Anti-deSitter gravitational collapse

Abstract

We describe a formalism for studying spherically symmetric collapse of the massless scalar field in any spacetime dimension, and for any value of the cosmological constant $Λ$. The formalism is used for numerical simulations of gravitational collapse in four spacetime dimensions with negative $Λ$. We observe critical behaviour at the onset of black hole formation, and find that the critical exponent is independent of $Λ$.