Gauge-invariant perturbations of Schwarzschild spacetime

TL;DR

This paper develops a covariant, gauge-invariant framework for analyzing perturbations of Schwarzschild spacetime using GHP formalism, introduces a new invariant, and relates various known invariants and solutions.

Contribution

It presents a coordinate-free, tetrad-rotation invariant formulation of Schwarzschild perturbations, introduces a new even-parity invariant, and unifies existing invariants within the GHP framework.

Findings

Derived gauge-invariants in GHP form.

Established relations between invariants and solutions.

Presented a new even-parity invariant and its equation.

Abstract

We study perturbations of Schwarzschild spacetime in a coordinate-free, covariant form. The GHP formulation, having the advantage of not only being covariant but also tetrad-rotation invariant, is used to write down the previously known odd- and even-parity gauge-invariants and the equations they satisfy. Additionally, in the even-parity sector, a new invariant and the second order hyperbolic equation it satisfies are presented. Chandrasekhar's work on transformations of solutions for perturbation equations on Schwarzschild spacetime is translated into the GHP form, i.e., solutions for the equations of the even- and odd-parity invariants are written in terms of one another, and the extreme Weyl scalars; and solutions for the equations of these latter invariants are also written in terms of one another. Recently, further gauge invariants previously used by Steven Detweiler have been described. His method is translated into GHP form and his basic invariants are presented here. We also show how these invariants can be written in terms of curvature invariants.