Physical Society Colloquium

Numerical Investigations of Black Hole Physics

Frans Pretorius

Department of Physics
Princeton University

The class of spacetimes with event horizons contain some of the most fascinating solutions to the equations of general relativity. Over the past few years numerical simulations have begun to reveal their properties in highly dynamical, non-linear regimes not amenable to exact analytical or perturbative treatments. In this talk, I will present two examples of what has been learnt, chosen from topics of arguably more theoretical interest (in contrast to astrophysical binary black hole mergers, of relevance to gravitational wave detection). First, I will describe the ultra-relativistic limit of black hole collisions and its connection to black hole formation in super-Planck scale particle collisions. The second topic will be on the instability of a 5-dimensional black string, its connection to an unstable fluid flow, and what it implies about Penroses' cosmic censorship conjecture.