Critical collapse of collisionless matter - a numerical investigation

TL;DR

This paper numerically investigates the threshold of black hole formation in collisionless matter collapse, revealing a discontinuity in black hole mass at the transition point, which differs from previous matter models.

Contribution

It introduces a numerical study of black hole formation in collisionless matter, a matter model not previously explored in this context.

Findings

Most matter falls into the black hole at formation threshold

Black hole mass exhibits a discontinuity at the onset of formation

The study uses plasma physics-inspired numerical methods

Abstract

In recent years the threshold of black hole formation in spherically symmetric gravitational collapse has been studied for a variety of matter models. In this paper the corresponding issue is investigated for a matter model significantly different from those considered so far in this context. We study the transition from dispersion to black hole formation in the collapse of collisionless matter when the initial data is scaled. This is done by means of a numerical code similar to those commonly used in plasma physics. The result is that for the initial data for which the solutions were computed, most of the matter falls into the black hole whenever a black hole is formed. This results in a discontinuity in the mass of the black hole at the onset of black hole formation.