Future-null singularity due to gravitational collapse

Abstract

In the case of unhindered gravitational collapse of matter cloud governed by the Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi (LTB) spacetime, the end-state singularity is either locally visible, globally visible or completely hidden. We have a past-null singularity in the first two cases while a future-spacelike singularity in the last case. Here, we show an example of a gravitational collapse model whose end-state is a future-null-singularity (it has a causal property that is unlike the cases involving LTB spacetime). We depict such a distinct causal structure of the singularity by conformal diagrams.

7 pages, 4 figures