Nonradial stability of topological stars

Abstract

Topological stars are regular, horizonless solitons arising from dimensional compactification of Einstein-Maxwell theory in five dimensions, which could describe qualitative properties of microstate geometries for astrophysical black holes. They also provide a compelling realization of ultracompact objects arising from a well-defined theory and display all the phenomenological features typically associated with black hole mimickers, including a (stable) photon sphere, long-lived quasinormal modes, and echoes in the ringdown. By completing a thorough linear stability analysis, we provide strong numerical evidence that these solutions are stable against nonradial perturbations with zero Kaluza-Klein momentum.