CAN GRAVITATIONAL COLLAPSE SUSTAIN SINGULARITY-FREE TRAPPED SURFACES?

In singularity-generating space–times both the outgoing and the ingoing expansions of null geodesic congruences θ+ and θ- should become increasingly negative without bound, inside the horizon. This behavior leads to geodetic incompleteness, which in turn predicts the existence of a singularity. In this work we inquire whether, in gravitational collapse, space–time can sustain singularity-free trapped surfaces, in the sense that such a space–time remains geodetically complete. As a test case, we consider a type D space–time of Dymnikova which is Schwarzschild-like at large distances and consists of a fluid with a p = -ρ equation of state near r = 0. By following both the expansion parameters θ+ and θ- across the horizon and into the black hole, we find that both θ+ and θ+θ- have turning points inside the trapped region. Further, we find that deep inside the black hole there is a region, 0 ≤ r < r0 (which includes the black hole center), which is not trapped. Thus the trapped region is bounded from both outside and inside. The space–time is geodetically complete, a result which violates a condition for singularity formation. It is inferred that, in general, if gravitational collapse were to proceed with a p =-ρ fluid formation, the resulting black hole might be singularity-free. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]