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The singularity of a spherical (Schwarzschild) black hole is a surface, not a point. A freely-falling, non-rotating observer sees Hawking radiation with energy density diverging with radius as $\rho \propto r^{-6}$ near the Schwarzschild…
In the classical theory of general relativity black holes can only absorb and not emit particles. When quantum mechanical effects are taken into account, then the black holes emit particles as hot bodies with temperature proportional to…
Quantization of the gravitational field may allow the existence of a decay channel of black holes into white holes with an explicit time-reversal symmetry. The definition of a meaningful decay probability for this channel is studied in…
Primordial black holes are a possible component of dark matter, and a most promising way of investigating them is through the product of their Hawking evaporation. As a result of this process, any species lighter than the Hawking…
We provide a (simplified) quantum description of primordial black holes at the time of their formation. Specifically, we employ the horizon quantum mechanics to compute the probability of black hole formation starting from a simple quantum…
I present an elementary primer of black hole physics, including its general relativity basis, all peppered with astrophysical illustrations. Following a brief review of the process stellar collapse to a black hole, I discuss the…
X-ray studies of high-redshift (z > 4) active galaxies have advanced substantially over the past few years, largely due to results from the new generation of X-ray observatories. As of this writing X-ray emission has been detected from…
The question of whether an observer can escape from a black hole is addressed, using a recent general definition of a black hole in the form of a future outer trapping horizon. An observer on a future outer trapping horizon must enter the…
The boundary of any observer's spacetime is the boundary that divides what the observer can see from what they cannot see. The boundary of an observer's spacetime in the presence of a black hole is not the true (future event) horizon of the…
Gravitational lensing is a well known phenomenon predicted by the General Theory of Relativity. It is now a well-developed observational technique in astronomy and is considered to be a fundamental tool for acquiring information about the…
This review discusses the current status of supermassive black hole research, as seen from a purely observational standpoint. Since the early '90s, rapid technological advances, most notably the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the…
Black hole formation and evaporation is studied in the semiclassical approximation in simple 1+1-dimensional models, with emphasis on issues related to Hawking's information paradox. Exact semiclassical solutions are described and questions…
In the mass range of 1e15 g up to 1e26 g, primordial black holes (PBHs) as a possible contribution to the dark matter are still unexplored. In this contribution, we investigate the possibility of an electromagnetic signal from PBH…
The final stage of black hole evaporation is a potent probe of physics beyond the Standard Model: Hawking-Bekenstein radiation may be affected by quantum gravity "memory burden effects", or by the presence of "dark",…
We calculate the exact formation probability of primordial black holes generated during the collapse at horizon re-entry of large fluctuations produced during inflation, such as those ascribed to a period of ultra-slow-roll. We show that it…
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…
We consider a possibility that the entropy of a Schwarzschild black hole has two different interpretations: The black hole entropy can be understood either as an outcome of a huge degeneracy in the mass eigenstates of the hole, or as a…
The mechanism of the generation of dark matter and dark radiation from the evaporation of primordial black holes is very interesting. We consider the case of Kerr black holes to generalize previous results obtained in the Schwarzschild…
Primordial black holes can represent all or most of the dark matter in the window $10^{17}-10^{22}\,$g. Here we present an extension of the constraints on PBHs of masses $10^{13}-10^{18}\,$g arising from the isotropic diffuse gamma ray…
The emergence of the first black holes during the first billion years of cosmic history marks a key event in cosmology. Their formation is part of the overall process of ending the cosmic dark ages, when the first stars appeared in low-mass…