NAME

STUDENT ID
Classical Black Holes 2021-12-28
EMAIL Exercise 03. Hypersurfaces and Horizons

1 Null Hypersurfaces
1.1 Null Hypersurface in Eddington-Finkelstein coordinates
Complete the demonstration to show that the surface r = 2M in the Schwarzschild manifold with Eddington-
Finkelstein coordinates is null.

1.2 Null Hypersurface in Kruskal coordinates

Complete the demonstration to show that the surface U = 0 in Kruskal manifold is null.

2 Killing Horizons
2.1 Killing Horizon of a General Spherically Symmetric Metric
Take the most general spherically symmetric metric in 4-dimensional spacetime and assume stationarity, i.e.
the existence of a Killing vector which in adapted coordinates (t, r, , ) with their standard meaning, is given by
∂t . Calculate the norm of this Killing vector and discuss under which conditions the Killing vector is timelike,
spacelike and lightlike.
A locus r = const where the Killing norm has a zero is known as “Killing horizon”. How many Killing horizons
can exist for a given metric? Apply your results to the Schwarzschild metric, show that there is exactly one
Killing horizon and find in particular the radius of the Killing horizon in terms of the mass of the black hole.

2.2 Killing Observer

Take the Schwarzschild metric and place observers in the spacetime such that their feet touch the Schwarzschild
radius and their head is 1.7 m. away from the Schwarzschild radius. Calculate the force difference per mass
(a.k.a. relative acceleration) between head and feet that stretches the observer for
• a 10 solar mass black hole

• a supermassive galactic black hole with 108 solar masses

• a black hole with the mass of the observable Universe.
Who will survive and who will get killed? [You may assume that the observers can survive maximally up to
“100g”.] Compare with the relative acceleration that would act on the same observers on the surface of the
Earth.

2.3 Surface Gravity Definition

You have learned that a measure for the acceleration of a static particle near a Killing horizon as measured at
spatial infinity is given by surface gravity κ, defined by the equation

ξ ν ∇ν ξ µ = κξ µ (1)

where ξ is the Killing vector that becomes null at the horizon H.

Show that this relation is equivalent to
1
κ2 = − (∇µ ξν )(∇µ ξ ν )|H . (2)
2

1
2.4 Surface Gravity
Consider a static spherically symmetric line-element

dr2
ds2 = −K(r)dt2 + + r2 dΩ2 (3)
K(r)

where the function K(r) is chosen such that it has at least one zero in the range of definition of r. Then the
Killing vector ξ = ∂t has at least one Killing horizon H. Show that surface gravity is given by

1 dK 
κ= . (4)
2 dr H

Check what you get for surface gravity of the Schwarzschild black hole. When does surface gravity vanish (in
general and for Schwarzschild)?