CMSA General Relativity: Schwarzschild-like Topological Solitons in Gravity

SEMINARS, CMSA EVENTS

Speaker:

Pierre Heidmann - Johns Hopkins

We present large classes of non-extremal solitons in gravity that are asymptotic to four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime plus extra compact dimensions. They correspond to smooth horizonless geometries induced by topology in spacetime and supported by electromagnetic flux, which characterize coherent states of quantum gravity. We discuss a new approach to deal with Einstein-Maxwell equations in more than four dimensions, such that they decompose into a set of Ernst equations. We generate the solitons by applying different techniques associated with the Ernst formalism. We focus on solitons with zero net charge yet supported by flux, and compare them to Schwarzschild black holes. These are also ultra-compact geometries with very high redshift but differ in many aspects. At the end of the talk, we discuss the stability properties of the solitons and their gravitational signatures.

This seminar will be held over Zoom. For more information on how to join, please see: https://cmsa.fas.harvard.edu/event/general-relativity-2021-22/