Related papers: The Evolution of Distorted Rotating Black Holes II…
These notes review theoretical models of massive black hole formation, growth and observables. They start with a brief summary of basic properties of massive black hole properties. The current view on massive black holes and active galactic…
It is well-known that Bowen-York initial data contain spurious radiation. Although this ``junk'' radiation has been seen to be small for non-spinning black-hole binaries in circular orbit, its magnitude increases when the black holes are…
When using the black hole exclusion (horizon boundary condition) technique, $K$ is usually nonzero and spatially variable, so none of the special cases of York's conformal-decomposition algorithm apply, and the full 4-vector nonlinear York…
We present a numerical investigation of the gravitational collapse of horizon-size density fluctuations to primordial black holes (PBHs) during the radiation-dominated phase of the Early Universe. The collapse dynamics of three different…
We present results from numerical evolutions of single black holes distorted by axisymmetric, but equatorially asymmetric, gravitational (Brill) waves. Net radiated energies, apparent horizon embeddings, and recoil velocities are shown for…
The squashed Kaluza-Klien (KK) black holes differ from the Schwarzschild black holes with asymptotic flatness or the black strings even at energies for which the KK modes are not excited yet, so that squashed KK black holes open a window in…
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…
In this second paper, we develop an analytical theory of quasi-equatorial lensing by Kerr black holes. In this setting we solve perturbatively our general lens equation with displacement given in Paper I, going beyond weak-deflection Kerr…
A brief introduction is given to rotating black holes in more than four spacetime dimensions.
Realistic black hole collisions result in a rapidly rotating Kerr hole, but simulations to date have focused on nonrotating final holes. Using a new solution of the Einstein initial value equations we present here waveforms and radiation…
We develop and calibrate a new method for estimating the gravitational radiation emitted by complex motions of matter sources in the vicinity of black holes. We compute numerically the linearized curvature perturbations induced by matter…
The Bowen-York family of spinning black hole initial data depends essentially on one, positive, free parameter. The extreme limit corresponds to making this parameter equal to zero. This choice represents a singular limit for the constraint…
We present numerical evolutions of three equal-mass black holes using the moving puncture approach. We calculate puncture initial data for three black holes solving the constraint equations by means of a high-order multigrid elliptic…
Exact solutions describing rotating black holes can offer important tests for alternative theories of gravity, motivated by the dark energy and dark matter problems. We present an analytic rotating black hole solution for a class of…
In this chapter we first describe the early history of primordial black hole (PBH) research. We then discuss their possible formation mechanisms, including critical collapse from inflationary fluctuations and various types of phase…
The recent detections of gravitational waves from binary systems of black holes are in remarkable agreement with the predictions of General Relativity. In this pedagogical mini-review, I will go through the physics of the different phases…
A recent understanding on how quantum effects may affect black-hole evolution opens new scenarios for dark matter, in connection with the presence of black holes in the very early universe. Quantum fluctuations of the geometry allow for…
We study the orbital evolution of a radiation-damped binary in the extreme mass ratio limit, and the resulting waveforms, to one order beyond what can be obtained using the conservation laws approach. The equations of motion are solved…
We present an alternative approach to setting initial data in general relativity. We do not use a conformal decomposition, but instead express the 3-metric in terms of a given unit vector field and one unknown scalar field. In the case of…
At early times in numerical evolutions of binary black holes, current simulations contain an initial burst of spurious gravitational radiation (also called "junk radiation") which is not astrophysically realistic. The spurious radiation is…