title: Critical behavior in vacuum gravitational collapse in 4 + 1 dimensions.
abstract: We show that the (4 + 1)-dimensional vacuum Einstein equations admit gravitational waves with radial symmetry. The dynamical degrees of freedom correspond to deformations of the three-sphere orthogonal to the (t,r) plane. Gravitational collapse of such waves is studied numerically and shown to exhibit discretely self-similar type II critical behavior at the threshold of black hole formation.
authors.affiliation: M. Smoluchowski Institute of Physics, Jagellonian University, Kraków, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bizoń
authors.forename: Tadeusz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chmaj
authors.forename: Bernd G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Schmidt