Gravastar

A gravastar is an object hypothesized in astrophysics as an alternative to the black hole theory by Pawel O. Mazur and Emil Mottola. It results from assuming physical limitations on the formation of black holes. These limits, such as discrete length and time quanta (chronon), are an attempt to "modernize" the theory by incorporating quantum mechanics. The term "gravastar" is a portmanteau of the words "Gravitational Vacuum Star".[1]

Structure

The notion of gravastars builds on Einstein's theory of general relativity and imposes a universal "smallest size" that is known to exist according to well-accepted quantum theory. This size is known as the Planck length, and is derived using the speed of light, Planck's constant and the gravitational constant. Quantum theory says that any scale smaller than the Planck length is unobservable and meaningless to physics and physicists. This limit can be imposed on the wavelength of a beam of light so as to obtain a limit of blue shift that the light can undergo. However, in the presence of an event horizon the blue shift diverges.

In the original formulation by Mazur and Mottola, gravastars contain a central region featuring a p=-ρ false vacuum or "dark energy", a thin shell of p=ρ perfect fluid, and a true vacuum p=ρ=0 exterior. The dark energy like behavior of the inner region prevents collapse to a singularity and the presence of the thin shell prevents the formation of an event horizon, avoiding the infinite blue shift. The inner region has thermodynamically no entropy and may be thought of as a gravitational Bose–Einstein condensate. Severe red-shifting of photons as they climb out of the gravity well would make the fluid shell also seem very cold, almost absolute zero.

In addition to the original thin shell formulation, gravastars with continuous pressure have been proposed. These objects must contain anisotropic stress.[2]

Externally, a gravastar appears similar to a black hole: it is visible by the high-energy radiation it emits while consuming matter, and by the Hawking radiation it creates. Astronomers observe the sky for X-rays emitted by infalling matter to detect black holes. A gravastar would produce an identical signature. It is also possible, if the thin shell is transparent to radiation, that gravastars may be distinguished from ordinary black holes by different gravitational lensing properties as null geodesics may pass through.[3]

Mazur and Mottola suggest that the violent creation of a gravastar might be an explanation for the origin of our universe and many other universes, because all the matter from a collapsing star would implode "through" the central hole and explode into a new dimension and expand forever, which would be consistent with the current theories regarding the Big Bang.[4] This "new dimension" exerts an outward pressure on the Bose–Einstein condensate layer and prevents it from collapsing further.

Gravastars also could provide a mechanism for describing how dark energy accelerates the expansion of the universe. One possible hypothesis uses Hawking radiation as a means to exchange energy between the "parent" universe and the "child" universe, and so cause the rate of expansion to accelerate, but this area is under much speculation.

Gravastar formation may provide an alternate explanation for sudden and intense gamma-ray bursts throughout space.

LIGO's observations of gravitational waves from colliding objects have been found either to not be consistent with the gravastar concept,[5][6][7] or to leave the question unanswered.[8][9]

In comparison with black holes

By taking quantum physics into account, the gravastar hypothesis attempts to resolve contradictions caused by conventional black hole theories.[10]

Event horizons

In a gravastar, the event horizon is not present. The layer of positive pressure fluid would lie just outside the 'event horizon', being prevented from complete collapse by the inner false vacuum.[1] Due to the absence of an event horizon the time coordinate of the exterior vacuum geometry is everywhere valid.

Dynamic stability of gravastars

In 2007, theoretical work indicated that under certain conditions gravastars as well as other alternative black hole models are not stable when they rotate.[11] Theoretical work has also shown that certain rotating gravastars are stable assuming certain angular velocities, shell thicknesses, and compactnesses. It is also possible that some gravastars which are mathematically unstable may be physically stable over cosmological timescales.[12] Theoretical support for the feasibility of gravastars does not exclude the existence of black holes as shown in other theoretical studies.[13]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Los Alamos researcher says 'black holes' aren't holes at all". Los Alamos National Laboratory. Archived from the original on 13 December 2006. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  2. ↑ Cattoen, Celine; Faber, Tristan; Visser, Matt (2005-09-25). "Gravastars must have anisotropic pressures". Classical and Quantum Gravity. 22 (20). arXiv:gr-qc/0505137. Bibcode:2005CQGra..22.4189C. doi:10.1088/0264-9381/22/20/002.
  3. ↑ Sakai, Nobuyuki; Saida, Hiromi; Tamaki, Takashi (2014-11-17). "Gravastar shadows". Phys. Rev. D. 90. arXiv:1408.6929. Bibcode:2014PhRvD..90j4013S. doi:10.1103/physrevd.90.104013.
  4. ↑ "Is space-time actually a superfluid?". New Scientist. Archived from the original on 2006-06-09. Retrieved 2017-11-04. It’s the big bang," says Mazur. "Effectively, we are inside a gravastar.
  5. ↑ Chirenti, Cecilia; Rezzolla, Luciano (2016-10-11). "Did GW150914 produce a rotating gravastar?". Physical Review D. 94 (8): 084016. arXiv:1602.08759. Bibcode:2016PhRvD..94h4016C. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.94.084016. we conclude it is not possible to model the measured ringdown of GW150914 as due to a rotating gravastar.
  6. ↑ "Did LIGO detect black holes or gravastars?". ScienceDaily. October 19, 2016. Retrieved 2017-11-04.
  7. ↑ "LIGO's black hole detection survives the gravastar test - ExtremeTech". ExtremeTech. 2016-10-26. Retrieved 2017-11-04.
  8. ↑ "Was gravitational wave signal from a gravastar, not black holes?". New Scientist. 2016-05-04. Retrieved 2017-11-04. Our signal is consistent with both the formation of a black hole and a horizonless object – we just can’t tell
  9. ↑ Cardoso, Vitor; Franzin, Edgardo; Pani, Paolo (2016-04-27). "Is the gravitational-wave ringdown a probe of the event horizon?". Physical Review Letters. 116 (17). arXiv:1602.07309. Bibcode:2016PhRvL.116q1101C. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.171101. ISSN 0031-9007.
  10. ↑ Stenger, Richard (22 January 2002). "Is black hole theory full of hot air?". CNN.com. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  11. ↑ Vitor Cardoso; Paolo Pani; Mariano Cadoni; Marco Cavaglia (2007). "Ergoregion instability of ultra-compact astrophysical objects". Physical Review D. 77 (12). arXiv:0709.0532. Bibcode:2008PhRvD..77l4044C. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.77.124044.
  12. ↑ Chirenti, Cecilia; Rezzolla, Luciano (October 2008). "Ergoregion instability in rotating gravastars" (PDF). Physical Review D. 78 (8). arXiv:0808.4080. Bibcode:2008PhRvD..78h4011C. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.78.084011. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  13. ↑ Rocha; Miguelote; Chan; da Silva; Santos; Anzhong Wang (2008). "Bounded excursion stable gravastars and black holes". arXiv:0803.4200 [gr-qc].

Further reading

  • Camenzind, Max (2007). Compact objects in astrophysics white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes. Berlin: Springer. pp. 442&ndash, 445. ISBN 9783540499121.
  • George Chapline (2005-03-28). "Black holes 'do not exist'". Nature News.
  • Mazur; Emil Mottola (2001). "Gravitational Condensate Stars: An Alternative to Black Holes". arXiv:gr-qc/0109035. The original paper by Mazur and Mottola
  • Visser, Matt; Wiltshire, David L. "Stable gravastars — an alternative to black holes?" (PDF). Retrieved 2004-10-02.
  • Zanotti, Luciano Rezzolla, Olindo (2013). Relativistic hydrodynamics (1. publ. ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 599&ndash, 603. ISBN 9780198528906.
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