On the stability operator for MOTS and the 'core' of Black Holes

Abstract: Small deformations of marginally (outer) trapped surfaces are considered by using their stability operator. In the case of spherical symmetry, one can use these deformations on any marginally trapped round sphere to prove several interesting results. The concept of 'core' of a black hole is introduced: it is a minimal region that one should remove from the spacetime in order to get rid of all possible closed trapped surfaces. In spherical symmetry one can prove that the spherical marginally trapped tube is the boundary of a core. By using a novel formula for the principal eigenvalue of the stability operator, I will argue how to pursue similar results in general black-hole spacetimes.