On the Occurrence of Naked Singularity in Spherically Symmetric Gravitational Collapse

TL;DR

This paper investigates the conditions under which naked singularities can form during spherically symmetric gravitational collapse, emphasizing the role of initial data and matter conditions, and extends previous results in the field.

Contribution

It generalizes earlier findings by analyzing a broader class of matter and initial data, establishing criteria for naked singularity formation in gravitational collapse.

Findings

Naked singularities can form from regular initial data under certain conditions.

The formation of black holes is also characterized by specific initial data conditions.

Naked singularities are related to the choice of initial data and matter satisfying the weak energy condition.

Abstract

Generalizing earlier results of Joshi and Dwivedi (Commun. Math. Phys. 146, 333 (1992); Lett. Math. Phys. 27, 235 (1993)), we analyze here the spherically symmetric gravitational collapse of a matter cloud with a general form of matter for the formation of a naked singularity. It is shown that this is related basically to the choice of initial data to the Einstein field equations, and would therefore occur in generic situations from regular initial data within the general context considered here, subject to the matter satisfying the weak energy condition. The condition on initial data which leads to the formation of black hole is also characterized.