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Because the Klein–Gordon and Proca equations involve ℏ , they describe quantum fields. Their solutions, however, may be treated as classical if their typical action obeys S typical ≫ ℏ. This is possible due to their bosonic nature, allowing states with many particles. We show, by generic arguments, that the typical action for such bosonic stars is typical / ℏ ≳ (M max / M Pl ) 2 ∼ 1 0 7 6 (M max / M ⊙) 2 , where M max is the maximal bosonic star mass of the particular model and M Pl is the Planck mass. Thus, for models allowing M max ≫ M Pl and for solutions with mass ∼ M max , the classical treatment is legitimate, which includes masses in the astrophysical interesting range ≳ M ⊙ . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We review recent results on the existence of static black holes (BHs) without spatial isometries in four spacetime dimensions and propose a general framework for their study. These configurations are regular on and outside a horizon of spherical topology. Two different mechanisms allowing for their existence are identified. The first one relies on the presence of a solitonic limit of the BHs; when the solitons have no spatial isometries, the BHs, being a nonlinear bound state between the solitons and a horizon, inherit this property. The second one is related to BH scalarization, and the existence of zero modes of the scalar field without isometries around a spherical horizon. When the zero modes have no spatial isometries, the back-reaction of their nonlinear continuation makes the scalarized BHs inherit the absence of spatial continuous symmetries. A number of general features of the solutions are discussed together with possible generalizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massive bosons in the vicinity of Kerr–Newman black holes can form pure bound states when their phase angular velocity fulfills the synchronization condition, i.e. at the threshold of superradiance. The presence of these stationary clouds at the linear level is intimately linked to the existence of Kerr black holes with synchronized hair at the nonlinear level. These configurations are very similar to the atomic orbitals of the electron in a hydrogen atom. They can be labeled by four quantum numbers: n , the number of nodes in the radial direction; ℓ , the orbital angular momentum; j , the total angular momentum; and m j , the azimuthal total angular momentum. These synchronized configurations are solely allowed for particular values of the black holes mass, angular momentum and electric charge. Such quantization results in an existence surface in the three-dimensional parameter space of Kerr–Newman black holes. The phenomenology of stationary scalar clouds has been widely addressed over the last years. However, there is a gap in the literature concerning their vector cousins. Following the separability of the Proca equation in Kerr(–Newman) spacetime, this paper explores and compares scalar and vector stationary clouds around Kerr and Kerr–Newman black holes, extending previous research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Celebrating the centennial of its first experimental test, the theory of General Relativity (GR) has successfully and consistently passed all subsequent tests with flying colors. It is expected, however, that at certain scales new physics, in particular, in the form of quantum corrections, will emerge, changing some of the predictions of GR, which is a classical theory. In this respect, black holes (BHs) are natural configurations to explore the quantum effects on strong gravitational fields. BH solutions in the low-energy effective field theory description of the heterotic string theory, which is one of the leading candidates to describe quantum gravity, have been the focus of many studies in the last three decades. The recent interest in strong gravitational lensing by BHs, in the wake of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) observations, suggests comparing the BH lensing in both GR and heterotic string theory, in order to assess the phenomenological differences between these models. In this work, we investigate the differences in the shadows of two charged BH solutions with rotation: one arising in the context of GR, namely the Kerr–Newman (KN) solution, and the other within the context of low-energy heterotic string theory, the Kerr–Sen (KS) solution. We show and interpret, in particular, that the stringy BH always has a larger shadow, for the same physical parameters and observation conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We obtain spinning boson star solutions and hairy black holes with synchronized hair in the Einstein–Klein–Gordon model, wherein the scalar field is massive, complex and with a nonminimal coupling to the Ricci scalar. The existence of these hairy black holes in this model provides yet another manifestation of the universality of the synchronization mechanism to endow spinning black holes with hair. We study the variation of the physical properties of the boson stars and hairy black holes with the coupling parameter between the scalar field and the curvature, showing that they are, qualitatively, identical to those in the minimally coupled case. By discussing the conformal transformation to the Einstein frame, we argue that the solutions herein provide new rotating boson star and hairy black hole solutions in the minimally coupled theory, with a particular potential, and that no spherically symmetric hairy black hole solutions exist in the nonminimally coupled theory, under a condition of conformal regularity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For an observer, the Black Hole (BH) shadow is the BHs apparent image in the sky due to the gravitational lensing of nearby radiation, emitted by an external source. A recent class of solutions dubbed Kerr BHs with scalar hair possess smaller shadows than the corresponding Kerr BHs and, under some conditions, novel exotic shadow shapes can arise. Thus, these hairy BHs could potentially provide new shadow templates for future experiments such as the Event Horizon Telescope. In order to obtain the shadows, the backward ray-tracing algorithm is briefly introduced, followed by numerical examples of shadows of Kerr BHs with scalar hair contrasting with the Kerr analogues. Additionally, an analytical solution for the Kerr shadow is derived in closed form for a ZAMO observer at an arbitrary position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-interacting boson stars (BSs) have been shown to alleviate the astrophysically low maximal mass of their nonself-interacting counterparts. We report some physical features of spinning self-interacting BSs, namely their compactness, the occurrence of ergo-regions and the scalar field profiles, for a sample of values of the coupling parameter. The results agree with the general picture that these BSs are comparatively less compact than the nonself-interacting ones. We also briefly discuss the effect of scalar self-interactions on the properties of Kerr black holes with scalar hair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We review recent progress in the application of numerical relativity techniques to astrophysics and high-energy physics. We focus on recent developments regarding the spin evolution in black hole binaries, high-energy black hole collisions, compact object solutions in scalar-tensor gravity, superradiant instabilities, hairy black hole solutions in Einstein's gravity coupled to fundamental fields, and the possibility to gain insight into these phenomena using analog gravity models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kerr black holes (BHs) have their angular momentum, , bounded by their mass, : . There are, however, known BH solutions violating this Kerr bound. We propose a very simple universal bound on the rotation, rather than on the angular momentum, of four-dimensional, stationary and axisymmetric, asymptotically flat BHs, given in terms of an appropriately defined horizon linear velocity, . The bound is simply that cannot exceed the velocity of light. We verify the bound for known BH solutions, including some that violate the Kerr bound, and conjecture that only extremal Kerr BHs saturate the bound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the status of black hole (BH) solutions with nontrivial scalar fields but no gauge fields, in four-dimensional asymptotically flat spacetimes, reviewing both classical results and recent developments. We start by providing a simple illustration on the physical difference between BHs in electro-vacuum and scalar-vacuum. Next, we review no-scalar-hair theorems. In particular, we detail an influential theorem by Bekenstein and stress three key assumptions: (1) The type of scalar field equation; (2) the spacetime symmetry inheritance by the scalar field and (3) an energy condition. Then, we list regular (on and outside the horizon), asymptotically flat BH solutions with scalar hair, organizing them by the assumption which is violated in each case and distinguishing primary from secondary hair. We provide a table summary of the state-of-the-art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss stationary bound states, a.k.a. clouds, for a massless test scalar field around Kerr black holes (BHs) and spinning acoustic BH analogues. In view of the absence of a mass term, the trapping is achieved via enclosing the BH - scalar field system in a cavity and imposing Dirichlet or Neumann boundary conditions. We discuss the variation of these bounds states with the discrete parameters that label them, as well as their spatial distribution, complementing results in our previous work [C. L. Benone, L. C. B. Crispino, C. Herdeiro and E. Radu, Phys. Rev. D 91 (2015) 104038]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show that scalar hair can be added to rotating, vacuum black holes (BHs) of general relativity. These hairy black holes (HBHs) clarify a lingering question concerning gravitational solitons: Whether a BH can be added at the centre of a boson star (BS), as it typically can for other solitons. We argue that it can, but only if it is spinning. The existence of such HBHs is related to the Kerr superradiant instability triggered by a massive scalar field. This connection leads to the following conjecture: a ( hairless) BH, which is afflicted by the superradiant instability of a given field, must allow hairy generalizations with that field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We summarize the gravito-electromagnetic analogy based on tidal tensors. This analogy leads to an exact and fully general form for the gravitational analogues of Maxwell's equations, which allows for a transparent comparison between the two interactions. Special cases of matching between gravitational and electromagnetic tidal tensors are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe the Casimir effect of a free scalar field coupled to gravity on an n + 1-dimensional Einstein Static Universe (ESU), with arbitrary low energy effective operators (up to mass dimension n + 1). We discuss the variation of the effect from attractive to repulsive and some possible physical consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]