Author's Department/Program
Physics
Language
English (en)
Date of Award
January 2009
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Chair and Committee
Wai-Mo Suen
Abstract
Critical phenomena in gravitational collapse opened a new mathematical vista into the theory of general relativity and may ultimately entail fundamental physical implication in the astrophysical realm, especially in gravitational collapse scenarios. However, at present, the dynamics of critical phenomena in realistic astrophysical gravitational collapse scenarios are still largely unknown. My thesis seeks to understand the properties of the neutron star critical solution, understand the properties of the threshold in the solution space of the Einstein field equations between the black hole and a neutron star phases, and clarify the implication these results on realistic astrophysical scenarios. We develop a new set of neutron star-like initial data to establish the universality of the neutron star critical solution and analyze the structure of neutron star and neutron star-like critical collapses via the framework of phase spaces. We also study the different time scales involved in the neutron star critical solution and analyze the properties of the critical index via comparisons between neutron star and neutron star-like initial data. Finally, we explore the boundary of the attraction basin of the neutron star critical solution and its transition to a known set of non-critical fixed points.
Recommended Citation
Wan, Mew-Bing, "Properties of Neutron Star Critical Collapses" (2009). All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs). 366.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd/366
Comments
Permanent URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7936/K7B56GTW