Physics Master of Science Thesis Defense by Zachary P. Pereira
SENG 306
Dr. David Kagan
david.kagan@umassd.edu
Abstract:
Black holes stand among the most profound predictions of general relativity, yet their conventional interiors introduce unresolved conceptual difficulties and deep paradoxes. Recent work by Tzanavaris, Boyle, and Turok has proposed the black mirror as a CPT-symmetric alternative to the standard black-hole geometry. In the stationary construction, the conventional interior is replaced by a second CPT-related exterior region, with the two exteriors joined at the horizon. Although the stationary black-mirror geometry can be constructed explicitly, its extension to gravitational collapse remains conjectural.
This thesis investigates a possible dynamical realization of the black-mirror by using the Vaidya spacetime as a model of spherical gravitational accretion. We construct and analyze a two-sheeted, CPT-related geometry in which the exterior regions of a black hole are joined at the evolving apparent horizon and examine how the stationary black-mirror structure generalizes as the mass evolves time-dependently. Particular attention in this approach is given to the consistency of the proposed matching, the recovery of the stationary Schwarzschild limit, and the new geometric features introduced by a moving mirror. More broadly, this work explores whether CPT-symmetric two-exterior geometries can offer a viable alternative description of dynamical black-hole spacetimes without the need to introduce a conventional black-hole interior. In this way, the dynamical black-mirror framework emerges as a promising avenue for confronting some of the longstanding theoretical challenges associated with the conventional black-hole picture.
ADVISOR(s): Dr. David Kagan, Department of Physics, (David.kagan@umassd.edu)
COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Dr. Robert Fisher, Department of Physics
Dr. Jay Wang, Department of Physics
NOTE: All PHY Graduate Students are ENCOURAGED to attend.