The singularity theorems of general relativity predict that gravitational collapse finally ends up in a spacetime singularity1. The cosmic censorship hypothesis (CCH) states that such a singularity is covered by an event horizon2. Despite much effort, there is no rigorous formulation or proof of the CCH. In view of this, examples that appear to violate the CCH and lead to naked singularities, in which non-spacelike curves can emerge, rather than black holes, are important to shed more light on the issue. We have studied several collapse scenarios which can lead to both situations3. In the case of the Vaidya-de Sitter spacetime4, we have shown that the naked singularities that arise are of the strong curvature type. Both types of singularities can also arise in higher dimensional Vaidya and Tolman-Bondi spacetimes, but black holes are favoured in some sense by the higher dimensions. The charged Vaidya-de Sitter spacetime also exhibits both types of singularities5.
Higher dimensional black holes in external magnetic fields