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Black holes are among the most extreme objects that can be found in the Universe and an ideal laboratory for testing fundamental physics. This article will briefly review the basic properties of black holes as expected from general…
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…
Ten short years ago, we had the rare privilege of witnessing the onset of a renaissance in science: humanity finally succeeded in its arduous quest to directly detect gravitational waves. This breakthrough did not occur in a vacuum: it was…
This resource letter is designed to guide students, educators, and researchers through (some of) the literature on black holes. Both the physics and astrophysics of black holes are discussed. Breadth has been emphasized over depth, and…
Our understanding of space and time is probed to its depths by black holes. These objects, which appear as a natural consequence of general relativity, provide a powerful analytical tool able to examine macroscopic and microscopic…
These are the lecture notes for an introductory course on black holes and some aspects of their interaction with the classical and quantum world. The focus is on phenomena of "fundamental physics" in the immediate surroundings of the black…
This essay gives a very general introduction to Schwarzschild black holes. First, it focuses on some of its classical features as solutions to Einstein's theory of gravity. In the second part it discusses briefly some specific quantum…
This is a brief review of critical phenomena in gravitational collapse. The conceptual issues are emphasized and some directions for future research are suggested. The paper is not addressed to the experts in the field -- for them little…
Black holes are fantastic laboratories to probe new physics. Both theoretically and experimentally, many new ideas are emerging to use them as tools for understanding better quantum gravity or classical gravity beyond general relativity. I…
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…
Rotating black holes are the most powerful source of energy in the known universe, and are the cause of some of the most spectacular and extreme astronomical phenomena. The goal of this article is to analyze in simple terms the physics of…
This thesis is entirely devoted to black hole physics as a natural arena to study quantum gravity related questions. The five main Chapters present the results already published in arXiv:1512.04566 [gr-qc], arXiv:1604.07222 [gr-qc],…
The grand challenges of contemporary fundamental physics---dark matter, dark energy, vacuum energy, inflation and early universe cosmology, singularities and the hierarchy problem---all involve gravity as a key component. And of all…
Classical black holes are solutions of the field equations of General Relativity. Many astronomical observations suggest that black holes really exist in nature. However, an unambiguous proof for their existence is still lacking. Neither…
In these lectures general relativity is outlined as the classical field theory of gravity, emphasizing physical phenomena rather than mathematical formalism. Dynamical solutions representing traveling waves as well as stationary fields like…
Black holes are the sources of the strongest gravitational fields that can be found today in the Universe and are ideal laboratories for testing Einstein's theory of General Relativity in the strong field regime. In this letter, I show that…
Black holes are one of the most fascinating predictions of general relativity. They are the natural product of the complete gravitational collapse of matter and today we have a body of observational evidence supporting the existence of…
Black holes are among the most intriguing objects in modern physics. Their influence ranges from powering quasars and other active galactic nuclei, to providing key insights into quantum gravity. We review the observational evidence for…
We provide a pedagogical approach to gravitational waves in cosmology with focus on gravitational wave signals related to primordial black holes. These lectures notes contain more details than one is able to present in the two two-hour…
In this chapter I focus on asking and answering the following questions: (1) What is a black hole? Answer: There are three types of black holes, namely mathematical black holes, physical black holes and astrophysical black holes. An…