Past exam of the general relativity course of the University of Oxford 2021 2 a ii Solution 2026-10-25
No, for steady rotation of the uniform sphere. Its mass quadrupole moment is zero by spherical symmetry; its rotating mass current is stationary when the rotation axis and rate are fixed. A stationary source does not emit gravitational waves. Rotation by itself is insufficient: a time-dependent nonaxisymmetric distribution, or another changing radiative multipole moment, is required. The conclusion concerns a sphere with the stated constant density and steady motion, rather than a deformed or time-varying rotator.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 52 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
An isolated uncharged collapsing star initially has higher multipole moments and possibly time-dependent motion. The changing exterior emits gravitational waves, carrying away energy and nonspherical structure. Perturbations of the final black hole decay, so the late exterior is expected to approach a stationary spacetime.
Under the regularity, asymptotic flatness, and connected-horizon hypotheses of the black-hole uniqueness theorem, a stationary four-dimensional vacuum black hole is a Kerr black hole. Since the electric charge is zero, its intrinsic parameters areThe black-hole no-hair theorem expresses the loss of independently specifiable higher multipoles: those of the final Kerr black hole are determined by . The direction of the rotation axis can be chosen by orienting the coordinates and is not an additional intrinsic parameter of the geometry.
This is a statement about the settled, isolated exterior in classical general relativity, conditional on settling and the hypotheses of the black-hole uniqueness theorem. It does not describe the entire radiating collapse spacetime with only two numbers, nor does it extend unchanged to additional long-range matter fields.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 311 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
An isolated collapse emits transient matter and gravitational waves. The exterior is expected to settle to an asymptotically flat stationary spacetime. Because the star is uncharged, the black-hole uniqueness theorem identifies the regular final state with a Kerr black hole. Its higher multipole moments are fixed by its conserved charges: the black-hole no-hair theorem leaves only the total mass and angular momentum . Thus the late-time spacetime is characterized by and .
The prescribed surface charge density is that of a uniformly polarized sphere and has zero total charge because . Its electric dipole moment at isThe transverse components cancel by axisymmetry, while the component isThusThe angular surface distribution is a pure degree-one spherical harmonic. Hence its static external electric potential is exactly that of this dipole, with no higher electric multipole moments; it is not an assertion that the potential inside the finite sphere equals a singular point-dipole potential.
For right-handed uniform rotation about , the rigidly attached dipole isConsequently is constant. The electric dipole radiation formula givesThere is no extra factor of one-half: the squared sine and cosine contributions of the two perpendicular oscillating components sum to one. This is the leading electric-dipole approximation for radiation, requiring and observation in the radiation zone. The stated permanent surface distribution is interpreted as the actual charge producing the given external dipole; adding another dielectric screening factor would contradict the dipole moment the question asks to establish. The relative permittivity enters the induced-polarization problem in part (d), not this prescribed total dipole moment.