Abstract
It has been argued that, starting with a slightly subextremal Kerr black hole instead of an extremal one, it is possible to overspin a black hole past the extremal limit and turn it into a naked singularity by sending test bodies, if one neglects radiative and self-force effects. In this work we show that (i) an extremal Kerr black hole cannot be overspun as a result of the interaction with massless integer-spin test fields (scalar, electromagnetic, or gravitational), (ii) overspinning can be achieved if we start with a nearly extremal black hole instead, and (iii) for the scalar field, the argument applies to more general black holes, and also allows use of a more general field configuration. Our analysis also neglects radiative and self-force effects.
- Received 30 April 2013
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.88.064043
© 2013 American Physical Society