Black Holes: A Laboratory for Testing Strong Gravity

✍ Scribed by Cosimo Bambi (auth.)

• Publisher: Springer Singapore
• Year: 2017
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 340
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This textbook introduces the current astrophysical observations of black holes, and discusses the leading techniques to study the strong gravity region around these objects with electromagnetic radiation. More importantly, it provides the basic tools for writing an astrophysical code and testing the Kerr paradigm. Astrophysical black holes are an ideal laboratory for testing strong gravity. According to general relativity, the spacetime geometry around these objects should be well described by the Kerr solution.

The electromagnetic radiation emitted by the gas in the inner part of the accretion disk can probe the metric of the strong gravity region and test the Kerr black hole hypothesis. With exercises and examples in each chapter, as well as calculations and analytical details in the appendix, the book is especially useful to the beginners or graduate students who are familiar with general relativity while they do not have any background in astronomy or astrophysics.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-xv
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Introduction....Pages 3-12
Black Hole Solutions....Pages 13-41
Motion Around Black Holes....Pages 43-60
Astrophysical Black Holes....Pages 61-87
Observational Facilities....Pages 89-110
Front Matter....Pages 111-111
Thin Accretion Disks....Pages 113-136
Continuum-Fitting Method....Pages 137-152
X-Ray Reflection Spectroscopy....Pages 153-179
Quasi-periodic Oscillations....Pages 181-192
Imaging Black Holes....Pages 193-205
Gravitational Waves....Pages 207-238
Front Matter....Pages 239-239
Non-Kerr Spacetimes....Pages 241-259
Testing the Kerr Paradigm with X-Ray Observations....Pages 261-285
Tests with Other Approaches....Pages 287-303
Back Matter....Pages 305-340

✦ Subjects

Astrophysics and Astroparticles;Classical and Quantum Gravitation, Relativity Theory