Understanding solutions of the angular Teukolsky equation in the prolate asymptotic limit

Abstract

Solutions to the Angular Teukolsky Equation have been used to solve various applied problems in physics and are extremely important to black-hole physics, particularly in computing quasinormal modes and in the extreme-mass-ratio inspiral problem. The eigenfunctions of this equation, known as spin-weighted spheroidal functions, are essentially generalizations of both the spin-weighted spherical harmonics and the scalar spheroidal harmonics. While the latter functions are quite well understood analytically, the spin-weighted spheroidal harmonics are only known analytically in the spherical and oblate asymptotic limits. Attempts to understand them in the prolate asymptotic limit have met limited success. Here, we make use of a high-accuracy numerical solution scheme to extensively explore the space of possible prolate solutions and extract analytic asymptotic expansions for the eigenvalues in the prolate asymptotic limit. Somewhat surprisingly, we find two classes of asymptotic behavior. The behavior of one class, referred to as "normal", is in agreement with the leading-order behavior derived analytically in prior work. The second class of solutions was not previously predicted, but solutions in this class are responsible for unexplained behavior seen in previous numerical prolate solutions during the transition to asymptotic behavior. The behavior of solutions in this "anomalous" class is more complicated than that of solutions in the normal class, with the anomalous class separating into different types based on the behavior of the eigenvalues at different asymptotic orders. We explore the question of when anomalous solutions appear and find necessary, but not sufficient conditions for their existence. It is our hope that this extensive numerical investigation of the prolate solutions will inspire and inform new analytic investigations into these important functions.