Role of initial data in spherical collapse

We bring out here the role of initial data in causing the black hole and naked singularity phases as the final end state of a continual gravitational collapse. The collapse of a type I general matter field is considered, and it is shown that, given the distribution of density and pressure profiles at the initial surface from which the collapse evolves, there is freedom in choosing the rest of the free functions and dynamical collapse evolutions from these initial data, such as the velocities of the collapsing shells, so that the end state could be either a black hole or a naked singularity depending on this choice. Our results give some physical insight into these collapse outcomes as to how these phases come about.