Exceptional points and the breaking of Schwarzschild isospectrality under local potential perturbations

Abstract

The odd- and even-parity gravitational perturbations of a Schwarzschild black hole are governed by the distinct Regge-Wheeler and Zerilli potentials, yet their quasinormal-mode (QNM) spectra are identical in vacuum. Building on our previous study of the odd-parity Regge-Wheeler spectrum [M. Ould El Hadj and S. R. Dolan, arXiv:2608.16283], we investigate the corresponding even-parity Zerilli problem and compare the two sectors under the same perturbation of amplitude $ε$ at radius $r_0$. Using the Chandrasekhar-Detweiler relation, we derive an exact relation between the normalized Wronskians and show that Schwarzschild QNM isospectrality is not preserved under an identical nonzero localized defect. We find that the even- and odd-parity repelling-point branches approach the same Schwarzschild QNM frequencies at large $r_0$, with their first parity-dependent separation appearing at order $1/\mathcal R^2$, where $\mathcal R=r_{0*}/M$ is the dimensionless tortoise-coordinate location of the defect. The corresponding exceptional points (EPs) form two shifted sequences with the same asymptotic spacing in the tortoise coordinate, while their relative displacement is fixed by the phase of the asymptotic Chandrasekhar-Detweiler factor. The critical perturbation amplitudes share the same exponential decay rate in the two sectors, whereas the ratio of their asymptotic prefactors is fixed by the modulus of the same factor. We further find that the even- and odd-parity EPs connect the same neighboring QNM overtones, with nearly identical arclengths for the corresponding spectral bridges. Finally, the exceptional degeneracy is parity selective: at identical values of $(r_0,ε)$, a pair of QNMs may coalesce at an EP in one parity sector while remaining distinct in the other, leading to a corresponding difference in the local pole structure of the ringdown response.