Numerical simulation of a possible counterexample to cosmic censorship

Abstract

A numerical simulation is presented here of the evolution of initial data of the kind that was conjectured by Hertog, Horowitz and Maeda to be a violation of cosmic censorship. That initial data is essentially a thick domain wall connecting two regions of anti-deSitter space. The initial data has a free parameter that is the initial size of the wall. The simulation shows no violation of cosmic censorship, but rather the formation of a small black hole. The simulation described here is for a moderate wall size and leaves open the possibility that cosmic censorship might be violated for larger walls.