Exact solution of a Neumann boundary value problem for the stationary axisymmetric Einstein equations

Abstract

For a stationary and axisymmetric spacetime, the vacuum Einstein field equations reduce to a single nonlinear PDE in two dimensions called the Ernst equation. By solving this equation with a {\it Dirichlet} boundary condition imposed along the disk, Neugebauer and Meinel in the 1990s famously derived an explicit expression for the spacetime metric corresponding to the Bardeen-Wagoner uniformly rotating disk of dust. In this paper, we consider a similar boundary value problem for a rotating disk in which a {\it Neumann} boundary condition is imposed along the disk instead of a Dirichlet condition. Using the integrable structure of the Ernst equation, we are able to reduce the problem to a Riemann-Hilbert problem on a genus one Riemann surface. By solving this Riemann-Hilbert problem in terms of theta functions, we obtain an explicit expression for the Ernst potential. Finally, a Riemann surface degeneration argument leads to an expression for the associated spacetime metric.