Events

Violation of the Third Law of Black Hole Mechanics in Vacuum Gravity

We demonstrate numerically the existence of solutions of five-dimensional vacuum gravity describing the
formation, in finite time, of an extremal rotating black hole from a pre-existing Schwarzschild black hole.
This is the first example of a violation of the third law of black hole mechanics in vacuum gravity and
demonstrates that the third law is false independently of any matter model. We also demonstrate the
existence of solutions describing the formation, in finite time, of an extremal rotating black hole from
vacuum initial data that does not contain a black hole.

Monday, September 28, 2026 11:00 AM

Inperson
BHI Conference Room

Virtual
Zoom