Related papers: Black Holes Up Close
Recent work on the dyadosphere of a black hole is reviewed with special emphasis on the explanation of gamma ray bursts. A change of paradigm in the observations of black holes is presented.
Black holes are extremely relativistic objects. Physical processes around them occur in a regime where the gravitational field is extremely intense. Under such conditions, our representations of space, time, gravity, and thermodynamics are…
I discuss several general-relativistic effects that are likely to be of interest in the astrophysics of black holes and neutron stars
In this work are reviewed several aspects of gravitational lensing produced by astrophysical bodies that strongly curve the spacetime in their vicinity. When an object with a photon sphere (e.g. a black hole) is interposed between a source…
We argue that the entropy of a black hole is due to the entanglement of matter fields and gravitons across the horizon. While the entanglement entropy of the vacuum is divergent because of UV correlations, we show that low-energy…
We elucidate how black holes form in trans-Planckian collisions. In the rest frame of one of the incident particles, the gravitational field of the other, which is rapidly moving, looks like a gravitational shock wave. The shock wave…
It was argued recently that there exists an unexpected phenomenon, the reflection of incoming particles on the event horizon of black holes (Kuchiev(2003)). This means that a particle approaching the black hole can bounce back into the…
Black and white holes play remarkably contrasting roles in general relativity versus observational astrophysics. While there is overwhelming observational evidence for the existence of compact objects that are "cold, dark, and heavy", which…
The comparison of geometrical properties of black holes with classical thermodynamic variables reveals surprising parallels between the laws of black hole mechanics and the laws of thermodynamics. Since Hawking's discovery that black holes…
The gravitational force harbours a fundamental instability against collapse. In standard General Relativity without Quantum Mechanics, this implies the existence of black holes as natural, stable solutions of Einstein's equations. If one…
Gravity warps space and time into a funnel and generates a black hole when a cosmic body undergoes a catastrophic collapse. What can one say about the interior of a black hole? The important point is that inside a black hole the space…
Strong gravitational lensing occurs when photons pass through the vicinity of a black hole. We investigate this phenomenon in the context of a gravitational-wave event, specifically when a black hole is settling into its final state. The…
We study the decoherence induced by near-extremal charged black holes on quantum systems in their exterior. Specifically, we analyze a thought experiment recently discussed in the literature, where the quantum system is a charged particle…
The existence of black holes is a central prediction of general relativity and thus serves as a basic consistency test for modified theories of gravity. In spherical symmetry, only two classes of dynamic solutions are compatible with the…
Black holes, dark energy, and the Higgs field are all currently established, exciting, and mysterious, each in its own way. Cosmological data show that dark energy may evolve with time. The electroweak phase transition during stellar…
Recent advances, including gravitational wave detections and imaging of black hole shadows, have strongly validated general relativity. Nevertheless, ongoing cosmological observations suggest potential limitations of general relativity,…
Several recently found properties of the event horizon of black holes are discussed. One of them is the reflection of the incoming particles on the horizon. A particle approaching the black hole can bounce on the horizon back, into the…
In this manuscript, I discuss the possibility of sending a small probe to the closest black hole with the goal of addressing some fundamental questions of modern physics. Are astrophysical black holes the Kerr black holes predicted by…
It is well known that celestial bodies tend to be spherical due to gravity and that rotation produces deviations from this sphericity. We discuss what is known and expected about the shape of black holes' horizons from their formation to…
We review the remarkable relationship between the laws of black hole mechanics and the ordinary laws of thermodynamics. It is emphasized that - in analogy with the laws of thermodynamics - the validity the laws of black hole mechanics does…