Related papers: On the nature of inner light-rings
We prove the following theorem: axisymmetric, stationary solutions of the Einstein field equations formed from classical gravitational collapse of matter obeying the null energy condition, that are everywhere smooth and ultracompact (i.e.,…
Ultracompact objects are self-gravitating systems with a light ring. It was recently suggested that fluctuations in the background of these objects are extremely long-lived and might turn unstable at the nonlinear level, if the object is…
Recently, ultracompact objects have been found to be susceptible to a new nonlinear instability, known as the light-ring instability, triggered by stable light rings. This discovery raises concerns about the viability of these objects as…
It has been argued that ultracompact objects, which possess light rings but no horizons, may be unstable against gravitational perturbations. To test this conjecture, we revisit the quasi-black hole solutions, a family of horizonless…
The existence of light rings in a spacetime is closely related to the existence of black hole horizons and observables such as the ringdown and the shadow. Black holes, compared to nonvacuum ultracompact objects, have rather unique…
Motivated by recent results reporting the instability of horizonless objects with stable light rings, we revisit the linearized stability of such structures. In particular, we consider an exterior Kerr spacetime truncated at a surface where…
Black holes are the most compact objects in the Universe. According to general relativity, black holes have a horizon that hides a singularity where Einstein's theory breaks down. Recently, gravitational waves opened the possibility to…
The ringdown and shadow of the astrophysically significant Kerr Black Hole (BH) are both intimately connected to a special set of bound null orbits known as Light Rings (LRs). Does it hold that a generic equilibrium BH must possess such…
In this work we establish some results concerning the existence of external light rings in extremal black hole spacetimes through the Newman-Penrose formalism. Specifically, assuming conformal flatness, staticity and the null energy…
Ultracompact objects with light-rings (LRs) but without an event horizon could mimic black holes (BHs) in their strong gravity phenomenology. But are such objects dynamically viable? Stationary and axisymmetric ultracompact objects that can…
Analyzing exact solutions of the Einstein-Maxwell equations in the Kerr-Schild formalism we show that black hole horizon is instable with respect to electromagnetic excitations. Contrary to perturbative smooth harmonic solutions, the exact…
The recent advancements in black hole imaging have opened a new era of probing horizon-scale physics with electromagnetic radiation. However, a feature of the observed images, a bright ring encircling a relatively dark region, has not…
In general relativity without a cosmological constant, a classical theorem due to Hawking states that stationary black holes must be topologically spherical. This result is one of the several ingredients that collectively imply the…
In a very interesting paper, Cunha, Berti, and Herdeiro have recently claimed that ultra-compact objects, self-gravitating horizonless solutions of the Einstein field equations which have a light ring, must possess at least {\it two} (and,…
Light rings (LRs) play an important role in gravitational wave observations and black hole photographs. In this paper, we investigate general features of LRs in stationary, axisymmetric, asymptotically flat spacetimes with or without…
General relativity admits a plethora of exact compact object solutions. The augmentation of Einstein's action with non-minimal coupling terms leads to modified theories with rich structure, which, in turn, provide non-trivial solutions with…
Ultra-compact objects describe horizonless solutions of the Einstein field equations which, like black-hole spacetimes, possess null circular geodesics (closed light rings). We study {\it analytically} the physical properties of spherically…
Regular black holes represent a conservative model in which the classical singularity is replaced by a non-singular core without necessarily modifying the spacetime outside the trapping horizon. Given the possible lack of phenomenological…
We have recently proposed a model for a regular black hole, or an ultra-compact object, that is premised on having maximally negative radial pressure throughout the entirety of the object's interior. This model can be viewed as that of a…
Gravitational-wave astronomy can give us access to the structure of black holes, potentially probing microscopic or even Planckian corrections at the horizon scale, as those predicted by some quantum-gravity models of exotic compact…