Critical collapse of an axisymmetric ultrarelativistic fluid in $2+1$ dimensions

Abstract: We carry out numerical simulations of the gravitational collapse of a rotating perfect fluid with the ultrarelativistic equation of state $P=\kappa\rho$, in axisymmetry in $2+1$ spacetime dimensions with $\Lambda<0$. We show that for $\kappa \lesssim 0.42$, the critical phenomena are type I and the critical solution is stationary. The picture for $\kappa \gtrsim 0.43$ is more delicate: for small angular momenta, we find type II phenomena and the critical solution is quasistationary, contracting adiabatically. The spin-to-mass ratio of the critical solution increases as it contracts, and hence so does that of the black hole created at the end as we fine-tune to the black-hole threshold. Forming extremal black holes is avoided because the contraction of the critical solution smoothly ends as extremality is approached.