Black holes present one of the most fascinating predictions of Einstein's general relativity, with strong evidence of their existence through observations of many means. The book provides a wide background to the current research on all mathematical aspects of the geometry of black hole spacetimes.
Suitable for advanced undergraduates and graduate students of mathematics as well as for physicists, this unique monograph and self-contained treatment constitutes an introduction to modern techniques in differential geometry. 1995 edition.
This introduction to the fascinating subject of black holes fills a significant gap in the literature which exists between popular, non-mathematical expositions and advanced textbooks at the research level. It is designed for advanced undergraduates and first year postgraduates as a useful stepping-stone to the advanced literature. The book provides an accessible introduction to the exact solutions of Einstein's vacuum field equations describing spherical and axisymmetric (rotating) black holes. The geometry and physical properties of these spacetimes are explored through the motion of particles and light. The use of different coordinate systems, maximal extensions and Penrose diagrams is explained. The association of the surface area of a black hole with its entropy is discussed and it is shown that with the introduction of quantum mechanics black holes cease to be black and can radiate. This result allows black holes to satisfy the laws of thermodynamics and thus be consistent with the rest of physics. In this new edition the problems in each chapter have been revised and solutions are provided. The text has been expanded to include new material on wormholes and clarify various other issues.
Part of the reissued Oxford Classic Texts in the Physical Sciences series, this book was first published in 1983, and has swiftly become one of the great modern classics of relativity theory. It represents a personal testament to the work of the author, who spent several years writing and working-out the entire subject matter. The theory of black holes is the most simple and beautiful consequence of Einstein's relativity theory. At the time of writing there was no physical evidence for the existence of these objects, therefore all that Professor Chandrasekhar used for their construction were modern mathematical concepts of space and time. Since that time a growing body of evidence has pointed to the truth of Professor Chandrasekhar's findings, and the wisdom contained in this book has become fully evident.
This Brief presents in a self-contained, non-technical and illustrative fashion the state-of-the-art results and techniques for the dynamics of extremal black holes. Extremal black holes are, roughly speaking, either maximally rotating or maximally charged. Astronomical observations suggest that near-extremal (stellar or supermassive) black holes are ubiquitous in the universe. The book presents various recently discovered characteristic phenomena (such as the horizon instability) that have enhanced our understanding of the dynamics of extremal black holes. The topics should be of interest to pure mathematicians, theoretical physicists and astronomers. This book provides common ground for communication between these scientific communities.
These three lectures cover a certain aspect of complexity and black holes, namely the relation to the second law of thermodynamics. The first lecture describes the meaning of quantum complexity, the analogy between entropy and complexity, and the second law of complexity. Lecture two reviews the connection between the second law of complexity and the interior of black holes. Prof. L. Susskind discusses how firewalls are related to periods of non-increasing complexity which typically only occur after an exponentially long time. The final lecture is about the thermodynamics of complexity, and “uncomplexity” as a resource for doing computational work. The author explains the remarkable power of “one clean qubit,” in both computational terms and in space-time terms. This book is intended for graduate students and researchers who want to take the first steps towards the mysteries of black holes and their complexity.
A pedagogical introduction to the physics of black holes. The membrane paradigm represents the four-dimensional spacetime of the black hole's "event horizon" as a two-dimensional membrane in three-dimensional space, allowing the reader to understand and compute the behavior of black holes in complex astrophysical environments.
Physicists are pondering on the possibility of simulating black holes in the laboratory by means of various “analog models”. These analog models, typically based on condensed matter physics, can be used to help us understand general relativity (Einstein's gravity); conversely, abstract techniques developed in general relativity can sometimes be used to help us understand certain aspects of condensed matter physics. This book contains 13 chapters — written by experts in general relativity, particle physics, and condensed matter physics — that explore various aspects of this two-way traffic.