Stationary scalar and vector clouds around Kerr–Newman black holes

Abstract

Massive bosons in the vicinity of Kerr–Newman black holes can form pure bound states when their phase angular velocity fulfills the synchronization condition, i.e. at the threshold of superradiance. The presence of these stationary clouds at the linear level is intimately linked to the existence of Kerr black holes with synchronized hair at the nonlinear level. These configurations are very similar to the atomic orbitals of the electron in a hydrogen atom. They can be labeled by four quantum numbers: [Formula: see text], the number of nodes in the radial direction; [Formula: see text], the orbital angular momentum; [Formula: see text], the total angular momentum; and [Formula: see text], the azimuthal total angular momentum. These synchronized configurations are solely allowed for particular values of the black holes mass, angular momentum and electric charge. Such quantization results in an existence surface in the three-dimensional parameter space of Kerr–Newman black holes. The phenomenology of stationary scalar clouds has been widely addressed over the last years. However, there is a gap in the literature concerning their vector cousins. Following the separability of the Proca equation in Kerr(–Newman) spacetime, this paper explores and compares scalar and vector stationary clouds around Kerr and Kerr–Newman black holes, extending previous research.