Observation of critical phenomena and selfsimilarity in the gravitational collapse of radiation fluid

Feb, 1994
14 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Rev.Lett. 72 (1994) 1782-1785
e-Print:
Report number:
  • TAR-039-UNC

Citations per year

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Abstract: (arXiv)
We observe critical phenomena in spherical collapse of radiation fluid. A sequence of spacetimes S[η]\cal{S}[\eta] is numerically computed, containing models (η1\eta\ll 1) that adiabatically disperse and models (η1\eta\gg 1) that form a black hole. Near the critical point (ηc\eta_c), evolutions develop a self-similar region within which collapse is balanced by a strong, inward-moving rarefaction wave that holds m(r)/rm(r)/r constant as a function of a self-similar coordinate ξ\xi. The self-similar solution is known and we show near-critical evolutions asymptotically approaching it. A critical exponent β0.36\beta \simeq 0.36 is found for supercritical (η>ηc\eta>\eta_c) models.