Related papers: Viewpoint: Simplicity of Black Holes
As first discovered by Choptuik, the black hole threshold in the space of initial data for general relativity shows both surprising structure and surprising simplicity. Universality, power-law scaling of the black hole mass, and scale…
Aspects of primordial black holes, i.e. black holes formed in the early Universe, are reviewed. Special emphasis is put on their formation, their role as dark matter candidates and their manifold signatures, particularly through…
Lecture notes written for a one-semester course in mathematical relativity aimed at mathematics and physics students. Not meant as an introduction to general relativity, but rather as a complementary, more advanced text.
At the 20-th Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics there was a plenary talk devoted to the recent developments in classical Relativity. In that talk the problems of gravitational collapse, collisions of black holes, and of black…
Three postulates asserting the validity of conventional quantum theory, semi-classical general relativity and the statistical basis for thermodynamics are introduced as a foundation for the study of black hole evolution. We explain how…
Between 1974 and 1975, Stephen Hawking revolutionized the world of physics by proposing that black holes have temperature, entropy, and evaporate gradually. The objective of this article is to offer a brief and updated introduction to these…
Because of the very definition of black holes --- no light escapes them and falling objects get infinitely faint when approaching --- it is impossible to ever prove that they exist. However, electromagnetic and gravitational-wave…
Wormholes are intriguing classical solutions in General Relativity, that have fascinated theoretical physicists for decades. In recent years, especially in Holography, gravitationalWormhole geometries have found a new life in many…
In this chapter I focus on asking and answering the following questions: (1) What is a black hole? Answer: There are three types of black holes, namely mathematical black holes, physical black holes and astrophysical black holes. An…
More than a century ago, Albert Einstein presented his general theory of gravitation (GR) to the Prussian Academy of Sciences. One of the predictions of the theory is that not only particles and objects with mass, but also the quanta of…
In the second half of the last century the "frozen star" or "collapsed star" models of black hole formation were largely abandoned. The result is that later models appear to either assume that black hole event horizons already exist (such…
Motivation and perspective for an exciting new research direction interconnecting logic, spacetime theory, relativity--including such revolutionary areas as black hole physics, relativistic computers, new cosmology--are presented in this…
Black holes are among the most intriguing objects in modern physics. Their influence ranges from powering quasars and other active galactic nuclei, to providing key insights into quantum gravity. We review the observational evidence for…
We consider the interesting "near-horizon test" reported in (PRD84, 084006(2011), arXiv:1107.5727) for any static, spherically symmetric (SSS) black hole solution admitted in f(R) gravity. Before adopting the necessary conditions for the…
Astronomers have certainly observed things that are small, dark, and heavy. But are these objects really black holes in the sense of general relativity? The consensus opinion is simply "yes", and there is very little "wriggle room". We…
Black holes have often provided profound insights into the nature of gravity and the structure of space-time. The study of the mathematical properties of black objects is a major research theme of contemporary theoretical physics. This…
Any spacetime containing a degenerate Killing horizon, such as an extremal black hole, possesses a well-defined notion of a near-horizon geometry. We review such near-horizon geometry solutions in a variety of dimensions and theories in a…
This set of lectures is an introduction to black-hole astrophysics. The emphasis is made on the phenomenology of X-ray binaries and of supermassive compact objects at galactic centers.
Recent results show that important singularities in General Relativity can be naturally described in terms of finite and invariant canonical geometric objects. Consequently, one can write field equations which are equivalent to Einstein's…
In this thesis three separate problems relevant to general relativity are considered. Methods for algorithmically producing all the solutions of isotropic fluid spheres have been developed over the last five years. A different and somewhat…