The Inner Structure of Black Holes

TL;DR

This paper investigates the internal structure of black holes formed from gravitational collapse, revealing a complex inner horizon with mass inflation and singularities, differing from classical static black hole models.

Contribution

It provides a dynamic analysis of black hole interiors, highlighting differences from static solutions like Reissner-Nordström and Kerr black holes.

Findings

Discovery of a null, weak, mass-inflation singularity along the Cauchy horizon.

Identification of a strong, spacelike singularity at the center.

Inner structure resembles Schwarzschild black holes more than charged or rotating solutions.

Abstract

We study the gravitational collapse of a self-gravitating charged scalar-field. Starting with a regular spacetime, we follow the evolution through the formation of an apparent horizon, a Cauchy horizon and a final central singularity. We find a null, weak, mass-inflation singularity along the Cauchy horizon, which is a precursor of a strong, spacelike singularity along the $r=0$ hypersurface. The inner black hole region is bounded (in the future) by singularities. This resembles the classical inner structure of a Schwarzschild black hole and it is remarkably different from the inner structure of a charged static Reissner-Nordstr\"om or a stationary rotating Kerr black holes.