Related papers: Towers of Gravitational Theories
This is a review of current theory of black-hole dynamics, concentrating on the framework in terms of trapping horizons. Summaries are given of the history, the classical theory of black holes, the defining ideas of dynamical black holes,…
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…
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 detailed description of how black holes grow in full, non-linear general relativity is presented. The starting point is the notion of dynamical horizons. Expressions of fluxes of energy and angular momentum carried by gravitational waves…
Two new observational windows have been opened to strong gravitational physics: gravitational waves, and very long baseline interferometry. This suggests observational searches for new phenomena in this regime, and in particular for those…
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…
To explain black hole thermodynamics in quantum gravity, one must introduce constraints to ensure that a black hole is actually present. I show that for a large class of black holes, such ``horizon constraints'' allow the use of conformal…
Theories of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking predict a strong first order cosmological phase transition: we compute the resulting signals, primordial black holes and gravitational waves. These theories employ one SM-neutral scalar,…
Black holes behave as thermodynamic systems, and a central task of any quantum theory of gravity is to explain these thermal properties. A statistical mechanical description of black hole entropy once seemed remote, but today we suffer an…
We study the conditions for 2-dimensional dilaton gravity models to have dynamical formation of black holes and construct all such models. Furthermore we present a parametric representation of the general solutions of the black holes.
We employ the recently proposed formalism of the "horizon wave-function" to investigate the emergence of a horizon in models of black holes as Bose-Einstein condensates of gravitons. We start from the Klein-Gordon equation for a massless…
To derive black hole thermodynamics in any quantum theory of gravity, one must introduce constraints that ensure that a black hole is actually present. For a large class of black holes, the imposition of such ``horizon constraints'' allows…
For most of cosmic history, the evolution of our Universe has been governed by the physics of a 'dark sector', consisting of dark matter and dark energy, whose properties are only understood in a schematic way. The influence of these…
We review the insights into black hole entropy that arise from the formulation of gravitation theory in terms of dimensional continuation. The role of the horizon area and the deficit angle of a conical singularity at the horizon as…
Bringing gravity into a quantum-mechanical framework is likely the most profound remaining problem in fundamental physics. The "unitarity crisis" for black hole evolution appears to be a key facet of this problem, whose resolution will…
Black holes are more than just odd-looking curiosities in gravity theory. They uniquely intertwine the basic principles of General Relativity with those of Quantum Theory. Just by demanding that they nevertheless obey acceptable laws of…
These notes summarize basic concepts underlying numerical relativity and in particular the numerical modeling of black hole dynamics as a source of gravitational waves. Main topics are the 3+1 decomposition of general relativity, the…
From the microscopic point of view, realistic black holes are time-dependent and the teleological concept of event horizon fails. At present, the apparent or the trapping horizon seem its best replacements in various areas of black hole…
The gravitational force harbours a fundamental instability against collapse. In standard General Relativity without Quantum Mechanics, this implies the existence of black holes as natural, stable solutions of Einstein's equations. If one…
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…