A heuristic way of obtaining the Kerr metric

Jorg Enderlein
CST-1, MS M888, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545

~Received 29 August 1996; accepted 11 April 1997!

An intuitive, straightforward way of finding the metric of a rotating black hole is presented, based
on the algebra of differential forms. The representation obtained for the metric displays a simplicity
which is not obvious in the usual BoyerLindquist coordinates. 1997 American Association of Physics
Teachers.

I. INTRODUCTION
The formulation of general relativity by Albert Einstein in
1915 was one of the greatest advances of modern physics. It
describes the dependence of the structure of spacetime on
the distribution of matter, and the converse effect of this
spacetime structure on matter distribution. Despite the
overwhelming clarity of its foundation and the elegance of
its basic equations, it has proved to be very difficult to find
exact analytical solutions of the Einstein equations. Moreover, of all the exact solutions which are known, only a
limited class seem to have a real physical meaning. Among
them are the famous solutions of Schwarzschild and Kerr for
black holes, and the Friedman solution for cosmology. Although the simple solution for a static, spherically symmetric black hole ~static vacuum solution with spherical
symmetry and central singularity! was found by Schwarzschild shortly after Einsteins publication of his equations,
nearly 48 years were to elapse before Kerr1 discovered the
vacuum solution for the stationary axisymmetric rotating
black hole.
Today, there exists a wealth of literature about solving the
Einstein equations and about their solutions. Powerful new
897

Am. J. Phys. 65 ~9!, September 1997

techniques were developed, like the spinor technique of Penrose and Newman,2 or Backlund transformation techniques
~for a review see, for example, Ref. 3!. Despite their great
success in treating the Einstein equations, these methods are
technically complicated and are known mainly to the specialists working in the field. Taking into account the great physical importance of the Kerr solution, it is desirable to have a
more straightforward way of finding it from the vacuum Einstein equations. Although a straightforward but nonetheless
general way for finding the Kerr solution can be found in the
classic work, The Mathematical Theory of Black Holes, by S.
Chandrasekhar,4 we will present here a more heuristic way
of finding this solution, revealing its simplicity and elegance
by using an alternative presentation of its metric. Technically, all calculations will be presented in the language of
differential forms.
II. A HEURISTIC GUESS FOR THE METRIC OF A
ROTATING BLACK HOLE
What we are looking for is the metric of a stationary,
axially symmetric solution of the vacuum Einstein equations.
The term stationary implies that there are no dependen 1997 American Association of Physics Teachers

897

cies of the spacetime structure on time t. Axial symmetry

implies that there is no dependency on the coordinate of
revolution in axially symmetric coordinates. In constructing
a guess for the metric, we will first try to choose an appropriate coordinate presentation of the flat spacetime metric.
This is then modified by the introduction of additional unknown functions, whose form is subsequently determined by
imposing the vacuum Einstein equations. The aim is to look
for a simple guess for the metric of a rotating black hole. To
do this, one can consider the known Schwarzschild solution
of a static black hole and try to generalize it to a possible
metric of a rotating black hole. The Schwarzschild space
time can be thought of as consisting of two-dimensional coordinate surfaces with the 2-metric of spheres ~in Euclidean
three-dimensional space!, but coupled by an unusual radius
functionthe radial distance between two spheres with rar
dial coordinates r 1 and r 2 is not r 2 2r 1 , but * r 2 dr Ag rr ,
1

where g rr is the rr component of the metric. Exactly this,

together with a radius-dependent metric component g tt ,
causes a nonvanishing curvature of the spacetime. What
could be a possible generalization of this spacetime structure giving that of a rotating black hole? From a pure technical point of view, replacing the spheres by rotational ellipsoids is the simplest thing one can try. Both types of surfaces
are described by simple second-order algebraic equations. Of
course, there is no direct physical justification for such a
guess, and the only way to prove its validity will be to solve
the Einstein equations and to find a noncontradictory solution. However, simply replacing the spherical coordinate surfaces is not sufficient for a guess metric. For a rotating black
hole one has to expect the occurrence of nonvanishing offdiagonal metric components ~in a coordinate basis!, coupling
the angular coordinate with time.
Explicitly, for describing the spatial part of the space
time, we will use oblate spheroidal ~orthogonal! coordinates
j, u, and f.5 Their coordinate surfaces can be expressed in
Cartesian coordinates x,y,z by
x 2 1y 2
z2
1 2
51,
2
a cosh j a sinh2 j
2

z2
x 2 1y 2
51,
2 2 2
a cos u a sin2 u
2

~1!

y2tan f x50,
where a is a positive constant. The first of these equations
describes ellipsoids of revolution ( j 5const.), the second,
hyberboloids of revolution ( u 5const.), and the third, axial
planes ( f 5const.). Some coordinate surfaces of this system
are depicted in Fig. 1. The constant a is an arbitrary parameter, defining the location of the common foci of the ellipsoids.
By solving Eqs. ~1! for x, y, and z, one finds

~2!

z5a sinh j sin u ,

so that the Euclidean line element in these coordinates is
given by
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Am. J. Phys., Vol. 65, No. 9, September 1997

ds 2 5dx 2 1dy 2 1dz 2 5a 2 ~ sinh2 j 1sin2 u !~ d j 2 1d u 2 !

1a 2 cosh2 j cos2 u d f 2 .

~3!

Next, the basis 1-forms in the above coordinates for the flat
spacetime have to be chosen. It is convenient for the subsequent calculations to choose them in such a way that the
metric acquires the diagonal form g ab 5 h ab , where h ab
denotes the Minkowski flat spacetime metric. Thus the basis one-forms of the flat spacetime ~zero curvature! in oblate spheroidal coordinates read

v
t 5dt,
v
j 5aS dj ,

~4!

v
u 5aS du ,
v
f 5a cosh j cos u df ,

where the abbreviation S5 Asinh2 j1sin2 u was used.

As a first attempt, one would be inclined to use an ansatz
similar to the Schwarzschild solution, i.e., one would multiply the basis 1-forms v
t and v
j of the flat spacetime by
two unknown functions, exp f and exp g. Obviously, this will
only lead to the Schwarzschild solution itself, expressed in
quite unfortunate coordinates. Recalling that one is looking
for a rotating black hole solution, one could try to use the
t2sinh b v
f and
Lorentz transformed basis 1-forms cosh b v
f
t
t
f
2sinh b v
instead of v
and v
, where b
cosh b v
5 b ( j , u ) is a coordinate-dependent Lorentz transformation
parameter. Then one arrives at the following set of basis
1-forms:

v
t 5e f @ cosh b dt2sinh b a cosh j cos u df # ,
v
j 5e g aS dj ,

~5!

v
u 5aS du ,

x5a cosh j cos u cos f ,

y5a cosht j cos u sin f ,

Fig. 1. Schematic representation of the oblate spheroidal coordinates. Surfaces of constant j ~ellipsoids! and of constant u ~hyperboloids! are shown.

v
f 5cosh b a cosh j cos u df 2sinh b dt,
which include the three unknown functions f , g, and b.
The use of such an ansatz for finding a stationary axially
symmetric vacuum solution entails no essential loss of generality, as long as all three unknown functions are assumed
to depend on both j and u. If the coordinate surfaces defined
Jorg Enderlein

898

by the basis 1-forms ~5! are completely unrelated to the intrinsic character of the final solution, then this ansatz leads to
over-complicated expressions for the Riemann curvature tensor and the Ricci tensor. It will therefore be assumed in the
present paper that f and g depend only on j and not on u.
This singles out the ellipsoidal coordinate surfaces for the
spacetime structure being sought.

For our basis one-forms as defined by Eq. ~5!, the connection

one-forms explicitly read

v
tj 5 v
t ~ aSe g ! 21 @ 2sinh2 b tanh j 1 f 8 # 2 v
f ~ aSe g ! 21
3 @ cosh f cosh b sinh b tanh j 1sinh f b , j # ,

v
tu 5 v
t ~ aS ! 21 sinh2 b tan u 1 v
f ~ aS ! 21
3 @ cosh f cosh b sinh b tan u 2sinh f b , u # ,

III. CALCULATING THE RICCI TENSOR

There follows a brief description of the calculation of the
Riemann curvature and Ricci tensor in the language of differential forms, following mainly Ref. 6. The Einstein summation convention is used throughout.
First, we have to find the connection one-forms v
ba
a
g
5G bg v
, which are defined by the first Cartan relation:
a
v
g v
b.
a 52 v
ba v
b 52G bg
dv

~6!

Additionally, because the metric components in our basis are

constant, the connection one-forms are antisymmetric @see
Ref. 6, Eq. ~14.31b!#:

v
ab 52 v
ba .

~7!

Relation Eq. ~6! is of no direct use for the calculation of the

a
connection one-forms. But the new symbols c bg
antisymmetric in b and g defined by
dv
a 52 21 c bg a v
b v
g

~8!

are easy to calculate by applying the exterior derivative to

our basis one-forms. Comparing Eq. ~8! with Eq. ~6! one can
see that G agb 2G abg 5c bga . By applying a cyclic permutation of the indices to G agb 2G abg 5c bga , and then adding/
subtracting the resulting equations, one finds that

v
ba 5g a l v
l b 5 21 g a l ~ c l bg 1c l gb 2c bg l ! v
g.

~9!

~10a!

~10b!

v
ft 5 v
j ~ aSe g ! 21 @ sinh f cosh b sinh b tanh j
1cosh f b , j # 1 v
u ~ aS ! 21 @ 2sinh f cosh b
3sinh b tan u 1cosh f b , u # ,

~10c!

v
ju 5 v
j ~ aS 3 ! 21 cos u sin u
2v
u ~ aS 3 e g ! 21 cosh j sinh j ,

~10d!

v
fj 52 v
t ~ aSe g ! 21 @ cosh f cosh b sinh b tanh j
1sinh f b , j # 2 v
f ~ aSe g ! 21 cosh2 b tanh j ,

~10e!

v
fu 5 v
t ~ aS ! 21 @ cosh f cosh b sinh b tan u 2sinh f b , u #
1v
f ~ aS ! 21 cosh2 b tan u .

~10f!

Here, a prime denotes differentiation by j, and b , j and b , u

denote the two partial derivatives of b.
Next, one calculates the Riemann curvature 2-form, which
is defined by the second Cartan relation:
a

R ba [ 21 R bg
g v
d 5dv
ba 1 v
ga v
bg .
dv

~11!

a
R bg
d

The
are the components of the Riemann tensor. Inserting Eqs. ~10! into the last equation, one obtains the following
nonvanishing and distinct components of the Riemann tensor:

R j t j 5 @ a 2 e 2g S 2 # 21 $ ~ sinh2 f 2sinh 2f !~cosh2 b sinh2 b tanh2 j 1 b 2, j ! 1 ~ sinh 2f 24 sinh2 f ! cosh b sinh b

t

3tanh j b , j 2S 22 sinh2 b sin2 u ~ e 2g 21 ! 1S 22 cosh j sinh j f 8 2 f 8 2 1sinh2 b tanh j ~ 2 f 8 2g 8 ! 1 f 8 g 8 2 f 9 % ,

~12a!
R j t u 5 @ 2a 2 e g S 2 # 21 $ 2 ~ sinh 2f 2sinh2 f !@ cosh2 b sinh2 b tanh j tan u 2 b , j b , u # 1 ~ sinh 2f 24 sinh2 f !
t

3cosh b sinh b @ tanh j b , u 2tan u b , j # 12S 22 sinh2 b ~ cosh j sinh j tan u 2tanh j cos u sin u !
2sinh2 b ~ 12sinh2 b ! tanh j tan u 12 ~ S 22 cos u sin u 2sinh2 b tan u ! f 8 % ,

~12b!

t
2 2g 2 21
R jj
$ cosh f @ S 22 cosh b sinh b sin2 u ~ e 2g 21 ! 2cosh b sinh b tanh j ~ f 8 2g 8 ! 22 f 8 b , j #
f5 @ a e S #

1sinh f @ cosh b sinh b ~ cosh2 b 1sinh2 b ! tanh2 j 22 cosh b sinh b tanh j f 8 2S 22 e 2g cos u sin u b , u
1 ~ S 22 cosh j sinh j 2tanh j 2 f 8 1g 8 ! b , j 2 b , jj # % ,

~12c!

R jt uf 5 @ a 2 e g S 2 # 21 $ cosh f @ S 22 cosh b sinh b ~ cos u sin u tanhj 2cosh j sinh j tan u ! 1cosh b sinh b
3tan u ~ tanh j 1 f 8 ! 2 f 8 b , u # 2sinh f @ cosh b sinh b ~ cosh2 b 1sinh2 b ! tanh j tan u 2 ~ cosh b sinh b tan u 2 b , u ! f 8
2 ~ S 22 cosh j sinh j 1sinh2 b tanh j ! b , u 2 ~ S 22 cosh u sin u 1cosh2 b tan u ! b , j 1 b , j u # % ,

~12d!

R u t u 5 @ a 2 S 2 # 21 $ ~ sinh2 f 2sinh 2f !@ cosh2 b sinh2 b tan2 u 1 b 2, u # 1 ~ 4 sinh2 f 2sinh 2f ! cosh b sinh b tan u b , u
t

1S 22 sinh2 b sinh2 j ~ e 22g 21 ! 2e 22g S 22 cosh j sinh j f 8 % ,

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~12e!
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899

R ut j f 5 @ a 2 e g S 2 # 21 $ cosh f @ S 22 cosh b sinh b ~ cos u sin u tanh j 2coshj sinh j tan u ! 1cosh b sinh b tanh j
3tan u 2 f 8 b , u # 2sinh f @ cosh b sinh b ~ cosh2 b 1sinh2 b ! tanh j tan u 2cosh b sinh b tanh j f 8
2 ~ S 22 cosh j sinh j 2cosh2 b tanh j ! b , u 2 ~ S 22 cos u sin u 2sinh2 b tan u ! b , j 1 b , j u # % ,
t
R uuf
5 @ a 2 S 2 # 21 $ S 22

cosh f cosh b sinh b sinh j ~ 12e

2

22g

~12f!

! 1sinh f @ cosh b sinh b ~ cosh b 1sinh b ! tan u

2

1 ~ S 22 cos u sin u 1tan u ! b , u 2e 22g S 22 cosh j sinh j b , j 2 b , uu # % ,

t
R f t f 5 @ a 2 e 2g S 2 # 21 $ sinh

~12g!

2f cosh b sinh b ~ e 2g tan u b , u 2tanh j b , j ! 2sinh2 f @ cosh2 b sinh2 b ~ e 2g tan2 u

1tanh2 j ! 1e 2g b 2, u 1 b 2, j # 2cosh2 b tanh j f 8 % ,

R ft j u 5 @ a 2 e g S 2 # 21 $ sinh

~12h!

f @ b , u f 8 2 ~ cosh b 1sinh b !~ tanh j b , u 1tan u b , j !# 2cosh f cosh b sinh b tan u f 8 % ,

2

~12i!

R ju j u 5 @ a 2 e 2g S 6 # 21 $ ~ sinh2 j cos2 u 2cosh2 j sin2 u !~ 12e 2g ! 1S 2 cosh j sinh j g 8 % ,

R fj j f 5 @ a 2 e 2g S 2 # 21 $ ~ sinh

2f 1sinh2 f !~ cosh2 b sinh2 b

tanh2 j 1 b 2, j ! 1 ~ 4

~12j!

sinh2 f 1sinh 2f !

3cosh b sinh b tanh j b , j 1S 22 cosh2 b sin2 u ~ e 2g 21 ! 1cosh2 b tanh j g 8 % ,

~12k!

j
R fuf
5 @ 2a 2 e g S 2 # 21 $ ~ 4 sinh2 f 1sinh 2f ! cosh b sinh b ~ tanh j b , u 2tan u b , j ! 22 ~ sinh2 f 12 sinh 2f !

3@ cosh2 b sinh2 b tanh j tan u 2 b , j b , u # 12S 22 cosh2 b ~ cos u sin u tanh j 2cosh j sinh j tan u !
1cosh2 b ~ cosh2 b 11 ! tanh j tan u % ,
u
R fuf
5 @ a 2 S 2 # 21 $ ~ sinh2

~12l!
tan2 u 1 b 2, u # 2 ~ 4

f 1sinh 2f !@ cosh2 b sinh2 b

sinh2 f 1sinh 2f ! cosh b sinh b tan u b , u

1S 22 cosh2 b sinh2 j ~ 12e 22g ! % .

~12m!

All other nonvanishing components of the Riemann tensor

can be found by employing the symmetry properties of
a
am
R bg
d 5g R mbg d :
R abg d 5R g d ab 52R bag d 52R ab d g .

~13!

Finally, by contracting the Riemann tensor, one finds the

components of the Ricci tensor:
R ba 5R ga gb .

~14!

R ju 5 ~ aS ! 22 e 2g $ ~ cosh2 b sinh2 b 11 ! tan u tanh j

2sinh2 b tan u f 8 2 b , j b , u 1S 22 @ cos u sin u ~ tanh j
1 f 8 ! 2cosh j sinh j tan u # 12 sinh2 f @ b , j b , u
2cosh2 b sinh2 b tan u tanh j #
1sinh 2f cosh b sinh b @ tanh j b , u 2tan u b , j # % ,
~15d!

For our spacetime metric, the Ricci tensor components are:

R it 5 ~ aSe g ! 22 $ ~ 12e 2g ! sinh2 b 1sinh2 b tanh j ~ f 8 2g 8 !
2tanh j f 8 2 f 8 2 1 f 8 g 8 2 f 9 2sinh 2f @ cosh2 b
14 sinh2 f cosh b sinh b ~ e 2g tan u b , u 2tanh j b , j ! % ,
~15a!
f @ cosh b sinh b ~ 12e 1 f 8 2g 8 !

22 sinh 2f cosh b sinh b tan u b , u % ,

~15e!

1e 2g ~ b , uu 2tan u b , u ! 1 b , jj 1tanh j b , j # % ,

~15b!

sinh b tanh j f 8 2 f 8 1tanh j g 8 1 f 8 g 8

2

2 f 9 211S 22 @ e 2g ~ 2 sin2 u 2cos2 u ! 2cosh2 j

1cosh j sinh j ~ f 8 1g 8 !# 12S

24

@e

2g

cos u sin u
2

1cosh2 j sinh2 j # 12 sinh f cosh b sinh b tanh j b , j

12 sinh2 f @ cosh2 b sinh2 b tanh2 j 1 b 2, j # % ,
Am. J. Phys., Vol. 65, No. 9, September 1997

R ff 5 ~ aSe g ! 22 $ cosh2 b @ e 2g 212tanh j ~ f 8 2g 8 !#

14 sinh2 f cosh b sinh b @ tanh j b , j 2e 2g tan u b , u #

2 ~ e 2g tan2 u 1tanh2 j ! cosh 2b ! 1 b , j ~ f 8 2g 8 !

900

12 sinh2 f @ cosh2 b sinh2 b tan2 u 1 b 2, u #

2g

12 f 8 b , j # 1sinh f @ cosh b sinh b ~ 2 tanh j f 8

R jj 5 ~ aSe g ! 22 $ 2

2S 22 cosh j sinh j ~ f 8 2g 8 ! 1S 24 @ cosh2 j sin2 u

2sinh2 j cos2 u #~ 12e 22g !

3sinh2 b ~ e 2g tan2 u 1tanh2 j ! 1e 2g b 2, u 1 b 2, j #

R ft 5 ~ aSe g ! 22 $ cosh

R uu 5 ~ aS ! 22 $ S 22 sinh2 j ~ 12e 22g !

~15c!

1sinh 2f @cosh2 b sinh2 b ~ tanh2 j 1e 2g tan2 u ! 1 b 2, j

1e 2g b 2, u # % .

~15f!

Although the recipe for calculating the Ricci tensor is relatively simple, the resulting algebraic calculations may be
time-consuming, and it is recommended that one uses symbolic programs for the calculations, like MAPLE or MATHEMATICA. All calculations in the present paper were done
with the help of MATHEMATICA.7
Jorg Enderlein

900

IV. FINDING A SOLUTION OF THE VACUUM EINSTEIN EQUATIONS

For the vacuum, the right-hand side of the Einstein equations,
R ba 2 ~ 1/2! d ba R58 p T ba ,

~16!

vanishes, and the equations reduce to R ba 50. When considering Eqs. ~15!, it seems to be impossible to find a straightforward
solution for the unknown functions f , g, and b. But one can use the fact that the unknown functions f and g do not depend
on the coordinate u. The idea is to consider the equations R ba 50 in the limits u 0 and u p /2. When taking the latter limit
one has to be careful because of the divergence of tan u. Performing a series expansion of the Ricci tensor around u 5 p /2
reveals that the coefficient of the term with the highest divergence, ;( p /22 u ) 22 , has the form
cosh b sinh b
2a 2 cosh2 j

2sinh 2f sinh 2b

22 sinh f cosh 2b

2 sinh f sinh 2b

2 sinh f cosh 2b

sinh 2f sinh 2b

Since b is assumed to be a smooth function, this implies that

~17!

b ~ j , p /2! 50,
b , u ~ j , p /2! 50,

~18!

and that any derivative of b with respect to j on the symmetry axis equals zero. This also cancels automatically the divergent
term proportional to ( p /22 u ) 21 . Assuming also that b is everywhere differentiable and symmetric with respect to the
equatorial plane, one finds the additional constraint

b , u ~ j ,0! 50.

~19!

For the limits u 0 and u p /2, the derivatives of the unknown functions are distributed within the Ricci tensor as

lim R mn ;

u 0

and as

lim R mn ;

u p /2

f 8 ,g 8 , b , uu
b , j , b , jj

$ f 8 , f 9 ,g 8 , b , j %

$ f 8 , f 9 ,g 8 , b , j %

$ f 8 ,g 8 %

$ f 8 ,g 8 , b , j %

f 8 ,g 8 , b , uu
b , j , b , jj

$ f 8 , f 9 ,g 8 , b , u %

$ b , uu %

$ f 8 , f 9 ,g 8 %

$ f 8 ,g 8 , b , u %

$ b , uu %

$ f 8 ,g 8 , b , u %

~20!

~21!

As a first step, one can try to exclude the two unknowns f 9 and b , u in the equations limu p /2 R ba 50. By examining the
coefficients of these two functions in the components of the Ricci tensor, one finds that limu p /2(R tt 2R jj 1R uu ) will eliminate
both terms:
lim ~ R tt 2R jj 1R uu ! 5

u p /2

~ 12sinh2 j !@ 12e 2g # 2cosh j sinh j ~ 3 f 8 1g 8 !

.
a 2 e 2g cosh4 j

~22!

Moreover, the limit limu 0 R uu also does not contain both terms:
lim R uu 5

u 0

~ 12sinh2 j !@ 12e 2g # 2cosh j sinh j ~ f 8 2g 8 !

.
a 2 e 2g sinh4 j

~23!

Subtracting the numerators of Eqs. ~22! and ~23! yields f 8 ( j )52g 8 ( j ). Taking into account that both f and g tend to zero for
j ` ~flat Minkowski spacetime at infinity!, one has f ( j )52g( j ). Substitution of this relation into Eq. ~23! and integrating
the latter leads to
exp@ f ~ j !# 5exp@ 2g ~ j !# 5

12A

sinh j
,
cosh2 j

~24!

with A as an integration constant.

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Jorg Enderlein

901

It remains to find a solution for b~j,u!. One can seek it by

close examination of the equation R uu 50, which results in
@ 4 sin2 u cosh2 j 14S 4 b , u tan u cosh b sinh b # A

sinh j
cosh2 j

2 @ 4 sin u cosh j 2S ~ b , u 2tan u cosh b sinh b ! #

2

3 A

sinh j
cosh2 j

ds 2 52

50.

~25!

This equation still looks quite complicated, but one can satisfy Eq. ~25! by making the two square brackets vanish separately. This leads to the solution cosh b5S21 cosh j and
hence sinh b5S21 cos u, where the integration constant is
determined by taking into account limu p /2b 50. Since, for
any fixed j, this solution obeys the nonlinear ordinary differential equation ~ODE! Eq. ~25! with the boundary condition
limu p /2b 50, it is the only solution by the uniqueness theorem for ODEs. By directly inserting the resulting solutions of
f , g, and b into the Ricci tensor, it is straightforward to
prove that they really constitute a solution of the vacuum
Einstein equations.
V. CONCLUSION

D
sin2 u
2
2
dt2a
sin
u
d
f
1
@
#
@~ r 2 1 r 2 ! d f
r2
r2

2adt # 2 1

r2 2
dr 1 r 2 d u 2 ,
D

~27!

where the abbreviations D5r 2 22M r1a 2 , r 2 5r 2

1a 2 cos2 u, and 2M [Aa were used. Equation ~27! is the
standard representation of the Kerr metric in Boyer
Lindquist coordinates for a rotating black hole with mass M
and angular momentum S5aM @see Eqs. ~33.24! in Ref.
6#. But now, the original simplicity of the metric as displayed in Eqs. ~5! is no longer obvious.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I thank W. Pat Ambrose ~LANL! for kindly reading the
manuscript. I would like to thank the referees for a very
thorough and critical reading of the manuscript, which led to
an improved and more readable paper. I would like to acknowledge the support of the German Academic Exchange
Service, granting my stay with the Los Alamos National
Laboratory.

Collecting all results of the last section, the resulting metric finally has the form

ds 2 52 12A
2

GS

cosh j
dt
S

cos u
a cosh j cos u d f
S

F
S

1 12A
1

sinh j
cosh2 j

sinh j
cosh2 j

21

a 2 S 2 d j 2 1a 2 S 2 d u 2

cosh j
cos u
a cosh j cos u d f 2
dt
S
S

. ~26!

By changing the variables j to r5a sinh j and u to p /2

2 u , one finds the equivalent form

R. P. Kerr, Gravitational field of a spinning mass as an example of

algebraically special metrics, Phys. Rev. Lett. 11, 237238 ~1963!.
2
R. Penrose and W. Rindler, Spinors and Space-Time ~Cambridge U.P.,
Cambridge, 1984!.
3
D. Kramer, H. Stephani, M. MacCallum, and E. Herlt, Exact Solutions of
Einsteins Equations ~Cambridge U.P., Cambridge, 1981!.
4
S. Chandrasekhar, The Mathematical Theory of Black Holes ~Oxford U.P.,
New York, 1983!, pp. 273318.
5
H. Margenau and G. M. Murphy, The Mathematics of Physics and Chemistry ~van Nostrand, Princeton, 1956!, 2nd ed., p. 182.
6
C. W. Misner, K. S. Thorne, and J. A. Wheeler, Gravitation ~Freeman, San
Francisco, 1973!, pp. 354363.
7
The MATHEMATICA package DIFFORM.M for performing differential geometry algebra and the MATHEMATICA notebook KERR.MA containing all algebraic calculations of the present paper can be found on the internet at
http://www.berlinet.de/;enderlein/Krr.

BLACK HOLES
The absence of any sharp spike, or cusp, of light on sub-arc-second scales bolsters the idea that
M15 probably does not have a black hole in its midst... . For me, this rather mundane development
was welcome news. While teaching college astronomy courses over the years, I had resisted the
temptation to endow the heart of virtually every poorly understood object in the Universe with a
black hole. The bandwagon appeal among astronomers who would have black holes lurking in
darkened nooks and crannies practically everywherein the centers of galaxies, star clusters,
exploding stars, even at the core of our Sunwas unconvincing to me, especially since there is no
unambiguous evidence that even one such black hole actually exists anywhere. They probably do,
but they could just as well be figments of our imagination.
Eric J. Chaisson, The Hubble Wars ~HarperCollins, New York, 1994!, p. 299.

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