Publications

Abstract

A recent analysis by Richard Price of spherical collapse with small nonspherical perturbations is here generalized to the case of an electrically charged collapsing star (0¦Q¦-M). The perturbations are confined to a scalar field generated by a nonspherical distribution of ldquoscalar chargerdquo in the star. As in the electrically neutral case, the scalar perturbations are probably a prototype for all others — electromagnetic, gravitational, and higherspin. The collapse is shown to produce a Reissner-Nordström black hole, and the scalar-field perturbations are shown to radiate completely away; but they die out more slowly the larger is the star's electric charge. For charge ¦Q¦M, the ell-pole part of the perturbation at fixedr and late times is dominated by a ldquotailrdquo that dies out ast –(2ell+ 2). But for ¦Q¦=M, the primary outgoing waves emitted from the star's surface are everywhere larger than the ldquotailrdquo. At fixedr and late times they die as t–(ell+2). Also, a calculation of the redshift shows that a collapsing star becomes ldquoblackrdquo more slowly the larger is the star's electric charge.