Kerr-AdS Black Holes and Force-Free Magnetospheres

Abstract

We obtain analogs of the Blandford-Znajek split monopole solution for force-free magnetospheres around a slowly rotating Kerr-AdS black hole. For small black holes, we find an analytic solution to first order in the ratio of horizon radius to AdS scale, $r_H/l$, which exhibits a radial Poynting flux and for $r_H/l \rightarrow 0$ smoothly approaches the Blandford-Znajek configuration in an asymptotically flat Kerr background. However, for large Kerr-AdS black holes with $r_H/l > 1$, namely those for which the bulk black hole holographically describes the thermodynamics of a strongly-interacting boundary field theory, the existence of a globally well-defined timelike Killing vector external to the horizon suggests the absence of energy extraction through the Blandford-Znajek process. In this regime, we find that at least for slow rotation the force-free solution still exists but exhibits a range of angular velocities for the field lines, corresponding to the freedom in the dual field theory to rotate a magnetic field through a neutral plasma. As a byproduct of this work, we also obtain an analytic solution for a rotating monopole magnetosphere in pure AdS, analogous to the Michel solution in flat space.