Extension of photon surfaces and their area: Static and stationary spacetimes

Abstract

We propose a new concept, the transversely trapping surface (TTS), as an extension of the static photon surface characterizing the strong gravity region of a static/stationary spacetime in terms of photon behavior. The TTS is defined as a static/stationary timelike surface $S$ whose spatial section is a closed two-surface, such that arbitrary photons emitted tangentially to $S$ from arbitrary points on $S$ propagate on or toward the inside of $S$. We study the properties of TTSs for static spacetimes and axisymmetric stationary spacetimes. In particular, the area $A_0$ of a TTS is proved to be bounded as $A_0\le 4\pi(3GM)^2$ under certain conditions, where $G$ is the Newton constant and $M$ is the total mass. The connection between the TTS and the loosely trapped surface proposed by us [arXiv:1701.00564] is also examined.