Gravitational collapse of quantum fields and Choptuik scaling

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new formalism for simulating quantum fields in gravitational collapse, successfully reproducing classical results and revealing that quantum effects slightly modify Choptuik scaling near criticality.

Contribution

The authors develop a novel semiclassical simulation method for quantum fields in gravitational collapse, extending classical techniques to include quantum effects and analyzing their impact on critical phenomena.

Findings

Quantum effects cause slight deviations from classical Choptuik scaling.

The formalism effectively reproduces classical collapse results.

Quantum deviations decrease near the critical point.

Abstract

Gravitational collapse into a black hole has been extensively studied with classical sources. We develop a new formalism to simulate quantum fields forming a black hole. By choosing a convenient coherent state, this formalism taps into well-established techniques used for classical collapse and adds on the evolution of the mode functions of the quantum field operator. Divergences are regularized with the cosmological constant and Pauli-Villars fields. Using a massless spherically symmetric scalar field as an example, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the formalism by reproducing some classical results in gravitational collapse, and identifying the difference due to the quantum effects. We also find that Choptuik scaling in critical collapse survives in the semiclassical simulation, and furthermore the quantum deviation from the classical Choptuik scaling decreases when the system approaches the critical point.