Black-hole—scalar-field interactions in spherical symmetry

Abstract

We examine the interactions of a black hole with a massless scalar field using a coordinate system which extends ingoing Eddington-Finkelstein coordinates to dynamic spherically-symmetric spacetimes. We avoid problems with the singularity by excising the region of the black-hole interior to the apparent horizon. We use a second-order finite difference scheme to solve the equations. The resulting program is stable and convergent and will run forever without problems. We are able to observe quasinormal ringing and power-law tails as well as an interesting nonlinear feature.