Domain wall interacting with a black hole: A new example of critical phenomena - art. no. 125008

We study a simple system that comprises all the main features of critical g ravitational collapse, originally discovered by Choptuik and discussed in m any subsequent publications. These features include universality of phenome na, mass-scaling relations, self-similarity, symmetry between supercritical and subcritical solutions, etc. The system we consider is a stationary mem brane (representing a domain wall) in a static gravitational field of a bla ck hole. For a membrane that spreads to infinity, the induced (2+1)-dimensi onal geometry is asymptotically flat. In addition to solutions with Minkows ki topology there exist also solutions with the induced metric and topology of a (2+1)-dimensional black hole. By changing boundary conditions at infi nity one finds that there is a transition between these two families. This transition is critical and it possesses all the above-mentioned properties of critical gravitational collapse. It is remarkable that the characteristi cs of this transition can be obtained analytically. In particular, we find exact analytical expressions for scaling exponents and wiggle periods. Our results indicate that critical phenomena in black hole physics are more wid espread than might have been expected. [S0556-2821(99)06910-6].