TPPC weekly seminar (in-person): Marica Minucci - "A Spacetime Interpretation of the Confluent Heun Functions in Black Hole Perturbation Theory"

Wednesday 19 Feb 2025, 12:30 → 13:45 Europe/London

Title: A Spacetime Interpretation of the Confluent Heun Functions in Black Hole Perturbation Theory

 

Abstract: In Black Hole Perturbation Theory (BHPT), confluent Heun functions arise as solutions to the radial Teukolsky equation, which governs the dynamics of perturbations in black hole spacetimes. While much of the focus has been on their analytic properties, their connection to the spacetime geometry itself has not been fully explored. In this talk, I will present a spacetime interpretation of the confluent Heun functions, showing how their behaviour near their singular points reflects the structure of key surfaces in Kerr spacetimes. By interpreting homotopic transformations of these functions as changes in the spacetime foliation, I will draw connections between these solutions and various regions of the black hole's global structure. Additionally, I will explore the relationship between these functions and the hyperboloidal formulation of the Teukolsky equation.