Nonlinear stability of continuously self-similar naked singularities for the Einstein-scalar field equations II: linearized stability

TL;DR

This paper proves the linearized stability of a family of self-similar naked singularity solutions in Einstein-scalar field equations, highlighting the importance of regularity in the blue-shift instability mechanism.

Contribution

It establishes the linearized stability of Christodoulou's naked singularity solutions at their regularity level, contrasting previous instability results.

Findings

Linearized stability is achieved at the same regularity as the background.

Regularity plays a crucial role in the blue-shift instability mechanism.

The results form the foundation for nonlinear stability proof.

Abstract

This is the second part of a series of papers proving the nonlinear stability of a one-parameter family of continuous self-similar $C^{1,\alpha}$ naked singularity solutions, with $0<\alpha\ll1$, to the spherically symmetric Einstein-scalar field equations. These solutions were constructed by Christodoulou and are known to be unstable under sufficiently rough perturbations due to the blue-shift instability mechanism. In complete contrast to the previous instability results, we establish the linearized stability for those naked singularity spacetimes under perturbations of the same regularity as the background, revealing the central role of regularity in determining the strength of the blue-shift instability mechanism, and showing that it is not triggered at the regularity level of the background spacetime. The linear analysis carried out in this paper provides the foundation for the nonlinear stability result established in the companion paper [W. Zheng, Nonlinear stability of the continuous self-similar naked singularities for the Einstein-scalar field equations I: main results]. Together with that companion paper, this yields the nonlinear stability of these continuously self-similar naked singularities.