Scattering from Black Holes

Abstract

This book investigates the propagation of waves in the presence of black holes. Astrophysical black holes may eventually be probed by these techniques. The authors emphasise intuitive physical thinking in their treatment of the techniques of analysis of scattering, but alternate this with chapters on the rigourous mathematical development of the subject. High and low energy limiting cases are treated extensively and semi-classical results are also obtained. The analogy between Newtonian gravitational scattering and Coulomb quantum mechanical scattering is fully exploited. The book introduces the concepts of scattering by considering the simplest, scalar wave case of scattering by a spherical black hole. It then develops the formalism of spin-weighted spheroidal harmonics and of plane wave representations for neutrino, electromagnetic and gravitational scattering. Research workers and graduate and advanced undergraduate students in scattering theory, wave propagation and relativity will find this a comprehensive treatment of the topic.

Electromagnetic Wave Scattering by Schwarzschild Black Holes

“…Hence, it is conceivable that future gravitational-wave detectors may be able to identify the fingerprint from rapid and distinctive variations across a narrow frequency band. Nevertheless, inferring the presence of quiescent black holes from such clues must remain a challenge for future decades.Scattering by black holes is of foundational interest in both black hole physics [5] and scattering theory [6]. Many authors have studied the simplest timeindependent scenario, in which a black hole is subject to a long-lasting, monochromatic beam of radiation.…”

“…The case of electromagnetic waves (s = 1) was studied analytically by Mashoon [13] and Fabbri [14], and some results were obtained in the low-and high-frequency limits. Gravitational waves (s = 2) were the first to be studied in black hole scattering [15], and are the subject of old [5,16] and new [17,18] works.In this letter we present the first detailed numerical investigation of the scattering of an electromagnetic plane wave by a Schwarzschild black hole. This work fills a gap in the literature, and complements recent numerical studies of the scalar [19], fermionic [4], and gravitational [18] cases.…”

“…Since then, planar wave scattering from black holes has received much attention, especially in Schwarzschild and Kerr spacetimes (see Refs. [5,8,9] for comprehensive accounts on the subject). Let us briefly review a sample of the literature for the simplest case, the Schwarzschild black hole, for which the scattering of monochromatic fields of all spins (s = 0, 1/2, 1 and 2) has been studied through the years.…”

“…The case of electromagnetic waves (s = 1) was studied analytically by Mashoon [13] and Fabbri [14], and some results were obtained in the low-and high-frequency limits. Gravitational waves (s = 2) were the first to be studied in black hole scattering [15], and are the subject of old [5,16] and new [17,18] works.…”

Transformation of black-hole hair under duality and supersymmetry

“…We now believe this is due to the fact that stationary (as opposed to static) black holes possess a specific decay width, which can even be seen classically by scattering waves off the black hole. This process is known as "superradiance" ( [36]; see also [37]) in the black hole literature.…”