EVOLUTION OF SCALAR-FIELD PERTURBATIONS INSIDE A KERR BLACK-HOLE - ART. NO. 084016

We analyze the evolution of an axially symmetric, linear, massless sca lar field inside a Kerr black hole. The initial data we assume corresp ond to incident inverse-power tails at the event horizon. Using the la te-time expansion, we obtain the asymptotic behavior near the Cauchy h orizon (CH). We find that at the early portion of the CH the scaler fi eld is dominated by inverse powers of the Eddington-like coordinates E r and v, with the same power index as the ingoing perturbations at the event horizon. We also calculate the two leading-order coefficients i n the expansion in 1/u and 1/v near the CH, which may be interpreted a s the transmission and reflection coefficients for the internal scatte ring problem. [S0556-2821(98)01516-1].