Related papers: On Constructing Baby Universes and Black Holes
We discuss the essential features of baby-universe production, starting from a description of black holes and wormholes, in terms of the causal structure of spacetime, and following a qualitative review of the connection between vacuum…
We point out that scenarios in which the universe is born from the interior of a black hole may not posses many of the problems of the Standard Big-Bang (SBB) model. In particular we demonstrate that the horizon problem, flatness, and the…
The gravitational collapse and the birth of a new universe are considered in terms of quantum mechanics. Transitions from annihilation of matter to deflation in the collapse and from inflation to creation of matter in the birth of a…
Production of high-energy gravitational objects is a common feature of gravitational theories. The primordial universe is a natural setting for the creation of black holes and other nonperturbative gravitational entities. Cosmic black holes…
Bringing gravity into a quantum-mechanical framework is likely the most profound remaining problem in fundamental physics. The "unitarity crisis" for black hole evolution appears to be a key facet of this problem, whose resolution will…
Black holes are one of the most fascinating predictions of general relativity. They are the natural product of the complete gravitational collapse of matter and today we have a body of observational evidence supporting the existence of…
I review elements of the foundations of black-hole theory with attention to problematic issues, and describe some techniques which either seem to help with the difficulties or at least investigate their scope. The definition of black holes…
Evidence to the case that classical gravitation provides the clue to make sense out of quantum gravity is presented. The key observation is the existence in classical gravitation of child universe solutions or "almost" solutions, "almost"…
We address the question of universes inside a $\Lambda$ black hole which is described by a spherically symmetric globally regular solution to the Einstein equations with a variable cosmological term $\Lambda_{\mu\nu}$, asymptotically…
Although cosmology is usually considered an observational science, where there is little or no space for experimentation, other approaches can (and have been) also considered. In particular, we can change rather drastically the above, more…
We present here an overview of our basic understanding and recent developments on spacetime singularities in the Einstein theory of gravity. Several issues related to physical significance and implications of singularities are discussed.…
Physics is facing contingency. Not only in facts but also in laws (the frontier becoming extremely narrow). Cosmic natural selection is a tantalizing idea to explain the apparently highly improbable structure of our Universe. In this brief…
While in general relativity black holes can be freely embedded into a cosmological background, the same problem in brane-worlds is much more cumbersome. We present here the results obtained so far in the explicit constructions of such…
Various contenders for a complete theory of quantum gravity are at odds with each other. This is in particular seen in the ways they relate to information and black holes, and how to effectively treat quantization of the background…
We present here a spectrum of developments and predictions in gravitation theory in recent years which appear to be amongst some of the most exciting directions. These include the spacetime singularities, gravitational collapse final…
We discuss status of the singularity problem in General Relativity and argue that the requirement that a physical solution must be completely free of singularities may be too strong. As an example, we consider properties of the integrable…
We consider the fundamental issues which dominate the question about the existence or non-existence of black hole horizons and singularities from both of the theoretical and observational points of view, and discuss some of the ways that…
Quantum gravity may allow black holes to tunnel into white holes. If so, the lifetime of a black hole could be shorter than the one given by Hawking evaporation, solving the information paradox. More interestingly, this could open to a new…
Vacuum bubbles may nucleate and expand during the inflationary epoch in the early universe. After inflation ends, the bubbles quickly dissipate their kinetic energy; they come to rest with respect to the Hubble flow and eventually form…
We are entering an era where the numerical construction of generic spacetimes is becoming a reality. The use of computer simulations, in principle, allows us to solve Einstein equations in their full generality and unravel important…