Celestial L w 1 + ∞ symmetries and subleading phase space of null hypersurfaces
Abstract
Pursuing our analysis of the companion Letter, [Celestial symmetries of black hole horizons, .], we study the gravitational solution space around a null hypersurface in the bulk of spacetime, such as a black hole or a cosmological horizon. We discuss the corresponding characteristic initial value problem both in the metric and Newman-Penrose formalisms and establish an explicit dictionary between the two. This allows us to identify Weyl-covariant structures in the solution space, including hierarchies of recursion relations encoding the flux-balance laws. We then establish a correspondence between the gravitational phase space at null infinity and the subleading phase space around the null hypersurface at finite distance. This connection is naturally formulated within the Newman-Penrose formalism by performing a partially off-shell conformal compactification and identifying the analog of the Ashtekar-Streubel symplectic structure in the radial expansion near the null hypersurface. Using this framework, we identify the celestial L w 1 + ∞ symmetries in the subleading phase space at finite distance by constructing their canonical generators and imposing self-duality conditions. This allows us to define a notion of covariant radiation, whose absence gives rise to an infinite tower of conserved charges, revealing physical quantities relevant to observers near black hole or cosmological horizons. As a concrete illustration, we consider the case of the self-dual Taub-Newman-Unti-Tamburino black hole.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Geometric Analysis and Curvature Flows
Advanced Differential Geometry Research
Black Holes and Theoretical Physics
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
- Publisher
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Volume
- 113
- Issue
- 4
- Publication date
- 2 January 2026
- Language
- EN