The Black Hole Threshold

by Prof. David Hilditch (University of Lisbon - CENTRA)

Friday 12 Jul 2024, 14:30 → 16:30 Europe/Berlin

Abbeanum/Ground floor-HS 2 - Hörsaal 2 (TPI, FSU Jena)

Numerical evolutions show that, in spherical symmetry,  as  we move through the solution space of GR to the threshold of black  hole formation, the resulting spacetimes tend to display a surprising degree of simplicity. A heuristic description of this behavior, called critical collapse, has been built around this empirical fact. Less is known when symmetry is dropped. In this presentation I will review the current status of the topic, focusing  in particular on the struggle to understand the situation in  axisymmetry.