Boundary conditions of general black hole perturbations

TL;DR

This paper derives universal boundary conditions for black hole perturbations at the horizon and infinity, applicable to a broad class of stationary, axisymmetric, asymptotically flat black holes, aiding gravitational wave analysis.

Contribution

It provides a model-independent, geometric derivation of boundary conditions at the horizon for generic black hole metrics, extending previous specific cases.

Findings

Universal boundary condition expression in terms of surface gravity and angular velocity.

Applicable to a wide class of black holes beyond Kerr.

Facilitates calculations of quasinormal modes and gravitational waves.

Abstract

Recently, significant progress has been made in the study of black hole (BH) perturbations, both within the framework of general modified gravity theories and in complex environments. However, a well-established conclusion regarding the boundary conditions of the perturbed fields remains elusive. In this paper, we investigate the boundary conditions for a general perturbation at spatial infinity and the event horizon of a black hole (BH) described by a generic metric that is stationary, axisymmetric, asymptotically flat, and respects the condition of circularity. Our analysis is independent of any specific BH model or the nature of the perturbed field. In particular, by extending the formulation introduced by Teukolsky and utilizing purely geometric principles, we derive a universal expression for the boundary condition at the horizon. This expression is elegantly formulated in terms of the physical quantities at the event horizon, specifically the BH's surface gravity and angular velocity. The results presented in this work may provide valuable insights for the calculation of quasinormal modes and the gravitational waves generated by extreme-mass-ratio inspirals, extending beyond the standard Kerr case.