Related papers: How Black Holes Grow
The Ashtekar-Krishnan energy-balance law for dynamical horizons, expressing the increase in mass-energy of a general black hole in terms of the infalling matter and gravitational radiation, is expressed in terms of trapping horizons,…
We examine the evolution of extremal spherically symmetric black holes, developing both general theory as well as the specific cases of (charged) null dust and massless scalar field spacetimes. As matter accretes onto extremal marginally…
Macroscopic irreversible processes emerge from fundamental physical laws of reversible character. The source of the local irreversibility seems to be not in the laws themselves but in the initial and boundary conditions of the equations…
Binary systems of black holes emit gravitational waves as they move through their orbits. While most of the emitted radiation escapes to future null infinity, a small fraction is absorbed by the black holes themselves. This is known as…
It is shown that an exactly static and spherically symmetric black hole event horizon cannot be embedded in a time-dependent geometry. Forcing it to do so results in a naked null singularity at the would-be horizon. Therefore, since the…
An energy conservation law is described, expressing the increase in mass-energy of a general black hole in terms of the energy densities of the infalling matter and gravitational radiation. For a growing black hole, this first law of…
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…
We treat two aspects of the physics of stationary black holes. First we prove that the proportionality, d(energy) ~ d(area) for arbitrary perturbations (``extended first law''), follows directly from an extremality theorem drawn from…
We explore possible effects of vacuum energy on the evolution of black holes. If the universe contains a cosmological constant, and if black holes can absorb energy from the vacuum, then black hole evaporation could be greatly suppressed.…
The McVittie metric does not describe a physical black hole in an expanding Universe because the curvature scalar and pressure at its event horizon are infinite. We show that extending this metric to an inhomogeneous scale factor, which…
The evolution of primordial black holes in a flat Friedmann universe with a massless scalar field is investigated in fully general relativistic numerical relativity. A primordial black hole is expected to form with a scale comparable to the…
The connection between dark matter and giant black holes in the galactic nuclei is investigated. The joint evolution of dark and luminous matter in averaged self-consistent gravitational potential is considered. It is shown that the…
Studying the threshold of black hole formation via numerical evolution has led to the discovery of fascinating nonlinear phenomena. Power-law mass scaling, aspects of universality, and self-similarity have now been found for a large variety…
In this note, we derive (to third order in derivatives of the fluid velocity) a 2+1 dimensional theory of fluid dynamics that governs the evolution of generic long-wavelength perturbations of a black brane or large black hole in…
As a black hole in a binary spirals in gradually from large separation, energy and angular momentum flow not only to infinity but also into or out of the hole. In addition, the hole's horizon area increases slowly during this process. In…
We summarize recent results on the properties of near-horizon metrics in different spherically symmetric space-times, including Kantowski-Sachs cosmological models whose evolution begins with a horizon (the so-called Null Big Bang) and…
The behavior of quasi-local black hole horizons in a binary black hole merger is studied numerically. We compute the horizon multipole moments, fluxes and other quantities on black hole horizons throughout the merger. These lead to a better…
Black holes are often characterized by event horizons, following the literature that laid the mathematical foundations of the subject in the 1970s. However black hole event horizons have two fundamental conceptual limitations. First, they…
Three postulates asserting the validity of conventional quantum theory, semi-classical general relativity and the statistical basis for thermodynamics are introduced as a foundation for the study of black hole evolution. We explain how…
As in thermodynamics, the celebrated first law of black hole mechanics relates infinitesimal changes in the properties of nearby equilibrium states of black holes (without reference to any physical process that causes the transition). Using…