On the gravitational polarizability of black holes
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
2013-05-29 v2
Abstract
The gravitational polarizability properties of black holes are compared and contrasted with their electromagnetic polarizability properties. The "shape" or "height" multipolar Love numbers h_l of a black hole are defined and computed. They are then compared to their electromagnetic analogs h_l^{EM}. The Love numbers h_l give the height of the l-th multipolar "tidal bulge" raised on the horizon of a black hole by faraway masses. We also discuss the shape of the tidal bulge raised by a test mass m, in the limit where m gets very close to the horizon.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0906.3003,
title = {On the gravitational polarizability of black holes},
author = {Thibault Damour and Orchidea Maria Lecian},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0906.3003},
year = {2013}
}
Comments
17 pages, 1 figure. Minor changes, published version