TESTS OF COSMIC CENSORSHIP IN THE ERNST SPACETIME

The Ernst spacetime is a solution of the Einstein-Maxwell equations de scribing two charged black holes accelerating apart in a uniform elect ric (or magnetic) field. As the field approaches a critical value, the black hole horizon appears to touch the acceleration horizon. We show that weak cosmic censorship cannot be violated by increasing the fiel d past this critical value: The event horizon remains intact.-On the o ther hand, strong cosmic censorship does appear to be violated in this spacetime: For a certain range of parameters, we find evidence that t he inner horizon is classically stable.