Related papers: What Black Holes Can Teach Us
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…
The existence of exact solutions which represent a lattice of black holes at a scalar-field-dominated cosmological bounce suggests that black holes could persist through successive eras of a cyclic cosmology. Here we explore some remarkable…
This talk gives a brief introduction to black hole horizons and their role in black hole thermodynamics. In particular a distinction is made between quasi-locally defined horizons and event horizons. Currently some new techniques have led…
I review elements of the foundations of black-hole theory with attention to problematic issues, and describe some techniques which either seem to help with the difficulties or at least investigate their scope. The definition of black holes…
Quantum entanglement lies at the heart of quantum information theory, with applications to quantum computing, teleportation, cryptography and communication. In the apparently separate world of quantum gravity, the Hawking effect of…
If the Planck scale is near a TeV, black hole production should be possible at colliders, as well as by cosmic rays. I begin with a review of the two approaches to TeV-scale gravity, large extra dimensions and warped compactification,…
The existence of black holes is a central prediction of general relativity and thus serves as a basic consistency test for modified theories of gravity. In spherical symmetry, only two classes of dynamic solutions are compatible with the…
Two interesting hypotheses about black holes have been proposed. The older one states that microscopic black holes can be accountable for the observed dark matter density. The newer one states that black holes are coupled to the expansion…
Quantum gravity may allow black holes to tunnel into white holes. If so, the lifetime of a black hole could be shorter than the one given by Hawking evaporation, solving the information paradox. More interestingly, this could open to a new…
We discuss how the bounds on observation associated with the Planck units would affect an observers perception of a black hole. By simply imposing Planck scale quantities as the lower bounds for length, time, and mass of black hole…
We review the recent noticeable progresses in black hole physics focusing on the up-coming super-collider, the LHC. We discuss the classical formation of black holes by particle collision, the greybody factors for higher dimensional…
Black holes are capable of reflection: there is a finite probability for any particle that approaches the event horizon to bounce back. The albedo of the black hole depends on its temperature and the energy of the incoming particle. The…
We study the backreaction of quantum fields induced through the vacuum polarization and the conformal anomaly on the collapse of a thin shell of dust. It is shown that the final fate of the collapse process depends on the physical…
Black holes are extremely relativistic objects. Physical processes around them occur in a regime where the gravitational field is extremely intense. Under such conditions, our representations of space, time, gravity, and thermodynamics are…
Since Stephen Hawking discovered that black holes emit thermal radiation, black holes have become the theoretical laboratories for testing our ideas on quantum gravity. This dissertation is devoted to the study of singularities, the…
We conjecture that black holes, whether accreting matter or not, can also lose mass to phantom energy production. Such a process can be made plausible in theories that allow for non-local connections between short and long wavelength modes.…
The article summarizes the observational evidence for the existence of massive black holes, as well as the current knowledge about their abundance, their mass and spin distributions, and their cosmic evolution within and together with their…
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…
This review gives an introduction to various attempts to understand the quantum nature of black holes. The first part focuses on thermodynamics of black holes, Hawking radiation, and the interpretation of entropy. The second part is devoted…
What is going on (as of August 2008) at the interface between theoretical general relativity, string-inspired models, and observational astrophysics? Quite a lot. In this mini-survey I will make a personal choice and focus on four specific…