Related papers: Five misconceptions about black holes
While until recently they were often considered as exotic objects of dubious existence, in the last decades there have been overwhelming observational evidences for the presence of stellar mass black holes in binary systems, supermassive…
The first LIGO-Virgo detections have confirmed the existence of massive black holes (BHs), with mass $30-40$ M$_\odot$. Such BHs might originate from massive metal-poor stars ($Z<0.3$ Z$_\odot$) or from gravitational instabilities in the…
The collapse of massive stars is one of the most-studied paths to black hole formation. In this chapter, we review black hole formation during the collapse of massive stars in the broader context of single and binary stellar evolution and…
We examine the properties of nearly extremal black holes produced by gravitational collapse. It is shown that an observer who crosses the black hole horizon at late times rapidly encounters a singularity.
Black holes represent outstanding astrophysical laboratories to test the strong gravity regime, since alternative theories of gravity may predict black hole solutions whose may differ distinctly from those of General Relativity. When higher…
The black-hole information paradox has fueled a fascinating effort to reconcile the predictions of general relativity and those of quantum mechanics. Gravitational considerations teach us that black holes must trap everything that falls…
One of the key open questions in cosmology today pertains to understanding when, where and how super massive black holes form, while it is clear that mergers likely play a significant role in the growth cycles of black holes, how…
Black holes play a pivotal role in the foundations of physics, but there is an alarming discrepancy between what is considered to be a black hole in observational astronomy and theoretical studies. Despite claims to the contrary, we argue…
Following a short account of the history of the idea of black holes, we present a review of the current status of the search for observational evidence of their existence aimed at an audience of relativists rather than astronomers or…
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…
The detection of quasars at $z>6$ unveils the presence of supermassive black holes (BHs) of a few billion solar masses. The rapid formation process of these extreme objects remains a fascinating and open issue. Such discovery implies that…
Primordial black holes (PBHs) can form from gravitational collapse of large overdensities in the early Universe, giving rise to rich phenomena in astrophysics and cosmology. We develop a novel, general, and systematic method based on theory…
The distribution of black hole masses in galaxies is constrained by photometric and kinematic studies of individual galaxies, and by the properties of the quasar population. I review our understanding of these topics, present new results of…
Supermassive black holes have been detected in all galaxies that contain bulge components when the galaxies observed were close enough so that the searches were feasible. Together with the observation that bigger black holes live in bigger…
Supermassive black holes are nowadays believed to reside in most local galaxies. Accretion of gas and black hole mergers play a fundamental role in determining the two parameters defining a black hole: mass and spin. I briefly review here…
Beyond all reasonable doubt, black holes are commonly found in the nuclei of most normal galaxies. In recent years, dynamical measurements of hole masses have transformed the study of their functioning and evolution. In particular, relating…
The process of black hole evaporation resulting from the Hawking effect has generated an intense controversy regarding its potential conflict with quantum mechanics' unitary evolution. In a recent couple of works of a collaboration…
Massive black holes (MBHs) inhabit galaxy centers, power luminous quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and shape their cosmic environment with the energy they produce. The origins of MBHs remain a mystery and the recent detection by…
Traditionally, a black hole is a region of space with huge gravitational field, which absorbs everything hitting it. In history, the black hole was first discussed by Laplace under the Newton mechanics, whose event horizon radius is the…
In these two lectures, we will address the topic of the creation of small black holes during particle collisions in a ground-based accelerator, such as LHC, in the context of a higher-dimensional theory. We will cover the main assumptions,…