Spaghettification: Geometrical & Mathematical Description

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on the geometrical and mathematical description of spaghettification, particularly in relation to black holes and tidal gravity. Key references include Kip Thorne's "Black Holes and Timewarps" and the treatment of the Schwarzschild metric in "Gravitation" by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler (MTW). The phenomenon is characterized by the extreme tidal forces experienced as an object approaches a black hole, with spaghettification occurring outside the event horizon for small black holes and inside for supermassive black holes. Additionally, the discussion highlights the relevance of spaghettification in the formation of Saturn's rings due to the tidal forces acting on moons within the Roche limit.

PREREQUISITES
  • Familiarity with the Schwarzschild metric
  • Understanding of the Riemann tensor
  • Knowledge of tidal gravity and its effects
  • Basic concepts of black hole physics
NEXT STEPS
  • Read Kip Thorne's "Black Holes and Timewarps" for insights on black hole dynamics
  • Study the Schwarzschild metric in detail to understand spaghettification
  • Explore computer simulations of tidal forces and spaghettification phenomena
  • Investigate the mathematical treatment of BKL singularities and their implications
USEFUL FOR

Astrophysicists, graduate students in physics, and anyone interested in the mathematical modeling of black holes and tidal gravity effects.

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Looking for geometrical description / mathematical approach to describe Spaghettification to a given body
Looking for geometrical description / mathematical approach to describe Spaghettification to a given body.
Is there a specific paper (maybe computer simulations) that can serve me to understand in detail the phenomena?
 
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There's a detailed treatment in MTW, for the Schwarzschld metric. But you'll need some familiarity with the Riemann tensor and its interpretation. to follow it It's an A-level approach (graduate level), I supect it's too high but don't see a level on this thread or have any insight.

The interior metric of an actual black hole will be differen than Schwarzschild.. Kip Thorne has a description of what he thinks will happen in one of his books, "Black holes and timewarps".
 
Does it need to be a singularity like a black hole? Saturn's rings are the result of spaghettification of some moon that dropped its orbit within the Roche limit. Of course I can't help you find a simulation of the formation of those rings. The mathematics involved is still quite complex, but probably less so than that of a black hole.
 
Note, for a small BH, spaghetificaction happens well outside the event horizon, while for a supermassive BH it happens only well inside the horizon.
 
Halc said:
Saturn's rings are the result of spaghettification of some moon that dropped its orbit within the Roche limit.

Not really. "Spaghettification" is not just a general term for "any effect of tidal gravity". It's a more specific term that describes what happens when tidal gravity increases without bound as some limit, such as the singularity inside a black hole, is approached.

Some authors use "spaghettification" in an even more specific sense, to mean, not just tidal gravity increasing without bound, but increasingly chaotic oscillations of tidal gravity, of the sort that occur in a BKL singularity.
 
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