Related papers: Introduction to black holes
Black holes are unique among astrophysical sources: they are the simplest macroscopic objects in the Universe, and they are extraordinary in terms of their ability to convert energy into electromagnetic and gravitational radiation. Our…
Black holes are extremely dense and compact objects from which light cannot escape. There is an overall consensus that black holes exist and many astronomical objects are identified with black holes. White holes were understood as the exact…
I present an elementary primer of black hole physics, including its general relativity basis, all peppered with astrophysical illustrations. Following a brief review of the process stellar collapse to a black hole, I discuss the…
Astronomers have discovered two populations of black holes: (i) stellar-mass black holes with masses in the range 5 to 30 solar masses, millions of which are present in each galaxy in the universe, and (ii) supermassive black holes with…
Proof that black holes exist will likely require confirmation of the existence of event horizons. The common assumption that the mere existence of large compact masses proves the case for black holes is an unwarranted extrapolation of…
Black holes are popping up all over the place: in compact binary X-ray sources and GRBs, in quasars, AGNs and the cores of all bulge galaxies, in binary black holes and binary black hole-neutron stars, and maybe even in the LHC! Black holes…
Black holes are the simplest macroscopic objects, and provide unique tests of General Relativity. They have been compared to the Hydrogen atom in quantum mechanics. Here, we establish a few facts about the simplest systems bound by gravity:…
The existence of massive black holes was postulated in the sixties, when the first quasars were discovered. In the late nineties their reality was proven beyond doubt, in the Milky way and a handful nearby galaxies. Since then, enormous…
Black holes are some of the most interesting objects in the universe. While they first arise in the complicated behavior of general relativity, the physical laws ruling their behavior are surprisingly simple. For example, one of the core…
The grand challenges of contemporary fundamental physics---dark matter, dark energy, vacuum energy, inflation and early universe cosmology, singularities and the hierarchy problem---all involve gravity as a key component. And of all…
We discuss some of the the open questions and the roadmap in the physics of primordial black holes. Black holes are the only dark matter candidate that is known to actually exit. Their conjectured primordial role is admittedly based on…
It has recently been suggested that black holes may be described as condensates of weakly interacting gravitons at a critical point, exhibiting strong quantum effects. In this paper, we study a model system of attractive bosons in one…
What is going on (as of August 2008) at the interface between theoretical general relativity, string-inspired models, and observational astrophysics? Quite a lot. In this mini-survey I will make a personal choice and focus on four specific…
The recent detections of gravitational waves from binary systems of black holes are in remarkable agreement with the predictions of General Relativity. In this pedagogical mini-review, I will go through the physics of the different phases…
Black holes in General Relativity are very simple objects. This property, that goes under the name of "no-hair," has been refined in the last few decades and admits several versions. The simplicity of black holes makes them ideal testbeds…
Two interesting hypotheses about black holes have been proposed. The older one states that microscopic black holes can be accountable for the observed dark matter density. The newer one states that black holes are coupled to the expansion…
Black holes represent extreme conditions of physical laws. Being predicted about a century ago, they are now accepted as astrophysical reality by most of the scientific community. Only recently more direct evidence of their existence has…
Small black holes should have formed in the early Universe if the density contrast was high enough. This article aims at giving a - biased and partial - short overview of the latest breakthroughs in this field. It first deals with tentative…
We consider test planet and photon orbits of the third kind inside a black hole, which are stable, periodic and neither come out of the black hole nor terminate at the singularity. Interiors of supermassive black holes may be inhabited by…
Recent developments in the study of primordial black holes (PBHs) will be reviewed, with particular emphasis on their formation and evaporation. PBHs could provide a unique probe of the early Universe, gravitational collapse, high energy…