Two-Sided Gravitational Mirror: Sealing off Curvature Singularities

Abstract

A gravitational mirror is a non-singular finite redshift surface which bounces all incident null geodesics. While a white mirror (outward bouncing) resembles 't Hooft's brick wall, a black mirror (inward bouncing) offers a novel mechanism for sealing off curvature singularities. The geometry underlying a two-sided mirror is characterized by a single signature change, to be contrasted with the signature flip which governs the black hole geometry. To demonstrate the phenomenon analytically, we derive an exact, static, radially symmetric, two-sided mirror solution, which asymptotes the massless BTZ black hole background, and then probe the local structure of a massive mirror.