Model for gravitational collapse in effective quantum gravity

Abstract

We describe a non-perturbative approach to studying the gravitational collapse of a scalar field in spherical symmetry with quantum gravity corrections. Quantum effects are described by a phase space function that modifies the constraints of general relativity but does not affect the closure of their algebra. The model may be viewed as one that incorporates a class of anomaly-free quantum gravity effects. Numerical simulations of the resulting field equations show that the model reproduces known classical results for sufficiently massive initial data but gives a dramatic change at the threshold of black hole formation characterized by oscillations and a mass gap.