Self-similar collapse with elasticity

Abstract: Critical collapse is a well-studied subject for a variety of self-gravitating matter. One of the most intensively examined models is that of perfect fluids, which have been used extensively to describe compact objects such as stars, as well as being of cosmological interest. However, neutron stars are believed to possess an elastic crust, thus departing from a perfect fluid body, and critical collapse with elastic materials is an entirely unexplored topic. In this work, we employ a scale-invariant elastic matter model to study self-similar collapse with elasticity. As with perfect fluid models, we show that including elasticity allows for continuous self-similar configurations, which we determine numerically by solving the associated boundary value problem. The set of solutions is discrete and we focus on the fundamental mode, but also present some results for overtones. Similarly to the perfect fluid case, the existence of a sonic point plays a central role. We find that the addition of elasticity, by either increasing the shear index $\mathrm{s}$ or decreasing the Poisson ratio $\nu$, leads to an increase in compressibility and can yield negative radial pressures around the sonic point. Simultaneously, the elastic longitudinal wave speed ceases to be constant, while the two possible transverse wave speeds grow further apart. The departure from the perfect fluid case can be so dramatic as to generate a second sonic point, which does not seem to be regular. This, in turn, imposes bounds on the elasticity parameters of the material. This study represents the first step in the analysis of critical collapse with elastic materials.