Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 311 3 iv Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Given an asymptotically flat spacetime with a conformal completion and future null infinity , its black hole region isThe event horizon is its boundary. For the magnetically charged dilaton black hole, first assume . The physical asymptotic component has , and the ingoing chart extends regularly across . Its future ingoing null direction is . For ,Hence is future timelike. Every nonzero future causal tangent satisfies . A future causal curve from this interior can neither cross back to nor reach the asymptotic end , so it cannot reach . It lies in .
This proof uses the future black-hole extension. The radial interval alone does not distinguish it from the past white hole interior of the maximal extension; that interior has the same interval and can send signals to infinity. Thus the statement needs this future-component qualification if the maximal spacetime is intended.
The Kretschmann scalar confirms that is a genuine curvature singularity: for , its numerator at is , andFor it instead reduces to . Since on approaching the singularity from the interior, the singularity is spacelike. At the curvature is finite.
For the maximal extension, take , in the right exterior and continue analytically across the horizons. ThenThe singularity is and the horizons are and . Rescaling the null coordinates by the square root of this positive constant before arctangent compactification produces the usual qualitative Penrose diagram of Schwarzschild spacetime: two exteriors, a future black-hole region, a past white-hole region, and future and past spacelike singularities. The dashed lines below are the horizon branches; only the future interior is the black-hole region.
Radial effective potential
. If , the physical domain remains , but now throughout it. The apparent zero is beyond the curvature singularity and is not an accessible horizon. The singularity is timelike, and outgoing radial null rays with escape to infinity from arbitrarily near it. ThusThe excluded equality is a singular limiting case, not a regular horizon. These facts describe the causal structure of the magnetic dilaton black hole.
