Related papers: Black Holes : A General Introduction
It has recently been suggested that black holes may be described as condensates of weakly interacting gravitons at a critical point, exhibiting strong quantum effects. In this paper, we study a model system of attractive bosons in one…
The objective of this work is to present a non-technical introduction to black hole physics. The main properties of the four types of black hole allowed by the no-hair theorem are discussed, and some properties of spacetime around a black…
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…
This is a review of current black-hole theory, concentrating on local, dynamical aspects.
A black ring is a five-dimensional black hole with an event horizon of topology S1 x S2. We provide an introduction to the description of black rings in general relativity and string theory. Novel aspects of the presentation include a new…
This article is based on a pair of lectures given at the 2005 SLAC Summer Institute. Our goal is to motivate why most physicists and astrophysicists accept the hypothesis that the most massive, compact objects seen in many astrophysical…
It is a common belief now that the explanation of the microscopic origin of the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of black holes should be available in quantum gravity theory, whatever this theory will finally look like. Calculations of the…
There are many observational evidences for the detection of compact objects with masses significantly larger (in galactic cases) or much larger (in extragalactic cases) than the upper limits of masses of em cold Neutron Stars. Such compact…
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…
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,…
Astronomers have discovered many candidate black holes in X-ray binaries and in the nuclei of galaxies. The candidate objects are too massive to be neutron stars, and for this reason they are considered to be black holes. While the evidence…
The Standard Model of particle physics predicts the speed of light to be a universal speed of propagation of massless carriers. However, other possibilities exist -- including Lorentz-violating theories -- where different fundamental fields…
Black holes, initially thought of as very interesting geometric constructions of nature, over time, have learnt to (often) come up with surprises and challenges. From the era of being described as merely some interesting and exotic…
To understand the true nature of black holes, fundamental theoretical developments should be linked all the way to observational features of black holes in their natural astrophysical environments. Here, we take several steps to establish…
Black Holes generate a particular kind of environments dominated by an accretion flow which concentrates a magnetic field. The interplay of gravity and magnetism creates this paradoxical situation where relativistic ejection is allowed and…
There is compelling evidence that supermassive black holes exist. Yet the origin of these objects, or their seeds, is still unknown. We discuss several plausible scenarios for forming the seeds of supermassive black holes. These include the…
This is a brief introduction to quantum aspects of black holes, addressed at an astrophysics-oriented audience. The topics are: The laws of black-hole mechanics, Hawking radiation, interpretation of entropy, and primordial black holes.
It has long been suspected that Active Galactic Nuclei are powered by accretion of matter onto massive black holes and this belief implies their presence in the nuclei of most nearby galaxies as "relics" of past activity. Just a few years…
Very compact objects probe extreme gravitational fields and may be the key to understand outstanding puzzles in fundamental physics. These include the nature of dark matter, the fate of spacetime singularities, or the loss of unitarity in…
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…