Related papers: The physics of black hole binaries: geodesics, rel…
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…
General relativity has passed all solar system experiments and neutron star based tests, such as binary pulsar observations, with flying colors. A more exotic arena for testing general relativity is in systems that contain one or more black…
Closed photon orbits around isolated black holes are related to important aspects of black hole physics, such as strong lensing, absorption cross section of null particles and the way that black holes relax through quasinormal ringing. When…
Binary black holes occupy a special place in our quest for understanding the evolution of galaxies along cosmic history. If massive black holes grow at the center of (pre-)galactic structures that experience a sequence of merger episodes,…
Black holes are the simplest objects in the universe. They correspond to extreme deformations of spacetime geometry, and can exist even devoid of matter. In general relativity, (electro)vacuum black holes are uniquely determined by their…
We present a novel method to study interacting orbits in a fixed mean gravitational field associated with a solution of the Einstein field equations. The idea is to consider the Newton gravity among the orbiting particles in a geometry…
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…
Black holes are perhaps the most strange and fascinating objects known to exist in the universe. Our understanding of space and time is pushed to its limits by the extreme conditions found in these objects. They can be used as natural…
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…
Gravitational waves from merging binary black holes present exciting opportunities for understanding fundamental aspects of gravity, including nonlinearities in the strong-field regime. One challenge in studying and interpreting the…
After a long wait, gravitational wave astronomy has finally begun. Binary black hole mergers are being detected by LIGO and Virgo, and theorists are starting to receive a wealth of data to be analized. At this point we can at long last…
The classical Penrose process and the collisional Penrose processes involve particles decaying or interacting very close to a spinning black hole, in which some particles acquire negative energy and fall into the black hole while others…
A spinning black hole with a much smaller black hole companion forms a fundamental gravitational system, like a colossal classical analog to an atom. In an appealing if imperfect analogy to atomic physics, this gravitational atom can be…
Quasinormal modes of perturbed black holes have recently gained much interest because of their tight relations with the gravitational wave signals emitted during the post-merger phase of a binary black hole coalescence. One of the…
Quasinormal modes are eigenmodes of dissipative systems. Perturbations of classical gravitational backgrounds involving black holes or branes naturally lead to quasinormal modes. The analysis and classification of the quasinormal spectra…
Accretion onto black holes is one of the most efficient energy source in the Universe. Black hole accretion powers some of the most luminous objects in the universe, including quasars, active galactic nuclei, tidal disruption events,…
The distortion of the spacetime structure in the surroundings of black holes affects the trajectories of light rays. As a consequence, black holes can act as gravitational lenses. Observations of type Ia supernovas, show that our Universe…
Perturbed Kerr black holes emit gravitational radiation, which (for the practical purposes of gravitational-wave astronomy) consists of a superposition of damped sinusoids termed quasi-normal modes. The frequencies and time-constants of the…
We consider compact binary systems, modeled in general relativity as vacuum or perfect-fluid spacetimes with a helical Killing vector k^\alpha, heuristically, the generator of time-translations in a corotating frame. Systems that are…
The quasinormal mode spectrum of gravitational waves emitted during the black hole ringdown relaxation phase, following the merger of a black hole binary, is a crucial target of gravitational wave astronomy. By considering causality…