Structure of the Spherical Black Hole Interior

The internal structure of a charged spherical black hole is still a topic of debate. In a nonrotating but aspherical gravitational collapse to form a spherical charged black hole, the backscattered gravitational wave tails enter the black hole and are blueshifted at the Cauchy horizon. This has a catastrophic effect if combined with an outflux crossing the Cauchy horizon: a singularity develops at the Cauchy horizon and the effective mass inflates. Recently a numerical study of a massless scalar field in the Reissner-Nordström background suggested that a spacelike singularity may form before the Cauchy horizon forms. We will show that there exists an approximate analytic solution of the scalar field equations which allows the mass inflation singularity at the Cauchy horizon to exist. In particular, we see no evidence that the Cauchy horizon is preceded by a spacelike singularity. Permanent address: Institute of Astronomy, University of Catania, Viale Andrea Doria 6, 95125 Catania Italy