The Gregory–Laflamme instability (after
Ruth Gregory and
Raymond Laflamme) is a result in
theoretical physics
Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict List of natural phenomena, natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental p ...
which states that certain
black strings and
branes are unstable in dimensions higher than four.
In their seminal papers in 1993 and 1994, Gregory and Laflamme showed that certain branes and
Higher-dimensional Einstein gravity black string solutions in theories of
gravity
In physics, gravity (), also known as gravitation or a gravitational interaction, is a fundamental interaction, a mutual attraction between all massive particles. On Earth, gravity takes a slightly different meaning: the observed force b ...
in higher dimensions
are found to exhibit an instability to small perturbations.
The end point of this instability has been studied to
higher dimensions and a
critical dimension has been found to exist below which the end state of instability is a black hole phase, i.e., for
. Above the critical dimension the instability drives to a non-uniform black ring phase.
References
Gravity
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