Dynamics of radiating stars in the strong gravity regime.
Date
2017
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Abstract
We model the dynamics of a spherically symmetric radiating dynamical star, emitting
outgoing null radiation, with three spacetime regions. The local internal atmosphere
is a two-component system consisting of standard pressure-free, null radiation and an
additional string
fluid with energy density and nonzero pressure obeying all physically
realistic energy conditions. The middle region is purely radiative which matches to
a third region which is the Schwarzschild exterior. A large family of solutions to the
field equations are presented for various realistic equations of state. A comparison of
our solutions with earlier well known results is undertaken and we show that all these
solutions, including those of Husain, are contained in our family. We then generalise
our class of solutions to higher dimensions and consider the effects of diffusive transport
We also study the gravitational collapse in the context of the cosmic censorship
conjecture. We outline the general mathematical framework to study the conditions on
the mass function so that future directed nonspacelike geodesics can terminate at the
singularity in the past. Mass functions for several equations of state are analysed using
this framework and it is shown that the collapse in each case terminates at a locally
naked central singularity. These singularities are strong curvature singularities which
implies that no extension of spacetime through them is possible. These results are then
extended to modified gravity. We establish the result that the standard Boulware-Deser
spacetime can radiate. This allows us to model the dynamics of a spherically symmetric
radiating dynamical star in ve-dimensional Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity with
three spacetime regions. Finally, the junction conditions are derived entirely in five dimensional
Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity via the matching of two spacetime region
leading to a model for a radiating star in higher order gravity.
Description
Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Mathematics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2017.