Revisiting compaction functions for primordial black hole formation

Abstract: Shibata and Sasaki [arXiv:gr-qc/9905064] introduced the so-called compaction function. Since then, it has been empirically established that the maximum value of this function (or its volume-averaged counterpart) in the long-wavelength solutions gives a very robust threshold of primordial black hole formation. In this paper, we show that in spite of initial intention, the Shibata-Sasaki compaction function cannot be interpreted as the ratio of the mass excess to the areal radius in the constant-mean-curvature slice of their choice but coincides with that in the {\it comoving} slice up to a constant factor depending on the equation of state. We also discuss the gauge-(in)dependence of the legitimate compaction function, i.e., the ratio of the mass excess to the areal radius, in the long-wavelength solutions.