In
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
, the distorted Schwarzschild metric is the metric of a standard/isolated
Schwarzschild spacetime
Schwarzschild () is a German surnameIt is likely to be misspelled and/or mispronounced by native English speakers, particularly involving failure to grasp that
* German ''sch'' (at the beginning of ''each'' of the two syllables) is pronounced as E ...
exposed in external fields. In numerical simulation, the Schwarzschild metric can be distorted by almost arbitrary kinds of external
energy–momentum distribution. However, in exact analysis, the mature method to distort the standard Schwarzschild metric is restricted to the framework of
Weyl metrics In general relativity, the Weyl metrics (named after the German-American mathematician Hermann Weyl) are a class of ''static'' and ''axisymmetric'' solutions to Einstein's field equation. Three members in the renowned Kerr–Newman family solution ...
.
Standard Schwarzschild as a vacuum Weyl metric
All static axisymmetric solutions of the
Einstein–Maxwell equations
In the general theory of relativity, the Einstein field equations (EFE; also known as Einstein's equations) relate the geometry of spacetime to the distribution of matter within it.
The equations were published by Einstein in 1915 in the form ...
can be written in the form of Weyl's metric,
[Jeremy Bransom Griffiths, Jiri Podolsky. ''Exact Space-Times in Einstein's General Relativity''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Chapter 10.]
From the Weyl perspective, the metric potentials generating the standard
Schwarzschild solution
In Einstein's theory of general relativity, the Schwarzschild metric (also known as the Schwarzschild solution) is an
exact solution to the Einstein field equations that describes the gravitational field outside a spherical mass, on the assumpti ...
are given by
[R Gautreau, R B Hoffman, A Armenti. ''Static multiparticle systems in general relativity''. IL NUOVO CIMENTO B, 1972, 7(1): 71–98.]
:
where
:
which yields the Schwarzschild metric in ''Weyl's canonical coordinates'' that
:
Weyl-distortion of Schwarzschild's metric
Vacuum Weyl spacetimes (such as Schwarzschild) respect the following field equations,
:
:
:
:
where
is the
Laplace operator
In mathematics, the Laplace operator or Laplacian is a differential operator given by the divergence of the gradient of a scalar function on Euclidean space. It is usually denoted by the symbols \nabla\cdot\nabla, \nabla^2 (where \nabla is the ...
.
Derivation of vacuum field equations. The vacuum Einstein's equation reads
, which yields Eqs(5.a)-(5.c).
Moreover, the supplementary relation
implies Eq(5.d). End derivation.
Eq(5.a) is the ''linear''
Laplace's equation
In mathematics and physics, Laplace's equation is a second-order partial differential equation named after Pierre-Simon Laplace, who first studied its properties. This is often written as
\nabla^2\! f = 0 or \Delta f = 0,
where \Delta = \nab ...
; that is to say, linear combinations of given solutions are still its solutions. Given two solutions
to Eq(5.a), one can construct a new solution via
and the other metric potential can be obtained by
:
Let
and
, while
and
refer to a second set of Weyl metric potentials. Then,
constructed via
Eqs(6)(7) leads to the superposed Schwarzschild-Weyl metric
:
With the transformations
:
:
one can obtain the superposed Schwarzschild metric in the usual
coordinates,
:
The superposed metric Eq(10) can be regarded as the standard Schwarzschild metric distorted by external Weyl sources. In the absence of distortion potential
, Eq(10) reduces to the standard Schwarzschild metric
:
Weyl-distorted Schwarzschild solution in spherical coordinates
Similar to the
exact vacuum solutions to Weyl's metric in
spherical coordinates, we also have
series solutions to Eq(10). The distortion potential
in Eq(10) is given by the
multipole expansion
A multipole expansion is a mathematical series representing a function that depends on angles—usually the two angles used in the spherical coordinate system (the polar and azimuthal angles) for three-dimensional Euclidean space, \R^3. Similarly ...
[Terry Pilkington, Alexandre Melanson, Joseph Fitzgerald, Ivan Booth. "Trapped and marginally trapped surfaces in Weyl-distorted Schwarzschild solutions". ''Classical and Quantum Gravity'', 2011, 28(12): 125018]
arXiv:1102.0999v2[gr-qc]
/ref>
: with
where
:
denotes the Legendre polynomials
In physical science and mathematics, Legendre polynomials (named after Adrien-Marie Legendre, who discovered them in 1782) are a system of complete and orthogonal polynomials, with a vast number of mathematical properties, and numerous applicat ...
and are multipole
A multipole expansion is a Series (mathematics), mathematical series representing a Function (mathematics), function that depends on angles—usually the two angles used in the spherical coordinate system (the polar and Azimuth, azimuthal angles) f ...
coefficients. The other potential is
: