Gravitational collapse of scalar and vector fields

Abstract

We study here the unhindered gravitational collapse of spatially homogeneous (SH) scalar fields $\varphi$ with a potential $V_s(\varphi )$, as well as vector fields $\tilde{A}$ with a potential $V_v(B)$ where $B=g(\tilde{A},\tilde{A})$ and $g$ is the metric tensor. We show that in both cases, classes of potentials exist that give rise to black holes or naked singularities depending on the choice of the potential. The strength of the naked singularity is examined, and they are seen to be strong, in the sense of Tipler, for a wide class of respective potentials. We match the collapsing scalar/vector field with a generalized Vaidya spacetime outside. We highlight that full generality is maintained within the domain of SH scalar or vector field collapse.