On algebraically special perturbations of black holes

Abstract

Algebraically special perturbations of black holes excite gravitational waves that are either purely ingoing or purely outgoing. Solutions, appropriate to such perturbations of the Kerr, the Schwarzschild, and the Reissner-Nordstrom black-holes, are obtained in explicit forms by different methods. The different methods illustrate the remarkable inner relations among different facets of the mathematical theory. In the context of the Kerr black-hole they derive from the different ways in which the explicit value of the Starobinsky constant emerges, and in the context of the Schwarzschild and the Reissner-Nordstrom black-holes they derive from the potential barriers surrounding them belonging to a special class.