Unveiling horizons in quantum critical collapse

Abstract

Critical gravitational collapse offers a unique window into regimes of arbitrarily high curvature, culminating in a naked singularity arising from smooth initial data -- thus providing a dynamical counterexample to weak cosmic censorship. Near the critical regime, quantum effects from the collapsing matter are expected to intervene before full quantum gravity resolves the singularity. Despite its fundamental significance, a self-consistent treatment has so far remained elusive. In this work, we perform a one-loop semiclassical analysis using the robust anomaly-based method in the canonical setup of Einstein gravity minimally coupled to a free, massless scalar field. Focusing on explicitly solvable near-critical solutions in both $2+1$ and $3+1$ dimensions, we analytically solve the semiclassical Einstein equations and obtain controlled, quantitative results for several long-standing questions within the dominant $s$-wave sector. We find that regularity uniquely selects a Boulware-like quantum state, encoding genuine vacuum polarization effects from the collapsing matter. Remarkably, the resulting quantum corrections manifest as a growing mode. Horizon-tracing analyses, incorporating both classical and quantum modes, reveal the emergence of a finite mass gap, signaling a phase transition from classical Type II to quantum-modified Type I behavior, thereby providing a quantum enforcement of the weak cosmic censorship. The most nontrivial aspect of our analysis involves dealing with non-conformal matter fields in explicitly time-dependent critical spacetimes. Along the way, we uncover intriguing and previously underexplored features of quantum field theory in curved spacetime.

134 pages, 39 figures. v2: clarifications and discussion expanded; references added. v3: updated to match the published JHEP version

References in corpus (132)

• Heat kernel expansion: user's manual
• Open and Closed String Interpretation of SUSY CFT's on Branes with Boundaries
• Dilaton Gravity in Two Dimensions
• Time delay and magnification centroid due to gravitational lensing by black holes and naked singularities
• Computations of primordial black hole formation
• A Quantum Focussing Conjecture
• The Black Hole Singularity in AdS/CFT
• Primordial black hole formation in the radiative era: investigation of the critical nature of the collapse
• Quantum Black Holes as Holograms in AdS Braneworlds
• The large D limit of General Relativity
• Effective Action of Vacuum: Semiclassical Approach
• Solvable Models of Quantum Black Holes: A Review on Jackiw-Teitelboim Gravity
• Critical phenomena in gravitational collapse (Physics Reports)
• Generalized Misner-Sharp quasi-local mass in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity
• Hadamard renormalization of the stress-energy tensor for a quantized scalar field in a general spacetime of arbitrary dimension
• Curvature profiles as initial conditions for primordial black hole formation
• Excursions beyond the horizon: Black hole singularities in Yang-Mills theories (I)
• Final fate of spherically symmetric gravitational collapse of a dust cloud in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity
• Distortions of images of Schwarzschild lensing
• Minimal conditions for the existence of a Hawking-like flux
• Quantum Instability of the Cauchy Horizon in Reissner-Nordström-deSitter Spacetime
• Spherically symmetric spacetimes with a trapped surface
• Proof of a Quantum Bousso Bound
• Hawking-like radiation from evolving black holes and compact horizonless objects
• A Self-consistent Model of the Black Hole Evaporation
• Critical Collapse of the Massless Scalar Field in Axisymmetry
• Quantum BTZ black hole
• Hawking-like radiation does not require a trapped region
• Quantum Horizons of the Standard Model Landscape
• Versatile method for renormalized stress-energy computation in black-hole spacetimes
• The Generalized Second Law implies a Quantum Singularity Theorem
• Pragmatic mode-sum regularization method for semiclassical black-hole spacetimes
• Proper time to the black hole singularity from thermal one-point functions
• Effects of Critical Collapse on Primordial Black-Hole Mass Spectra
• Renormalized stress-energy tensor of an evaporating spinning black hole
• Interior of Black Holes and Information Recovery
• Black holes in dS${}_3$
• Mode-sum regularization of $⟨{\varphi }^2⟩$ in the angular-splitting method
• Critical phenomena at the threshold of black hole formation for collisionless matter in spherical symmetry
• Semiclassical zero-temperature corrections to Schwarzschild spacetime and holography
• Renormalized stress-energy tensor for stationary black holes
• Global structure of Choptuik's critical solution in scalar field collapse
• Critical collapse of a scalar field in semiclassical loop quantum gravity
• The Similarity Hypothesis in General Relativity
• Critical phenomena in dynamical scalarization of charged black hole
• Collapse of a Scalar Field in 2+1 Gravity
• Dynamical Singularity Resolution in Spherically Symmetric Black Hole Formation
• New nonlocal effective action
• Role of evaporation in gravitational collapse
• Black-hole threshold solutions in stiff fluid collapse
• Stability criterion for self-similar solutions with a scalar field and those with a stiff fluid in general relativity
• The Absence of Horizon in Black-Hole Formation
• Nonperturbative late time asymptotics for heat kernel in gravity theory
• Strong cosmic censorship in the BTZ black hole
• Pre-Hawking radiation cannot prevent the formation of apparent horizon
• Static Black Holes With Back Reaction From Vacuum Energy
• Schwarzschild geometry counterpart in semiclassical gravity
• Spherically symmetric scalar field collapse in any dimension
• Critical collapse in 2+1 dimensional AdS spacetime: quasi-CSS solutions and linear perturbations
• Stability criterion for self-similar solutions with perfect fluids in general relativity
• Self-similar spherically symmetric solutions of the massless Einstein-Vlasov system
• Exploring Accelerating Hairy Black Holes in $2+1$ Dimensions: The Asymptotically Locally Anti-de Sitter Class and its Holography
• A Mode-Sum Prescription for Vacuum Polarization in Odd Dimensions
• Penrose's 1965 singularity theorem: From geodesic incompleteness to cosmic censorship
• Quantum corrections to the Schwarzschild metric from vacuum polarization
• Aspherical deformations of the Choptuik spacetime
• Static Black Hole and Vacuum Energy: Thin Shell and Incompressible Fluid
• Spacetime structure of self-similar spherically symmetric perfect fluid solutions
• Self-similarity in Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theories and critical collapse
• A Mode-Sum Prescription for Vacuum Polarization in Even Dimensions
• Perturbations of an exact solution for 2+1 dimensional critical collapse
• Holographic duals of evaporating black holes
• Critical Collapse in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet Gravity in Five and Six Dimensions
• Choptuik's Critical Phenomenon in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet Gravity
• Scalar field critical collapse in 2+1 dimensions
• Critical Phenomena in the Einstein-Massless-Dirac System
• Hadamard property of the in and out states for Klein-Gordon fields on asymptotically static spacetimes
• Comment on Self-Consistent Model of Black Hole Formation and Evaporation
• Choptuik's critical spacetime exists
• Vacuum polarization in two-dimensional static spacetimes and dimensional reduction
• Static quantum corrections to the Schwarzschild spacetime
• Black Tsunamis and Naked Singularities in AdS
• Cauchy horizon stability in self-similar collapse: scalar radiation
• Do event horizons exist?
• An Analytic Description of Semi-Classical Black-Hole Geometry
• Formation and decay of Einstein-Yang-Mills black holes
• Back Reaction of 4D Conformal Fields on Static Geometry
• Conformal Anomaly for Non-Conformal Scalar Fields
• Predictivity lost, predictivity regained: a Miltonian cosmic censorship conjecture
• Asymptotic Black Holes
• Quantum Penrose Inequality
• Boundary signature of singularity in the presence of a shock wave
• Critical scalar field collapse in AdS_3: an analytic approach
• Gravitational collapse in SYK models and Choptuik-like phenomenon
• Quantum Information Bound on the Energy
• Universal definition of the non-conformal trace anomaly
• Critical collapse of a massive vector field
• Approximately self-similar critical collapse in 2+1 dimensions
• Generalized Virasoro anomaly and stress tensor for dilaton coupled theories
• Semiclassical gravity effects near horizon formation
• Islands in Non-Minimal Dilaton Gravity: Exploring Effective Theories for Black Hole Evaporation
• Gravitational collapse of quantum fields and Choptuik scaling
• Model for Quantum Effects in Stellar Collapse
• Simulations of gravitational collapse in null coordinates: II. Critical collapse of an axisymmetric scalar field
• Gravitational collapse with quantum fields
• The naked singularity in the global structure of critical collapse spacetimes
• A note on spherically symmetric naked singularities in general dimension
• Black hole formation from a complete regular past
• Semiclassical gravitational collapse of a radially symmetric massless scalar quantum field
• String Theory in a Pinch: Resolving the Gregory-Laflamme Singularity
• Effective Action and Hawking Flux from Covariant Perturbation Theory
• Critical behavior of gravitating sphalerons
• Criticality in the collapse of spherically symmetric massless scalar fields in semi-classical loop quantum gravity
• Comment on `An extreme critical space-time: echoing and black-hole perturbations'
• Holographic Signatures of Critical Collapse
• Kinematics of discretely self-similar spherically symmetric spacetimes
• Boulware Vacuum vs. Regularity: Thoughts on Anomaly-Induced Effective Action
• The renormalized stress-energy tensor for scalar fields in the Boulware state with applications to extremal black holes
• IR Renormalisation of General Effective Actions and Hawking Flux in 2D Gravity Theories
• The large D effective theory of black strings in AdS
• Quantum censors: backreaction builds horizons
• Vacuum polarization for varying quantum scalar field parameters in Schwarzschild-anti-de Sitter spacetime
• Self-Similar Gravitational Dynamics, Singularities and Criticality in 2D
• Hybrid imploding scalar and ads spacetime
• Black Hole Critical Collapse in Infinite Dimensions: Continuous Self-Similar Solutions
• Twisted Self-Similarity and the Einstein Vacuum Equations
• Asymptotic States of Black Holes in KMY Model
• Gravitational collapse of a spherical scalar field
• Vacuum axisymmetric gravitational collapse revisited: preliminary investigation
• A scenario for critical scalar field collapse in $Ad{S}_3$
• Quantum fields on self-similar spacetimes
• Comment on `Critical scalar field collapse in AdS${}_3$: an analytical approach'

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Quantum Critical Collapse Abhors a Naked Singularity
• Critical spacetime crystals in continuous dimensions
• The Fate of Nucleated Black Holes in de Sitter Quantum Gravity
• Quantum fields in boson star spacetime