What does a black hole look like?

by Bailyn, Charles D.

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Title Statements

Full title :What does a black hole look like? / Charles D. Bailyn.

Summary

"Emitting no radiation or any other kind of information, black holes mark the edge of the universe--both physically and in our scientific understanding. Yet astronomers have found clear evidence for the existence of black holes, employing the same tools and techniques used to explore other celestial objects. In this sophisticated introduction, leading astronomer Charles Bailyn goes behind the theory and physics of black holes to describe how astronomers are observing these enigmatic objects and developing a remarkably detailed picture of what they look like and how they interact with their surroundings. Accessible to undergraduates and others with some knowledge of introductory college-level physics, this book presents the techniques used to identify and measure the mass and spin of celestial black holes. These key measurements demonstrate the existence of two kinds of black holes, those with masses a few times that of a typical star, and those with masses comparable to whole galaxies--supermassive black holes. The book provides a detailed account of the nature, formation, and growth of both kinds of black holes. The book also describes the possibility of observing theoretically predicted phenomena such as gravitational waves, wormholes, and Hawking radiation. A cutting-edge introduction to a subject that was once on the border between physics and science fiction, this book shows how black holes are becoming routine objects of empirical scientific study."--

Edition Statements

Publication Date:©2014

Publication Statements

Publisher(s):Princeton University Press
Place of Publication:Princeton
Language:eng
Publication Date:©2014

The Physical Object

Description:xii, 210 pages : : illustrations ; : 21 cm.

Edition Identifiers

ISBN:9780691148823, 0691148821
oclc:ocn861666212
LC Classification:QB843.B55
Dewey Decimal:523.8/875

Introducing black holes: event horizons and singularities : Escape velocity and event horizons ; The metric ; What is a black hole? -- Accretion onto a black hole : Spherical accretion and the Eddington limit ; Standard accretion disks ; Radiatively inefficient accretion flows ; Accretion instabilities ; Radiation emission mechanisms ; Radiative transfer ; The a-disk -- Outflows and jets : Superluminal motion ; Jet physics and magnetohydrodynamics -- Stellar-mass black holes : X-ray binaries ; Varieties of X-ray binaries ; X-ray accretion states ; Compact objects ; Mass measurements in X-ray binaries ; Are high-mass compact objects black holes? ; Isolated stellar-mass black holes ; The Chandrasekhar limit -- Supermassive black holes : Discovery of quasars ; Active galaxies and unification ; Superluminal jets and blazars ; Nonaccreting central black holes ; Mass determinations for extragalactic SMBHs -- Formation and evolution of black holes : Stellar-mass black holes ; Supermassive black holes -- Do intermediate-mass black holes exist? : Ultraluminous x-ray binaries ; Black holes in star clusters and low-mass galaxies -- Black hole spin : The innermost stable circular orbit ; Obse…