Neutral Black Rings in Five Dimensions are Unstable.

Abstract

We study nonaxisymmetric linearized gravitational perturbations of the Emparan-Reall black ring using numerical methods. We find an unstable mode whose onset lies within the "fat" branch of the black ring and continues into the "thin" branch. Together with previous results using Penrose inequalities that fat black rings are unstable, this provides numerical evidence that the entire black ring family is unstable.