On the invariant causal characterization of singularities in spherically symmetric spacetimes

Abstract

The causal character of singularities is often studied in relation to the existence of naked singularities and the subsequent possible violation of the cosmic censorship conjecture. Generally, one constructs a model in the framework of general relativity described in some specific coordinates and finds an ad hoc procedure to analyze the character of the singularity. In this paper, we show that the causal character of the zero-areal-radius (R = 0) singularity in spherically symmetric models is related to some specific invariants. In this way, if some assumptions are satisfied, one can ascertain the causal character of the singularity algorithmically through the computation of these invariants and, therefore, independent of the coordinates used in the model.