Related papers: Spinning super-massive objects in galactic nuclei …
Proto-stellar clusters, likely progenitors of globular clusters, are compact with typical mass $\sim 10^6\,{\rm M}_\odot$ and size $\sim 1\,{\rm pc}$, as revealed recently by JWST observations at $z\sim 10$. Sufficiently high compactness…
It has long been known that, in higher-dimensional general relativity, there are black hole solutions with an arbitrarily large angular momentum for a fixed mass. We examine the geometry of the event horizon of such ultra-spinning black…
We consider a rapidly spinning black hole surrounded by an equatorial, geometrically thin, slowly accreting disk that is stationary and axisymmetric. We analytically compute the broadening of electromagnetic line emissions from the…
It has long been believed that accretion onto supermassive black holes powers quasars, but there has been relatively few observational constraints on the spins of the black holes. We address this problem by estimating the average radiative…
We have embarked in an HST program to determine the masses of black holes in spiral galaxies directly by measuring the line emission arising from an extended accretion disk. For each of the galaxies in our sample we have measured the…
The influence of disc radiation capture upon black hole rotational evolution is negligible for radiatively inefficient discs. For the standard thin disc model it is a slight but potentially important effect leading to the equilibrium spin…
On the basis of the Kerr metric as a model for a spinning black hole accreting test particles from rest at infinity, I show that the center-of-mass energy for a pair of colliding particles is generically divergent at the inner horizon. This…
Over a two year period (1995-1997), we have conducted a diffraction-limited imaging study at 2.2 microns of the inner 6"x6" of the Galaxy's central stellar cluster using the Keck 10-m telescope. The K band images obtained reveal a large…
Accretion disks around active galactic nuclei are potentially unstable to star formation at large radii. We note that when the compact objects formed from some of these stars spiral into the central supermassive black hole, there is no…
On the basis of the Carter-Israel conjecture, today we believe that some compact and massive objects in the Galaxy and in the Universe are Kerr black holes. However, this idea cannot yet be confirmed by observations. We can currently obtain…
Observations of the galactic center revealed a population of young massive stars within 0.4 pc from Sgr A* -- the presumed location of a supermassive black hole. The origin of these stars is a puzzle as their formation in citu should be…
We compute the evolution of a quasi-spherical, slowly rotating accretion flow around a black hole, whose mass and spin evolve adequately to the mass-energy transfer through the horizon. Our model is relevant for the central engine driving a…
Recent surveys suggest that most or all normal galaxies host a massive black hole with 1/100 to 1/1000 of the visible mass of the spheroid of the galaxy. Various lines of argument suggest that these galaxies have merged at least once in our…
Recent studies of accretion onto supermassive black hole binaries suggest that much, perhaps most, of the matter eventually accretes onto one hole or the other. If so, then for binaries whose inspiral from ~1 pc to 0.001 - 0.01 pc is driven…
The super-massive objects at the center of many galaxies are commonly thought to be black holes. In 4-dimensional general relativity, a black hole is completely specified by its mass $M$ and by its spin angular momentum $J$. All the higher…
By performing two-dimensional axisymmetric general relativistic radiation magnetohydrodynamics simulations with spin parameter $a^*$ varying from -0.9 to 0.9, we investigate the dependence on the black hole spin of the energy flow from…
Recent measurements, of the velocities of stars near the center of the Milky Way have provided the strongest evidence for the presence of a supermassive black hole in a galaxy, but the observational uncertainties poorly constrain many of…
The inner 20 gravitational radii around the black hole at the centre of luminous Active Galactic Nuclei and stellar mass Black Hole Binaries are now being routinely mapped by X-ray spectral-timing techniques. Spectral blurring and…
Rotating black holes without equatorial reflection symmetry can naturally arise in effective low-energy theories of fundamental quantum gravity, in particular, when parity-violating interactions are introduced. Adopting a theory-agnostic…
This review outlines the observations that now provide an overwhelming scientific case that the center of our Milky Way Galaxy harbors a supermassive black hole. Observations at infrared wavelength trace stars that orbit about a common…