Perturbations of Extremal Kerr Spacetime: Analytic Framework and Late-time Tails

Abstract: We develop a complete and systematic analytical approach to field perturbations of extremal Kerr spacetime based on the formalism of Mano, Suzuki and Takasugi (MST) for the Teukolsky equation. Analytical expressions for the radial solutions and frequency-domain Green function in terms of infinite series of special functions are presented. As an application, we compute, for the first time, the leading late-time behavior due to the branch point at zero frequency of scalar, gravitational, and electromagnetic field perturbations on and off the event horizon. We also use the MST method to compute the leading behavior of the Green function modes near the branch point at the superradiant bound frequency and show that this behavior agrees with existing results in the literature using a different method.