - 18

M1 - 181101

ER -