Charged Black Holes

Assuming a spherically symmetric line element of the form 1) \begin{equation} ds^2 = -f\,dt^2 + \frac{dr^2}{f} + r^2\,d\theta^2 + r^2\sin^2\theta\,d\phi^2 \end{equation} where $f$ is an arbitrary function of $r$, Einstein's equation with an electromagnetic source, representing a point charge, can be solved for $f$, yielding \begin{equation} f = 1 - \frac{2m}{r} + \frac{q^2}{r^2} \end{equation} The resulting spacetime is known as the Reissner-Nordström geometry, and represents a black hole with mass $m$ and charge $q$.

The global geometry of a Reissner-Nordström black hole differs considerably from that of a Schwarzschild black hole. One way to see this is to notice that (assuming $|q|<m$) there are now two horizons, since \begin{equation} 1 - \frac{2m}{r} + \frac{q^2}{r^2} = 0 \Longrightarrow r=r_\pm=m\pm\sqrt{m^2-q^2} \end{equation} where we have assumed that $m>|q|>0$. The geometry can be extended across one horizon at a time using a procedure analogous to the Kruskal extension of the Schwarzschild geometry, and the resulting Penrose diagram has many asymptotic regions, not just two. The cases $m=|q|>0$ and $|q|>m>0$ can be handled similarly, noting that $r=m$ is a double root of $f$ in the first case, and that there are no roots in the second case.

Further discussion, including the corresponding Penrose diagrams, can be found in Chapter 18 of d'Inverno.

1) The argument used to establish §Birkhoff's Theorem can be generalized to support this assumption.

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