Trapped region in Kerr-Vaidya space-time

TL;DR

This paper investigates the properties of trapped surfaces and apparent horizons in Kerr-Vaidya space-times, revealing the non-existence of a general apparent horizon and proposing a new black hole boundary definition.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of trapped surfaces in Kerr-Vaidya space-times and introduces a new, potentially unique, definition of the black hole boundary.

Findings

Apparent horizon generally does not exist in axisymmetric space-times.

Approximate apparent horizons are non-unique without specific conditions.

A new definition of the black hole boundary is proposed.

Abstract

We review the basic definitions and properties of trapped surfaces and discuss them in the context of Kerr-Vaidya line-element. Our study shows that the apparent horizon does not exist in general for axisymmetric space-times. The reason being the surface at which the null tangent vectors are geodesic and the surface at which the expansion of such vectors vanishes do not coincide. Calculation of an approximate apparent horizon for space-times that ensure its existence seems to be the only way to get away with this problem. The approximate apparent horizon, however, turned out to be non-unique. The choice of the shear free null geodesics, at least in the leading order, seem to remove this non-uniqueness. We also propose a new definition of the black hole boundary.