# Effective Action and Thermodynamics of Radiating Shells in General Relativity

## 1 Introduction

The Einstein field equations for a general distribution of matter are a formidable challenge and the study of the collapse of self-gravitating compact objects is a very hard task to which much effort has been dedicated since the birth of General Relativity (see, e.g., Ref. ). One of the first papers in this field  showed that, when gravity overcomes all other forces, a sphere of matter collapses under its own weight into a point-like singularity. This opened up a whole line of investigation about the nature of such a singularity and the way it forms.

A state corresponding to a point-like singularity would violate Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, therefore such a problem makes physical sense in a region for which gravity can be treated at the (semi)classical level (see e.g.  and Refs. therein). Provided the conditions for such an approximation hold, one is left with two types of difficulties which conspire against the achievement of a definitive answer: firstly, one would like to consider a realistic model for the collapsing matter and, secondly, one has to face the intrinsic non-linearity of the Einstein field equations. The former aspect includes the quantum nature of matter as described by the standard model of elementary particles with all of its own intricacies. The latter difficulty becomes greater along with the complications of the matter model but, in turn, provides the most interesting features. Thus one has to find a sensible compromise between reality and practical solvability of the equations.

A great deal of simplification usually follows from global space-time symmetry. The natural framework for the study of gravitational collapse is isotropy with respect to a point. Of course this rules out rotating objects, such as stars and other astrophysical systems, and freezes many of the degrees of freedom of gravity (Birkhoff’s theorem forbids the emission of gravitational waves ). However this does not render the field equations trivial and some of the strong field effects certainly survive in this approximation (see, e.g., Ref. ).

An example of manageable isotropic distributions is given by dust fluid models, such as the Tolman-Bondi space-time , which can be used to represent spheres of pressureless matter and cosmological models. Such space-times develop caustics, where the energy density of the fluid diverges, because the geodesics followed by dust particles cross for generic initial conditions. The dynamics can be investigated by approximating the continuous distribution of matter by a discrete medium of nested homogeneous time-like shells of small but finite thickness. When dust particles are confined by their own weight to roughly within a few Compton wavelengths and the latter is negligible with respect to any other “macroscopic” length in the model (to wit, the square root of the area of the shell and its Schwarzschild radius ), one can take the limit of infinitely small thickness (thin shell limit) and treat each shell as a singular hypersurface generated by a $`\delta `$-function term in the matter stress-energy tensor . Then the basic problems are the study the dynamics of one shell and the collisions between two nearby shells (an issue we do not touch upon here).

The method for treating singular hypersurfaces in General Relativity was formulated in Ref.  as following from the Einstein field equations. It amounts to the Lanczos junction equations between the embedding metrics and entails the conservation of the total stress-energy. The equations of motion of thin time-like shells have then been derived for all spherically symmetric embedding four-geometries , including the vacuum  and bubbles of non-vanishing cosmological constant . It is remarkable and physically sound that, in non-radiating cases, the trajectory of the area of the shell is determined by the junction equations once one has fixed the two external metrics and the equation of state for the density and the surface tension (the radial pressure must vanish). The special case of radiating shells was studied in Ref.  for unpolarized radiation of relatively high frequency which behaves as null dust and gives rise to a Vaidya external geometry . This is indeed a good approximation when the radiation wavelength is much smaller than any other “macroscopic” length in the model (see, e.g.  and Refs. therein) and is reasonably consistent within our approach, since the same condition on the Compton wavelength of the matter in the shell is required by the thin shell limit .

For the purpose of developing a quantum theory, knowledge of the equations of motion is not sufficient, instead one needs an (effective) action for the shell degrees of freedom. The conceptual starting point is thus the Einstein-Hilbert action rather than Einstein field equations. In Ref.  both metric and matter degrees of freedom were kept dynamical and the general form of the action was given for a barotropic fluid with step- or $`\delta `$-function discontinuity. One then implements the symmetry of the system in order to reduce the action to a manageable effective form. The literature on this topic treats essentially two approaches for the shell:

In Ref. , the embedding empty space-time is foliated into spatial sections of constant time according to the ADM prescription , with lapse and shift functions in the four-metric. The Einstein-Hilbert Lagrangian from Ref.  is then integrated over the spatial sections by making use of the properties of a spherical vacuum . This leads to a canonical effective action for the canonical variables of the system which include the inner and outer Schwarzschild times on the shell as reminders of the geometrodynamics of the embedding space-time. A set of constraints ensures the invariance of the action under reparametrization. The shell matter Lagrangian used in  is not in the form of a field theory and does not give rise to any canonical variable.

In Refs.  the embedding metrics are chosen a priori to be specific solutions of Einstein field equations and are not dynamical. The corresponding contribution to the Einstein-Hilbert Lagrangian can then be integrated over a convenient space-time volume and expressed in terms of metric variables of the shell world-volume . This yields an effective action which is invariant under reparametrization of the time on the shell and is equivalent to the canonical one in domains of the phase space where some of the constraints are solved classically . Thus one expects that the mini-superspace approach gives a limited information on the quantum theory of geometry fully addressed in the canonical approach, but does not limit the possibility of taking into account the quantum nature of matter in a semi-classical context, as was later done in Ref. .

In the present paper we illustrate the derivation of an effective action for a time-like shell which can emit unpolarized high frequency radiation. Since the basic aim is to establish a starting point for the study of semi-classical effects induced by the quantum evolution of the matter in the shell (along the lines of Ref. ), the mini-superspace approach will suffice. The dynamical meaning of such an action will just be to generate the time evolution of the shell degrees of freedom, which will be identified with the area and mass aspect of the shell. However, we shall also see that this approach, unlike the standard junction prescriptions, allows a simple interpretation of the evolution equations and time-reparametrization invariance in terms of the thermodynamics of the shell.

The plan of the paper is as follows: in Section 2 we start from the general Einstein-Hilbert action as given in Ref.  and simplify it in order to derive a mini-superspace effective action. In Section 3 we write the Euler-Lagrange equations of motion, two of which are equivalent to the junction equations and compare with previous approaches. In section 4 we illustrate a thermodynamic interpretation and in Section 5 we finally comment our results. We shall follow the sign convention of Ref.  (see also Appendix B) with Greek indices $`\mu ,\nu ,\mathrm{}`$ labeling space-time four-coordinates and Latin indices $`i,j,\mathrm{}`$ for the coordinates of a three-dimensional sub-manifold; $`\kappa =16\pi G`$, with $`G`$ the Newton constant.

## 2 Derivation of the action

The space-time $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ we are considering is parted into two regions, $`\mathrm{\Omega }^\pm `$, separated by the shell world-volume $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. $`\mathrm{\Omega }^{}`$ inside the shell is devoid of matter and $`\mathrm{\Omega }^+`$ possibly contains out-flowing radiation. The corresponding Einstein-Hilbert action, from Ref. , is thus

$`S_{EH}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\kappa }}{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }^{}}d^4x\sqrt{g}`$ (2.1)   
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\kappa }}{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Sigma }}d^3x\sqrt{h}\left[𝒦\right]_{}^+{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Sigma }}d^3x\sqrt{h}\rho `$   
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\kappa }}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }^+}}d^4x\sqrt{g}+{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Omega }^+}}d^4x\sqrt{g}_{rad},`$   
where $`g`$ is the determinant of the four-dimensional metric, $`h`$ the determinant of the three-dimensional metric on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, $``$ is the scalar curvature, $`𝒦`$ the trace of the extrinsic curvature of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, $`\rho `$ the energy density of the shell and $`_{rad}`$ the radiation Lagrangian density. We have also introduced the notation $`\left[F\right]_{}^+`$ for the difference between the limiting (on the shell) values of a function $`F`$ computed in $`\mathrm{\Omega }^+`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }^{}`$.

The above action is the starting point for our derivation. First of all we observe that the spherical symmetry of the system makes it possible to introduce three global coordinates $`(r,\theta ,\varphi )`$, with $`r>0`$ the radial coordinate of a sphere of area $`4\pi r^2`$, $`\theta (0,\pi )`$ and $`\varphi (0,2\pi )`$ the usual angular coordinates. The next step is to decide which one of the two approaches outlined in the introduction is better suited for the present problem. Since a formulation of the kind given in Ref.  is not available at present for a radiation-filled space-time , the canonical approach is not viable. Therefore, we follow Ref.  and assume the Einstein field equations are satisfied inside the space-time volumes $`\mathrm{\Omega }^\pm `$ .

The above assumption fixes the form of the embedding metrics. In particular, we observe that $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ can be naturally parted into three regions (see Fig. 1):

i) the inner empty space $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{in}=\mathrm{\Omega }^{}`$, whose geometry can be either Minkowski or Schwarzschild. Let $`t_{in}`$ be the (Schwarzschild) time coordinate in $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{in}`$, then the corresponding metric can be written

$`ds_{in}^2=a_{in}dt_{in}^2+a_{in}^1dr^2+r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }^2,`$ (2.2)   
where $`d\mathrm{\Omega }^2=d\theta ^2+\mathrm{sin}^2\theta d\varphi ^2`$ is the usual line element on the two-sphere and $`a_{in}=12M_{in}/r`$. The constant $`M_{in}`$ is positive for Schwarzschild and zero for Minkowski;

ii) an outer space $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{out}`$ which can be filled with radiation. If $`t_{out}`$ denotes the (Schwarzschild) time in $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{out}`$, the metric, which is Vaidya , takes the diagonal form

$`ds_{out}^2=b_{out}^2a_{out}^1dt_{out}^2+a_{out}^1dr^2+r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }^2,`$ (2.3)   
where $`b_{out}=_tm/_rm`$, $`a_{out}=12m/r`$. The mass aspect, $`m=m(t_{out},r)`$, equals the total energy included inside the sphere of area $`4\pi r^2`$ at time $`t_{out}`$ ;

iii) an empty space $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{}}`$ prior to any emission of radiation with Schwarzschild metric and mass parameter equal to the total ADM mass $`M_{\mathrm{}}`$ of the system,

$`ds_{\mathrm{}}^2=a_{\mathrm{}}dt_{\mathrm{}}^2+a_{\mathrm{}}^1dr^2+r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }^2.`$ (2.4)   
where $`a_{\mathrm{}}=12M_{\mathrm{}}/r`$.

In this frame, the shell trajectory is given by $`r=R(\tau )`$ and $`t_{in/out}=T_{in/out}(\tau )`$, where $`\tau `$ is the arbitrary time variable on the shell world-volume $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ with three-metric $`h_{ij}`$ given by

$`ds_\mathrm{\Sigma }^2=N^2d\tau ^2+R^2d\mathrm{\Omega }^2,`$ (2.5)   
$`N=N(\tau )`$ being the shell lapse function. The full stress-energy tensor of the matter in the system contains two parts,

$`𝒯_{\mu \nu }=𝒮_{ij}\delta (rR)+𝒯_{\mu \nu }^{rad}\theta (rR),`$ (2.6)   
where $`\delta `$ is the Dirac $`\delta `$-function and $`\theta `$ the step-function. The source term,

$`𝒮_{ij}=\mathrm{diag}[N^2\rho ,R^2P,R^2\mathrm{sin}^2\theta P],`$ (2.7)   
is the three-dimensional stress-energy tensor of a fluid with density $`\rho `$ and (surface) tension $`P`$ and $`𝒯_{\mu \nu }^{rad}`$ is the stress-energy tensor of the out-flowing null radiation.

The mass aspect can be extended to all values of $`r>0`$, does not decrease for increasing $`r`$ and must be continuous in $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ except at the shell radius, thus

$`\underset{rR^{}}{lim}m(T_{in},r)=M_{in}`$   
$`\underset{rR^+}{lim}m(T_{out},r)=M_{out}M_{in}`$   
$`\underset{r\mathrm{}}{lim}m(t_{\mathrm{}},r)=M_{\mathrm{}}M_{out},`$ (2.8)   
where $`M_{out}=M_{out}(\tau )`$ is the mass aspect at the (outer) shell radius and equals the total energy of the shell plus $`M_{in}`$. Other matching conditions will be implemented in the following and, as in Eq. (2.8), we shall use capital letters for the restriction (or limit) to the shell position of functions of the space-time coordinates which are denoted by the corresponding small letters, e.g., $`A_{in}=a_{in}(R,T)`$. We shall usually drop the subscripts $`in/out`$ whenever this does not cause any confusion (e.g., $`t=t_{in}`$ for $`r<R`$) and total derivatives with respect to $`\tau `$ are denoted by a dot.

Since the metrics above solve the Einstein equations with the source (2.6), the volume contributions in the action (2.1) must vanish identically. Further, the matching between $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{out}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{}}`$ is smooth, provided the radial coordinate $`R_s`$ of the border between the two regions satisfies 

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dR_s}{dt_{\mathrm{}}}}=1{\displaystyle \frac{2M_{\mathrm{}}}{R_s}},`$ (2.9)   
where $`M_{\mathrm{}}`$ equals $`M_{out}`$ at the time $`\tau `$ at which the emission starts, and no boundary terms arise at the surface $`r=R_s`$. The reduced Einstein-Hilbert action can then be written

$`S_{EH}^{red}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{8\pi }{\kappa }}{\displaystyle _{\tau _i}^{\tau _f}}𝑑\tau NR^2\left[𝒦\right]_{in}^{out}4\pi {\displaystyle _{\tau _i}^{\tau _f}}𝑑\tau NR^2\rho +S_B`$ (2.10)   
$``$ $`S_G^{shell}+S_M^{shell}+S_B,`$   
where $`S_G^{shell}`$ is the surface gravitational action of the shell, $`S_B`$ contains all surface contributions at the border of the space-time $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ (including those which are usually introduced to cancel second derivatives of the dynamical variables) and $`S_M^{shell}`$ is the shell matter action,

$`S_M^{shell}=4\pi {\displaystyle _{\tau _i}^{\tau _f}}𝑑\tau NR^2\rho ,`$ (2.11)   
where we assume $`\rho `$ does not depend on $`N`$ and its dependence on the other two shell degrees of freedom $`R`$ and $`M_{out}`$ will be clarified in Section 3.

At this point one can foresee a technical difficulty in evaluating surface terms at $`t`$ constant because the region $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{out}`$ is not homogeneous (see Fig. 1). In fact, the mass aspect $`m`$ is constant along the lines of the outgoing flow of radiation and one can introduce a null coordinate $`u=u_{out}(t_{out},r)`$ such that out-going null geodesics are given by $`u`$ constant with four-velocity $`k^\mu (0,1,0,0)`$ and one has

$`𝒯_{\mu \nu }^{rad}={\displaystyle \frac{4}{\kappa }}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{r^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{dm}{du}}\delta _\mu ^u\delta _\nu ^u.`$ (2.12)   
The mass aspect $`m=m(u)`$ does not depend on $`r`$ now, and the metric is written (for $`r>R`$)

$`ds_{out}^2=a_{out}du^22dudr+r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }^2.`$ (2.13)   
Such a $`u_{out}`$ is defined also for $`M_{out}`$ constant, in which case it coincides with a null Eddington-Finkelstein coordinate for the Schwarzschild space-time  (see also Appendix A). Integration over $`r`$ at time $`t_{out}`$ constant would then involve integrating functions of $`m`$ and its derivatives, that is the knowledge of $`M(T)`$ and $`R(T)`$, for all $`t_iTt_{out}`$. However, although the differential relation between $`(t_{out},r)`$ and $`(u_{out},r)`$ is known,

$`du=a_{out}^1\left(b_{out}dt_{out}+dr\right),`$ (2.14)   
$`u=u_{out}(t_{out},r)`$ cannot be written explicitly unless the functions $`M_{out}(\tau )`$ and $`R(\tau )`$ are fixed once and for all. At the same time the trajectory of the shell is to be derived from the sought effective action and cannot be given a priori. This renders explicit integration over slices of constant $`t`$ inconvenient.

The above argument suggests one define a “mixed” foliation, where volume sections are defined by $`t`$ constant for $`r<R`$ and $`u`$ constant for $`r>R`$ (see Appendix A for an equivalent overall null foliation). Hence we shall integrate the Einstein-Hilbert action in the four-volume $`\mathrm{\Omega }=\mathrm{\Omega }_{in}\mathrm{\Omega }_{out}`$ displayed in Fig. 2.

Such volume has a time-like boundary at $`r=R_{\mathrm{}}`$ and two “mixed” boundaries defined by $`t_{in}=t_i`$, $`u_{out}=u_i`$ and $`t_{in}=t_f>t_i`$, $`u_{out}=u_f`$. The shell trajectory is described equivalently by $`r=R(\tau )`$, $`t=T(\tau )`$, with (fixed) end-points $`R_i=R(\tau _i)`$ at $`T(\tau _i)=t_i`$ and $`R_f=R(\tau _f)`$ at $`T(\tau _f)=t_f`$, in $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{in}`$ and $`r=R(\tau )`$, $`u=U(\tau )`$ in $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{out}`$, with end-points at $`U(\tau _i)=u_i`$ and $`U(\tau _f)=u_f`$.

The fact that all volume terms (the integrals over $`\mathrm{\Omega }^\pm `$ in Eq. (2.1)) do not contribute to the reduced action (2.10) can now be checked explicitly. The basic observation is to note that the scalar curvature for a metric of the form (2.13) or (A.1) is given by (see Appendix B)

$`={\displaystyle \frac{2}{r^2}}\left[1{\displaystyle \frac{}{r}}\left(ar+{\displaystyle \frac{r^2}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{a}{r}}\right)\right],`$ (2.15)   
and vanishes identically once one substitutes in $`a=a_{out}`$ for Vaidya or $`a=a_{in}`$ for Schwarzschild. The corresponding volume action is thus

$`{\displaystyle \frac{4\pi }{\kappa }}{\displaystyle _{t_i}^{t_f}}𝑑t{\displaystyle _0^R}r^2𝑑r_{in}+{\displaystyle \frac{4\pi }{\kappa }}{\displaystyle _{u_i}^{u_f}}𝑑u{\displaystyle _R^R_{\mathrm{}}}r^2𝑑r_{out}=0,`$ (2.16)   
as expected. One also recalls that the Lagrangian density for a field of null dust is proportional to $`k_\mu k^\mu `$, where $`k^\mu `$ is the fluid four-velocity, and thus vanishes along null geodesics.

In order to compute $`S_G^{shell}`$ we introduce Gaussian normal coordinates $`(\tau ,\eta ,\theta ,\varphi )`$ near the shell such that the trajectory $`R(\tau )`$ is given by $`\eta =0`$ with $`\eta >0`$ for $`r>R`$. Then, the jump in the components of the extrinsic curvature of the shell world-volume are given by the relation 

$`\left[𝒦_{ij}\right]_{out}^{in}=\underset{ϵ0^+}{lim}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{g_{ij}}{\eta }}|_{\eta =ϵ}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{g_{ij}}{\eta }}|_{\eta =+ϵ}\right).`$ (2.17)   
In detail (see Appendix C)

$`𝒦_{\theta \theta }={\displaystyle \frac{𝒦_{\varphi \varphi }}{\mathrm{sin}^2\theta }}=\{\begin{array}{cc}R{\displaystyle \frac{\beta _{in}}{N}}\hfill & \eta =ϵ\hfill \\ & \\ R{\displaystyle \frac{\beta _{out}}{N}}\hfill & \eta =+ϵ,\hfill \end{array}`$ (2.21)   
$`𝒦_{\tau \tau }=\{\begin{array}{cc}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\beta _{in}}}\left[\dot{R}\dot{N}{\displaystyle \frac{N^3}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{A_{in}}{R}}\ddot{R}N\right]\hfill & \eta =ϵ\hfill \\ & \\ {\displaystyle \frac{1}{\beta _{out}}}\left[\dot{R}\dot{N}{\displaystyle \frac{N^3}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{A_{out}}{R}}\ddot{R}N{\displaystyle \frac{N^3}{2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\beta _{out}\dot{R}}{A_{out}N}}\right)^2{\displaystyle \frac{A_{out}}{U}}\right]\hfill & \eta =+ϵ,\hfill \end{array}`$ (2.25)   
where

$`\beta \sqrt{AN^2+\dot{R}^2}.`$ (2.26)   
The above expressions give

$`S_G^{shell}={\displaystyle \frac{8\pi }{\kappa }}{\displaystyle _{\tau _i}^{\tau _f}}𝑑\tau \left[2\beta R+{\displaystyle \frac{R^2}{\beta }}\left\{\ddot{R}\dot{R}{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{N}}{N}}+{\displaystyle \frac{N^2}{2}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{A}{R}}+\left({\displaystyle \frac{\beta \dot{R}}{AN}}\right)^2{\displaystyle \frac{A}{U}}\right]\right\}\right]_{out}^{in},`$ (2.27)   
where we used $`a_{in}/u_{in}=0`$ to write the limits from the two regions in the same form.

The integral in Eq. (2.27) contains a second derivative of $`R`$ which should be eliminated by a suitable term in $`S_B`$. Such term must be a total derivative so that it does not affect the equations of motion and for the Schwarzschild metric it can be found in Ref. . The same kind of term works for Vaidya as well and is given by

$`S_B^{(1)}={\displaystyle \frac{8\pi }{\kappa }}{\displaystyle _{\tau _i}^{\tau _f}}𝑑\tau {\displaystyle \frac{d}{d\tau }}\left[R^2\mathrm{tanh}^1\left({\displaystyle \frac{\dot{R}}{\beta }}\right)\right]_{out}^{in}.`$ (2.28)   
Adding (2.28) to (2.27) gives

$`S_G^{shell}+S_B^{(1)}={\displaystyle \frac{8\pi }{\kappa }}{\displaystyle _{\tau _i}^{\tau _f}}𝑑\tau \left[2\beta R2\dot{R}R\mathrm{tanh}^1\left({\displaystyle \frac{\dot{R}}{\beta }}\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{M\beta }{A}}{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{M}R}{A}}\right]_{out}^{in}.`$ (2.29)   
We observe that $`\beta _{in}/A_{in}=\dot{T}_{in}`$  and the mass aspect $`M_{in}`$ is constant, therefore the last two terms are irrelevant in $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{in}`$ (being zero or total derivatives). In $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{out}`$, however, they cannot be neglected.

We shall now identify another surface term of dynamical relevance which arises from the borders of $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. We observe that the expression (2.15) of the scalar curvature is defined up to the addition of zero which can be written in the form

$`0={\displaystyle \frac{2\alpha }{r^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{r}}(rar)+{\displaystyle \frac{2\gamma }{r^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{r}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{r^2}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{a}{r}}\right),`$ (2.30)   
where $`\alpha `$ and $`\gamma `$ are arbitrary constants. Hence

$`{\displaystyle \frac{4\pi }{\kappa }}{\displaystyle _{u_i}^{u_f}}𝑑u{\displaystyle _R^R_{\mathrm{}}}r^2𝑑r=`$   
$`{\displaystyle \frac{8\pi }{\kappa }}{\displaystyle _{u_i}^{u_f}}𝑑u{\displaystyle _R^R_{\mathrm{}}}𝑑r\left[\left(1+\alpha \right)\left(1+\alpha \right){\displaystyle \frac{}{r}}\left(ar\right)\left(1\gamma \right){\displaystyle \frac{}{r}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{r^2}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{a}{r}}\right)\right],`$ (2.31)   
from which one readily sees that there are no (non-trivial) surface terms at the null borders $`u=u_i`$ and $`u=u_f`$ of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{out}`$. It is shown in Ref.  that no such terms arise along the spatial borders $`t=t_i`$ and $`t=t_f`$ of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{in}`$. Therefore, from (2.31) one concludes that a surface term could come only from the border at $`r=R_{\mathrm{}}`$ and should be compensated by

$`S_B^{(2)}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{8\pi }{\kappa }}{\displaystyle _{u_i}^{u_f}}𝑑u\left[(1+\alpha )ar+(1\gamma ){\displaystyle \frac{r^2}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{a}{r}}\right]_R_{\mathrm{}}`$ (2.32)   
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{8\pi }{\kappa }}{\displaystyle _{u_i}^{u_f}}𝑑u\left[\left(1+2\alpha +\gamma \right)M_{out}\left(1+\alpha \right)R_{\mathrm{}}\right].`$   
For $`\alpha =1`$ and $`\gamma =0`$ one obtains the usual contribution (see Appendix D). However we find it more useful to set $`\alpha =1`$ and $`\gamma =0`$, for which the integrand in Eq. (2.32) with the relation (C.6) becomes

$`S_B^{(2)}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{8\pi }{\kappa }}{\displaystyle _{\tau _i}^{\tau _f}}𝑑\tau {\displaystyle \frac{\beta _{out}\dot{R}}{A_{out}}}M_{out},`$ (2.33)   
since this form cancels one of the terms in the integral (2.29).

Putting together all the relevant pieces given in Eqs. (2.11), (2.29) and (2.33) finally yields the effective action

$`S_{eff}(N,R,M_{out})`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{8\pi }{\kappa }}{\displaystyle _{\tau _i}^{\tau _f}}𝑑\tau \left\{\left[2R\beta 2R\dot{R}\mathrm{tanh}^1\left({\displaystyle \frac{\dot{R}}{\beta }}\right)\right]_{out}^{in}+{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{M}_{out}R}{A_{out}}}{\displaystyle \frac{M_{out}\dot{R}}{A_{out}}}\right\}`$ (2.34)   
$`4\pi {\displaystyle _{\tau _i}^{\tau _f}}𝑑\tau NR^2\rho `$   
$``$ $`{\displaystyle _{\tau _i}^{\tau _f}}𝑑\tau L_{eff}(N,R,M_{out}),`$   
for the variables $`N`$, $`R`$ and $`M_{out}`$. It is worth noting that one recovers the effective action for a shell which collapses without emission of radiation simply by setting $`\dot{M}_{out}=0`$. In fact the integral of $`M_{out}\dot{R}/A_{out}`$, which does not appear in the action given in Ref. , depends only on the end-points when $`M_{out}`$ is a constant and is then dynamically irrelevant.

In the next Section we shall vary $`S_{eff}`$ in order to check that it generates the same equations of motion as following from the junction conditions reviewed in appendix E.

## 3 Equations of motion

In the following we shall obtain the Euler-Lagrange equations of motion by varying the effective action with respect to the $`\tau `$-dependent quantities appearing in the effective Lagrangian with the end-points held fixed at $`\tau _i`$ and $`\tau _f`$. Such variations are formally computed by acting on the Lagrangian with the operator ($`i=1,2,3`$)

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\delta }{\delta X^i}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{X^i}}{\displaystyle \frac{d}{d\tau }}\left({\displaystyle \frac{}{\dot{X}^i}}\right),`$ (3.1)   
with $`X^i=(N,R,M_{out})`$ and $`\delta X^i(\tau _i)=\delta X^i(\tau _f)=0`$.

To begin with, we note that it is sensible in the spirit of General Relativity to assume that the shell proper energy $`E`$ does not depend on the shell velocity $`\dot{R}`$. Further, in order to keep a sufficient degree of generality, we consider $`E`$ depending on both shell variables $`R`$ and $`M_{out}`$ (but not on $`N`$), so that the physical shell energy is related to the quantity $`4\pi R^2\rho `$ by

$`E=4\pi R^2\rho (R,M_{out}),`$ (3.2)   
and agrees with the source in the $`\theta \theta `$-junction equation (E.2).

We next introduce the canonical momenta $`P_i(L_{eff}/\dot{X}^i)`$, which are formally given by

$`P_N=0`$ (3.3)   
$`P_R={\displaystyle \frac{8\pi }{\kappa }}\left\{2R\left[\mathrm{tanh}^1\left({\displaystyle \frac{\dot{R}}{\beta }}\right)\right]_{out}^{in}+{\displaystyle \frac{M_{out}}{A_{out}}}\right\}`$ (3.4)   
$`P_M={\displaystyle \frac{8\pi }{\kappa }}{\displaystyle \frac{R}{A_{out}}}.`$ (3.5)   
The particular expressions (3.3) and (3.5) deeply affect the nature of the dynamical system at hand, as can be seen from the (symmetric) matrix

$`W_{ij}`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{L_{eff}}{\dot{X}^i\dot{X}^j}}={\displaystyle \frac{P_i}{\dot{X}^j}},`$ (3.6)   
whose rank equals the number of canonical degrees of freedom with $`\mathrm{Dim}[W]\mathrm{Rank}[W]`$ being the number of primary constraints. Since

$`\mathrm{Rank}[W]=\mathrm{Rank}\left[\mathrm{diag}\left(\begin{array}{ccc}0,& {\displaystyle \frac{P_R}{\dot{R}}},& 0\end{array}\right)\right]=1,`$ (3.8)   
the Lagrangian $`L_{eff}`$ contains two primary constraints and is said to be non-standard .

Varying $`S_{eff}`$ with respect to the lapse function yields

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\delta L_{eff}}{\delta N}}={\displaystyle \frac{L_{eff}}{N}}={\displaystyle \frac{16\pi }{\kappa }}{\displaystyle \frac{R}{N}}\left[\beta \right]_{out}^{in}E,`$ (3.9)   
where we made use of our previous assumption that $`\rho `$ does not depend on $`N`$. Upon setting this variation to zero we obtain the first primary (Hamiltonian) constraint

$`{\displaystyle \frac{H}{N}}E{\displaystyle \frac{16\pi }{\kappa }}{\displaystyle \frac{R}{N}}\left[\beta \right]_{out}^{in}=0,`$ (3.10)   
which is related to the time-reparametrization invariance of the shell three-metric and is formally equal to the analogous constraint obtained in Ref.  for non-radiating shells. In order to make contact with the notation in Appendix E we observe that, for $`N=1`$, one formally recovers the $`\theta \theta `$-junction equation (E.2).

Varying with respect to $`R`$ yields the equation of motion

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\delta L_{eff}}{\delta R}}={\displaystyle \frac{L_{eff}}{R}}{\displaystyle \frac{d}{d\tau }}\left({\displaystyle \frac{L_{eff}}{\dot{R}}}\right)=0,`$ (3.11)   
that is

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\delta }{\delta R}}\left(NE\right)={\displaystyle \frac{16\pi }{\kappa }}\left\{\left[\beta +{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\beta }}\left(R\ddot{R}+{\displaystyle \frac{N^2M}{R}}{\displaystyle \frac{R\dot{N}\dot{R}}{N}}\right)\right]_{out}^{in}+{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{M}_{out}}{\beta _{out}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\beta _{out}\dot{R}}{12M_{out}/R}}\right\}.`$ (3.12)   
Upon defining

$`P{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8\pi NR}}{\displaystyle \frac{\delta }{\delta R}}\left(NE\right)={\displaystyle \frac{\delta E}{\delta 𝒜}},`$ (3.13)   
($`𝒜=4\pi R^2`$ is the area of the surface of the shell) and setting $`N=1`$ we formally recover the $`\tau \tau `$-junction equation (E.3).

Now, unlike the non-radiating case, one must also consider varying $`M_{out}`$, thus obtaining the second primary constraint which has no interpretation as a junction condition,

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\delta L_{eff}}{\delta M_{out}}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{L_{eff}}{M}}{\displaystyle \frac{d}{d\tau }}\left({\displaystyle \frac{L_{eff}}{\dot{M}}}\right)`$ (3.14)   
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{16\pi }{\kappa }}{\displaystyle \frac{\beta _{out}\dot{R}}{12M_{out}/R}}{\displaystyle \frac{\delta }{\delta M_{out}}}\left(NE\right)=0.`$   
It was already obvious from Eq. (3.3) and $`W_{11}=0`$ that the lapse function $`N`$ is a Lagrange multiplier and can be assigned any function of $`\tau `$. Hence, from now on we work in the proper time gauge $`N=1`$, which makes most of the equations look simpler. The corresponding constraint (3.10) was in anticipation named the Hamiltonian constraint since the quantity $`NH`$ is the canonical Hamiltonian, as can be seen from the Hamiltonian form of the effective Lagrangian,

$`L_{eff}=P_N\dot{N}+P_R\dot{R}+P_M\dot{M}_{out}NH.`$ (3.15)   
The Hamiltonian constraint must be preserved in time, which yields the secondary constraint

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dH}{d\tau }}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{dE}{d\tau }}{\displaystyle \frac{E}{R}}\dot{R}{\displaystyle \frac{E}{M_{out}}}\dot{M}_{out}`$ (3.16)   
$`=`$ $`4\pi R^2\left[\dot{\rho }2{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{R}}{R}}\left(P\rho \right){\displaystyle \frac{4}{\kappa }}{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{M}_{out}}{R}}{\displaystyle \frac{\beta _{out}\dot{R}}{R2M_{out}}}\right]=0,`$   
where we have used both Eqs. (3.12) and (3.14) to show that, in general, Eq. (3.16) is trivially satisfied by our ansatz $`E=E(R,M_{out})`$ in Eq. (3.2).

Since $`W_{33}=0`$, also the quantity $`M_{out}`$ is not a true dynamical variable. Further, the total time derivative of (3.14) vanishes in virtue of $`E=E(R,M_{out})`$ on using Eqs. (3.14) itself and (3.16), therefore no new secondary constraint is generated. This means that one can set $`M_{out}=M_{out}(\tau )`$ (any function of $`\tau `$), which determines $`E=E(R,M_{out})`$ through the constraints (3.10) and (3.14), and compute $`R=R(\tau )`$ with correspondingly $`R(\tau _i)=R_i`$ by solving Eq. (3.12). This picture is well suited to describe a shell whose luminosity curve in time is given by 

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dQ}{d\tau }}{\displaystyle \frac{16\pi }{\kappa }}{\displaystyle \frac{\beta _{out}\dot{R}}{12M_{out}/R}}{\displaystyle \frac{dM_{out}}{d\tau }}.`$ (3.17)   
The above quantity is negative for radiating shells (we required $`\dot{U}>0`$, see Eq. (C.6)) and diverges for the shell approaching its Schwarzschild radius , unless

$`\dot{M}_{out}=\dot{U}{\displaystyle \frac{dM_{out}}{du}}(R2M_{out}),`$ (3.18)   
for $`R2M_{out}`$. This singular behaviour (and the corresponding bound on $`\dot{M}_{out}`$) is due to the fact that the coordinates $`(u,r)`$ are related to the point of view of a static observer (see Appendix E) and is removed by passing to Israel’s coordinates  (see also Appendix C).

However, one can alternatively choose the value of $`E=E(R(\tau ),M_{out}(\tau ))`$ as an explicit function of $`\tau `$ and determine $`P`$ from (3.12) and the luminosity from (3.14). Then the trajectory $`R=R(\tau )`$ is obtained by imposing the Hamiltonian constraint (3.10) for all times $`\tau _i\tau \tau _f`$. This option is particularly useful if one wishes to impose only initial conditions and then consider both the trajectory and the luminosity of the shell as completely determined by the specific interaction between the shell matter and the emitted radiation encoded in the dependence of $`E`$ on $`R`$ and $`M_{out}`$.

### 3.1 Comparison with other approaches

In a previous approach  the outer mass is considered fixed, in which case it is not possible nor necessary to consider the variation with respect to it. Nontheless one may proceed in analogy with such an approach and obtain a self-consistent, complete set of equations starting from our action Eq. (2.34).

The first case one may consider is that for which the arbitrary function $`M_{out}(\tau )`$ is taken to be a function of the shell radius $`M_{out}=M_{out}(R(\tau ))`$. One then has that the two terms to the right of eq. (2.34) are a total derivative with respect to the proper time,

$`{\displaystyle _{\tau _i}^{\tau _f}}𝑑\tau \left({\displaystyle \frac{\dot{M}_{out}R}{A_{out}}}{\displaystyle \frac{M_{out}\dot{R}}{A_{out}}}\right)={\displaystyle _{\tau _i}^{\tau _f}}𝑑\tau \dot{R}{\displaystyle \frac{R^2}{2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}\mathrm{log}A_{out}\right),`$ (3.19)   
which is a boundary term and does not influence the equation of motion. Then the tension is found to be

$`P={\displaystyle \frac{2}{\kappa }}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\beta }{R}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\ddot{R}}{\beta }}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\beta }}{\displaystyle \frac{dA}{dR}}\right]_{out}^{in}`$ (3.20)   
which is the analogue of eq. (3.12) and agrees with the $`\tau \tau `$-junction equation.

Using this expression and imposing the conservation of the Hamiltonian constraint we obtain as anticipated a continuity equation, which takes the form

$`{\displaystyle \frac{d\rho }{dR}}={\displaystyle \frac{2}{R}}(P\rho ).`$ (3.21)   
Finally for the general case $`M_{out}(\tau )`$ we note that Eq. (3.14), which was obtained by varying the action with respect to $`M_{out}`$, can also be arrived at by using the expression for the pressure (that is the equation of motion for $`R`$) and imposing the conservation of the Hamiltonian constraint

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dH}{d\tau }}=0.`$ (3.22)   
It is clear, as we have mentioned after Eq. (2.34), that for $`M_{out}`$ constant we reproduce the usual results .

## 4 Thermodynamics

Just as for the black hole case , one may attempt for the case of the radiating shell a thermodynamic approach. The first observation is that in thermodynamics one has “quasi-static” processes so that the equations of state are always satisfied. This of course implies in our case that all time derivatives be considered small so that matter on the shell always be in equilibrium . Let us illustrate such an approach (in this Section we denote the quasi-static limit of previously defined quantities by the same letter in italics style).

In the shell one expects that the intensive coordinate be the surface tension $`𝒫`$ and the extensive one be the area $`𝒜`$. Thus, considering quasi-static processes for which

$`\dot{R}^21{\displaystyle \frac{2M_{out}}{R}},`$ (4.23)   
from Eq. (3.12) one finds (again setting $`N=1`$)

$`𝒫={\displaystyle \frac{2}{\kappa R}}\left[\sqrt{A}+{\displaystyle \frac{M}{R\sqrt{A}}}\right]_{out}^{in}.`$ (4.24)   
Similarly, from Eq. (3.10) one may identify

$`={\displaystyle \frac{16\pi }{\kappa }}R\left[\sqrt{A}\right]_{out}^{in},`$ (4.25)   
which will correspond to the shell internal energy. We note that all quantities are a function of the (slowly) time-dependent variables $`M_{out}`$ and $`R`$, thus it is clear that $`d`$ (a change of the internal energy) is an exact differential  of $`M_{out}`$ and $`R`$, which is a statement of the first law of thermodynamics .

One may now introduce a variation of the heat $`𝒬`$,

$`\text{d}\text{-}𝒬`$ $`=`$ $`d𝒫d𝒜`$ (4.26)   
$`=`$ $`d8\pi R𝒫dR`$   
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{}{M_{out}}}dM_{out}+\left({\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}8\pi R𝒫\right)dR,`$   
which on using Eqs. (4.24) and (4.25) leads to

$`\text{d}\text{-}𝒬={\displaystyle \frac{16\pi }{\kappa }}{\displaystyle \frac{dM_{out}}{\sqrt{12M_{out}/R}}}.`$ (4.27)   
This is in agreement with the quasi-static limit of Eq. (3.14) and is related to the luminosity of the shell, Eq. (3.17). At this point, in order to obtain the change in entropy, one must introduce a temperature $`𝒯`$ which must be such that $`d𝒮=\text{d}\text{-}𝒬/𝒯`$ is an exact differential as a statement of the second law of thermodynamics . This implies that

$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{R}}\left(𝒯\sqrt{12M_{out}/R}\right)^1=0,`$ (4.28)   
which has a solution 

$`𝒯={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}}{8\pi k_bM_{out}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{12M_{out}/R}}},`$ (4.29)   
where $`k_b`$ is the Boltzmann constant, and corresponds to the desired equation of state connecting $`M_{out}`$, $`R`$ and $`𝒯`$. The entropy change in this case is then given by

$`d𝒮=\left({\displaystyle \frac{16\pi k_b}{\mathrm{}\kappa }}\right)\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}8}\pi M_{out}dM_{out},`$ (4.30)   
and for $`\kappa =16\pi `$, $`\mathrm{}=k_b=1`$ one has (omitting an arbitrary constant)

$`𝒮=4\pi M_{out}^2={\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}(\text{area of horizon}),`$ (4.31)   
which is the usual result for a black hole and it is clear that a collapse for which $`\dot{M}_{out}=0`$ is adiabatic (“isentropic”).

Obviously, given our expressions for the entropy, surface tension and internal energy, one may actually evaluate the various thermodynamic potentials. Let us just end by determining the specific heat at constant area. It will be given by

$`C_𝒜=𝒯\left({\displaystyle \frac{𝒮}{𝒯}}\right)_𝒜={\displaystyle \frac{1}{8\pi 𝒯^2}}\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{3M_{out}}{R}}\right)^1,`$ (4.32)   
which for $`R>3M_{out}`$ is negative as expected.

## 5 Conclusions

In this paper we have analyzed the dynamics of radiating shells in General Relativity by deriving a mini-superspace effective action for the area and mass aspect of the shell. Besides proving the dynamical equivalence of this approach with the usual treatment via junction equations, we have introduced a temperature (equation of state) and obtained a thermodynamic, quasi-static description for the evolution of the shell.

The effective action in itself is useful for developing the quantum theory and we hope to use it along the lines of Ref. . We also think that the remarks in the Introduction and the analysis of the equations of motion carried on in the previous Section make clear that description given for radiating shells is a general framework which can be used to study a wide variety of cases of physical interest.

## Appendix A Overall null foliation

Instead of the “mixed” foliation used in the text, one might introduce a null Eddington-Finkelstein coordinate  $`du_{in}=dt_{in}a_{in}^1dr`$ such that

$`ds_{in}^2=a_{in}du_{in}^22du_{in}dr+r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }^2,`$ (A.1)   
for $`r<R`$, and consider slices of constant $`u`$ both inside and outside the shell. Then the volume over which one integrates the Einstein-Hilbert action would have null boundaries at $`u=u_i`$ and $`u=u_f`$ for all $`0<r<R_{\mathrm{}}`$ (this would change the shape of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{in}`$ with respect to Fig. 2). It is however easy to show that this does not change the effective action. In fact the scalar curvature for Schwarzschild and Minkowski can be formally written as in Eq. (2.15), with $`a_{in}`$ a function of (at most) $`r`$, since the mass aspect is constant and equal to $`M_{in}`$ for $`r<R`$. Therefore both the volume contribution and surface terms vanish in the region $`r<R`$ and one is left with the terms at $`\eta =ϵ`$ in $`S_G^{shell}`$ as given in Eq. (2.29).

## Appendix B Curvature scalar for the Vaidya metric

The scalar curvature for a metric of the form (2.13) or (A.1) with a generic $`a=a(u,r)`$ can be computed straightforwardly from the definition of the Riemann tensor 

$`=g^{\nu \sigma }_{\nu \mu \sigma }^\mu ,`$ (B.1)   
where $`\mu ,\nu \mathrm{}=u,r,\theta ,\varphi `$, and

$`_{\nu \mu \sigma }^\mu =\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\nu \sigma ,\mu }^\mu \mathrm{\Gamma }_{\nu \mu ,\sigma }^\mu +\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\nu \sigma }^\alpha \mathrm{\Gamma }_{\alpha \mu }^\mu \mathrm{\Gamma }_{\nu \alpha }^\mu \mathrm{\Gamma }_{\sigma \mu }^\alpha .`$ (B.2)   
The non-vanishing connection coefficients,

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\nu \lambda }^\mu ={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}g^{\mu \sigma }\left(g_{\sigma \nu ,\lambda }+g_{\sigma \lambda ,\nu }g_{\nu \lambda ,\sigma }\right),`$ (B.3)   
are given by

$`\begin{array}{ccc}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{uu}^u=\frac{1}{2}\frac{a}{r},\hfill & \mathrm{\Gamma }_{\varphi \varphi }^u=\mathrm{sin}^2\theta \mathrm{\Gamma }_{\theta \theta }^u=r^2\mathrm{sin}^2\theta ,\hfill & \\ & & \\ \mathrm{\Gamma }_{uu}^r=\frac{1}{2}\frac{a}{u}+\frac{a}{2}\frac{a}{r},\hfill & \mathrm{\Gamma }_{\varphi \varphi }^r=\mathrm{sin}^2\theta \mathrm{\Gamma }_{\theta \theta }^r=ar\mathrm{sin}^2\theta ,\hfill & \mathrm{\Gamma }_{ur}^r=\frac{1}{2}\frac{a}{r},\hfill \\ & & \\ \mathrm{\Gamma }_{r\theta }^\theta =\mathrm{\Gamma }_{r\varphi }^\varphi =\frac{1}{r},\hfill & \mathrm{\Gamma }_{\varphi \varphi }^\theta =\mathrm{sin}^2\theta \mathrm{\Gamma }_{\theta \varphi }^\varphi =\mathrm{sin}\theta \mathrm{cos}\theta ,\hfill & \end{array}`$ (B.9)   
and lead to the result stated in Eq. (2.15).

## Appendix C Gaussian normal coordinates in Vaidya space-time

The metric in a neighborhood of the shell can be written in Gaussian normal coordinates $`(\tau ,\eta ,\theta ,\varphi )`$ as

$`ds^2=g_{\tau \tau }d\tau ^2+g_{\eta \eta }d\eta ^2+2g_{\tau \eta }d\tau d\eta +r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }^2,`$ (C.1)   
where

$`g_{\tau \tau }(\tau ,\eta )=a\left({\displaystyle \frac{u}{\tau }}\right)^22{\displaystyle \frac{u}{\tau }}{\displaystyle \frac{r}{\tau }}`$   
$`g_{\tau \eta }(\tau ,\eta )=0=a{\displaystyle \frac{u}{\eta }}{\displaystyle \frac{u}{\tau }}{\displaystyle \frac{u}{\tau }}{\displaystyle \frac{r}{\eta }}{\displaystyle \frac{u}{\eta }}{\displaystyle \frac{r}{\tau }}`$   
$`g_{\eta \eta }(\tau ,\eta )=1=a\left({\displaystyle \frac{u}{\eta }}\right)^22{\displaystyle \frac{u}{\eta }}{\displaystyle \frac{r}{\eta }},`$ (C.2)   
and we choose $`\eta >0`$ ($`\eta <0`$) for points in $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{out}`$ ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_{in}`$).

Matching (C.1) to the three-metric (2.5) on the shell world-volume at $`\eta =0`$ gives the set of equations

$`A\dot{U}^2+2\dot{U}\dot{R}=N^2`$ (C.3)   
$`A\dot{U}{\displaystyle \frac{u}{\eta }}|_{\eta =0}+\dot{U}{\displaystyle \frac{r}{\eta }}|_{\eta =0}+\dot{R}{\displaystyle \frac{u}{\eta }}|_{\eta =0}=0`$ (C.4)   
$`A\left({\displaystyle \frac{u}{\eta }}|_{\eta =0}\right)^2+2{\displaystyle \frac{u}{\eta }}|_{\eta =0}{\displaystyle \frac{r}{\eta }}|_{\eta =0}=1.`$ (C.5)   
From (C.3) it follows that $`\dot{U}=(\pm \beta \dot{R})/A`$, with $`\beta `$ given in Eq. (2.26). We require $`\dot{U}>0`$ and, since we wish to describe collapsing trajectories with $`\dot{R}<0`$ for $`R>2M`$, we must choose the plus sign

$`\dot{U}={\displaystyle \frac{\beta \dot{R}}{A}}.`$ (C.6)   
For $`R2M`$ the above expression diverges (unless $`\beta =\dot{R}=0`$), which signals the fact that the coordinates in use become singular on that surface .

In fact, one has that $`u+\mathrm{}`$ for $`r2m`$ (both for Vaidya and Schwarzschild). This can be cured from the onset by passing to Israel’s coordinates $`(v,w)`$ which are regular all the way down to $`r=0`$ . They are defined by

$`du={\displaystyle \frac{dv}{W(v)}},{\displaystyle \frac{dW}{dv}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{4m(v)}}`$ (C.7)   
and $`r=2m(v)+W(v)w`$. In this frame the Vaidya line element becomes

$`ds^2=\left({\displaystyle \frac{4}{W}}{\displaystyle \frac{dm}{dv}}+{\displaystyle \frac{w^2}{2mr}}\right)dv^2+2dvdw+r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }^2.`$ (C.8)   
However the same result for the components of the extrinsic curvature is obtained if the change is made at the end of the computation (see Appendix E).

Eqs. (C.4) and (C.5) yield

$`{\displaystyle \frac{u}{\eta }}|_{\eta =0}={\displaystyle \frac{\beta \dot{R}}{AN}},{\displaystyle \frac{r}{\eta }}|_{\eta =0}={\displaystyle \frac{\beta }{N}}.`$ (C.9)   
Hence the radial coordinate $`r`$ as a function of $`\tau `$ and $`\eta `$ is continuous, but its derivative with respect to $`\eta `$ has a jump on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. At the same time $`u`$ need not even be continuous across $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. We can now write $`(u,r)`$ as functions of the Gaussian normal coordinates $`(\tau ,\eta )`$ explicitly up to order $`\eta `$,

$`\{\begin{array}{c}u=U{\displaystyle \frac{\beta \dot{R}}{AN}}\eta +𝒪(\eta ^2)\hfill \\ \\ r=R+{\displaystyle \frac{\beta }{N}}\eta +𝒪(\eta ^2),\hfill \end{array}`$ (C.13)   
where we recall that the above expressions hold both in $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{in}`$ ($`\eta <0`$) and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{out}`$ ($`\eta >0`$), thus it is to be understood that

$`A=\{\begin{array}{cc}\underset{\eta 0^{}}{lim}a_{in}=12M_{in}/R\hfill & \mathrm{in}\mathrm{\Omega }_{in}\hfill \\ \underset{\eta 0^+}{lim}a_{out}=12M_{out}/R\hfill & \mathrm{in}\mathrm{\Omega }_{out},\hfill \end{array}`$ (C.16)   
and so forth.

From the knowledge of the mapping (C.13) one can determine the components (C.1) of the metric and their derivatives with respect to $`\eta `$ and compute the extrinsic curvature according to Eq. (2.17).

## Appendix D Standard boundary term at $`R_{\mathrm{}}`$

Surface contributions are usually computed by making use of the trace $`𝒦`$ of the extrinsic curvature of the border of the space-time volume $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, according to Eq. (2.10). Further, $`𝒦`$ is related to the covariant derivative of the unit normal to the border. Thus, at $`r=R_{\mathrm{}}`$, one has

$`S_B^{(3)}={\displaystyle \frac{2}{\kappa }}{\displaystyle _{u_i}^{u_f}}𝑑u𝑑\theta 𝑑\varphi \sqrt{h}_\mu n^\mu |_R_{\mathrm{}},`$ (D.1)   
where $`h=ar^4\mathrm{sin}^2\theta `$ is the determinant of the pull-back of the metric (2.13) on an hypersurface of constant $`r`$, $``$ denotes the covariant derivative in the metric (2.13),

$`_\mu n^\mu ={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{g}}}_\mu \left(\sqrt{g}n^\mu \right),`$ (D.2)   
and $`n^\mu =(a^{1/2},a^{1/2},0,0)`$ is the unit normal to an hypersurface of constant $`r`$ in $`(u,r)`$ components. Computing the derivative at $`r=R_{\mathrm{}}`$ one finds

$`S_B^{(3)}={\displaystyle \frac{8\pi }{\kappa }}{\displaystyle _{u_i}^{u_f}}𝑑u\left[2R_{\mathrm{}}{\displaystyle \frac{R_{\mathrm{}}^2}{R_{\mathrm{}}2M_{out}}}{\displaystyle \frac{dM_{out}}{du}}3M_{out}\right].`$ (D.3)   
We may now show that Eq. (D.3) is dynamically equivalent to the result (2.32) used in the text. We first integrate the second term in the integral above and obtain

$`S_B^{(3)}={\displaystyle \frac{8\pi }{\kappa }}{\displaystyle _{u_i}^{u_f}}𝑑u\left[2R_{\mathrm{}}3M_{out}\right]+{\displaystyle \frac{4\pi }{\kappa }}R_{\mathrm{}}^2\mathrm{ln}{\displaystyle \frac{R_{\mathrm{}}M_f}{R_{\mathrm{}}M_i}}.`$ (D.4)   
The last term does not affect the equations of motion, since the effective action is varied with fixed endpoints, and can therefore be dropped. It is shown in Section 2 that $`S_B^{(2)}`$ depends on two arbitrary coefficients and for $`\alpha =1`$ and $`\gamma =0`$ one just recovers the integral in Eq. (D.4).

## Appendix E Junction equations

The junction equations at the shell surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ relate the jump in the extrinsic curvature $`K_{ij}`$ to the matter stress-energy tensor on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ ,

$`\left[𝒦_{ij}\right]_{in}^{out}={\displaystyle \frac{\kappa }{2}}\left(𝒮_{ij}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}g_{ij}𝒮_k^k\right),`$ (E.1)   
where $`g_{ij}`$ is the three-metric (2.5) in the proper time gauge $`N=1`$ and the source term $`𝒮_{ij}`$ is given in Eq. (2.7). Upon substituting the components (2.21) of the extrinsic curvature into Eq. (E.1) one obtains the $`\theta \theta `$-junction equation

$`E={\displaystyle \frac{16\pi }{\kappa }}R\left[\beta \right]_{out}^{in},`$ (E.2)   
where we have introduced the shell proper mass $`E`$ according to Eq. (3.2). Analogously (2.25) yield the $`\tau \tau `$-junction equation

$`P={\displaystyle \frac{2}{\kappa }}\left\{\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\beta }{R}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\ddot{R}}{\beta }}+{\displaystyle \frac{M}{R^2\beta }}\right]_{out}^{in}+{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{M}_{out}}{\beta _{out}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\beta _{out}\dot{R}}{R2M_{out}}}\right\}.`$ (E.3)   
In Israel’s coordinates (see Appendix C) the last term in the right hand side of Eq. (E.3) becomes

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{U}\dot{M}_{out}}{R\beta _{out}}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{R\beta _{out}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{V}^2}{W}}{\displaystyle \frac{dM_{out}}{dv}},`$ (E.4)   
which renders our equation (E.3) the same as Eq. (3.3) of Ref.  where the problem of integrating Eqs. (E.2) and (E.3) was addressed numerically for a particular choice of the luminosity.

Let us focus on analytic results that can be obtained independently of the detail of the interaction between the shell and the out-flowing null dust. We take, for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{in}`$, flat Minkowski space ($`M_{in}=0`$) and $`2M_{out}(\tau _i)<R_i`$.

1) Taking $`R2M_{out}`$ and $`\dot{R}1`$ in Eq. (E.2) gives, to leading order, $`E(16\pi /\kappa )M_{out}`$, which is the relation one would expect in (asymptotically) flat space.

2) Expanding Eqs. (E.2) and (3.16) for $`R2M_{out}2M_{out}`$ gives, again to leading order,

$`E2M_{out}\left(\sqrt{1+\dot{R}^2}+\dot{R}\right)`$ (E.5)   
$`\dot{E}{\displaystyle \frac{64\pi }{\kappa }}{\displaystyle \frac{M_{out}\dot{M}_{out}\dot{R}}{R2M_{out}}}8\pi M_{out}\dot{R}P.`$ (E.6)   
For $`\dot{E}=0`$ it follows that $`\dot{M}_{out}=0`$ only if $`P`$ always remains zero (dust). One can interpret this result as if, in general, the radiation can be fed by the gravitational energy of the shell whose extraction induces a surface tension (and changes the motion of $`R`$ correspondingly).

If we demand that $`P`$ be regular everywhere, because of the denominator on the right hand side of Eq. (E.6), for $`\dot{M}_{out}<0`$ the proper energy emitted per unit proper time diverges with $`R2M_{out}`$. This, together with Eq. (E.5), namely $`EM_{out}`$, implies that $`E`$ and $`M_{out}`$ would vanish at a value of $`R2M_{out}`$. On the other hand, if the time derivative of the mass aspect vanishes according to the bound in Eq. (3.18) one (temporarily) recovers the non-radiating case, for which the shell crosses $`2M_{out}`$ at a finite proper time and with finite proper energy. The condition (3.18) is necessary for the stress-energy tensor of the radiation to be locally finite when the shell crosses the surface $`r=2M_{out}`$ , that is

$`\underset{r2M_{out}}{lim}{\displaystyle \frac{|T_{uu}^{rad}|}{(r2M_{out})^2}}\underset{R2M_{out}}{lim}{\displaystyle \frac{|\dot{M}_{out}|}{(R2M_{out})}}<\mathrm{}.`$ (E.7)   
We remark that the stronger condition $`\dot{M}_{out}=0`$ is necessary to ensure that $`r=2M_{out}`$ is a null surface after the shell has crossed it, which is a property of event horizons as opposite to apparent horizons . In fact, the tangent to the surface $`r=2M_{out}`$ in $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{in}`$ is $`t^\mu =(\dot{T}_{in},2\dot{M}_{out},0,0)`$ and has norm $`t^\mu t_\mu =1`$. In $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{out}`$ the tangent would be $`t^\mu (\dot{U},2\dot{M}_{out},0,0)`$ with norm $`t^\mu t_\mu 4\dot{M}_{out}\dot{U}`$. Therefore $`t^\mu `$ is time-like in $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{in}`$ and would become space-like (or null for $`2\dot{M}_{out}=0`$) in $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{out}`$ .

The mathematical origin of the bound (3.18) lies in the inadequacy of the coordinates $`(u,r)`$ to cover both the interior and the exterior of $`r=2m`$ in the Vaidya space-time (see Appendix C). It has also a physical interpretation in terms of the point of view of a static observer at $`r2M_{out}`$. On assuming that the metric for $`r2M_{out}`$ can be approximated by the Schwarzschild line element, the time $`t_{\mathrm{}}`$ of the static observer is related to $`\tau `$ according to 

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dt_{\mathrm{}}}{d\tau }}={\displaystyle \frac{\beta }{12M_{out}/R}}{\displaystyle \frac{2M_{out}\dot{R}}{R2M_{out}}}.`$ (E.8)   
Then Eq. (E.6) can be written as

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dE}{dt_{\mathrm{}}}}{\displaystyle \frac{32\pi }{\kappa }}{\displaystyle \frac{dM_{out}}{d\tau }}.`$ (E.9)   
This is in accordance with the fact that, due to the infinite redshift experienced by a distant observer, the luminosity of a star which collapses and forms a black hole would decay exponentially and eventually (for $`t_{\mathrm{}}+\mathrm{}`$) fade. On the other hand, if the flux of radiation measured by the distant observer does not vanish before all the proper energy of the shell has been radiated away, then the shell remains always outside the surface $`r=2M_{out}`$ until $`E`$ vanishes (thus leading to flat Minkowski space instead of a black hole).