Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 54 3 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For an asymptotically flat spacetime with a chosen exterior component of future null infinity, the black-hole region isnamely the events from which no future-directed causal curve can reach that infinity. Here is the infinity of the original exterior.
Let a future causal tangent in the Ingoing Eddington-Finkelstein coordinates have components . Its inner product with the future null field is , so . The causal inequality isIf , this impliesIn the band , , so . If , the causal inequality forces , and future direction means the remaining radial tangent is a nonnegative multiple of , again giving . This is causal trapping between two spherical horizons: is nonincreasing along every future causal curve in the between-horizon band. No event there can escape outward. An event with would also have to cross this band outward to reach the original exterior, which is impossible. Thus all events in this extension lie in the black-hole region.
Conversely, from any point, the outgoing radial null ray satisfies . It reaches arbitrarily large and then the original future null infinity. Therefore the exterior does not intersect the black-hole region, and is its event horizon. This conclusion is relative to the selected asymptotic end; the maximal charged-black-hole extension can have other asymptotic ends.