On the equations governing the perturbations of the Schwarzschild black hole

Abstract

A coherent self-contained account of the equations governing the perturbations of the Schwarzschild black hole is given. In particular, the relations between the equations of Bardeen & Press, of Zerilli and of Regge & Wheeler are explicitly established. The equations governing the perturbations of the vacuum Schwarzschild metric - the Schwarzschild black hole-have been the subject of many investigations (Regge & Wheeler 1957; Vishveshwara 1970; Edelstein & Vishveshwara 1970; Zerilli 1970 a, b ; Fackerell 1971; Bardeen & Press 1972; Friedman 1973). Nevertheless, there continues to be some elements of mystery shrouding the subject. Thus, Zerilli (1970a) showed that the equations governing the perturbation, properly analysed into spherical harmonics (belonging to the different l values) and with a time dependence iot , can be reduced to a one dimensional Schrodinger equation of the form