Related papers: Testing the nature of dark compact objects: a stat…
An outstanding problem in gravitation theory and relativistic astrophysics today is to understand the final outcome of an endless gravitational collapse. Such a continual collapse would take place when stars more massive than few times the…
Some hypothetical particles are considered essentially undetectable because they are far too light and slow-moving to transfer appreciable energy or momentum to the normal matter that composes a detector. I propose instead directly…
Gravitational waves from merging compact objects provides the opportunity to explore the properties of black holes and neutron stars in the strong regime of gravity. It is therefore of interest to explore the theoretical model that…
The formation and growth of black holes can strongly influence the distribution of dark matter around them. I discuss here the different types of dark matter overdensities around black holes, including dark matter cusps, spikes, mounds,…
Dark matter is an important ingredient of galaxies, as was recognised early on by Ken Freeman himself! Evidence for dark matter halos is still indirect, based on analysing motions of tracers such as gas and stars. In a sense the visible…
Kerr black holes are among the most intriguing predictions of Einstein's general relativity theory. These rotating massive astrophysical objects drag and intermix their surrounding space and time, deflecting and phase-modifying light…
Primordial micro black holes can constitute dark matter if short-distance gravity is modified by extra dimensions or a large number of species and if the memory-burden effect sufficiently suppresses Hawking evaporation. The resulting black…
The Cold Dark Matter theory of gravitationally-driven hierarchical structure formation has earned its status as a paradigm by explaining the distribution of matter over large spans of cosmic distance and time. However, its central tenet,…
The definition of matter states on spacelike hypersurfaces of a 1+1 dimensional black hole spacetime is considered. The effect of small quantum fluctuations of the mass of the black hole due to the quantum nature of the infalling matter is…
Astrophysical compact objects, viz., white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes, are the remnants of stellar deaths at the end of their life cycles. They are ideal testbeds for various fundamental physical processes under extreme…
The motion of a stellar compact object around a supermassive black hole can be approximated by the motion of a spinning test particle. The equations of motion describing such systems are in general non-integrable, and therefore, chaotic…
An analytical model that represents the collapse of a massless scalar wave packet with continuous self-similarity is constructed, and critical phenomena are found. In the supercritical case, the mass of black holes is finite and has the…
Black holes are more than just odd-looking curiosities in gravity theory. They uniquely intertwine the basic principles of General Relativity with those of Quantum Theory. Just by demanding that they nevertheless obey acceptable laws of…
Some of the theoretical challenges posed by the general relativistic description of binary systems of compact objects (neutron stars or black holes) are reviewed. We recall the various ways one can use the theory of the motion, and of the…
Classically, black holes are compact objects with perfect semi-permeable horizons: Anything may enter, nothing may leave. We consider an axiomatic approach that applies to any black hole type, including arbitrarily near-extremal black…
Nerd abstract: Observational constraints on spacetime are reviewed, focusing on how the underlying physics (dark matter, dark energy, gravity) can be tested rather than assumed. Popular abstract: Space is not a boring static stage on which…
One of the Holy Grails of observational astronomy is to confirm the prediction that black holes in the Universe are described by the Kerr solution of Einstein's field equations of general relativity. This Topical Collection provides a…
Dark matter structures within strong gravitational lens galaxies and along their line of sight leave a gravitational imprint on the multiple images of lensed sources. Strong gravitational lensing provides, therefore, a key test of different…
The article summarizes the observational evidence for the existence of massive black holes, as well as the current knowledge about their abundance, their mass and spin distributions, and their cosmic evolution within and together with their…
The putative black holes which may constitute all the dark matter are described by a Kerr metric with only two parameters, mass M and angular momentum J. There has been little discussion of J since it plays no role in the upcoming attempt…