Scattering and absorption of a scalar field impinging on a charged black hole in the Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theory

TL;DR

This paper investigates the scattering and absorption of scalar fields by charged dilatonic black holes, revealing unique behaviors in absorption cross-sections and conditions for superradiant instabilities, with implications for black hole stability.

Contribution

It provides a detailed numerical and analytical analysis of scalar field interactions with charged dilatonic black holes, including superradiance effects and instability conditions, extending previous studies to include dilaton perturbations.

Findings

Dilatonic black holes have lower absorption amplitudes than Reissner-Nordström black holes at mild frequencies.

High-frequency absorption exhibits complex fine and hyperfine structures.

Superradiant instability conditions are derived, including a lower bound for charge to trigger instability.

Abstract

This study revisits the absorption and scattering process by which a massless scalar field impinges on a charged dilatonic black hole. First, we review the classical analysis to obtain the deflection angle and the differential scattering cross-section. Then, using the partial wave method, we determine the total absorption cross-section numerically in terms of the decoupling parameter called $M\omega$, finding that the amplitude of the dilatonic black hole is lower than the Reissner-Nordstr\"om one for mild frequencies. In the high-frequency limit, the absorption cross-section exhibits two different complex behaviors; the fine structure and the hyperfine structure. For the differential scattering cross-section, smaller values of $M\omega$ lead to more significant amplitudes; the opposite scenario is obtained by increasing the charge-to-mass ratio. To fully grasp the main properties of the charged dilatonic black hole, we consider a different framework where the compact object is impinged by a charged massive scalar field. The superradiant effect is lessened for intermediate frequency concerning the Reissner-Nordstr\"om case. However, this effect does not necessarily imply the existence of any dynamical instability. In order to trigger the superradiant instability, unstable modes must remain trapped outside the event horizon with a mechanism based on the reflecting-mirror boundary conditions. In this way, a charged scalar field plus a charged black hole configure a charged black hole bomb. We provide an analytic formula (lower bound) for the values of the charge field, which can trigger this superradiant instability. We extend this minimal setup by considering the dilaton perturbations while freezing the other degree of freedom. The new perturbation scheme enhances the superradiance scattering and reduces the lower bound of the charge-to-mass ratio to develop a superradiant instability.