Moduli space of stationary vacuum black holes from integrability

Abstract

We consider the classification of asymptotically flat, stationary, vacuum black hole spacetimes in four and five dimensions, that admit one and two commuting axial Killing fields respectively. It is well known that the Einstein equations reduce to a harmonic map on the two-dimensional orbit space, which itself arises as the integrability condition for a linear system of spectral equations. We integrate the Belinski-Zakharov spectral equations along the boundary of the orbit space and use this to fully determine the metric and associated Ernst and twist potentials on the axes and horizons. This is sufficient to derive the moduli space of solutions that are free of conical singularities on the axes, for any given rod structure. As an illustration of this method we obtain constructive uniqueness proofs for the Kerr and Myers-Perry black holes and the known doubly spinning black rings.