POWERFUL RADIO EMISSION FROM LOW-MASS SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES FAVORS DISK-LIKE BULGES

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, J.; Xu, Y.; Xu, D. W.

The origin of spin of low-mass supermassive black holes (SMBHs) is still a puzzle at present. We report here a study on the host galaxies of a sample of radio-selected nearby ( z < 0.05) Seyfert 2 galaxies with a BH mass of 10{sup 6–7} M{sub ⊙}. By modeling the SDSS r -band images of these galaxies through a two-dimensional bulge+disk decomposition, we identify a new dependence of SMBH's radio power on host bulge surface brightness profiles, in which more powerful radio emission comes from an SMBH associated with a more disk-like bulge. This result means low-mass and high-mass SMBHsmore » are spun up by two entirely different modes that correspond to two different evolutionary paths. A low-mass SMBH is spun up by a gas accretion with significant disk-like rotational dynamics of the host galaxy in the secular evolution, while a high-mass one by a BH–BH merger in the merger evolution.« less

An over-massive black hole in the compact lenticular galaxy NGC 1277.

PubMed

van den Bosch, Remco C E; Gebhardt, Karl; Gültekin, Kayhan; van de Ven, Glenn; van der Wel, Arjen; Walsh, Jonelle L

2012-11-29

Most massive galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centres, and the masses of the black holes are believed to correlate with properties of the host-galaxy bulge component. Several explanations have been proposed for the existence of these locally established empirical relationships, including the non-causal, statistical process of galaxy-galaxy merging, direct feedback between the black hole and its host galaxy, and galaxy-galaxy merging and the subsequent violent relaxation and dissipation. The empirical scaling relations are therefore important for distinguishing between various theoretical models of galaxy evolution, and they furthermore form the basis for all black-hole mass measurements at large distances. Observations have shown that the mass of the black hole is typically 0.1 per cent of the mass of the stellar bulge of the galaxy. Until now, the galaxy with the largest known fraction of its mass in its central black hole (11 per cent) was the small galaxy NGC 4486B. Here we report observations of the stellar kinematics of NGC 1277, which is a compact, lenticular galaxy with a mass of 1.2 × 10(11) solar masses. From the data, we determine that the mass of the central black hole is 1.7 × 10(10) solar masses, or 59 per cent of its bulge mass. We also show observations of five other compact galaxies that have properties similar to NGC 1277 and therefore may also contain over-massive black holes. It is not yet known if these galaxies represent a tail of a distribution, or if disk-dominated galaxies fail to follow the usual black-hole mass scaling relations.

Secular Black Hole Growth and Feedback in Merger-Free Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simmons, Brooke

2016-10-01

We will measure the merger-free galaxy-black hole mass relation for the first time, using a unique, newly-discovered sample of luminous active galactic nuclei (AGN) hosted in galaxies that have not grown via mergers. Our preliminary study has shown that supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in bulgeless galaxies - i.e., galaxies that have never undergone a significant merger - can have substantial growth: bulges are not required for the formation and growth of SMBHs. The proposed targets are broad-line AGN with black hole masses spanning a wide mass range (1e6 to >1e9 M_Sun) and hosted in strongly disk dominated galaxies (>80% light from a disk). This sample is an ideal laboratory for understanding merger-free black hole growth and its feedback on the host galaxy. HST imaging will allow us to disentangle bright nuclear emission from host galaxy, measure bulge type and strength, and identify bulgeless galaxies that have evolved under purely secular conditions. In addition, we will determine whether merger-free galaxies lie on the same SMBH-galaxy relation as galaxies with substantial past mergers, or whether merger-free growth results in a separate relation. The answer to this question has profound consequences for the role of baryon dynamics in driving black hole-galaxy co-evolution.

Ring Around the Black Hole

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wanjek, Christopher

2003-01-01

Regardless of size, black holes easily acquire accretion disks. Supermassive black holes can feast on the bountiful interstellar gas in galactic nuclei. Small black holes formed from collapsing stars often belong to binary systems in which a bulging companion star can spill some of its gas into the black hole s reach. In the chaotic mess of the accretion disk, atoms collide with one another. Swirling plasma reaches speeds upward of 10% that of light and glows brightly in many wavebands, particularly in X-rays. Gas gets blown back by a wind of radiation from the inner disk. New material enters the disks from different directions.

Surprise: Dwarf Galaxy Harbors Supermassive Black Hole

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2011-01-01

The surprising discovery of a supermassive black hole in a small nearby galaxy has given astronomers a tantalizing look at how black holes and galaxies may have grown in the early history of the Universe. Finding a black hole a million times more massive than the Sun in a star-forming dwarf galaxy is a strong indication that supermassive black holes formed before the buildup of galaxies, the astronomers said. The galaxy, called Henize 2-10, 30 million light-years from Earth, has been studied for years, and is forming stars very rapidly. Irregularly shaped and about 3,000 light-years across (compared to 100,000 for our own Milky Way), it resembles what scientists think were some of the first galaxies to form in the early Universe. "This galaxy gives us important clues about a very early phase of galaxy evolution that has not been observed before," said Amy Reines, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Virginia. Supermassive black holes lie at the cores of all "full-sized" galaxies. In the nearby Universe, there is a direct relationship -- a constant ratio -- between the masses of the black holes and that of the central "bulges" of the galaxies, leading them to conclude that the black holes and bulges affected each others' growth. Two years ago, an international team of astronomers found that black holes in young galaxies in the early Universe were more massive than this ratio would indicate. This, they said, was strong evidence that black holes developed before their surrounding galaxies. "Now, we have found a dwarf galaxy with no bulge at all, yet it has a supermassive black hole. This greatly strengthens the case for the black holes developing first, before the galaxy's bulge is formed," Reines said. Reines, along with Gregory Sivakoff and Kelsey Johnson of the University of Virginia and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), and Crystal Brogan of the NRAO, observed Henize 2-10 with the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array radio telescope and

Surprise: Dwarf Galaxy Harbors Supermassive Black Hole

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2011-01-01

The surprising discovery of a supermassive black hole in a small nearby galaxy has given astronomers a tantalizing look at how black holes and galaxies may have grown in the early history of the Universe. Finding a black hole a million times more massive than the Sun in a star-forming dwarf galaxy is a strong indication that supermassive black holes formed before the buildup of galaxies, the astronomers said. The galaxy, called Henize 2-10, 30 million light-years from Earth, has been studied for years, and is forming stars very rapidly. Irregularly shaped and about 3,000 light-years across (compared to 100,000 for our own Milky Way), it resembles what scientists think were some of the first galaxies to form in the early Universe. "This galaxy gives us important clues about a very early phase of galaxy evolution that has not been observed before," said Amy Reines, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Virginia. Supermassive black holes lie at the cores of all "full-sized" galaxies. In the nearby Universe, there is a direct relationship -- a constant ratio -- between the masses of the black holes and that of the central "bulges" of the galaxies, leading them to conclude that the black holes and bulges affected each others' growth. Two years ago, an international team of astronomers found that black holes in young galaxies in the early Universe were more massive than this ratio would indicate. This, they said, was strong evidence that black holes developed before their surrounding galaxies. "Now, we have found a dwarf galaxy with no bulge at all, yet it has a supermassive black hole. This greatly strengthens the case for the black holes developing first, before the galaxy's bulge is formed," Reines said. Reines, along with Gregory Sivakoff and Kelsey Johnson of the University of Virginia and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), and Crystal Brogan of the NRAO, observed Henize 2-10 with the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array radio telescope and

Black Holes Lead Galaxy Growth, New Research Shows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2009-01-01

Astronomers may have solved a cosmic chicken-and-egg problem -- the question of which formed first in the early Universe -- galaxies or the supermassive black holes seen at their cores. "It looks like the black holes came first. The evidence is piling up," said Chris Carilli, of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). Carilli outlined the conclusions from recent research done by an international team studying conditions in the first billion years of the Universe's history in a lecture presented to the American Astronomical Society's meeting in Long Beach, California. Gas in Distant Galaxy VLA image (right) of gas in young galaxy seen as it was when the Universe was only 870 million years old. CREDIT: NRAO/AUI/NSF, SDSS Full-size JPEG, 323 KB PDF file, 180 KB Galaxy image, no annotation, JPEG 21 KB Earlier studies of galaxies and their central black holes in the nearby Universe revealed an intriguing linkage between the masses of the black holes and of the central "bulges" of stars and gas in the galaxies. The ratio of the black hole and the bulge mass is nearly the same for a wide range of galactic sizes and ages. For central black holes from a few million to many billions of times the mass of our Sun, the black hole's mass is about one one-thousandth of the mass of the surrounding galactic bulge. "This constant ratio indicates that the black hole and the bulge affect each others' growth in some sort of interactive relationship," said Dominik Riechers, of Caltech. "The big question has been whether one grows before the other or if they grow together, maintaining their mass ratio throughout the entire process." In the past few years, scientists have used the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array radio telescope and the Plateau de Bure Interferometer in France to peer far back in the 13.7 billion-year history of the Universe, to the dawn of the first galaxies. "We finally have been able to measure black-hole and bulge masses in several galaxies seen

How black holes saved relativity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prescod-Weinstein, Chanda

2016-02-01

While there have been many popular-science books on the historical and scientific legacy of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, a gap exists in the literature for a definitive, accessible history of the theory's most famous offshoot: black holes. In Black Hole, the science writer Marcia Bartusiak aims for a discursive middle ground, writing solely about black holes at a level suitable for both high-school students and more mature readers while also giving some broader scientific context for black-hole research.

Black Hole Safari: Tracking Populations and Hunting Big Game

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McConnell, N. J.

2013-10-01

Understanding the physical connection, or lack thereof, between the growth of galaxies and supermassive black holes is a key challenge in extragalactic astronomy. Dynamical studies of nearby galaxies are building a census of black hole masses across a broad range of galaxy types and uncovering statistical correlations between galaxy bulge properties and black hole masses. These local correlations provide a baseline for studying galaxies and black holes at higher redshifts. Recent measurements have probed the extremes of the supermassive black hole population and introduced surprises that challenge simple models of black hole and galaxy co-evolution. Future advances in the quality and quantity of dynamical black hole mass measurements will shed light upon the growth of massive galaxies and black holes in different cosmic environments.

The Merger-Free Growth of Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simmons, Brooke; Smethurst, Rebecca; Lintott, Chris; Martin, Garreth; Kaviraj, Sugata; Devriendt, Julien; Galaxy Zoo Team

2018-01-01

There is now clear evidence that the merger-driven pathway to black hole and galaxy growth is only half the story. Merger-free evolution contributes roughly equally to the overall growth of black holes in the Universe and is also responsible for a significant amount of galaxy growth over cosmic time. A recent study examining the growth of black holes in unambiguously disk-dominated galaxies shows these black holes reach quasar-like luminosities and black hole masses typical of those hosted in bulge-dominated and elliptical galaxies with major mergers in their evolutionary histories. However, while there appears to be no correlation between the size of the black hole and upper limits on the host galaxy bulges, the fitted correlation between black hole mass and total galaxy stellar mass in these merger-free systems is fully consistent with the canonical relationship based on merger-driven systems. There is further evidence via comparison between observed populations and cosmological simulations confirming that bulgeless systems are generally consistent with having merger-free histories. If bulgeless and disk-dominated galaxies are indeed signatures of systems with no violent mergers in their formation histories, the same correlation between black hole and galaxy in these systems versus that seen in elliptical galaxy samples indicates the black hole-galaxy connection must originate with a process more fundamental than the dynamical configuration of a galaxy's stars.

Masses of Black Holes in Active Galactic Nuclei

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peterson, Bradley M.

2003-01-01

We present a progress report on a project whose goal is to improve both the precision and accuracy of reverberation-based black-hole masses. Reverberation masses appear to be accurate to a factor of about three, and the black-hole mass/bulge velocity dispersion (M-sigma) relationship appears to be the same in active and quiescent galaxies.

Bulgeless Galaxies Hosting 107 M⊙ AGN in Galaxy Zoo: The Growth of Black Holes via Secular Processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simmons, Brooke; Lintott, C. J.; Schawinski, K.; Moran, E. C.; Han, A.; Kaviraj, S.; Masters, K. L.; Urry, C. M.; Willett, K.; Bamford, S. P.; Nichol, R.

2013-01-01

The growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) appears to proceed via multiple pathways including mergers and secular processes, but these are difficult to disentangle for most galaxies given their complex evolutionary histories. In order to understand the effects of secular galaxy evolution on black hole growth, we require a sample of active galactic nuclei (AGN) in galaxies with a calm formation history free of significant mergers, a population that heretofore has been difficult to locate. Here we present a sample of 13 AGN in massive galaxies lacking the classical bulges believed inevitably to result from mergers; they also either lack or have extremely small pseudobulges, meaning they have had very calm accretion histories. This is the largest sample to date of massive, bulgeless AGN host galaxies selected without any direct restriction on the SMBH mass. The broad-line objects in the sample have black hole masses of 106-7 M⊙ Eddington arguments imply similar masses for the rest of the sample, meaning these black holes have grown substantially in the absence of mergers or other bulge-building processes such as violent disk instabilities. The black hole masses are systematically higher than expected from established bulge-black hole relations. However, these systems may be consistent with the correlation between black hole mass and total stellar mass. We discuss these results in the context of other studies and consider the implication that the details of stellar galaxy evolution and dynamics may not be fundamental to the co-evolution of galaxies and black holes.

X-ray Winds from Black Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, Jon M.

2017-08-01

Across the mass scale, high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy has transformed our view of accretion onto black holes. The ionized disk winds observed from stellar-mass black holes may sometimes eject more mass than is able to accrete onto the black hole. It is possible that these winds can probe the fundamental physics that drive disk accretion. The most powerful winds from accretion onto massive black holes may play a role in feedback, seeding host bulges with hot gas and halting star formation. The lessons and techniques emerging from these efforts can also reveal the accretion flow geometry in tidal disruption events (TDEs), an especially rich discovery space. This talk will review some recent progress enabled by high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy, and look at the potential of gratings spectrometers and microcalorimeters in the years ahead.

MASSIVE GALAXIES IN COSMOS: EVOLUTION OF BLACK HOLE VERSUS BULGE MASS BUT NOT VERSUS TOTAL STELLAR MASS OVER THE LAST 9 Gyr?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jahnke, Knud; Cisternas, Mauricio; Inskip, Katherine

2009-12-01

We constrain the ratio of black hole (BH) mass to total stellar mass of type-1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the COSMOS survey at 1 < z < 2. For 10 AGNs at mean redshift z approx 1.4 with both Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/ACS and HST/NICMOS imaging data, we are able to compute the total stellar mass M {sub *,total}, based on rest-frame UV-to-optical host galaxy colors which constrain mass-to-light ratios. All objects have virial M {sub BH} estimates available from the COSMOS Magellan/IMACS and zCOSMOS surveys. We find within errors zero difference between the M {sub BH}-M {sub *,total}more » relation at z approx 1.4 and the M {sub BH}-M {sub *,bulge} relation in the local universe. Our interpretation is (1) if our objects were purely bulge-dominated, the M {sub BH}-M {sub *,bulge} relation has not evolved since z approx 1.4. However, (2) since we have evidence for substantial disk components, the bulges of massive galaxies (M {sub *,total} = 11.1 +- 0.3 or log M {sub BH} approx 8.3 +- 0.2) must have grown over the last 9 Gyr predominantly by redistribution of the disk into the bulge mass. Since all necessary stellar mass exists in galaxies at z = 1.4, no star formation or addition of external stellar material is required, but only a redistribution, e.g., induced by minor and major merging or through disk instabilities. Merging, in addition to redistributing mass in the galaxy, will add both BH and stellar/bulge mass, but does not change the overall final M {sub BH}/M {sub *,bulge} ratio. Since the overall cosmic stellar and BH mass buildup trace each other tightly over time, our scenario of bulge formation in massive galaxies is independent of any strong BH feedback and means that the mechanism coupling BH and bulge mass until the present is very indirect.« less

Solving the Mystery of Galaxy Bulges and Bulge Substructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erwin, Peter

2017-08-01

Understanding galaxy bulges is crucial for understanding galaxy evolution and the growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Recent studies have shown that at least some - perhaps most - disk-galaxy bulges are actually composite structures, with both classical-bulge (spheroid) and pseudobulge (disky) components; this calls into question the standard practice of using simple, low-resolution bulge/disk decompositions to determine spheroid and SMBH mass functions. We propose WFC3 optical and near-IR imaging of a volume- and mass-limited sample of local disk galaxies to determine the full range of pure-classical, pure-pseudobulge, and composite-bulge frequencies and parameters, including stellar masses for classical bulges, disky pseudobulges, and boxy/peanut-shaped bulges. We will combine this with ground-based spectroscopy to determine the stellar-kinematic and population characteristics of the different substructures revealed by our WFC3 imaging. This will help resolve growing uncertainties about the status and nature of bulges and their relation to SMBH masses, and will provide an essential local-universe reference for understanding bulge (and SMBH) formation and evolution.

Black holes in binary stellar systems and galactic nuclei

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cherepashchuk, A. M.

2014-04-01

In the last 40 years, following pioneering papers by Ya B Zeldovich and E E Salpeter, in which a powerful energy release from nonspherical accretion of matter onto a black hole (BH) was predicted, many observational studies of black holes in the Universe have been carried out. To date, the masses of several dozen stellar-mass black holes (M_BH = (4{-}20) M_\\odot) in X-ray binary systems and of several hundred supermassive black holes (M_BH = (10^{6}{-}10^{10}) M_\\odot) in galactic nuclei have been measured. The estimated radii of these massive and compact objects do not exceed several gravitational radii. For about ten stellar-mass black holes and several dozen supermassive black holes, the values of the dimensionless angular momentum a_* have been estimated, which, in agreement with theoretical predictions, do not exceed the limiting value a_* = 0.998. A new field of astrophysics, so-called black hole demography, which studies the birth and growth of black holes and their evolutionary connection to other objects in the Universe, namely stars, galaxies, etc., is rapidly developing. In addition to supermassive black holes, massive stellar clusters are observed in galactic nuclei, and their evolution is distinct from that of supermassive black holes. The evolutionary relations between supermassive black holes in galactic centers and spheroidal stellar components (bulges) of galaxies, as well as dark-matter galactic haloes are brought out. The launch into Earth's orbit of the space radio interferometer RadioAstron opened up the real possibility of finally proving that numerous discovered massive and highly compact objects with properties very similar to those of black holes make up real black holes in the sense of Albert Einstein's General Relativity. Similar proofs of the existence of black holes in the Universe can be obtained by intercontinental radio interferometry at short wavelengths \\lambda \\lesssim 1 mm (the international program, Event Horizon Telescope).

Making Supermassive Black Holes Spin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2016-12-01

Where does the angular momentum come from that causes supermassive black holes (SMBHs) to spin on their axes and launch powerful jets? A new study of nearby SMBHs may help to answer this question.High-mass SMBHs are thought to form when two galaxies collide and the SMBHs at their centers merge. [NASA/Hubble Heritage Team (STScI)]High- vs. Low-Mass MonstersObservational evidence suggests a dichotomy between low-mass SMBHs (those with 106-7 M) and high-mass ones (those with 108-10 M). High-mass SMBHs are thought to form via the merger of two smaller black holes, and the final black hole is likely spun up by the rotational dynamics of the merger. But what spins up low-mass SMBHs, which are thought to build up very gradually via accretion?A team of scientists led by Jing Wang (National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences) have attempted to address this puzzle by examining the properties of the galaxies hosting low-mass SMBHs.A Sample of Neighboring SMBHsWang and collaborators began by constructing a sample of radio-selected nearby Seyfert 2 galaxies: those galaxies in which the stellar population and morphology of the host galaxy are visible to us, instead of being overwhelmed by continuum emission from the galaxys active nucleus.An example of a galaxy with a concentrated, classical bulge (M87; top) and a one with a disk-like pseudo bulge (Triangulum Galaxy; bottom). The authors find that for galaxies hosting low-mass SMBHs, those with more disk-like bulges appear to have more powerful radio jets. [Top: NASA/Hubble Heritage Team (STScI), Bottom: Hewholooks]From this sample, the authors then selected 31 galaxies that have low-mass SMBHs at their centers, as measured using the surrounding stellar dynamics. Wang and collaborators cataloged radio information revealing properties of the powerful jets launched by the SMBHs, and they analyzed the host galaxies properties by modeling their brightness profiles.Spin-Up From Accreting GasBy examining this

The M BH versus M Gσ2 Relation and the Accretion of Supermassive Black Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feoli, A.

2014-03-01

We propose a possible scenario that can explain the physical processes underlying the relation log10(M BH) = b + mlog10(M Gσ2/c 2) between the mass M BH of supermassive black holes, growing in the center of many galaxies, and the kinetic energy of the corresponding bulges (M G being the bulge mass and σ the velocity dispersion). In a series of papers, this scaling law proved to be very useful to describe the evolution of galaxies thanks to its close similarity to the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Studying the relation with different samples of galaxies, we have generally found a slope that can vary between two extremal theoretical possibilities, m = 3/4 and m = 1. We will try to describe a possible scenario compatible with the second one. Finally, we also examine a case of a relation that is linear, not in kinetic energy, but in momentum parameter.

Black-Hole Binaries, Gravitational Waves, and Numerical Relativity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kelly, Bernard J.; Centrella, Joan; Baker, John G.; Kelly, Bernard J.; vanMeter, James R.

2010-01-01

Understanding the predictions of general relativity for the dynamical interactions of two black holes has been a long-standing unsolved problem in theoretical physics. Black-hole mergers are monumental astrophysical events ' releasing tremendous amounts of energy in the form of gravitational radiation ' and are key sources for both ground- and spacebased gravitational wave detectors. The black-hole merger dynamics and the resulting gravitational waveforms can only he calculated through numerical simulations of Einstein's equations of general relativity. For many years, numerical relativists attempting to model these mergers encountered a host of problems, causing their codes to crash after just a fraction of a binary orbit cnuld be simulated. Recently ' however, a series of dramatic advances in numerical relativity has ' for the first time, allowed stable / robust black hole merger simulations. We chronicle this remarkable progress in the rapidly maturing field of numerical relativity, and the new understanding of black-hole binary dynamics that is emerging. We also discuss important applications of these fundamental physics results to astrophysics, to gravitationalwave astronomy, and in other areas.

Feast and Famine: regulation of black hole growth in low-redshift galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kauffmann, Guinevere; Heckman, Timothy M.

2009-07-01

We analyse the observed distribution of Eddington ratios (L/LEdd) as a function of supermassive black hole mass for a large sample of nearby galaxies drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We demonstrate that there are two distinct regimes of black hole growth in nearby galaxies. The first is associated with galaxies with significant star formation [M*/starformationrate (SFR) ~ a Hubble time] in their central kiloparsec regions, and is characterized by a broad lognormal distribution of accretion rates peaked at a few per cent of the Eddington limit. In this regime, the Eddington ratio distribution is independent of the mass of the black hole and shows little dependence on the central stellar population of the galaxy. The second regime is associated with galaxies with old central stellar populations (M*/SFR >> a Hubble time), and is characterized by a power-law distribution function of Eddington ratios. In this regime, the time-averaged mass accretion rate on to black holes is proportional to the mass of stars in the galaxy bulge, with a constant of proportionality that depends on the mean stellar age of the stars. This result is once again independent of black hole mass. We show that both the slope of the power law and the decrease in the accretion rate on to black holes in old galaxies are consistent with population synthesis model predictions of the decline in stellar mass loss rates as a function of mean stellar age. Our results lead to a very simple picture of black hole growth in the local Universe. If the supply of cold gas in a galaxy bulge is plentiful, the black hole regulates its own growth at a rate that does not further depend on the properties of the interstellar medium. Once the gas runs out, black hole growth is regulated by the rate at which evolved stars lose their mass.

Black holes in the early Universe.

PubMed

Volonteri, Marta; Bellovary, Jillian

2012-12-01

The existence of massive black holes (MBHs) was postulated in the 1960s, when the first quasars were discovered. In the late 1990s their reality was proven beyond doubt in the Milky way and a handful nearby galaxies. Since then, enormous theoretical and observational efforts have been made to understand the astrophysics of MBHs. We have discovered that some of the most massive black holes known, weighing billions of solar masses, powered luminous quasars within the first billion years of the Universe. The first MBHs must therefore have formed around the time the first stars and galaxies formed. Dynamical evidence also indicates that black holes with masses of millions to billions of solar masses ordinarily dwell in the centers of today's galaxies. MBHs populate galaxy centers today, and shone as quasars in the past; the quiescent black holes that we detect now in nearby bulges are the dormant remnants of this fiery past. In this review we report on basic, but critical, questions regarding the cosmological significance of MBHs. What physical mechanisms led to the formation of the first MBHs? How massive were the initial MBH seeds? When and where did they form? How is the growth of black holes linked to that of their host galaxy? The answers to most of these questions are works in progress, in the spirit of these reports on progress in physics.

Black-hole kicks from numerical-relativity surrogate models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerosa, Davide; Hébert, François; Stein, Leo C.

2018-05-01

Binary black holes radiate linear momentum in gravitational waves as they merge. Recoils imparted to the black-hole remnant can reach thousands of km /s , thus ejecting black holes from their host galaxies. We exploit recent advances in gravitational waveform modeling to quickly and reliably extract recoils imparted to generic, precessing, black-hole binaries. Our procedure uses a numerical-relativity surrogate model to obtain the gravitational waveform given a set of binary parameters; then, from this waveform we directly integrate the gravitational-wave linear momentum flux. This entirely bypasses the need for fitting formulas which are typically used to model black-hole recoils in astrophysical contexts. We provide a thorough exploration of the black-hole kick phenomenology in the parameter space, summarizing and extending previous numerical results on the topic. Our extraction procedure is made publicly available as a module for the Python programming language named surrkick. Kick evaluations take ˜0.1 s on a standard off-the-shelf machine, thus making our code ideal to be ported to large-scale astrophysical studies.

DISK ASSEMBLY AND THE M {sub BH}-{sigma} {sub e} RELATION OF SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Debattista, Victor P.; Kazantzidis, Stelios; Van den Bosch, Frank C., E-mail: vpdebattista@gmail.com, E-mail: stelios@mps.ohio-state.edu, E-mail: frank.vandenbosch@yale.edu

2013-03-01

Recent Hubble Space Telescope observations have revealed that a majority of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at z {approx} 1-3 are resident in isolated disk galaxies, contrary to the usual expectation that AGNs are triggered by mergers. Here we develop a new test of the cosmic evolution of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in disk galaxies by considering the local population of SMBHs. We show that substantial SMBH growth in spiral galaxies is required as disks assemble. SMBHs exhibit a tight relation between their mass and the velocity dispersion of the spheroid within which they reside, the M {sub .}-{sigma} {sub e}more » relation. In disk galaxies the bulge is the spheroid of interest. We explore the evolution of the M {sub .}-{sigma} {sub e} relation when bulges form together with SMBHs on the M {sub .}-{sigma} {sub e} relation and then slowly re-form a disk around them. The formation of the disk compresses the bulge, raising its {sigma} {sub e}. We present evidence for such compression in the form of larger velocity dispersion of classical bulges compared with elliptical galaxies at the same mass. This compression leads to an offset in the M {sub .}-{sigma} {sub e} relation if it is not accompanied by an increased M {sub .}. We quantify the expected offset based on photometric data and show that, on average, SMBHs must grow by {approx}50%-65% just to remain on the M {sub .}-{sigma} {sub e} relation. We find no significant offset in the M {sub .}-{sigma} {sub e} relations of classical bulges and of ellipticals, implying that SMBHs have been growing along with disks. Our simulations demonstrate that SMBH growth is necessary for the local population of disk galaxies to have remained on the M {sub .}-{sigma} {sub e} relation.« less

Energy input from quasars regulates the growth and activity of black holes and their host galaxies.

PubMed

Di Matteo, Tiziana; Springel, Volker; Hernquist, Lars

2005-02-10

In the early Universe, while galaxies were still forming, black holes as massive as a billion solar masses powered quasars. Supermassive black holes are found at the centres of most galaxies today, where their masses are related to the velocity dispersions of stars in their host galaxies and hence to the mass of the central bulge of the galaxy. This suggests a link between the growth of the black holes and their host galaxies, which has indeed been assumed for a number of years. But the origin of the observed relation between black hole mass and stellar velocity dispersion, and its connection with the evolution of galaxies, have remained unclear. Here we report simulations that simultaneously follow star formation and the growth of black holes during galaxy-galaxy collisions. We find that, in addition to generating a burst of star formation, a merger leads to strong inflows that feed gas to the supermassive black hole and thereby power the quasar. The energy released by the quasar expels enough gas to quench both star formation and further black hole growth. This determines the lifetime of the quasar phase (approaching 100 million years) and explains the relationship between the black hole mass and the stellar velocity dispersion.

Microlensing Signature of Binary Black Holes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schnittman, Jeremy; Sahu, Kailash; Littenberg, Tyson

2012-01-01

We calculate the light curves of galactic bulge stars magnified via microlensing by stellar-mass binary black holes along the line-of-sight. We show the sensitivity to measuring various lens parameters for a range of survey cadences and photometric precision. Using public data from the OGLE collaboration, we identify two candidates for massive binary systems, and discuss implications for theories of star formation and binary evolution.

Merging Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Numerical Relativity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, Joan M.

2009-01-01

The final merger of two black holes will emit more energy than all the stars in the observable universe combined. This energy will come in the form of gravitational waves, which are a key prediction of Einstein's general relativity and a new tool for exploring the universe. Observing these mergers with gravitational wave detectors, such as the ground-based LIGO and the space-based LISA, requires knowledge of the radiation waveforms. Since these mergers take place in regions of extreme gravity, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute black hole mergers using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes were long plagued by instabilities, causing them to crash well before the black holes in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Within the past few years, however, this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of remarkable breakthroughs. This talk will focus on new simulations that are revealing the dynamics and w aefo rms of binary black hole mergers, and their applications in gravitational wave detection, testing general relativity, and astrophysics.

Electromagnetic perturbations of black holes in general relativity coupled to nonlinear electrodynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toshmatov, Bobir; Stuchlík, Zdeněk; Schee, Jan; Ahmedov, Bobomurat

2018-04-01

The electromagnetic (EM) perturbations of the black hole solutions in general relativity coupled to nonlinear electrodynamics (NED) are studied for both electrically and magnetically charged black holes, assuming that the EM perturbations do not alter the spacetime geometry. It is shown that the effective potentials of the electrically and magnetically charged black holes related to test perturbative NED EM fields are related to the effective metric governing the photon motion, contrary to the effective potential of the linear electrodynamic (Maxwell) field that is related to the spacetime metric. Consequently, corresponding quasinormal (QN) frequencies differ as well. As a special case, we study new family of the NED black hole solutions which tend in the weak field limit to the Maxwell field, giving the Reissner-Nordström (RN) black hole solution. We compare the NED Maxwellian black hole QN spectra with the RN black hole QN spectra.

Numerical Relativity Simulations for Black Hole Merger Astrophysics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baker, John G.

2010-01-01

Massive black hole mergers are perhaps the most energetic astronomical events, establishing their importance as gravitational wave sources for LISA, and also possibly leading to observable influences on their local environments. Advances in numerical relativity over the last five years have fueled the development of a rich physical understanding of general relativity's predictions for these events. Z will overview the understanding of these event emerging from numerical simulation studies. These simulations elucidate the pre-merger dynamics of the black hole binaries, the consequent gravitational waveform signatures ' and the resulting state, including its kick velocity, for the final black hole produced by the merger. Scenarios are now being considered for observing each of these aspects of the merger, involving both gravitational-wave and electromagnetic astronomy.

Amuse-Virgo: Downsizing In Black Hole Accretion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gallo, Elena

2010-03-01

An issue of fundamental importance in understanding the galaxy-black hole connection is the duty cycle of accretion. If black holes are indeed ubiquitous in galactic nuclei, little is known about the frequency and intensity of their activity, the more so at the low-mass/low-luminosity end. I will present new results from AMUSE-Virgo, a Chandra survey of (formally) inactive early type galaxies in the Virgo cluster. Out of 100 objects, 32 show a nuclear X-ray source, including 6 hybrid nuclei which also host a massive nuclear cluster as visible from archival HST images. After carefully accounting for contamination from nuclear low mass X-ray binaries based on the shape and normalization of their X-ray luminosity function, we conclude that between 24-34% of the galaxies in our sample host a X-ray active super-massive black hole. This sets a firm lower limit to the black hole occupation fraction in nearby bulges within a cluster environment. At face value, the active fraction is found to increase with host stellar mass. However, taking into account selection effects, we find that the average Eddington-scaled X-ray luminosity scales with black hole mass to the power -0.62, with an intrinsic scatter of 0.46 dex. This represents the first observational evidence for down-sizing of black hole accretion in local early types, that is, the fraction of active galaxies, defined as those above a fixed X-ray Eddington ratio, decreases with increasing host galaxy mass.

Binary Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Numerical Relativity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, John

2007-01-01

The final merger of two black holes is expected to be the strongest gravitational wave source for ground-based interferometers such as LIGO, VIRGO, and GE0600, as well as the space-based interferometer LISA. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. Since these mergers take place in regions of extreme gravity, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute black hole mergers using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities, causing them to crash well before the black holes in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Within the past few years, however, this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of remarkable breakthroughs. This talk will focus on new simulations that are revealing the dynamics and waveforms of binary black hole mergers, and their applications in gravitational wave detection, data analysis, and astrophysics.

Magnetic fields threading black holes: restrictions from general relativity and implications for astrophysical black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garofalo, David

2017-07-01

The idea that black hole spin is instrumental in the generation of powerful jets in active galactic nuclei and X-ray binaries is arguably the most contentious claim in black hole astrophysics. Because jets are thought to originate in the context of electromagnetism, and the modeling of Maxwell fields in curved spacetime around black holes is challenging, various approximations are made in numerical simulations that fall under the guise of `ideal magnetohydrodynamics'. But the simplifications of this framework may struggle to capture relevant details of real astrophysical environments near black holes. In this work, we highlight tension between analytic and numerical results, specifically between the analytically derived conserved Noether currents for rotating black hole spacetimes and the results of general relativistic numerical simulations (GRMHD). While we cannot definitively attribute the issue to any specific approximation used in the numerical schemes, there seem to be natural candidates, which we explore. GRMHD notwithstanding, if electromagnetic fields around rotating black holes are brought to the hole by accretion, we show from first principles that prograde accreting disks likely experience weaker large-scale black hole-threading fields, implying weaker jets than in retrograde configurations.

Validity of black hole complementarity in the BTZ black hole

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gim, Yongwan; Kim, Wontae

2018-01-01

Based on the gedanken experiment for black hole complementarity in the Schwarzschild black hole, we calculate the energy required to duplicate information in the BTZ black hole under the assumption of absorbing boundary condition and its dual solution of the black string, respectively, in order to justify the validity of the no-cloning theorem in quantum mechanics. For the BTZ black hole, the required energy for the duplication of information can be made fairly small, whereas for the black string it exceeds the total mass of the black string, although they are related to each other under the dual transformation. So, the duplication of information might be possible in the BTZ black hole in contrast to the case of the black string, so that the no-cloning theorem could be violated for the former case. To save the duplication of information for the BTZ black hole, we perform an improved gedanken experiment by using the local thermodynamic quantities near the horizon rather than those defined at infinity, and show that the no-cloning theorem could be made valid even in the BTZ black hole. We also discuss how this local treatment for the no-cloning theorem can be applied to the black string as well as the Schwarzschild black hole innocuously.

On the Supermassive Black Hole-Galaxy Coevolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hegde, Sahil; Zhang, Shawn; Rodriguez, Aldo; Primack, Joel R.

2017-01-01

In recent years, a major focus of astronomy has been the study of the effects of supermassive black holes (SMBH) on their host galaxies. Recent results have found strong correlations between SMBH mass and host galaxy properties, most notably in the bulge velocity dispersion and galaxy stellar mass. We utilize these relations along with a novel convolution method to construct number density models of different galaxy properties. Using these models, we compare two fundamental methods for constructing a black hole mass function (BHMF) with the M⊙-σ and M⊙-M* relations. With these methods, we estimate the redshift evolution of the BHMF and, based on that, compare mass growth histories of central black holes and their host galaxies. Additionally, we utilize a data compilation of over 500 galaxies with individual measurements of galaxy properties (BH mass, stellar velocity dispersion, stellar mass, etc.) and classify galaxies by their morphologies in order to shed light on the controversial Shankar et al. (2016) argument that observations are biased in favor of massive SMBHs. We find that such a bias has little impact on the SMBH-galaxy relations.We conclude that the galaxy sample is a fair representation of the local universe and argue that our BH number density and scaling relations can be employed in the future to constrain relevant mechanisms for galaxy formation. We emphasize that this is the most comprehensive and accurate study of SMBH-galaxy coevolution as of now. Most of this work was carried out by high school students working under the auspices of the Science Internship Program at UC Santa Cruz.

How A Black Hole Lights Up Its Surroundings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2017-10-01

How do the supermassive black holes that live at the centers of galaxies influence their environments? New observations of a distant active galaxy offer clues about this interaction.Signs of CoevolutionPlot demonstrating the m-sigma relation, the empirical correlation between the stellar velocity dispersion of a galactic bulge and the mass of the supermassive black hole at its center. [Msigma]We know that the centers of active galaxies host supermassive black holes with masses of millions to billions of suns. One mystery surrounding these beasts is that they are observed to evolve simultaneously with their host galaxies for instance, an empirical relationship is seen between the growth of a black hole and the growth of its host galaxys bulge. This suggests that there must be a feedback mechanism through which the evolution of a black hole is linked to that of its host galaxy.One proposed source of this coupling is the powerful jets emitted from the poles of these supermassive black holes. These jets are thought to be produced as some of the material accreting onto the black hole is flung out, confined by surrounding gas and magnetic fields. Because the jets of hot gas and radiation extend outward through the host galaxy, they provide a means for the black hole to influence the gas and dust of its surroundings.In our current model of a radio-loud active galactic nuclei,a region of hot, ionized gas the narrow-line region lies beyond the sphere of influence of the supermassive black hole. [C.M. Urry and P. Padovani]Clues in the Narrow-Line RegionThe region of gas thought to sit just outside of the black holes sphere of influence (at a distance of perhaps a thousand to a few thousand light-years) is known as the narrow line region so named because we observe narrow emission lines from this gas. Given its hot, ionized state, this gas must somehow be being pummeled with energy. In the canonical picture, radiation from the black hole heats the gas directly in a process

Supermassive black holes and their feedback effects in the IllustrisTNG simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weinberger, Rainer; Springel, Volker; Pakmor, Rüdiger; Nelson, Dylan; Genel, Shy; Pillepich, Annalisa; Vogelsberger, Mark; Marinacci, Federico; Naiman, Jill; Torrey, Paul; Hernquist, Lars

2018-06-01

We study the population of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their effects on massive central galaxies in the IllustrisTNG cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation. The employed model for SMBH growth and feedback assumes a two-mode scenario in which the feedback from active galactic nuclei occurs through a kinetic, comparatively efficient mode at low accretion rates relative to the Eddington limit, and in the form of a thermal, less efficient mode at high accretion rates. We show that the quenching of massive central galaxies happens coincidently with kinetic-mode feedback, consistent with the notion that active supermassive black cause the low specific star formation rates observed in massive galaxies. However, major galaxy mergers are not responsible for initiating most of the quenching events in our model. Up to black hole masses of about 108.5 M⊙, the dominant growth channel for SMBHs is in the thermal mode. Higher mass black holes stay mainly in the kinetic mode and gas accretion is self-regulated via their feedback, which causes their Eddington ratios to drop, with SMBH mergers becoming the main channel for residual mass growth. As a consequence, the quasar luminosity function is dominated by rapidly accreting, moderately massive black holes in the thermal mode. We show that the associated growth history of SMBHs produces a low-redshift quasar luminosity function and a redshift zero black hole mass - stellar bulge mass relation in good agreement with observations, whereas the simulation tends to over-predict the high-redshift quasar luminosity function.

Two ten-billion-solar-mass black holes at the centres of giant elliptical galaxies.

PubMed

McConnell, Nicholas J; Ma, Chung-Pei; Gebhardt, Karl; Wright, Shelley A; Murphy, Jeremy D; Lauer, Tod R; Graham, James R; Richstone, Douglas O

2011-12-08

Observational work conducted over the past few decades indicates that all massive galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centres. Although the luminosities and brightness fluctuations of quasars in the early Universe suggest that some were powered by black holes with masses greater than 10 billion solar masses, the remnants of these objects have not been found in the nearby Universe. The giant elliptical galaxy Messier 87 hosts the hitherto most massive known black hole, which has a mass of 6.3 billion solar masses. Here we report that NGC 3842, the brightest galaxy in a cluster at a distance from Earth of 98 megaparsecs, has a central black hole with a mass of 9.7 billion solar masses, and that a black hole of comparable or greater mass is present in NGC 4889, the brightest galaxy in the Coma cluster (at a distance of 103 megaparsecs). These two black holes are significantly more massive than predicted by linearly extrapolating the widely used correlations between black-hole mass and the stellar velocity dispersion or bulge luminosity of the host galaxy. Although these correlations remain useful for predicting black-hole masses in less massive elliptical galaxies, our measurements suggest that different evolutionary processes influence the growth of the largest galaxies and their black holes.

New calibration and some predictions of the scaling relations between the mass of supermassive black holes and the properties of the host galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benedetto, E.; Fallarino, M. T.; Feoli, A.

2013-10-01

We present a new determination of the slope and normalization of three popular scaling laws between the mass of supermassive black holes and stellar velocity dispersion, bulge mass and kinetic energy of the host galaxies. To this aim we have collected 72 objects taken from three different samples and we have used three fitting methods applying the statistical analysis also to the subset of early type galaxies and spirals separately. We find that the relation involving kinetic energy has a slightly better χ2 and linear correlation coefficient than the other two laws. Furthermore, its Hertzsprung-Russell-like behavior is confirmed by the location of young and old galaxies in two different parts of the diagram. A test of its predictive power with the two giant galaxies NGC 3842 and NGC 4889 shows that the mass of the black hole inferred using the kinetic energy law is the closest to the experimental value. The subset of early type galaxies satisfies the theoretical models regarding the black hole mass vs stellar velocity dispersion relation, better than the full sample. Tables 1 and 7 are available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org

surrkick: Black-hole kicks from numerical-relativity surrogate models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerosa, Davide; Hébert, François; Stein, Leo C.

2018-04-01

surrkick quickly and reliably extract recoils imparted to generic, precessing, black hole binaries. It uses a numerical-relativity surrogate model to obtain the gravitational waveform given a set of binary parameters, and from this waveform directly integrates the gravitational-wave linear momentum flux. This entirely bypasses the need of fitting formulae which are typically used to model black-hole recoils in astrophysical contexts.

Are LIGO's Black Holes Made From Smaller Black Holes?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2017-05-01

all the hierarchical mergers are so-called major mergers i.e., the smaller black hole of the pair is at least 70% of the mass of the larger one.Distribution of spins for 4th-generation mergers, with two different mass ratios (q= 0.7 and q= 1) and initial first-generation spins (non-spinning and maximally spinning). [Fishbach et al. 2017]The authors find that hierarchical major mergers result in a distribution of spins with a distinctive shape, peaking at a spin of a 0.7 with relatively low contribution from spins below a 0.5. Intriguingly, this distribution is universal if you include several generations of mergers, the resulting spin distribution converges to the same shape every time. This is true regardless of the details of the hierarchical merger scenario, like the exact black hole mass ratio (as long as only major mergers occur) or the initial spin distributions.Testing the ModelWhat does this tell us? Since the hierarchical merger model predicts a very specific distribution of spins for the black holes detected by LIGO, we can compare future LIGO detections to see if theyre consistent with this model.The authors calculate the statistics to show that after order 100 LIGO detections, we should be able to tell whether these black holes are consistent with a hierarchical merger formation model or not. With luck, this could mean that we will have solved this mystery within a few years of advanced LIGO operations!CitationMaya Fishbach et al 2017 ApJL 840 L24. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aa7045

Binary Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Numerical Relativity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, Joan

2007-01-01

This viewgraph presentation reviews the massive black hole (MBH) binaries that are found at the center of most galaxies, "astronomical messenger", gravitational waves (GW), and the use of numerical relativity understand the features of these phenomena. The final merger of two black holes releases a tremendous amount of energy and is one of the brightest sources in the gravitational wave sky. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. Since these mergers take place in regions of very strong gravitational fields, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute these waveforms using the methods of numerical relativity.. This talk will take you on this quest for the holy grail of numerical relativity, showing how a spacetime is constructed on a computer to build a simulation laboratory for binary black hole mergers. We will focus on the recent advances that are revealing these waveforms, and the dramatic new potential for discoveries that arises when these sources will be observed by LIGO and LISA.

Merging Black Holes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, John

2009-01-01

The final merger of two black holes is expected to be the strongest gravitational wave source for ground-based interferometers such as LIGO, VIRGO, and GEO600, as well as the space-based LISA. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. And, when the black holes merge in the presence of gas and magnetic fields, various types of electromagnetic signals may also be produced. Since these mergers take place in regions of extreme gravity, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute black hole mergers using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities, causing them to crash well before the black holes in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Within the past few years, however, this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of remarkable breakthroughs. This talk will focus on new simulations that are revealing the dynamics and waveforms of binary black hole mergers, and their applications in gravitational wave detection, testing general relativity, and astrophysics.

Merging Black Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Centrella, Joan

2009-05-01

The final merger of two black holes is expected to be the strongest gravitational wave source for ground-based interferometers such as LIGO, VIRGO, and GEO600, as well as the space-based LISA. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. And, when the black holes merge in the presence of gas and magnetic fields, various types of electromagnetic signals may also be produced. Since these mergers take place in regions of extreme gravity, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute black hole mergers using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities, causing them to crash well before the black holes in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Within the past few years, however, this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of remarkable breakthroughs. This talk will focus on new simulations that are revealing the dynamics and waveforms of binary black hole mergers, and their applications in gravitational wave detection, testing general relativity, and astrophysics.

Black hole thermodynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carlip, S.

2014-10-01

The discovery in the early 1970s that black holes radiate as black bodies has radically affected our understanding of general relativity, and offered us some early hints about the nature of quantum gravity. In this paper, will review the discovery of black hole thermodynamics and summarize the many independent ways of obtaining the thermodynamic and (perhaps) statistical mechanical properties of black holes. I will then describe some of the remaining puzzles, including the nature of the quantum microstates, the problem of universality, and the information loss paradox.

Binary Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Numerical Relativity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, Joan

2007-01-01

Massive black hole (MBH) binaries are found at the centers of most galaxies. MBH mergers trace galaxy mergers and are strong sources of gravitational waves. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. Since these mergers take place in regions of very strong gravitational fields, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute these waveforms using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities. causing them to crash well before the black hole:, in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Recently this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of amazing breakthroughs. This presentation shows how a spacetime is constructed on a computer to build a simulation laboratory for binary black hole mergers. Focus is on the recent advances that that reveal these waveforms, and the potential for discoveries that arises when these sources are observed by LIGO and LISA.

Binary Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Numerical Relativity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, Joan

2008-01-01

The final merger of two black holes releases a tremendous amount of energy and is one of the brightest sources in the gravitational wave sky. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. Since these mergers take place in regions of very strong gravitational fields. We need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute these waveforms using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities, causing them to crash well before the black holes in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Recently this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of amazing breakthroughs. This talk will take you on this quest for the holy grail of numerical relativity, showing how a spacetime is constructed on a computer to build a simulation laboratory for binary black hole mergers. We will focus on the recent advances that are revealing these waveforms, and the dramatic new potential for discoveries that arises when these sources will be observed by LIGO and LISA.

Binary Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Numerical Relativity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, Joan

2008-01-01

The final merger of two black holes releases a tremendous amount of energy and is one of the brightest sources in the gravitational wave sky. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. Since these mergers take place in regions of very strong gravitational fields, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute these waveforms using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities. causing them to crash well before the black hole:, in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Recently this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of amazing breakthroughs. This talk will take you on this quest for the holy grail of numerical relativity, showing how a spacetime is constructed on a computer to build a simulation laboratory for binary black hole mergers. We will focus on the recent advances that are revealing these waveforms, and the dramatic new potential for discoveries that arises when these sources will be observed by LIGO and LISA.

Binary Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Numerical Relativity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, Joan

2008-01-01

The final merger of two black holes releases a tremendous amount of energy and is one of the brightest sources in the gravitational wave sky. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. Since these mergers take place in regions of very strong gravitational fields, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute these waveforms using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities, causing them to crash well before the black holes in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Recently this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of amazing breakthroughs. This talk will take you on this quest for the holy grail of numerical relativity, showing how a spacetime is constructed on a computer to build a simulation laboratory for binary black hole mergers. We will focus on the recent advances that are revealing these waveforms, and the dramatic new potential for discoveries that arises when these sources will be observed by LIGO and LISA.

Binary Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Numerical Relativity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, Joan

2009-01-01

The final merger of two black holes releases a tremendous amount of energy and is one of the brightest sources in the gravitational wave sky. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. Since these mergers take place in regions of very strong gravitational fields, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute these waveforms using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities, causing them to crash well before the black holes in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Recently this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of amazing breakthroughs. This talk will take you on this quest for the holy grail of numerical relativity, showing how a spacetime is constructed on a computer to build a simulation laboratory for binary black hole mergers. We will focus on the recent advances that are revealing these waveforms, and the dramatic new potential for discoveries that arises when these sources will be observed by LIGO and LISA.

Binary Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Numerical Relativity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, Joan

2007-01-01

The final merger of two black holes releases a tremendous amount of energy and is one of the brightest sources in the gravitational wave sky. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. Since these mergers take place in regions of very strong gravitational fields, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute these waveforms using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities, causing them to crash well before the black holes in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Recently this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of amazing breakthroughs. This talk will take you on this quest for the holy grail of numerical relativity, showing how a spacetime is constructed on a computer to build a simulation laboratory for binary black hole mergers. We will focus on the recent advances that are revealing these waveforms, and the dramatic new potential for discoveries that arises when these sources will be observed by LIGO and LISA

Binary Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Numerical Relativity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, Joan

2007-01-01

The final merger of two black holes releases a tremendous amount of energy and is one of the brightest sources in the gravitational wave sky. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. Since these mergers take place in regions of very strong gravitational fields, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute these waveforms using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities, causing them to crash well before the black holes in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Recently this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of amazing breakthroughs. This talk will take you on this quest for the holy grail of numerical relativity, showing how a spacetime is constructed on a computer to build a simutation laboratory for binary black hole mergers. We will focus on the recent advances that are revealing these waveforms, and the dramatic new potential for discoveries that arises when these sources will be observed by LIGO and LISA.

Binary Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Numerical Relativity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, Joan

2006-01-01

The final merger of two black holes releases a tremendous amount of energy and is one of the brightest sources in the gravitational wave sky. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. Since these mergers take place in regions of extreme gravity, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute these waveforms using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities, causing them to crash well before the black holes in the binary could complete even a single orbit. This situation has changed dramatically in the past year, with a series of amazing breakthroughs. This talk will take you on this quest for the holy grail of numerical relativity, showing how a spacetime is constructed on a computer to build a simulation laboratory for binary black hole mergers. We will focus on the recent advances that are revealing these waveforms, and the dramatic new potential for discoveries that arises when these sources will be observed by LISA and LIGO.

Are LIGO's Black Holes Made from Smaller Black Holes?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fishbach, Maya; Holz, Daniel; Farr, Ben; LIGO Collaboration

2017-01-01

We consider the hierarchical merger model for the formation of stellar mass black holes (such as the binary black holes observable by LIGO). In the hierarchical merger model, each black hole in a black hole binary is the result of a merger of two lesser black holes from a previous generation, and the previous generation's black holes may themselves be merger products of an even earlier generation. We apply the formulas of Hofmann, Barausse and Rezzolla (2016) to show that if black holes form in this hierarchical merger scenario, their spin magnitudes follow a certain probability distribution. We demonstrate how to compare this spin distribution to LIGO spin measurements in order to constrain the hierarchical merger scenario.

Feeding supermassive black holes through supersonic turbulence and ballistic accretion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hobbs, Alexander; Nayakshin, Sergei; Power, Chris; King, Andrew

2011-06-01

It has long been recognized that the main obstacle to the accretion of gas on to supermassive black holes (SMBHs) is a large specific angular momentum. It is feared that the gas settles in a large-scale disc, and that accretion would then proceed too inefficiently to explain the masses of the observed SMBHs. Here we point out that, while the mean angular momentum in the bulge is very likely to be large, the deviations from the mean can also be significant. Indeed, cosmological simulations show that velocity and angular momentum fields of gas flows on to galaxies are very complex. Furthermore, inside bulges the gas velocity distribution can be further randomized by the velocity kicks due to feedback from star formation. We perform hydrodynamical simulations of gaseous rotating shells infalling on to an SMBH, attempting to quantify the importance of velocity dispersion in the gas at relatively large distances from the black hole. We implement this dispersion by means of a supersonic turbulent velocity spectrum. We find that, while in the purely rotating case the circularization process leads to efficient mixing of gases with different angular momenta, resulting in a low accretion rate, the inclusion of turbulence increases this accretion rate by up to several orders of magnitude. We show that this can be understood based on the notion of 'ballistic' accretion, whereby dense filaments, created by convergent turbulent flows, travel through the ambient gas largely unaffected by hydrodynamical drag. This prevents the efficient gas mixing that was found in the simulations without turbulence, and allows a fraction of gas to impact the innermost boundary of the simulations directly. Using the ballistic approximation, we derive a simple analytical formula that captures the numerical results to within a factor of a few. Rescaling our results to astrophysical bulges, we argue that this 'ballistic' mode of accretion could provide the SMBHs with sufficient fuel without the need

Evidence for black holes.

PubMed

Begelman, Mitchell C

2003-06-20

Black holes are common objects in the universe. Each galaxy contains large numbers-perhaps millions-of stellar-mass black holes, each the remnant of a massive star. In addition, nearly every galaxy contains a supermassive black hole at its center, with a mass ranging from millions to billions of solar masses. This review discusses the demographics of black holes, the ways in which they interact with their environment, factors that may regulate their formation and growth, and progress toward determining whether these objects really warp spacetime as predicted by the general theory of relativity.

Scalarized hairy black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kleihaus, Burkhard; Kunz, Jutta; Yazadjiev, Stoytcho

2015-05-01

In the presence of a complex scalar field scalar-tensor theory allows for scalarized rotating hairy black holes. We exhibit the domain of existence for these scalarized black holes, which is bounded by scalarized rotating boson stars and hairy black holes of General Relativity. We discuss the global properties of these solutions. Like their counterparts in general relativity, their angular momentum may exceed the Kerr bound, and their ergosurfaces may consist of a sphere and a ring, i.e., form an ergo-Saturn.

Black holes.

PubMed

Brügmann, B; Ghez, A M; Greiner, J

2001-09-11

Recent progress in black hole research is illustrated by three examples. We discuss the observational challenges that were met to show that a supermassive black hole exists at the center of our galaxy. Stellar-size black holes have been studied in x-ray binaries and microquasars. Finally, numerical simulations have become possible for the merger of black hole binaries.

A black-hole mass measurement from molecular gas kinematics in NGC4526.

PubMed

Davis, Timothy A; Bureau, Martin; Cappellari, Michele; Sarzi, Marc; Blitz, Leo

2013-02-21

The masses of the supermassive black holes found in galaxy bulges are correlated with a multitude of galaxy properties, leading to suggestions that galaxies and black holes may evolve together. The number of reliably measured black-hole masses is small, and the number of methods for measuring them is limited, holding back attempts to understand this co-evolution. Directly measuring black-hole masses is currently possible with stellar kinematics (in early-type galaxies), ionized-gas kinematics (in some spiral and early-type galaxies) and in rare objects that have central maser emission. Here we report that by modelling the effect of a black hole on the kinematics of molecular gas it is possible to fit interferometric observations of CO emission and thereby accurately estimate black-hole masses. We study the dynamics of the gas in the early-type galaxy NGC 4526, and obtain a best fit that requires the presence of a central dark object of 4.5(+4.2)(-3.1) × 10(8) solar masses (3σ confidence limit). With the next-generation millimetre-wavelength interferometers these observations could be reproduced in galaxies out to 75 megaparsecs in less than 5 hours of observing time. The use of molecular gas as a kinematic tracer should thus allow one to estimate black-hole masses in hundreds of galaxies in the local Universe, many more than are accessible with current techniques.

Black holes

PubMed Central

Brügmann, B.; Ghez, A. M.; Greiner, J.

2001-01-01

Recent progress in black hole research is illustrated by three examples. We discuss the observational challenges that were met to show that a supermassive black hole exists at the center of our galaxy. Stellar-size black holes have been studied in x-ray binaries and microquasars. Finally, numerical simulations have become possible for the merger of black hole binaries. PMID:11553801

The Nearest Black Holes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Garcia, M.; Oliversen, Ronald J. (Technical Monitor)

2004-01-01

The goal of this program is to study black holes, both in our Galaxy and in nearby galaxies. We aim to study both 'stellar mass' x-ray binaries containing black holes (both in our Galaxy and in nearby galaxies), and super-massive black holes in nearby galaxies. This program facilitate this study by funding related travel, computer equipment, and partial salary for a post-doc.

The Nearest Black Holes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oliversen, Ronald J. (Technical Monitor); Garcia, M.

2003-01-01

The goal of this program is to study black holes, both in our Galaxy and in nearby galaxies. We aim to study both 'stellar mass' x-ray binaries containing black holes (both in our Galaxy and in nearby galaxies), and super-massive black holes in nearby galaxies. This program facilitates this study by funding related travel, computer equipment, and partial salary for a post-doc.

Growth of Primordial Black Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harada, Tomohiro

Primordial black holes have important observational implications through Hawking evaporation and gravitational radiation as well as being a candidate for cold dark matter. Those black holes are assumed to have formed in the early universe typically with the mass scale contained within the Hubble horizon at the formation epoch and subsequently accreted mass surrounding them. Numerical relativity simulation shows that primordial black holes of different masses do not accrete much, which contrasts with a simplistic Newtonian argument. We see that primordial black holes larger than the 'super-horizon' primordial black holes have decreasing energy and worm-hole like struture, suggesting the formation through quamtum processes.

Central Stellar Mass Deficits in the Bulges of Local Lenticular Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dullo, B. T.

2014-03-01

The centers of giant galaxies display stellar mass deficits (Mdef) which are thought to be a signature left by inspiraling supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries that are formed in post-merger galaxies. We quantify these deficits for a sample of five luminous lenticular galaxies with bulge magnitude MV ≲ -21 mag and find Mdef ≍ 0.5 - 2MBH (black hole mass). Contrary to the traditionally proposed lenticular galaxy formation mechanisms such as ram-pressure stripping and galaxy harassment, the mass deficits in these galaxies suggest a two stage inside-out process for their assembly. That is, their bulges may have formed through “dry” major-merger events involving SMBHs while their disk was subsequently built up via cold gas accretion scenarios. Interestingly, these bulges have sizes and mass densities comparable to the compact massive galaxies found at z ˜ 2.

An Accretion Model for the Growth of Black Hole in Quasars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lu, Ye; Cheng, K. S.; Zhang, S. N.

2003-01-01

A possible accretion model associated with the ionization instability of quasar disks is proposed to address the growth of the central black hole harbored in the host galaxy. The evolution of quasars in cosmic time is assumed to change from a highly active state to a quiescent state triggered by the S-shaped ionization instability of the quasar accretion disk. For a given external mass transfer rate ionization instability can modify accretion rate in the disk and separates the accretion flows of the disk into three different phases like a S-shape. We suggest that the bright quasars observed today are those quasars with disks in the upper branch of S-shaped instability and the dormant quasars are the system in the lower branch. The disk is assumed to evolve as ADIOS configuration in the lower branch. The mass ratio between black hole and its host galactic bulge is a nature consequence of ADIOS. Our model also demonstrates that a seed black hole 2 x 10(exp 6) solar masses similar to those found in spiral galaxies today is needed to produce a black hole with a final mass 2 x 10(exp 8) solar masses.

Black Holes, Worm Holes, and Future Space Propulsion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barret, Chris

2000-01-01

NASA has begun examining the technologies needed for an Interstellar Mission. In 1998, a NASA Interstellar Mission Workshop was held at the California Institute of Technology to examine the technologies required. Since then, a spectrum of research efforts to support such a mission has been underway, including many advanced and futuristic space propulsion concepts which are being explored. The study of black holes and wormholes may provide some of the breakthrough physics needed to travel to the stars. The first black hole, CYGXI, was discovered in 1972 in the constellation Cygnus X-1. In 1993, a black hole was found in the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. In 1994, the black hole GRO J1655-40 was discovered by the NASA Marshall Space Flight center using the Gamma Ray Observatory. Today, we believe we have found evidence to support the existence of 19 black holes, but our universe may contain several thousands. This paper discusses the dead star states - - both stable and unstable, white dwarfs, neutron stars, pulsars, quasars, the basic features and types of black holes: nonspinning, nonspinning with charge, spinning, and Hawking's mini black holes. The search for black holes, gravitational waves, and Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) are reviewed. Finally, concepts of black hole powered space vehicles and wormhole concepts for rapid interstellar travel are discussed in relation to the NASA Interstellar Mission.

Binary black holes, gravitational waves, and numerical relativity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Centrella, Joan M.; Baker, John G.; Boggs, William D.; Kelly, Bernard J.; McWilliams, Sean T.; van Meter, James R.

2007-07-01

The final merger of comparable mass binary black holes produces an intense burst of gravitational radiation and is one of the strongest sources for both ground-based and space-based gravitational wave detectors. Since the merger occurs in the strong-field dynamical regime of general relativity, numerical relativity simulations of the full Einstein equations in 3-D are required to calculate the resulting gravitational dynamics and waveforms. While this problem has been pursued for more than 30 years, the numerical codes have long been plagued by various instabilities and, overall, progress was incremental. Recently, however, dramatic breakthrough have occurred, resulting in robust simulations of merging black holes. In this paper, we examine these developments and the exciting new results that are emerging.

Supermassive Black Holes in Bulgeless and Dwarf Galaxies: A Multi-Wavelength Investigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Secrest, Nathan J.

Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are now understood to reside at the centers of nearly all major galaxies in the Universe. From studies of high-redshift quasars, we understand that SMBHs formed very early in the Universe's history, and well-studied correlations between other properties of galaxies, such as their morphologies, star formation rate, and merger history, with their central SMBH shows that SMBHs played a key role in the evolution of galaxies. The fact that the post-Big Bang Universe was extremely uniform and homogeneous presents a major mystery: How did SMBHs millions to billions of times as massive as the Sun form in such a short time? Given the theoretical limit at which a black hole can accrete material, it is not plausible that SMBHs could have formed through the conventional route: the end stage of the lifecycle of a massive star. Rather, there are two major theories for the formation of SMBHs, each with its own prediction for the black hole mass distribution and occupation fraction in the local Universe. Understanding this mass distribution and occupation fraction is therefore imperative to understanding the formation of SMBHs, the quasars that reveal their presence in the early Universe, and ultimately the evolution of galaxies to the present day. While large SMBHs in major, bulge-dominated galaxies are relatively easy to detect and characterize, this population of SMBHs is understood to have been built up largely through black hole merger events that erase any information about the progenitor black holes' masses. We must therefore search for SMBHs in late-type, bulgeless, and dwarf galaxies, which are much more likely to have had a relatively quiet, merger-free history, in order to glimpse the properties of the `seed' black holes that led to the buildup of SMBHs during the earliest epoch of the Universe. In this thesis, I will discuss my contributions to the understanding of this question, as well as what questions remain to be answered and the

Supersymmetric black holes and Freudenthal duality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marrani, Alessio; Mandal, Taniya; Tripathy, Prasanta K.

2017-07-01

We study the effect of Freudenthal duality on supersymmetric extremal black hole attractors in 𝒩 = 2, D = 4 ungauged supergravity. Freudenthal duality acts on the dyonic black hole charges as an anti-involution which keeps the black hole entropy and the critical points of the effective black hole potential invariant. We analyze its effect on the recently discovered distinct, mutually exclusive phases of axionic supersymmetric black holes, related to the existence of nontrivial involutory constant matrices. In particular, we consider a supersymmetric D0 - D4 - D6 black hole and we explicitly Freudenthal-map it to a supersymmetric D0 - D2 - D4 - D6 black hole. We thus show that the charge representation space of a supersymmetric D0 - D2 - D4 - D6 black hole also contains mutually exclusive domains.

Simulations of binary black hole mergers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lovelace, Geoffrey

2017-01-01

Advanced LIGO's observations of merging binary black holes have inaugurated the era of gravitational wave astronomy. Accurate models of binary black holes and the gravitational waves they emit are helping Advanced LIGO to find as many gravitational waves as possible and to learn as much as possible about the waves' sources. These models require numerical-relativity simulations of binary black holes, because near the time when the black holes merge, all analytic approximations break down. Following breakthroughs in 2005, many research groups have built numerical-relativity codes capable of simulating binary black holes. In this talk, I will discuss current challenges in simulating binary black holes for gravitational-wave astronomy, and I will discuss the tremendous progress that has already enabled such simulations to become an essential tool for Advanced LIGO.

Numerical Relativity, Black Hole Mergers, and Gravitational Waves: Part II

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, Joan

2012-01-01

This series of 3 lectures will present recent developments in numerical relativity, and their applications to simulating black hole mergers and computing the resulting gravitational waveforms. In this second lecture, we focus on simulations of black hole binary mergers. We hig hlight the instabilities that plagued the codes for many years, the r ecent breakthroughs that led to the first accurate simulations, and the current state of the art.

Competition of supermassive black holes and galactic spheroids in the destruction of globular clusters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Charlton, Jane C.; Laguna, Pablo

1995-01-01

The globular clusters that we observe in galaxies may be only a fraction of the initial population. Among the evolutionary influences on the population is the destruction of globular clusters by tidal forces as the cluster moves through the field of influence of a disk, a bulge, and/or a putative nuclear component (black hole). We have conducted a series of N-body simulations of globular clusters on bound and marginally bound orbits through poetentials that include black hole and speroidal components. The degree of concentration of the spheroidal component can have a considerable impact on the extent to which a globular cluster is disrupted. If half the mass of a 10(exp 10) solar mass spheroid is concentrated within 800 pc, then only black holes with masses greater than 10(exp 9) solar mass can have a significant tidal influence over that already exerted by the bulge. However, if the matter in the spheroidal component is not so strongly concentrated toward the center of the galaxy, a more modest central black hole (down to 10(exp 8) solar mass) could have a dominant influence on the globular cluster distribution, particularly if many of the clusters were initially on highly radial orbits. Our simulations show that the stars that are stripped from a globular cluster follow orbits with roughly the same eccentricity as the initial cluster orbit, spreading out along the orbit like a 'string of pearls.' Since only clusters on close to radial orbits will suffer substantial disruption, the population of stripped stars will be on orbits of high eccentricity.

Supermassive Black Holes and their Host Spheroids III. The Mbh-nsph Correlation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Savorgnan, Giulia A. D.

2016-04-01

The Sérsic {R}1/n model is the best approximation known to date for describing the light distribution of stellar spheroidal and disk components, with the Sérsic index n providing a direct measure of the central radial concentration of stars. The Sérsic index of a galaxy’s spheroidal component, nsph, has been shown to tightly correlate with the mass of the central supermassive black hole, MBH. The {M}{BH}{--}{n}{sph} correlation is also expected from other two well known scaling relations involving the spheroid luminosity, Lsph: the {L}{sph}{--}{n}{sph} and the {M}{BH}{--}{L}{sph}. Obtaining an accurate estimate of the spheroid Sérsic index requires a careful modeling of a galaxy’s light distribution and some studies have failed to recover a statistically significant {M}{BH}{--}{n}{sph} correlation. With the aim of re-investigating the {M}{BH}{--}{n}{sph} and other black hole mass scaling relations, we performed a detailed (I.e., bulge, disks, bars, spiral arms, rings, halo, nucleus, etc.) decomposition of 66 galaxies, with directly measured black hole masses, that had been imaged at 3.6 μm with Spitzer. In this paper, the third of this series, we present an analysis of the {L}{sph}{--}{n}{sph} and {M}{BH}{--}{n}{sph} diagrams. While early-type (elliptical+lenticular) and late-type (spiral) galaxies split into two separate relations in the {L}{sph}{--}{n}{sph} and {M}{BH}{--}{L}{sph} diagrams, they reunite into a single {M}{BH}\\propto {n}{sph}3.39+/- 0.15 sequence with relatively small intrinsic scatter (ɛ ≃ 0.25 {dex}). The black hole mass appears to be closely related to the spheroid central concentration of stars, which mirrors the inner gradient of the spheroid gravitational potential.

Merging Black Holes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, Joan

2012-01-01

The final merger of two black holes is expected to be the strongest source of gravitational waves for both ground-based detectors such as LIGO and VIRGO, as well as future. space-based detectors. Since the merger takes place in the regime of strong dynamical gravity, computing the resulting gravitational waveforms requires solving the full Einstein equations of general relativity on a computer. For many years, numerical codes designed to simulate black hole mergers were plagued by a host of instabilities. However, recent breakthroughs have conquered these instabilities and opened up this field dramatically. This talk will focus on.the resulting 'gold rush' of new results that is revealing the dynamics and waveforms of binary black hole mergers, and their applications in gravitational wave detection, testing general relativity, and astrophysics

Merging Black Holes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, Joan

2010-01-01

The final merger of two black holes is expected to be the strongest source of gravitational waves for both ground-based detectors such as LIGO and VIRGO, as well as the space-based LISA. Since the merger takes place in the regime of strong dynamical gravity, computing the resulting gravitational waveforms requires solving the full Einstein equations of general relativity on a computer. For many years, numerical codes designed to simulate black hole mergers were plagued by a host of instabilities. However, recent breakthroughs have conquered these instabilities and opened up this field dramatically. This talk will focus on the resulting gold rush of new results that are revealing the dynamics and waveforms of binary black hole mergers, and their applications in gravitational wove detection, testing general relativity, and astrophysics.

Merging Black Holes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, Joan

2010-01-01

The final merger of two black holes is expected to be the strongest source of gravitational waves for both ground-based detectors such as LIGO and VIRGO, as well as the space-based LISA. Since the merger takes place in the regime of strong dynamical gravity, computing the resulting gravitational waveforms requires solving the full Einstein equations of general relativity on a computer. For many years, numerical codes designed to simulate black hole mergers were plagued by a host of instabilities. However, recent breakthroughs have conquered these instabilities and opened up this field dramatically. This talk will focus on the resulting gold rush of new results that are revealing the dynamics and waveforms of binary black hole mergers, and their applications in gravitational wave detection, testing general relativity, and astrophysics.

Low-mass black holes as the remnants of primordial black hole formation.

PubMed

Greene, Jenny E

2012-01-01

Bridging the gap between the approximately ten solar mass 'stellar mass' black holes and the 'supermassive' black holes of millions to billions of solar masses are the elusive 'intermediate-mass' black holes. Their discovery is key to understanding whether supermassive black holes can grow from stellar-mass black holes or whether a more exotic process accelerated their growth soon after the Big Bang. Currently, tentative evidence suggests that the progenitors of supermassive black holes were formed as ∼10(4)-10(5) M(⊙) black holes via the direct collapse of gas. Ongoing searches for intermediate-mass black holes at galaxy centres will help shed light on this formation mechanism.

I-Love-Q relations for gravastars and the approach to the black-hole limit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pani, Paolo

2015-12-01

The multipole moments and the tidal Love numbers of neutron stars and quark stars satisfy certain relations which are almost insensitive to the star's internal structure. A natural question is whether the same relations hold for different compact objects and how they possibly approach the black-hole limit. Here we consider "gravastars," which are hypothetical compact objects sustained by their internal vacuum energy. Such solutions have been proposed as exotic alternatives to the black-hole paradigm because they can be as compact as black holes and exist in any mass range. By constructing slowly rotating, thin-shell gravastars to quadratic order in the spin, we compute the moment of inertia I , the mass quadrupole moment Q , and the tidal Love number λ in exact form. The I -λ -Q relations of a gravastar are dramatically different from those of an ordinary compact star, but the black-hole limit is continuous; i.e., these quantities approach their Kerr counterparts when the compactness is maximum. Therefore, such relations can be used to discern a gravastar from an ordinary compact star but not to break the degeneracy with the black-hole case. Based on these results, we conjecture that the full multipolar structure and the tidal deformability of a spinning, ultracompact gravastar are identical to those of a Kerr black hole. The approach to the black-hole limit is nonpolynomial, thus differing from the critical behavior recently found for strongly anisotropic neutron stars.

Multipole moments of bumpy black holes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vigeland, Sarah J.

General relativity predicts the existence of black holes, compact objects whose spacetimes depend only on their mass, spin, and charge in vacuum (the 'no-hair' theorem). As various observations probe deeper into the strong fields of black hole candidates, it is becoming possible to test this prediction. Previous work suggested that such tests can be performed by measuring whether the multipolar structure of black hole candidates has the form that general relativity demands, and introduced a family of 'bumpy black hole' spacetimes to be used for making these measurements. These spacetimes have generalized multipoles, where the deviation from the Kerr metricmore » depends on the spacetime's 'bumpiness'. In this paper, we show how to compute the Geroch-Hansen moments of a bumpy black hole, demonstrating that there is a clean mapping between the deviations used in the bumpy black hole formalism and the Geroch-Hansen moments. We also extend our previous results to define bumpy black holes whose current moments, analogous to magnetic moments of electrodynamics, deviate from the canonical Kerr value.« less

Conformal Field Theory and black hole physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sidhu, Steve

2012-01-01

This thesis reviews the use of 2-dimensional conformal field theory applied to gravity, specifically calculating Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of black holes in (2+1) dimensions. A brief review of general relativity, Conformal Field Theory, energy extraction from black holes, and black hole thermodynamics will be given. The Cardy formula, which calculates the entropy of a black hole from the AdS/CFT duality, will be shown to calculate the correct Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of the static and rotating BTZ black holes. The first law of black hole thermodynamics of the static, rotating, and charged-rotating BTZ black holes will be verified.

General Relativity: An Introduction to Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hall, Michael J. W.

2018-03-01

General Relativity: An Introduction to Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Cosmology provides readers with a solid understanding of the underlying physical concepts of general relativity. It also shows how they may derive important applications of the theory and is a solid grounding for those wishing to pursue further study. This thorough primer is based on class-tested undergraduate lectures from Griffith University, Brisbane. It develops the basic elements of general relativity with applications to the gravitational deflection of light, GPS, black holes, gravitational waves, and cosmology.

Numerical Simulation of Black Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teukolsky, Saul

2003-04-01

Einstein's equations of general relativity are prime candidates for numerical solution on supercomputers. There is some urgency in being able to carry out such simulations: Large-scale gravitational wave detectors are now coming on line, and the most important expected signals cannot be predicted except numerically. Problems involving black holes are perhaps the most interesting, yet also particularly challenging computationally. One difficulty is that inside a black hole there is a physical singularity that cannot be part of the computational domain. A second difficulty is the disparity in length scales between the size of the black hole and the wavelength of the gravitational radiation emitted. A third difficulty is that all existing methods of evolving black holes in three spatial dimensions are plagued by instabilities that prohibit long-term evolution. I will describe the ideas that are being introduced in numerical relativity to deal with these problems, and discuss the results of recent calculations of black hole collisions.

The case for artificial black holes.

PubMed

Leonhardt, Ulf; Philbin, Thomas G

2008-08-28

The event horizon is predicted to generate particles from the quantum vacuum, an effect that bridges three areas of physics--general relativity, quantum mechanics and thermodynamics. The quantum radiation of real black holes is too feeble to be detectable, but black-hole analogues may probe several aspects of quantum black holes. In this paper, we explain in simple terms some of the motivations behind the study of artificial black holes.

Binary Black Holes, Numerical Relativity, and Gravitational Waves

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, Joan

2007-01-01

The final merger of two black holes releases a tremendous amount of energy, more than the combined light from all the stars in the visible universe. This energy is emitted in the form of gravitational waves, and observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors such as LISA requires that we know the pattern or fingerprint of the radiation emitted. Since black hole mergers take place in regions of extreme gravitational fields, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these wave patterns. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute these wave patterns. However, their computer codes have been plagued by problems that caused them to crash. This situation has changed dramatically in the past 2 years, with a series of amazing breakthroughs. This talk will take you on this quest for these gravitational wave patterns, showing how a spacetime is constructed on a computer to build a simulation laboratory for binary black hole mergers. We will focus on the recent advances that are revealing these waveforms, and the dramatic new potential for discoveries that arises when these sources will be observed by LISA

Black Hole Boldly Goes Where No Black Hole Has Gone Before

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2007-01-01

Astronomers have found a black hole where few thought they could ever exist, inside a globular star cluster. The finding has broad implications for the dynamics of stars clusters and also for the existence of a still-speculative new class of black holes called 'intermediate-mass' black holes. The discovery is reported in the current issue of Nature. Tom Maccarone of the University of Southampton in England leads an international team on the finding, made primarily with the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton satellite. Globular clusters are dense bundles of thousands to millions of old stars, and many scientists have doubted that black holes could survive in such an exclusive environment. Computer simulations show that a newly formed black hole would first sink towards the centre of the cluster but quickly get gravitationally slingshot out entirely when interacting with the cluster's myriad stars. Credit: ESA/Hubble Artist's impression of globular star cluster The new finding provides the first convincing evidence that some black hole might not only survive but grow and flourish in globular clusters. What has astonished astronomers is how quickly the black hole was found. "We were preparing for a long, systematic search of thousands of globular clusters with the hope of finding just one black hole," said Maccarone. "But bingo, we found one as soon as we started the search. It was only the second globular cluster we looked at." The search continues to find more, Maccarone said, yet only one black hole was needed to resolve the decades-old discussion about black holes and globular clusters. Scientists say there are two main classes of black holes. Supermassive black holes containing the mass of millions to billions of suns are found in the core of most galaxies, including our own. A quasar is one kind of supermassive black hole. Stellar-size black holes contain the mass of about ten suns. These are created from the collapsed core of massive stars. Our galaxy likely

Acceleration of black hole universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, T. X.; Frederick, C.

2014-01-01

Recently, Zhang slightly modified the standard big bang theory and developed a new cosmological model called black hole universe, which is consistent with Mach's principle, governed by Einstein's general theory of relativity, and able to explain all observations of the universe. Previous studies accounted for the origin, structure, evolution, expansion, and cosmic microwave background radiation of the black hole universe, which grew from a star-like black hole with several solar masses through a supermassive black hole with billions of solar masses to the present state with hundred billion-trillions of solar masses by accreting ambient matter and merging with other black holes. This paper investigates acceleration of the black hole universe and provides an alternative explanation for the redshift and luminosity distance measurements of type Ia supernovae. The results indicate that the black hole universe accelerates its expansion when it accretes the ambient matter in an increasing rate. In other words, i.e., when the second-order derivative of the mass of the black hole universe with respect to the time is positive . For a constant deceleration parameter , we can perfectly explain the type Ia supernova measurements with the reduced chi-square to be very close to unity, χ red˜1.0012. The expansion and acceleration of black hole universe are driven by external energy.

When Black Holes Collide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baker, John

2010-01-01

Among the fascinating phenomena predicted by General Relativity, Einstein's theory of gravity, black holes and gravitational waves, are particularly important in astronomy. Though once viewed as a mathematical oddity, black holes are now recognized as the central engines of many of astronomy's most energetic cataclysms. Gravitational waves, though weakly interacting with ordinary matter, may be observed with new gravitational wave telescopes, opening a new window to the universe. These observations promise a direct view of the strong gravitational dynamics involving dense, often dark objects, such as black holes. The most powerful of these events may be merger of two colliding black holes. Though dark, these mergers may briefly release more energy that all the stars in the visible universe, in gravitational waves. General relativity makes precise predictions for the gravitational-wave signatures of these events, predictions which we can now calculate with the aid of supercomputer simulations. These results provide a foundation for interpreting expect observations in the emerging field of gravitational wave astronomy.

BOOK REVIEW: Introduction to Black Hole Physics Introduction to Black Hole Physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanaka, Takahiro

2012-07-01

Introduction to Black Hole Physics is a large volume (504 pages), and yet despite this it is still really an introductory text. The book gives an introduction to general relativity, but most of the text is dedicated to attracting the reader's attention to the interesting world of black hole physics. In this sense, the book is very distinct from other textbooks on general relativity. We are told that it was based on the lectures given by Professor Frolov, one of the authors, over the last 30 years. One can obtain the basic ideas about black holes, and also the necessary tips to understand general relativity at a very basic level. For example, in the discussion about particle motion in curved space, the authors start with a brief review on analytical mechanics. The book does not require its readers to have a great deal of knowledge in advance. If you are familiar with such a basic subject, you can simply omit that section. The reason why I especially picked up on this topic as an example is that the book devotes a significant number of pages to geodesic motions in black hole spacetime. One of the main motivations to study black holes is related to how they will actually be observed, once we develop the ability to observe them clearly. The book does explain such discoveries as, for instance, how the motion of a particle is related to a beautiful mathematical structure arising from the hidden symmetry of spacetime, which became transparent via the recent progress in the exploration of black holes in higher dimensions; a concise introduction to this latest topic is deferred to Appendix D, so as not to distract the reader with its mathematical complexities. It should be also mentioned that the book is not limited to general relativistic aspects: quantum fields on a black hole background and Hawking radiation are also covered. Also included are current hot topics, for instance the gravitational waves from a system including black holes, whose first direct detection is

BLUETIDES simulation: establishing black hole-galaxy relations at high-redshift

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Kuan-Wei; Di Matteo, Tiziana; Bhowmick, Aklant K.; Feng, Yu; Ma, Chung-Pei

2018-05-01

The scaling relations between the mass of supermassive black holes (M•) and host galaxy properties (stellar mass, M⋆, and velocity dispersion, σ), provide a link between the growth of black holes (BHs) and that of their hosts. Here we investigate if and how the BH-galaxy relations are established in the high-z universe using BLUETIDES, a high-resolution large volume cosmological hydrodynamic simulation. We find the M• - M⋆ and M• - σ relations at z = 8: log10(M•) = 8.25 + 1.10 log10(M⋆/1011M⊙) and log10(M•) = 8.35 + 5.31 log10(σ/200kms-1) at z = 8, both fully consistent with the local measurements. The slope of the M• - σ relation is slightly steeper for high star formation rate and M⋆ galaxies while it remains unchanged as a function of Eddington accretion rate onto the BH. The intrinsic scatter in M• - σ relation in all cases (ɛ ˜ 0.4) is larger at these redshifts than inferred from observations and larger than in M• - M⋆ relation (ɛ ˜ 0.14). We find the gas-to-stellar ratio f = Mgas/M⋆ in the host (which can be very high at these redshifts) to have the most significant impact setting the intrinsic scatter of M• - σ. The scatter is significantly reduced when galaxies with high gas fractions (ɛ = 0.28 as f < 10) are excluded (making the sample more comparable to low-z galaxies); these systems have the largest star formation rates and black hole accretion rates, indicating that these fast-growing systems are still moving toward the relation at these high redshifts. Examining the evolution (from z = 10 to 8) of high mass black holes in M• - σ plane confirms this trend.

A close nuclear black-hole pair in the spiral galaxy NGC 3393.

PubMed

Fabbiano, G; Wang, Junfeng; Elvis, M; Risaliti, G

2011-08-31

The current picture of galaxy evolution advocates co-evolution of galaxies and their nuclear massive black holes, through accretion and galactic merging. Pairs of quasars, each with a massive black hole at the centre of its galaxy, have separations of 6,000 to 300,000 light years (refs 2 and 3; 1 parsec = 3.26 light years) and exemplify the first stages of this gravitational interaction. The final stages of the black-hole merging process, through binary black holes and final collapse into a single black hole with gravitational wave emission, are consistent with the sub-light-year separation inferred from the optical spectra and light-variability of two such quasars. The double active nuclei of a few nearby galaxies with disrupted morphology and intense star formation (such as NGC 6240 with a separation of about 2,600 light years and Mrk 463 with a separation of about 13,000 light years between the nuclei) demonstrate the importance of major mergers of equal-mass spiral galaxies in this evolution; such mergers lead to an elliptical galaxy, as in the case of the double-radio-nucleus elliptical galaxy 0402+379 (with a separation of about 24 light years between the nuclei). Minor mergers of a spiral galaxy with a smaller companion should be a more common occurrence, evolving into spiral galaxies with active massive black-hole pairs, but have hitherto not been seen. Here we report the presence of two active massive black holes, separated by about 490 light years, in the Seyfert galaxy NGC 3393 (50 Mpc, about 160 million light years). The regular spiral morphology and predominantly old circum-nuclear stellar population of this galaxy, and the closeness of the black holes embedded in the bulge, provide a hitherto missing observational point to the study of galaxy/black hole evolution. Comparison of our observations with current theoretical models of mergers suggests that they are the result of minor merger evolution. © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights

A Dancing Black Hole

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shoemaker, Deirdre; Smith, Kenneth; Schnetter, Erik; Fiske, David; Laguna, Pablo; Pullin, Jorge

2002-04-01

Recently, stationary black holes have been successfully simulated for up to times of approximately 600-1000M, where M is the mass of the black hole. Considering that the expected burst of gravitational radiation from a binary black hole merger would last approximately 200-500M, black hole codes are approaching the point where simulations of mergers may be feasible. We will present two types of simulations of single black holes obtained with a code based on the Baumgarte-Shapiro-Shibata-Nakamura formulation of the Einstein evolution equations. One type of simulations addresses the stability properties of stationary black hole evolutions. The second type of simulations demonstrates the ability of our code to move a black hole through the computational domain. This is accomplished by shifting the stationary black hole solution to a coordinate system in which the location of the black hole is time dependent.

Formation of massive black holes in galactic nuclei: runaway tidal encounters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stone, Nicholas C.; Küpper, Andreas H. W.; Ostriker, Jeremiah P.

2017-06-01

Nuclear star clusters (NSCs) and supermassive black holes (SMBHs) both inhabit galactic nuclei, coexisting in a range of bulge masses, but excluding each other in the largest or smallest galaxies. We propose that the transformation of NSCs into SMBHs occurs via runaway tidal captures, once NSCs exceed a certain critical central density and velocity dispersion. The bottleneck in this process is growing the first e-fold in black hole mass. The growth of a stellar mass black hole past this bottleneck occurs as tidally captured stars are consumed in repeated episodes of mass transfer at pericentre. Tidal captures may deactivate as a growth channel once the black hole mass ≳102-3 M⊙, but tidal disruption events will continue and can grow the seed SMBH to larger sizes. The runaway slows (becomes subexponential) once the seed SMBH consumes the core of its host NSC. While most of the cosmic mass density in SMBHs is ultimately produced by episodic gaseous accretion in very massive galaxies, the smallest SMBHs have probably grown from strong tidal encounters with NSC stars. SMBH seeds that grow for a time t entirely through this channel will follow simple power-law relations with the velocity dispersion, σ, of their host galaxy. In the simplest regime, it is M_\\bullet ˜ σ ^{3/2}√{M_\\star t / G} ˜ 106 M_{⊙} (σ / 50 {km s}^{-1})^{3/2}(t/10^{10} yr)^{1/2}, but the exponents and pre-factor can differ slightly depending on the details of loss cone refilling. Current tidal disruption event rates predicted from this mechanism are consistent with observations.

Stability of stationary-axisymmetric black holes in vacuum general relativity to axisymmetric electromagnetic perturbations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prabhu, Kartik; Wald, Robert M.

2018-01-01

We consider arbitrary stationary and axisymmetric black holes in general relativity in (d +1) dimensions (with d ≥slant 3 ) that satisfy the vacuum Einstein equation and have a non-degenerate horizon. We prove that the canonical energy of axisymmetric electromagnetic perturbations is positive definite. This establishes that all vacuum black holes are stable to axisymmetric electromagnetic perturbations. Our results also hold for asymptotically de Sitter black holes that satisfy the vacuum Einstein equation with a positive cosmological constant. Our results also apply to extremal black holes provided that the initial perturbation vanishes in a neighborhood of the horizon.

REVIEWS OF TOPICAL PROBLEMS: Search for black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cherepashchuk, Anatolii M.

2003-04-01

Methods and results of searching for stellar mass black holes in binary systems and for supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei of different types are described. As of now (June 2002), a total of 100 black hole candidates are known. All the necessary conditions Einstein's General Relativity imposes on the observational properties of black holes are satisfied for candidate objects available, thus further assuring the existence of black holes in the Universe. Prospects for obtaining sufficient criteria for reliably distinguishing candidate black holes from real black holes are discussed.

Rotating black holes in the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nashed, Gamal G. L.

2016-05-01

We derive set of solutions with flat transverse sections in the framework of a teleparallel equivalent of general relativity which describes rotating black holes. The singularities supported from the invariants of torsion and curvature are explained. We investigate that there appear more singularities in the torsion scalars than in the curvature ones. The conserved quantities are discussed using Einstein-Cartan geometry. The physics of the constants of integration is explained through the calculations of conserved quantities. These calculations show that there is a unique solution that may describe true physical black hole.

Primordial black holes in globular clusters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sigurdsson, Steinn; Hernquist, Lars

1993-01-01

It has recently been recognized that significant numbers of medium-mass back holes (of order 10 solar masses) should form in globular clusters during the early stages of their evolution. Here we explore the dynamical and observational consequences of the presence of such a primordial black-hole population in a globular cluster. The holes initially segregate to the cluster cores, where they form binary and multiple black-hole systems. The subsequent dynamical evolution of the black-hole population ejects most of the holes on a relatively short timescale: a typical cluster will retain between zero and four black holes in its core, and possibly a few black holes in its halo. The presence of binary, triple, and quadruple black-hole systems in cluster cores will disrupt main-sequence and giant stellar binaries; this may account for the observed anomalies in the distribution of binaries in globular clusters. Furthermore, tidal interactions between a multiple black-hole system and a red giant star can remove much of the red giant's stellar envelope, which may explain the puzzling absence of larger red giants in the cores of some very dense clusters.

A simple way to classify supermassive black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feoli, A.

2014-02-01

We propose a classification of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) based on their efficiency in the conversion of infalling mass in emitted radiation. We use a theoretical model that assumes a conservation of angular momentum between the gas falling inside the hole and the photons emitted outwards, and suggests the existence of the scaling relation M-Re \\sigma3, where M is the mass of the central SMBH, whereas Re and \\sigma are the effective radius and velocity dispersion of the host galaxies (bulges), respectively. We apply our model on a data set of 57 galaxies of different morphological types and with M measurements, obtained through the analysis of Spitzer/IRAC 3.6-\\mum images. In order to find the best fit of the corresponding scaling law, we use the FITEXY routine to perform a least-squares regression of M on Re \\sigma3 for the considered sample of galaxies. Our analysis shows that the relation is tight and our theoretical model allows to easily estimate the efficiency of mass conversion into radiation of the central SMBHs. Finally we propose a new appealing way to classify the SMBHs in terms of this parameter.

Selection bias in dynamically measured supermassive black hole samples: its consequences and the quest for the most fundamental relation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shankar, Francesco; Bernardi, Mariangela; Sheth, Ravi K.; Ferrarese, Laura; Graham, Alister W.; Savorgnan, Giulia; Allevato, Viola; Marconi, Alessandro; Läsker, Ronald; Lapi, Andrea

2016-08-01

We compare the set of local galaxies having dynamically measured black holes with a large, unbiased sample of galaxies extracted from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We confirm earlier work showing that the majority of black hole hosts have significantly higher velocity dispersions σ than local galaxies of similar stellar mass. We use Monte Carlo simulations to illustrate the effect on black hole scaling relations if this bias arises from the requirement that the black hole sphere of influence must be resolved to measure black hole masses with spatially resolved kinematics. We find that this selection effect artificially increases the normalization of the Mbh-σ relation by a factor of at least ˜3; the bias for the Mbh-Mstar relation is even larger. Our Monte Carlo simulations and analysis of the residuals from scaling relations both indicate that σ is more fundamental than Mstar or effective radius. In particular, the Mbh-Mstar relation is mostly a consequence of the Mbh-σ and σ-Mstar relations, and is heavily biased by up to a factor of 50 at small masses. This helps resolve the discrepancy between dynamically based black hole-galaxy scaling relations versus those of active galaxies. Our simulations also disfavour broad distributions of black hole masses at fixed σ. Correcting for this bias suggests that the calibration factor used to estimate black hole masses in active galaxies should be reduced to values of fvir ˜ 1. Black hole mass densities should also be proportionally smaller, perhaps implying significantly higher radiative efficiencies/black hole spins. Reducing black hole masses also reduces the gravitational wave signal expected from black hole mergers.

The Black Hole Universe Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Tianxi

2014-06-01

The black hole universe model is a multiverse model of cosmology recently developed by the speaker. According to this new model, our universe is a fully grown extremely supermassive black hole, which originated from a hot star-like black hole with several solar masses, and gradually grew up from a supermassive black hole with million to billion solar masses to the present state with trillion-trillion solar masses by accreting ambient matter or merging with other black holes. The entire space is structured with infinite layers or universes hierarchically. The innermost three layers include the universe that we live, the inside star-like and supermassive black holes called child universes, and the outside space called mother universe. The outermost layer is infinite in mass, radius, and entropy without an edge and limits to zero for both the matter density and absolute temperature. All layers are governed by the same physics and tend to expand physically in one direction (outward or the direction of increasing entropy). The expansion of a black hole universe decreases its density and temperature but does not alter the laws of physics. The black hole universe evolves iteratively and endlessly without a beginning. When one universe expands out, a new similar one is formed from inside star-like and supermassive black holes. In each of iterations, elements are resynthesized, matter is reconfigurated, and the universe is renewed rather than a simple repeat. The black hole universe is consistent with the Mach principle, observations, and Einsteinian general relativity. It has only one postulate but is able to explain all phenomena occurred in the universe with well-developed physics. The black hole universe does not need dark energy for acceleration and an inflation epoch for flatness, and thus has a devastating impact on the big bang model. In this talk, I will present how this new cosmological model explains the various aspects of the universe, including the origin

The Hunt for Low-Mass Black Holes in the JWST Era

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cann, Jenna; Satyapal, Shobita; Abel, Nicholas; Ricci, Claudio; Gliozzi, Mario; Blecha, Laura; Secrest, Nathan

2018-01-01

Most, if not all, massive galaxies have a central supermassive black hole (SMBH) millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun. While the properties of SMBHs and their host galaxies have been well-studied in massive galaxies, very few SMBHs have been found in galaxies with low masses and those with small bulges. This is a significant deficiency, because the study of this population allows us to gain an understanding of merger-free pathways to black hole growth, and to gain insight into the origin and growth of SMBH ‘seeds’, thought to have formed at high redshift. Most studies aimed at finding SMBHs have been conducted using optical spectroscopic studies, where active SMBHs (active galactic nuclei or AGNs) display distinctive optical emission lines indicative of accreting SMBHs. However, in low mass (dwarf) galaxies, the SMBHs will likely be less massive, and can be energetically weak and possibly deeply embedded in their host galaxies. As a result, the optical emission lines may be dominated by star formation regions, severely limiting the diagnostic power of optical surveys in finding and characterizing the properties of the AGN in dwarf galaxies. In such galaxies, infrared coronal lines provide a robust method of finding AGNs. Furthermore, as the black hole mass decreases, the Schwarzschild radius of the black hole decreases, and in response, the temperature of the surrounding accretion disk increases. The shape of the ionizing radiation spectral energy distribution therefore changes with black hole mass, which will affect the emission line spectrum from the surrounding gas. In this work, we investigate the diagnostic power of infrared coronal lines and the effect of black hole mass on the emission line spectra from AGNs, with a particular focus on the emission lines accessible by JWST.

No tension between assembly models of super massive black hole binaries and pulsar observations.

PubMed

Middleton, Hannah; Chen, Siyuan; Del Pozzo, Walter; Sesana, Alberto; Vecchio, Alberto

2018-02-08

Pulsar timing arrays are presently the only means to search for the gravitational wave stochastic background from super massive black hole binary populations, considered to be within the grasp of current or near-future observations. The stringent upper limit from the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array has been interpreted as excluding (>90% confidence) the current paradigm of binary assembly through galaxy mergers and hardening via stellar interaction, suggesting evolution is accelerated or stalled. Using Bayesian hierarchical modelling we consider implications of this upper limit for a range of astrophysical scenarios, without invoking stalling, nor more exotic physical processes. All scenarios are fully consistent with the upper limit, but (weak) bounds on population parameters can be inferred. Recent upward revisions of the black hole-galaxy bulge mass relation are disfavoured at 1.6σ against lighter models. Once sensitivity improves by an order of magnitude, a non-detection will disfavour the most optimistic scenarios at 3.9σ.

Simulations of nearly extremal binary black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giesler, Matthew; Scheel, Mark; Hemberger, Daniel; Lovelace, Geoffrey; Kuper, Kevin; Boyle, Michael; Szilagyi, Bela; Kidder, Lawrence; SXS Collaboration

2015-04-01

Astrophysical black holes could have nearly extremal spins; therefore, nearly extremal black holes could be among the binaries that current and future gravitational-wave observatories will detect. Predicting the gravitational waves emitted by merging black holes requires numerical-relativity simulations, but these simulations are especially challenging when one or both holes have mass m and spin S exceeding the Bowen-York limit of S /m2 = 0 . 93 . Using improved methods we simulate an unequal-mass, precessing binary black hole coalescence, where the larger black hole has S /m2 = 0 . 99 . We also use these methods to simulate a nearly extremal non-precessing binary black hole coalescence, where both black holes have S /m2 = 0 . 994 , nearly reaching the Novikov-Thorne upper bound for holes spun up by thin accretion disks. We demonstrate numerical convergence and estimate the numerical errors of the waveforms; we compare numerical waveforms from our simulations with post-Newtonian and effective-one-body waveforms; and we compare the evolution of the black-hole masses and spins with analytic predictions.

Force-feeding Black Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Begelman, Mitchell C.

2012-04-01

We propose that the growth of supermassive black holes is associated mainly with brief episodes of highly super-Eddington infall of gas ("hyperaccretion"). This gas is not swallowed in real time, but forms an envelope of matter around the black hole that can be swallowed gradually, over a much longer timescale. However, only a small fraction of the black hole mass can be stored in the envelope at any one time. We argue that any infalling matter above a few percent of the hole's mass is ejected as a result of the plunge in opacity at temperatures below a few thousand degrees kelvin, corresponding to the Hayashi track. The speed of ejection of this matter, compared to the velocity dispersion σ of the host galaxy's core, determines whether the ejected matter is lost forever or returns eventually to rejoin the envelope, from which it can be ultimately accreted. The threshold between matter recycling and permanent loss defines a relationship between the maximum black hole mass and σ that resembles the empirical M BH-σ relation.

Surprises from the spins: astrophysics and relativity with detections of spinning black-hole mergers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerosa, Davide

2018-03-01

Measurements of black-hole spins are of crucial importance to fulfill the promise of gravitational-wave astronomy. On the astrophysics side, spins are perhaps the cleanest indicator of black-hole evolutionary processes, thus providing a preferred way to discriminate how LIGO's black holes form. On the relativity side, spins are responsible for peculiar dynamical phenomena (from precessional modulations in the long inspiral to gravitational-wave recoils at merger) which encode precious information on the underlying astrophysical processes. I present some examples to explore this deep and fascinating interplay between spin dynamics (relativity) and environmental effects (astrophysics). Black-hole spins indeed hide remarkable surprises on both fronts: morphologies, resonances, constraints on supernova kicks, multiple merger generations and more... These findings were presented at 12th Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Waves, held on July 9-14, 2017 in Pasadena, CA, USA.

Galaxy Formation from the Primordial Black Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morikawa, Masahiro

2017-12-01

Supermassive black hole (SMBH) of size MBH = 106-10M⊙ is common in the Universe and it defines the center of the galaxy. A galaxy and the SMBH are generally thought to have co-evolved. However, the SMBH cannot evolve so fast as commonly observed even at redshift z > 6. Therefore, we explore a natural hypothesis that the SMBH has been already formed mature at z ⪆ 10 before stars and galaxies. The SMBH forms energetic jets and out-flows which trigger massive star formation in the ambient gas. They eventually construct globular clusters and classical bulge as well as the body of elliptical galaxies. We propose simple models which implement these processes. We point out that the globular clusters and classical bulges have a common origin but are in different phases. The same is true for the elliptical and spiral galaxies. Physics behind these phase division is the runaway star formation process with strong feedback to SMBH. This is similar to the forest-fire model that displays self-organized criticality.

Visualizing, Approximating, and Understanding Black-Hole Binaries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nichols, David A.

Numerical-relativity simulations of black-hole binaries and advancements in gravitational-wave detectors now make it possible to learn more about the collisions of compact astrophysical bodies. To be able to infer more about the dynamical behavior of these objects requires a fuller analysis of the connection between the dynamics of pairs of black holes and their emitted gravitational waves. The chapters of this thesis describe three approaches to learn more about the relationship between the dynamics of black-hole binaries and their gravitational waves: modeling momentum flow in binaries with the Landau-Lifshitz formalism, approximating binary dynamics near the time of merger with post-Newtonian and black-hole-perturbation theories, and visualizing spacetime curvature with tidal tendexes and frame-drag vortexes. In Chapters 2--4, my collaborators and I present a method to quantify the flow of momentum in black-hole binaries using the Landau-Lifshitz formalism. Chapter 2 reviews an intuitive version of the formalism in the first-post-Newtonian approximation that bears a strong resemblance to Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism. Chapter 3 applies this approximation to relate the simultaneous bobbing motion of rotating black holes in the superkick configuration---equal-mass black holes with their spins anti-aligned and in the orbital plane---to the flow of momentum in the spacetime, prior to the black holes' merger. Chapter 4 then uses the Landau-Lifshitz formalism to explain the dynamics of a head-on merger of spinning black holes, whose spins are anti-aligned and transverse to the infalling motion. Before they merge, the black holes move with a large, transverse, velocity, which we can explain using the post-Newtonian approximation; as the holes merge and form a single black hole, we can use the Landau-Lifshitz formalism without any approximations to connect the slowing of the final black hole to its absorbing momentum density during the merger. In Chapters 5

Regular black holes in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghosh, Sushant G.; Singh, Dharm Veer; Maharaj, Sunil D.

2018-05-01

Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory, a natural generalization of general relativity to a higher dimension, admits a static spherically symmetric black hole which was obtained by Boulware and Deser. This black hole is similar to its general relativity counterpart with a curvature singularity at r =0 . We present an exact 5D regular black hole metric, with parameter (k >0 ), that interpolates between the Boulware-Deser black hole (k =0 ) and the Wiltshire charged black hole (r ≫k ). Owing to the appearance of the exponential correction factor (e-k /r2), responsible for regularizing the metric, the thermodynamical quantities are modified, and it is demonstrated that the Hawking-Page phase transition is achievable. The heat capacity diverges at a critical radius r =rC, where incidentally the temperature is maximum. Thus, we have a regular black hole with Cauchy and event horizons, and evaporation leads to a thermodynamically stable double-horizon black hole remnant with vanishing temperature. The entropy does not satisfy the usual exact horizon area result of general relativity.

Black Holes Collide

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

When two black holes collide, they release massive amounts of energy in the form of gravitational waves that last a fraction of a second and can be "heard" throughout the universe - if you have the right instruments. Today we learned that the #LIGO project heard the telltale chirp of black holes colliding, fulfilling Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. NASA's LISA mission will look for direct evidence of gravitational waves. go.nasa.gov/23ZbqoE This video illustrates what that collision might look like.

Gamma ray bursts of black hole universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, T. X.

2015-07-01

Slightly modifying the standard big bang theory, Zhang recently developed a new cosmological model called black hole universe, which has only a single postulate but is consistent with Mach's principle, governed by Einstein's general theory of relativity, and able to explain existing observations of the universe. In the previous studies, we have explained the origin, structure, evolution, expansion, cosmic microwave background radiation, quasar, and acceleration of black hole universe, which grew from a star-like black hole with several solar masses through a supermassive black hole with billions of solar masses to the present state with hundred billion-trillions of solar masses by accreting ambient matter and merging with other black holes. This study investigates gamma ray bursts of black hole universe and provides an alternative explanation for the energy and spectrum measurements of gamma ray bursts according to the black hole universe model. The results indicate that gamma ray bursts can be understood as emissions of dynamic star-like black holes. A black hole, when it accretes its star or merges with another black hole, becomes dynamic. A dynamic black hole has a broken event horizon and thus cannot hold the inside hot (or high-frequency) blackbody radiation, which flows or leaks out and produces a GRB. A star when it collapses into its core black hole produces a long GRB and releases the gravitational potential energy of the star as gamma rays. A black hole that merges with another black hole produces a short GRB and releases a part of their blackbody radiation as gamma rays. The amount of energy obtained from the emissions of dynamic star-like black holes are consistent with the measurements of energy from GRBs. The GRB energy spectra derived from this new emission mechanism are also consistent with the measurements.

Quantum mechanics of black holes.

PubMed

Witten, Edward

2012-08-03

The popular conception of black holes reflects the behavior of the massive black holes found by astronomers and described by classical general relativity. These objects swallow up whatever comes near and emit nothing. Physicists who have tried to understand the behavior of black holes from a quantum mechanical point of view, however, have arrived at quite a different picture. The difference is analogous to the difference between thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. The thermodynamic description is a good approximation for a macroscopic system, but statistical mechanics describes what one will see if one looks more closely.

Spacetime and orbits of bumpy black holes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vigeland, Sarah J.; Hughes, Scott A.

2010-01-15

Our Universe contains a great number of extremely compact and massive objects which are generally accepted to be black holes. Precise observations of orbital motion near candidate black holes have the potential to determine if they have the spacetime structure that general relativity demands. As a means of formulating measurements to test the black hole nature of these objects, Collins and Hughes introduced ''bumpy black holes'': objects that are almost, but not quite, general relativity's black holes. The spacetimes of these objects have multipoles that deviate slightly from the black hole solution, reducing to black holes when the deviation ismore » zero. In this paper, we extend this work in two ways. First, we show how to introduce bumps which are smoother and lead to better behaved orbits than those in the original presentation. Second, we show how to make bumpy Kerr black holes--objects which reduce to the Kerr solution when the deviation goes to zero. This greatly extends the astrophysical applicability of bumpy black holes. Using Hamilton-Jacobi techniques, we show how a spacetime's bumps are imprinted on orbital frequencies, and thus can be determined by measurements which coherently track the orbital phase of a small orbiting body. We find that in the weak field, orbits of bumpy black holes are modified exactly as expected from a Newtonian analysis of a body with a prescribed multipolar structure, reproducing well-known results from the celestial mechanics literature. The impact of bumps on strong-field orbits is many times greater than would be predicted from a Newtonian analysis, suggesting that this framework will allow observations to set robust limits on the extent to which a spacetime's multipoles deviate from the black hole expectation.« less

Light escape cones in local reference frames of Kerr-de Sitter black hole spacetimes and related black hole shadows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stuchlík, Zdeněk; Charbulák, Daniel; Schee, Jan

2018-03-01

We construct the light escape cones of isotropic spot sources of radiation residing in special classes of reference frames in the Kerr-de Sitter (KdS) black hole spacetimes, namely in the fundamental class of `non-geodesic' locally non-rotating reference frames (LNRFs), and two classes of `geodesic' frames, the radial geodesic frames (RGFs), both falling and escaping, and the frames related to the circular geodesic orbits (CGFs). We compare the cones constructed in a given position for the LNRFs, RGFs, and CGFs. We have shown that the photons locally counter-rotating relative to LNRFs with positive impact parameter and negative covariant energy are confined to the ergosphere region. Finally, we demonstrate that the light escaping cones govern the shadows of black holes located in front of a radiating screen, as seen by the observers in the considered frames. For shadows related to distant static observers the LNRFs are relevant.

Magnetic fields around black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garofalo, David A. G.

Active Galactic Nuclei are the most powerful long-lived objects in the universe. They are thought to harbor supermassive black holes that range from 1 million solar masses to 1000 times that value and possibly greater. Theory and observation are converging on a model for these objects that involves the conversion of gravitational potential energy of accreting gas to radiation as well as Poynting flux produced by the interaction of the rotating spacetime and the electromagnetic fields originating in the ionized accretion flow. The presence of black holes in astrophysics is taking center stage, with the output from AGN in various forms such as winds and jets influencing the formation and evolution of the host galaxy. This dissertation addresses some of the basic unanswered questions that plague our current understanding of how rotating black holes interact with their surrounding magnetized accretion disks to produce the enormous observed energy. Two magnetic configurations are examined. The first involves magnetic fields connecting the black hole with the inner accretion disk and the other involves large scale magnetic fields threading the disk and the hole. We study the effects of the former type by establishing the consequences that magnetic torques between the black hole and the inner accretion disk have on the energy dissipation profile. We attempt a plausible explanation to the observed "Deep Minimum" state in the Seyfert galaxy MCG-6- 30-15. For the latter type of magnetic geometry, we study the effects of the strength of the magnetic field threading the black hole within the context of the cherished Blandford & Znajek mechanism for black hole spin energy extraction. We begin by addressing the problem in the non-relativistic regime where we find that the black hole-threading magnetic field is stronger for greater disk thickness, larger magnetic Prandtl number, and for a larger accretion disk. We then study the problem in full relativity where we show that our

Searching for Black Holes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Garica, M.

2001-01-01

In 1995 we proposed to carry out ground-based observations in order to securely identify stellar mass black holes in our galaxy. This type 4 proposal under NASA's UV, Visible, and Gravitational Astrophysics program compliments NASA's space-based research by following up black hole candidates found and studied with space-based observatories, in order to determine if they are indeed black holes. While our primary goal is to securely identify black holes by measuring their masses, a secondary goal is identifying unique visible-range signatures for black holes.

Dance of Two Monster Black Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2016-03-01

This past December, researchers all over the world watched an outburst from the enormous black hole in OJ 287 an outburst that had been predicted years ago using the general theory of relativity.Outbursts from Black-Hole OrbitsOJ 287 is one of the largest supermassive black holes known, weighing in at 18 billion solar masses. Located about 3.5 billion light-years away, this monster quasar is bright enough that it was first observed as early as the 1890s. What makes OJ 287 especially interesting, however, is that its light curve exhibits prominent outbursts roughly every 12 years.Diagram illustrating the orbit of the secondary black hole (shown in blue) in OJ 287 from 2000 to 2023. We see outbursts (the yellow bubbles) every time the secondary black hole crosses the accretion disk (shown in red, ina side view) surrounding the primary (the black circle). [Valtonen et al. 2016]What causes the outbursts? Astronomers think that there is a second supermassive black hole, ~100 times smaller, inspiraling as it orbits the central monster and set to merge within the next 10,000 years. In this model, the primary black hole of OJ 287 is surrounded by a hot accretion disk. As the secondary black hole orbits the primary, it regularly punches through this accretion disk, heating the material and causing the release of expanding bubbles of hot gas pulled from the disk. This gas then radiates thermally, causing the outbursts we see.Attempts to model this scenario using Newtonian orbits all fail; the timing of the secondary black holes crossings through the accretion disk (as measured by when we see the outbursts) can only be explained by a model incorporating general-relativistic effects on the orbit. Careful observations and precise timing of these outbursts therefore provide an excellent test of general relativity.Watching a Predicted CrossingThe model of OJ 287 predicted another disk crossing in December 2015, so professional and amateur astronomers around the world readied more

Selection bias in dynamically-measured super-massive black hole samples: its consequences and the quest for the most fundamental relation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shankar, Francesco; Bernardi, M.; Sheth, R. K.; Weinberg, D. H.; Miralda-Escudé, J.; Ferrarese, L.; Graham, A.; Sesana, A.; Lapi, A.; Marconi, A.; Allevato, V.; Savorgnan, G.; Laesker, R.

2016-08-01

We compare the set of local galaxies having dynamically measured black holes with a large, unbiased sample of galaxies extracted from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We confirm earlier work showing that the majority of black hole hosts have significantly higher velocity dispersions sigma than local galaxies of similar stellar mass. We use Monte-Carlo simulations to illustrate the effect on black hole scaling relations if this bias arises from the requirement that the black hole sphere of influence must be resolved to measure black hole masses with spatially resolved kinematics. We find that this selection effect artificially increases the normalization of the Mbh-sigma relation by a factor of at least ~3; the bias for the Mbh-Mstar relation is even larger. Our Monte Carlo simulations and analysis of the residuals from scaling relations both indicate that sigma is more fundamental than Mstar or effective radius. In particular, the Mbh-Mstar relation is mostly a consequence of the Mbh-sigma and sigma-Mstar relations, and is heavily biased by up to a factor of 50 at small masses. This helps resolve the discrepancy between dynamically-based black hole-galaxy scaling relations versus those of active galaxies. Our simulations also disfavour broad distributions of black hole masses at fixed sigma. Correcting for this bias suggests that the calibration factor used to estimate black hole masses in active galaxies should be reduced to values of fvir~1. Black hole mass densities should also be proportionally smaller, perhaps implying significantly higher radiative efficiencies/black hole spins. Reducing black hole masses also reduces the gravitational wave signal expected from black hole mergers.

Anyon black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aghaei Abchouyeh, Maryam; Mirza, Behrouz; Karimi Takrami, Moein; Younesizadeh, Younes

2018-05-01

We propose a correspondence between an Anyon Van der Waals fluid and a (2 + 1) dimensional AdS black hole. Anyons are particles with intermediate statistics that interpolates between a Fermi-Dirac statistics and a Bose-Einstein one. A parameter α (0 < α < 1) characterizes this intermediate statistics of Anyons. The equation of state for the Anyon Van der Waals fluid shows that it has a quasi Fermi-Dirac statistics for α >αc, but a quasi Bose-Einstein statistics for α <αc. By defining a general form of the metric for the (2 + 1) dimensional AdS black hole and considering the temperature of the black hole to be equal with that of the Anyon Van der Waals fluid, we construct the exact form of the metric for a (2 + 1) dimensional AdS black hole. The thermodynamic properties of this black hole is consistent with those of the Anyon Van der Waals fluid. For α <αc, the solution exhibits a quasi Bose-Einstein statistics. For α >αc and a range of values of the cosmological constant, there is, however, no event horizon so there is no black hole solution. Thus, for these values of cosmological constants, the AdS Anyon Van der Waals black holes have only quasi Bose-Einstein statistics.

Uniformly accelerated black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Letelier, Patricio S.; Oliveira, Samuel R.

2001-09-01

The static and stationary C metric are examined in a generic framework and their interpretations studied in some detail, especially those with two event horizons, one for the black hole and another for the acceleration. We find that (i) the spacetime of an accelerated static black hole is plagued by either conical singularities or a lack of smoothness and compactness of the black hole horizon, (ii) by using standard black hole thermodynamics we show that accelerated black holes have a higher Hawking temperature than Unruh temperature of the accelerated frame, and (iii) the usual upper bound on the product of the mass and acceleration parameters (<1/27) is just a coordinate artifact. The main results are extended to accelerated rotating black holes with no significant changes.

Black Holes Have Simple Feeding Habits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2008-06-01

The biggest black holes may feed just like the smallest ones, according to data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ground-based telescopes. This discovery supports the implication of Einstein's relativity theory that black holes of all sizes have similar properties, and will be useful for predicting the properties of a conjectured new class of black holes. The conclusion comes from a large observing campaign of the spiral galaxy M81, which is about 12 million light years from Earth. In the center of M81 is a black hole that is about 70 million times more massive than the Sun, and generates energy and radiation as it pulls gas in the central region of the galaxy inwards at high speed. In contrast, so-called stellar mass black holes, which have about 10 times more mass than the Sun, have a different source of food. These smaller black holes acquire new material by pulling gas from an orbiting companion star. Because the bigger and smaller black holes are found in different environments with different sources of material to feed from, a question has remained about whether they feed in the same way. Using these new observations and a detailed theoretical model, a research team compared the properties of M81's black hole with those of stellar mass black holes. The results show that either big or little, black holes indeed appear to eat similarly to each other, and produce a similar distribution of X-rays, optical and radio light. AnimationMulti-wavelength Images of M81 One of the implications of Einstein's theory of General Relativity is that black holes are simple objects and only their masses and spins determine their effect on space-time. The latest research indicates that this simplicity manifests itself in spite of complicated environmental effects. "This confirms that the feeding patterns for black holes of different sizes can be very similar," said Sera Markoff of the Astronomical Institute, University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, who led the study

FORCE-FEEDING BLACK HOLES

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Begelman, Mitchell C., E-mail: mitch@jila.colorado.edu

2012-04-10

We propose that the growth of supermassive black holes is associated mainly with brief episodes of highly super-Eddington infall of gas ({sup h}yperaccretion{sup )}. This gas is not swallowed in real time, but forms an envelope of matter around the black hole that can be swallowed gradually, over a much longer timescale. However, only a small fraction of the black hole mass can be stored in the envelope at any one time. We argue that any infalling matter above a few percent of the hole's mass is ejected as a result of the plunge in opacity at temperatures below amore » few thousand degrees kelvin, corresponding to the Hayashi track. The speed of ejection of this matter, compared to the velocity dispersion {sigma} of the host galaxy's core, determines whether the ejected matter is lost forever or returns eventually to rejoin the envelope, from which it can be ultimately accreted. The threshold between matter recycling and permanent loss defines a relationship between the maximum black hole mass and {sigma} that resembles the empirical M{sub BH}-{sigma} relation.« less

Black Holes and the Information Paradox

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

't Hooft, Gerard

In electromagnetism, like charges repel, opposite charges attract. A remarkable feature of the gravitational force is that like masses attract. This gives rise to an instability: the more mass you have, the stronger the attractive force, until an inevitable implosion follows, leading to a "black hole". It is in the black hole where an apparent conflict between Einstein's General Relativity and the laws of Quantum Mechanics becomes manifest. Most physicists now agree that a black hole should be described by a Schrödinger equation, with a Hermitean Hamiltonian, but this requires a modification of general relativity. Both General Relativity and Quantum mechanics are shaking on their foundations.

Charged BTZ-like black hole solutions and the diffusivity-butterfly velocity relation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ge, Xian-Hui; Sin, Sang-Jin; Tian, Yu; Wu, Shao-Feng; Wu, Shang-Yu

2018-01-01

We show that there exists a class of charged BTZ-like black hole solutions in Lifshitz spacetime with a hyperscaling violating factor. The charged BTZ black hole is characterized by a charge-dependent logarithmic term in the metric function. As concrete examples, we give five such charged BTZ-like black hole solutions and the standard charged BTZ metric can be regarded as a special instance of them. In order to check the recent proposed universal relations between diffusivity and the butterfly velocity, we first compute the diffusion constants of the standard charged BTZ black holes and then extend our calculation to arbitrary dimension d, exponents z and θ. Remarkably, the case d = θ and z = 2 is a very special in that the charge diffusion D c is a constant and the energy diffusion D e might be ill-defined, but v B 2 τ diverges. We also compute the diffusion constants for the case that the DC conductivity is finite but in the absence of momentum relaxation.

NASA Observatory Confirms Black Hole Limits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2005-02-01

The very largest black holes reach a certain point and then grow no more, according to the best survey to date of black holes made with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. Scientists have also discovered many previously hidden black holes that are well below their weight limit. These new results corroborate recent theoretical work about how black holes and galaxies grow. The biggest black holes, those with at least 100 million times the mass of the Sun, ate voraciously during the early Universe. Nearly all of them ran out of 'food' billions of years ago and went onto a forced starvation diet. Focus on Black Holes in the Chandra Deep Field North Focus on Black Holes in the Chandra Deep Field North On the other hand, black holes between about 10 and 100 million solar masses followed a more controlled eating plan. Because they took smaller portions of their meals of gas and dust, they continue growing today. "Our data show that some supermassive black holes seem to binge, while others prefer to graze", said Amy Barger of the University of Wisconsin in Madison and the University of Hawaii, lead author of the paper describing the results in the latest issue of The Astronomical Journal (Feb 2005). "We now understand better than ever before how supermassive black holes grow." One revelation is that there is a strong connection between the growth of black holes and the birth of stars. Previously, astronomers had done careful studies of the birthrate of stars in galaxies, but didn't know as much about the black holes at their centers. DSS Optical Image of Lockman Hole DSS Optical Image of Lockman Hole "These galaxies lose material into their central black holes at the same time that they make their stars," said Barger. "So whatever mechanism governs star formation in galaxies also governs black hole growth." Astronomers have made an accurate census of both the biggest, active black holes in the distance, and the relatively smaller, calmer ones closer by. Now, for the first

Tracing Supermassive Black Hole Growth with Offset and Dual AGN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Comerford, Julia

black hole mass growth has not yet been realized, due to the small number of such systems known. To date, only 13 confirmed offset and dual AGN are known. Here we propose a new observational approach to identifying offset and dual AGN, which will increase the known number from 13 to 100. This technique depends on multiwavelength archival data from HST, Spitzer, XMM-Newton, and Chandra, and it selects offset/dual AGN candidates as active galaxies (identified by Spitzer, XMMNewton, and Chandra detections) that exhibit two stellar bulges in their HST images. Our follow-up longslit spectroscopy will then confirm whether the two nuclei in fact correspond to offset AGN or dual AGN. The catalog of 100 offset and dual AGN that we build with this approach will enable offset and dual AGN to be used, for the first time, for statistical studies of black hole mass growth. We will use the catalog to test theoretical predictions about (1) whether major mergers preferentially fuel higher-luminosity AGN, (2) whether offset AGN are preferentially triggered by minor mergers and dual AGN preferentially triggered by major mergers, and (3) at what black hole separations the mass growth of black holes peaks. The primary emphasis of this project is the analysis of multiwavelength archival data from several NASA space missions, which is aligned with the goals of the Astrophysics Data Analysis Program. This project will advance offset and dual AGN as a new tool for statistical studies of galaxy evolution, and the results of our study will promote the NASA Cosmic Origins program in one of its objectives, which is to understand how galaxies evolve.

Thermodynamic phase transition in the rainbow Schwarzschild black hole

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gim, Yongwan; Kim, Wontae, E-mail: yongwan89@sogang.ac.kr, E-mail: wtkim@sogang.ac.kr

2014-10-01

We study the thermodynamic phase transition in the rainbow Schwarzschild black hole where the metric depends on the energy of the test particle. Identifying the black hole temperature with the energy from the modified dispersion relation, we obtain the modified entropy and thermodynamic energy along with the modified local temperature in the cavity to provide well defined black hole states. It is found that apart from the conventional critical temperature related to Hawking-Page phase transition there appears an additional critical temperature which is of relevance to the existence of a locally stable tiny black hole; however, the off-shell free energymore » tells us that this black hole should eventually tunnel into the stable large black hole. Finally, we discuss the reason why the temperature near the horizon is finite in the rainbow black hole by employing the running gravitational coupling constant, whereas it is divergent near the horizon in the ordinary Schwarzschild black hole.« less

When Supermassive Black Holes Wander

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2018-05-01

wanderers within 10 kpc of the halo center (roughly the size of the Milky Ways disk).These wandering supermassive black holes were kicked onto wide orbits during the merger of their host galaxy with the main halo; Tremmel and collaborators find that their orbits are often tilted, lying outside of the galactic disk. Because these black holes travel through relatively deserted regions, they accumulate little mass and are rarely perturbed in their journeys, wandering for billions of years.Finding MonstersCumulative fraction of simulated Milky-Way-mass halos as a function of the number of supermassive black holes they host. All of the halos host at least one SMBH within 10 kpc from halo center, but the majority host more than that. [Tremmel et al. 2018]Tremmel and collaborators simulations suggest that, regardless of its merger history, a Milky-Way-mass halo will end up with an average of 5 supermassive black holes within 10 kpc of the galaxy center, and an average of 12 within its larger virial radius! This means there could be a number of supermassive black holes just like the enormous Sgr A* at our galaxys core wandering the Milky Way unseen.So how can we find these invisible monsters? We already have some observational evidence in the form of offset and dual active galactic nuclei of non-central supermassive black holes in distant galaxies. As for nearby, our best bet is to look for tidal disruption events, the burps of emission that occur when an otherwise invisible black hole encounters a star or a cloud of gas.CitationMichael Tremmel et al 2018 ApJL 857 L22. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aabc0a

Black Hole Simulation

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-11-30

This graphic shows the computer simulation of a black hole from start to finish. Plasma is falling slowly toward the black hole in a (at the upper left). The plasma has a magnetic field, shown by the white lines. It picks up speed as it falls toward the hole in b (at the upper right), c (lower left) and d (lower right). However, the rotating black hole twists up space itself (and the magnetic field lines) and ejects electromagnetic power along the north and south poles above the black hole. The red and white color shows the immense electromagnetic power output, which eventually will pick up particles and form squirting jets. This simulation was conducted using supercomputers at Japan's National Institute for Fusion Science. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04206

Erratic Black Hole Regulates Itself

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2009-03-01

't entirely understand, the other one gets the upper hand." GRS 1915+105 Chandra X-ray Image of GRS 1915+105 The latest Chandra results also show that the wind and the jet carry about the same amount of matter away from the black hole. This is evidence that the black hole is somehow regulating its accretion rate, which may be related to the toggling between mass expulsion via either a jet or a wind from the accretion disk. Self-regulation is a common topic when discussing supermassive black holes, but this is the first clear evidence for it in stellar-mass black holes. "It is exciting that we may be on the track of explaining two mysteries at the same time: how black hole jets can be shut down and also how black holes regulate their growth," said co-author Julia Lee, assistant professor in the Astronomy department at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. "Maybe black holes can regulate themselves better than the financial markets!" Although micro-quasars and quasars differ in mass by factors of millions, they should show a similarity in behavior when their very different physical scales are taken into account. People Who Read This Also Read... Chandra Data Reveal Rapidly Whirling Black Holes Jet Power and Black Hole Assortment Revealed in New Chandra Image Celebrate the International Year of Astronomy Ghost Remains After Black Hole Eruption "If quasars and micro-quasars behave very differently, then we have a big problem to figure out why, because gravity treats them the same," said Neilsen. "So, our result is actually very reassuring, because it's one more link between these different types of black holes." The timescale for changes in behavior of a black hole should vary in proportion to the mass. For example, an hour-long timescale for changes in GRS 1915 would correspond to about 10,000 years for a supermassive black hole that weighs a billion times the mass of the Sun. "We cannot hope to explore at this level of detail in any single supermassive black hole

Thermal stability of black holes with arbitrary hairs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinha, Aloke Kumar

2018-02-01

We have derived the criteria for thermal stability of charged rotating black holes, for horizon areas that are large relative to the Planck area (in these dimensions). In this paper, we generalized it for black holes with arbitrary hairs. The derivation uses results of loop quantum gravity and equilibrium statistical mechanics of the grand canonical ensemble and there is no explicit use of classical spacetime geometry at all in this analysis. The assumption is that the mass of the black hole is a function of its horizon area and all the hairs. Our stability criteria are then tested in detail against some specific black holes, whose metrics provide us with explicit relations for the dependence of the mass on the area and other hairs of the black holes. This enables us to predict which of these black holes are expected to be thermally unstable under Hawking radiation.

Black hole dynamics in Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hirschmann, Eric W.; Lehner, Luis; Liebling, Steven L.; Palenzuela, Carlos

2018-03-01

We consider the properties and dynamics of black holes within a family of alternative theories of gravity, namely Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theory. We analyze the dynamical evolution of individual black holes as well as the merger of binary black hole systems. We do this for a wide range of parameter values for the family of Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theories, investigating, in the process, the stability of these black holes. We examine radiative degrees of freedom, explore the impact of the scalar field on the dynamics of merger, and compare with other scalar-tensor theories. We argue that the dilaton can largely be discounted in understanding merging binary systems and that the end states essentially interpolate between charged and uncharged, rotating black holes. For the relatively small charge values considered here, we conclude that these black hole systems will be difficult to distinguish from their analogs within General Relativity.

REVIEWS OF TOPICAL PROBLEMS: "Magnetized" black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aliev, A. N.; Gal'tsov, D. V.

1989-01-01

Physical aspects of the theory of black holes in an external electromagnetic field are reviewed. The "magnetized" black hole model is currently widely discussed in astrophysics because it provides a basis for the explanation of the high energy activity of galactic cores and quasars. The particular feature of this model is that it predicts unusual "gravimagnetic" phenomena that arise as a result of a natural combination of effects in electrodynamics and gravitation, namely, the appearance of an inductive potential difference during the rotation of a black hole in a magnetic field, the drift of a black hole in an external electromagnetic field, the change in the chemical potential of the event horizon, the creation of an effective ergosphere of a black hole in a magnetic field, and so on. Questions relating to the description of electromagnetic fields in Kerr space-time are examined, including their influence on the space-time metric, the interaction between a rotating charged black hole and an external electromagnetic field, the motion of charged particles near "magnetized" black holes, including their spontaneous and stimulated emission, and the influence of magnetic fields on quantum-mechanical processes in black holes.

Skyrmion black hole hair: Conservation of baryon number by black holes and observable manifestations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dvali, Gia; Gußmann, Alexander

2016-12-01

We show that the existence of black holes with classical skyrmion hair invalidates standard proofs that global charges, such as the baryon number, cannot be conserved by a black hole. By carefully analyzing the standard arguments based on a Gedankenexperiment in which a black hole is seemingly-unable to return the baryon number that it swallowed, we identify inconsistencies in this reasoning, which does not take into the account neither the existence of skyrmion black holes nor the baryon/skyrmion correspondence. We then perform a refined Gedankenexperiment by incorporating the new knowledge and show that no contradiction with conservation of baryon number takes place at any stage of black hole evolution. Our analysis also indicates no conflict between semi-classical black holes and the existence of baryonic gauge interaction arbitrarily-weaker than gravity. Next, we study classical cross sections of a minimally-coupled massless probe scalar field scattered by a skyrmion black hole. We investigate how the skyrmion hair manifests itself by comparing this cross section with the analogous cross section caused by a Schwarzschild black hole which has the same ADM mass as the skyrmion black hole. Here we find an order-one difference in the positions of the characteristic peaks in the cross sections. The peaks are shifted to smaller scattering angles when the skyrmion hair is present. This comes from the fact that the skyrmion hair changes the near horizon geometry of the black hole when compared to a Schwarzschild black hole with same ADM mass. We keep the study of this second aspect general so that the qualitative results which we obtain can also be applied to black holes with classical hair of different kind.

Is the black hole in NGC 1277 really overmassive?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Emsellem, Eric

2013-08-01

A recent claim has been made by van den Bosch et al. that the fast-rotator galaxy NGC 1277 hosts an overmassive black hole with a mass (1.7 × 1010 M⊙) larger than half its (central) stellar spheroid mass. We revisit this claim here by examining the predictions from simple dynamical realizations based on new multi-Gaussian expansion (MGE) models of NGC 1277, using the same inclination i = 75°, and constant mass-to-light ratios. We present realizations which fit well the observed photometry taking into account an approximation for the extinction due to the central dust ring. The mass-to-light ratio M/L is fixed following scaling relations which predict a Salpeter-like initial mass function for such a luminous early-type fast rotator, 60 per cent higher than the one of the previously derived best-fitting model. A model without a black hole provides a surprisingly good fit of the observed kinematics outside the unresolved central region, but not, as expected, of the central dispersion and Gauss-Hermite h4 values. A model with a black hole mass of 5 × 109 M⊙ allows us to fit the central dispersion profile, consistently with models of the same mass and M/L in van den Bosch et al. It departs from the central h4 values by only about twice the given uncertainty. A slightly varying M/L or the addition of high-velocity stars in the central spatially unresolved region would further lower the need for a very massive black hole in the central region of NGC 1277. These results do not, by themselves, rule out the presence of a presumed overmassive black hole at the centre of NGC 1277. However, they lead us to advocate the use of 3σ (as opposed to 1σ) confidence intervals for derived MBH as better, more conservative, guidelines for such studies. We also caution for the use of ill-defined spheroidal components as an input for scaling relations, and emphasize the fact that a MBH in the range 2-5 × 109 M⊙ would represent less than 5 per cent of the spheroid bulge-like mass

Testing general relativity's no-hair theorem with x-ray observations of black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoormann, Janie K.; Beheshtipour, Banafsheh; Krawczynski, Henric

2016-02-01

Despite its success in the weak gravity regime, general relativity (GR) has yet to be verified in the regime of strong gravity. In this paper, we present the results of detailed ray-tracing simulations aiming at clarifying if the combined information from x-ray spectroscopy, timing, and polarization observations of stellar mass and supermassive black holes can be used to test GR's no-hair theorem. The latter states that stationary astrophysical black holes are described by the Kerr family of metrics, with the black hole mass and spin being the only free parameters. We use four "non-Kerr metrics," some phenomenological in nature and others motivated by alternative theories of gravity, and study the observational signatures of deviations from the Kerr metric. Particular attention is given to the case when all the metrics are set to give the same innermost stable circular orbit in quasi-Boyer-Lindquist coordinates. We give a detailed discussion of similarities and differences of the observational signatures predicted for black holes in the Kerr metric and the non-Kerr metrics. We emphasize that even though some regions of the parameter space are nearly degenerate even when combining the information from all observational channels, x-ray observations of very rapidly spinning black holes can be used to exclude large regions of the parameter space of the alternative metrics. Although it proves difficult to distinguish between the Kerr and non-Kerr metrics for some portions of the parameter space, the observations of very rapidly spinning black holes like Cyg X-1 can be used to rule out large regions for several black hole metrics.

Before Inflation and after Black Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stoltenberg, Henry

This dissertation covers work from three research projects relating to the physics before the start of inflation and information after the decay of a black hole. For the first project, we analyze the cosmological role of terminal vacua in the string theory landscape, and point out that existing work on this topic makes very strong assumptions about the properties of the terminal vacua. We explore the implications of relaxing these assumptions (by including "arrival" as well as "departure" terminals) and demonstrate that the results in earlier work are highly sensitive to their assumption of no arrival terminals. We use our discussion to make some general points about tuning and initial conditions in cosmology. The second project is a discussion of the black hole information problem. Under certain conditions the black hole information puzzle and the (related) arguments that firewalls are a typical feature of black holes can break down. We first review the arguments of Almheiri, Marolf, Polchinski and Sully (AMPS) favoring firewalls, focusing on entanglements in a simple toy model for a black hole and the Hawking radiation. By introducing a large and inaccessible system entangled with the black hole (representing perhaps a de Sitter stretched horizon or inaccessible part of a landscape) we show complementarity can be restored and firewalls can be avoided throughout the black hole's evolution. Under these conditions black holes do not have an "information problem". We point out flaws in some of our earlier arguments that such entanglement might be generically present in some cosmological scenarios, and call out certain ways our picture may still be realized. The third project also examines the firewall argument. A fundamental limitation on the behavior of quantum entanglement known as "monogamy" plays a key role in the AMPS argument. Our goal is to study and apply many-body entanglement theory to consider the entanglement among different parts of Hawking radiation and

A population of relic intermediate-mass black holes in the halo of the Milky Way

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rashkov, Valery; Madau, Piero

If 'seed' central black holes were common in the subgalactic building blocks that merged to form present-day massive galaxies, then relic intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) should be present in the Galactic bulge and halo. We use a particle tagging technique to dynamically populate the N-body Via Lactea II high-resolution simulation with black holes, and assess the size, properties, and detectability of the leftover population. The method assigns a black hole to the most tightly bound central particle of each subhalo at infall according to an extrapolation of the M {sub BH}-σ{sub *} relation, and self-consistently follows the accretion and disruptionmore » of Milky Way progenitor dwarfs and their holes in a cosmological 'live' host from high redshift to today. We show that, depending on the minimum stellar velocity dispersion, σ {sub m}, below which central black holes are assumed to be increasingly rare, as many as ∼2000 (σ {sub m} = 3 km s{sup –1}) or as few as ∼70 (σ {sub m} = 12 km s{sup –1}) IMBHs may be left wandering in the halo of the Milky Way today. The fraction of IMBHs forced from their hosts by gravitational recoil is ≲ 20%. We identify two main Galactic subpopulations, 'naked' IMBHs, whose host subhalos were totally destroyed after infall, and 'clothed' IMBHs residing in dark matter satellites that survived tidal stripping. Naked IMBHs typically constitute 40%-50% of the total and are more centrally concentrated. We show that, in the σ {sub m} = 12 km s{sup –1} scenario, the clusters of tightly bound stars that should accompany naked IMBHs would be fainter than m{sub V} = 16 mag, spatially resolvable, and have proper motions of 0.1-10 mas yr{sup –1}. Their detection may provide an observational tool to constrain the formation history of massive black holes in the early universe.« less

Deforming regular black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neves, J. C. S.

2017-06-01

In this work, we have deformed regular black holes which possess a general mass term described by a function which generalizes the Bardeen and Hayward mass functions. By using linear constraints in the energy-momentum tensor to generate metrics, the solutions presented in this work are either regular or singular. That is, within this approach, it is possible to generate regular or singular black holes from regular or singular black holes. Moreover, contrary to the Bardeen and Hayward regular solutions, the deformed regular black holes may violate the weak energy condition despite the presence of the spherical symmetry. Some comments on accretion of deformed black holes in cosmological scenarios are made.

Merging Black Holes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, Joan; Baker, John G.; Kelly, Bernard J.; vanMeter, James R.

2010-01-01

Black-hole mergers take place in regions of very strong and dynamical gravitational fields, and are among the strongest sources of gravitational radiation. Probing these mergers requires solving the full set of Einstein's equations of general relativity numerically. For more than 40 years, progress towards this goal has been very slow, as numerical relativists encountered a host of difficult problems. Recently, several breakthroughs have led to dramatic progress, enabling stable and accurate calculations of black-hole mergers. This article presents an overview of this field, including impacts on astrophysics and applications in gravitational wave data analysis.

Rotating black holes in dilatonic Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory.

PubMed

Kleihaus, Burkhard; Kunz, Jutta; Radu, Eugen

2011-04-15

We construct generalizations of the Kerr black holes by including higher-curvature corrections in the form of the Gauss-Bonnet density coupled to the dilaton. We show that the domain of existence of these Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet-dilaton (EGBD) black holes is bounded by the Kerr black holes, the critical EGBD black holes, and the singular extremal EGBD solutions. The angular momentum of the EGBD black holes can exceed the Kerr bound. The EGBD black holes satisfy a generalized Smarr relation. We also compare their innermost stable circular orbits with those of the Kerr black holes and show the existence of differences which might be observable in astrophysical systems.

Post-Kerr black hole spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glampedakis, Kostas; Pappas, George; Silva, Hector O.; Berti, Emanuele

2017-09-01

One of the central goals of the newborn field of gravitational wave astronomy is to test gravity in the highly nonlinear, strong field regime characterizing the spacetime of black holes. In particular, "black hole spectroscopy" (the observation and identification of black hole quasinormal mode frequencies in the gravitational wave signal) is expected to become one of the main tools for probing the structure and dynamics of Kerr black holes. In this paper we take a significant step toward that goal by constructing a "post-Kerr" quasinormal mode formalism. The formalism incorporates a parametrized but general perturbative deviation from the Kerr metric and exploits the well-established connection between the properties of the spacetime's circular null geodesics and the fundamental quasinormal mode to provide approximate, eikonal limit formulas for the modes' complex frequencies. The resulting algebraic toolkit can be used in waveform templates for ringing black holes with the purpose of measuring deviations from the Kerr metric. As a first illustrative application of our framework, we consider the Johannsen-Psaltis deformed Kerr metric and compute the resulting deviation in the quasinormal mode frequency relative to the known Kerr result.

Cosmic microwave background radiation of black hole universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, T. X.

2010-11-01

Modifying slightly the big bang theory, the author has recently developed a new cosmological model called black hole universe. This new cosmological model is consistent with the Mach principle, Einsteinian general theory of relativity, and observations of the universe. The origin, structure, evolution, and expansion of the black hole universe have been presented in the recent sequence of American Astronomical Society (AAS) meetings and published recently in a scientific journal: Progress in Physics. This paper explains the observed 2.725 K cosmic microwave background radiation of the black hole universe, which grew from a star-like black hole with several solar masses through a supermassive black hole with billions of solar masses to the present universe with hundred billion-trillions of solar masses. According to the black hole universe model, the observed cosmic microwave background radiation can be explained as the black body radiation of the black hole universe, which can be considered as an ideal black body. When a hot and dense star-like black hole accretes its ambient materials and merges with other black holes, it expands and cools down. A governing equation that expresses the possible thermal history of the black hole universe is derived from the Planck law of black body radiation and radiation energy conservation. The result obtained by solving the governing equation indicates that the radiation temperature of the present universe can be ˜2.725 K if the universe originated from a hot star-like black hole, and is therefore consistent with the observation of the cosmic microwave background radiation. A smaller or younger black hole universe usually cools down faster. The characteristics of the original star-like or supermassive black hole are not critical to the physical properties of the black hole universe at present, because matter and radiation are mainly from the outside space, i.e., the mother universe.

Formation of intermediate-mass black holes through runaway collisions in the first star clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sakurai, Yuya; Yoshida, Naoki; Fujii, Michiko S.; Hirano, Shingo

2017-12-01

We study the formation of massive black holes in the first star clusters. We first locate star-forming gas clouds in protogalactic haloes of ≳107 M⊙ in cosmological hydrodynamics simulations and use them to generate the initial conditions for star clusters with masses of ∼105 M⊙. We then perform a series of direct-tree hybrid N-body simulations to follow runaway stellar collisions in the dense star clusters. In all the cluster models except one, runaway collisions occur within a few million years, and the mass of the central, most massive star reaches ∼400-1900 M⊙. Such very massive stars collapse to leave intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs). The diversity of the final masses may be attributed to the differences in a few basic properties of the host haloes such as mass, central gas velocity dispersion and mean gas density of the central core. Finally, we derive the IMBH mass to cluster mass ratios, and compare them with the observed black hole to bulge mass ratios in the present-day Universe.

Destruction and recreation of black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bell, Peter M.

Even though the existence of the gravitationally collapsed concentrations of matter in space known as ‘black holes’ is accepted at all educational levels in our society, the basis for the black hole concept is really only the result of approximate calculations done over 40 years ago. The concept of the black hole is an esoteric subject, and recently the mathematical and physical frailties of the concept have come to light in an interesting round of theoretical shuffling. The recent activity in theorizing about black holes began about 10 years ago, when Cambridge University mathematican Stephen Hawking calculated that black holes could become unstable by losing mass and thus ‘evaporate.’ Hawking's results were surprisingly well received, considering the lack of theoretical understanding of the relations between quantum mechanics and relativity. (There is no quantized theory of gravitation, even today.) Nonetheless, his semiclassical calculations implied that the rate of ‘evaporation’ of a black hole would be slower than the rate of degradation of the universe. In fact, based on these and other calculations, the British regard Hawking as ‘the nearest thing we have to a new Einstein’ [New Scientist, Oct. 9, 1980]. Within the last few months, Frank Tipler, provocative mathematical physicist at the University of Texas, has reexamined Hawking's calculations [Physical Review Letters, 45, 941, 1980], concluding, in simple terms, (1) that because of possible vital difficulties in the assumptions, the very concept of black holes could be wrong; (2) that Hawkings' evaporation hypothesis is so efficient that a black hole once created must disappear in less than a second; or (3) that he, Tipler, may be wrong. The latter possibility has been the conclusion of physicist James Bardeen of the University of Washington, who calculated that black hole masses do evaporate but they do so according to Hawking's predicted rate and that Tipler's findings cause only a second

Numerical Relativity, Black Hole Mergers, and Gravitational Waves: Part III

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, Joan

2012-01-01

This series of 3 lectures will present recent developments in numerical relativity, and their applications to simulating black hole mergers and computing the resulting gravitational waveforms. In this third and final lecture, we present applications of the results of numerical relativity simulations to gravitational wave detection and astrophysics.

Ineffective higher derivative black hole hair

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goldstein, Kevin; Mashiyane, James Junior

2018-01-01

Inspired by the possibility that the Schwarzschild black hole may not be the unique spherically symmetric vacuum solution to generalizations of general relativity, we consider black holes in pure fourth order higher derivative gravity treated as an effective theory. Such solutions may be of interest in addressing the issue of higher derivative hair or during the later stages of black hole evaporation. Non-Schwarzschild solutions have been studied but we have put earlier results on a firmer footing by finding a systematic asymptotic expansion for the black holes and matching them with known numerical solutions obtained by integrating out from the near-horizon region. These asymptotic expansions can be cast in the form of trans-series expansions which we conjecture will be a generic feature of non-Schwarzschild higher derivative black holes. Excitingly we find a new branch of solutions with lower free energy than the Schwarzschild solution, but as found in earlier work, solutions only seem to exist for black holes with large curvatures, meaning that one should not generically neglect even higher derivative corrections. This suggests that one effectively recovers the nonhair theorems in this context.

Star formation around supermassive black holes.

PubMed

Bonnell, I A; Rice, W K M

2008-08-22

The presence of young massive stars orbiting on eccentric rings within a few tenths of a parsec of the supermassive black hole in the galactic center is challenging for theories of star formation. The high tidal shear from the black hole should tear apart the molecular clouds that form stars elsewhere in the Galaxy, and transport of stars to the galactic center also appears unlikely during their lifetimes. We conducted numerical simulations of the infall of a giant molecular cloud that interacts with the black hole. The transfer of energy during closest approach allows part of the cloud to become bound to the black hole, forming an eccentric disk that quickly fragments to form stars. Compressional heating due to the black hole raises the temperature of the gas up to several hundred to several thousand kelvin, ensuring that the fragmentation produces relatively high stellar masses. These stars retain the eccentricity of the disk and, for a sufficiently massive initial cloud, produce an extremely top-heavy distribution of stellar masses. This potentially repetitive process may explain the presence of multiple eccentric rings of young stars in the presence of a supermassive black hole.

"Iron-Clad" Evidence For Spinning Black Hole

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2003-09-01

-energy particles have been detected around both types of black holes. Why do some stellar black holes spin rapidly and others not? One possibility is that differences in spin are imparted at birth when a massive star collapses. Another possibility is that the spin rate depends on how long the black hole has been devouring matter from its companion star, a process that makes the black hole spin faster. Black holes with more rapid spin, XTE J1650-500 and GX 339-4, have low-mass companion stars. These relatively long-lived stars may have been feeding the black hole for longer, allowing it to spin up to faster rates. Cygnus X-1 with its short-lived companion star may not have not time to spin up. Miller is a National Science Foundation Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow. His primary collaborators in this work were Walter Lewin if the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Andrew Fabian of the University of Cambridge, UK, and Chris Reynolds of the University of Maryland, College Park. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for the Office of Space Science, NASA Headquarters, Washington. Northrop Grumman of Redondo Beach, Calif., formerly TRW, Inc., was the prime development contractor for the observatory. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Mass.

The Nearest Black Holes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Garcia, Michael R.; Oliversen, Ronald J. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The goal of this program is to study black holes, both in our Galaxy and in nearby galaxies. We aim to study both "stellar mass" x-ray binaries containing black holes (both in our Galaxy and in nearby galaxies), and super-massive black holes in nearby galaxies.

The Nearest Black Hole

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oliversen, Ronald (Technical Monitor); Garcia, Michael

2005-01-01

The goal of this program is to study black holes, both in our Galaxy and in nearby galaxies. We aim to study both 'stellar mass' x-ray binaries containing black holes (both in our Galaxy and in nearby galaxies), and super-massive black holes in nearby galaxies.

Discrete quantum spectrum of black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lochan, Kinjalk; Chakraborty, Sumanta

2016-04-01

The quantum genesis of Hawking radiation is a long-standing puzzle in black hole physics. Semi-classically one can argue that the spectrum of radiation emitted by a black hole look very much sparse unlike what is expected from a thermal object. It was demonstrated through a simple quantum model that a quantum black hole will retain a discrete profile, at least in the weak energy regime. However, it was suggested that this discreteness might be an artifact of the simplicity of eigen-spectrum of the model considered. Different quantum theories can, in principle, give rise to different complicated spectra and make the radiation from black hole dense enough in transition lines, to make them look continuous in profile. We show that such a hope from a geometry-quantized black hole is not realized as long as large enough black holes are dubbed with a classical mass area relation in any gravity theory ranging from GR, Lanczos-Lovelock to f(R) gravity. We show that the smallest frequency of emission from black hole in any quantum description, is bounded from below, to be of the order of its inverse mass. That leaves the emission with only two possibilities. It can either be non-thermal, or it can be thermal only with the temperature being much larger than 1/M.

Intermediate-Mass Black Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, M. Coleman; Colbert, E. J. M.

2004-01-01

The mathematical simplicity of black holes, combined with their links to some of the most energetic events in the universe, means that black holes are key objects for fundamental physics and astrophysics. Until recently, it was generally believed that black holes in nature appear in two broad mass ranges: stellar-mass (M~3 20 M⊙), which are produced by the core collapse of massive stars, and supermassive (M~106 1010 M⊙), which are found in the centers of galaxies and are produced by a still uncertain combination of processes. In the last few years, however, evidence has accumulated for an intermediate-mass class of black holes, with M~102 104 M⊙. If such objects exist they have important implications for the dynamics of stellar clusters, the formation of supermassive black holes, and the production and detection of gravitational waves. We review the evidence for intermediate-mass black holes and discuss future observational and theoretical work that will help clarify numerous outstanding questions about these objects.

Intermediate-Mass Black Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coleman Miller, M.; Colbert, E. J. M.

The mathematical simplicity of black holes, combined with their links to some of the most energetic events in the universe, means that black holes are key objects for fundamental physics and astrophysics. Until recently, it was generally believed that black holes in nature appear in two broad mass ranges: stellar-mass (M~3-20 M⊙), which are produced by the core collapse of massive stars, and supermassive (M~106-1010 M⊙), which are found in the centers of galaxies and are produced by a still uncertain combination of processes. In the last few years, however, evidence has accumulated for an intermediate-mass class of black holes, with M~102-104 M⊙. If such objects exist they have important implications for the dynamics of stellar clusters, the formation of supermassive black holes, and the production and detection of gravitational waves. We review the evidence for intermediate-mass black holes and discuss future observational and theoretical work that will help clarify numerous outstanding questions about these objects.

No-Hair Theorem for Black Holes in Astrophysical Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gürlebeck, Norman

2015-04-01

According to the no-hair theorem, static black holes are described by a Schwarzschild spacetime provided there are no other sources of the gravitational field. This requirement, however, is in astrophysical realistic scenarios often violated, e.g., if the black hole is part of a binary system or if it is surrounded by an accretion disk. In these cases, the black hole is distorted due to tidal forces. Nonetheless, the subsequent formulation of the no-hair theorem holds: The contribution of the distorted black hole to the multipole moments that describe the gravitational field close to infinity and, thus, all sources is that of a Schwarzschild black hole. It still has no hair. This implies that there is no multipole moment induced in the black hole and that its second Love numbers, which measure some aspects of the distortion, vanish as was already shown in approximations to general relativity. But here we prove this property for astrophysical relevant black holes in full general relativity.

No-hair theorem for black holes in astrophysical environments.

PubMed

Gürlebeck, Norman

2015-04-17

According to the no-hair theorem, static black holes are described by a Schwarzschild spacetime provided there are no other sources of the gravitational field. This requirement, however, is in astrophysical realistic scenarios often violated, e.g., if the black hole is part of a binary system or if it is surrounded by an accretion disk. In these cases, the black hole is distorted due to tidal forces. Nonetheless, the subsequent formulation of the no-hair theorem holds: The contribution of the distorted black hole to the multipole moments that describe the gravitational field close to infinity and, thus, all sources is that of a Schwarzschild black hole. It still has no hair. This implies that there is no multipole moment induced in the black hole and that its second Love numbers, which measure some aspects of the distortion, vanish as was already shown in approximations to general relativity. But here we prove this property for astrophysical relevant black holes in full general relativity.

Binary black hole merger dynamics and waveforms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baker, John G.; Centrella, Joan; Choi, Dae-II; Koppitz, Michael; vanMeter, James

2006-01-01

We apply recently developed techniques for simulations of moving black holes to study dynamics and radiation generation in the last few orbits and merger of a binary black hole system. Our analysis produces a consistent picture from the gravitational wave forms and dynamical black hole trajectories for a set of simulations with black holes beginning on circular-orbit trajectories at a variety of initial separations. We find profound agreement at the level of 1% among the simulations for the last orbit, merger and ringdown, resulting in a final black hole with spin parameter a/m = 0.69. Consequently, we are confident that this part of our waveform result accurately represents the predictions from Einstein's General Relativity for the final burst of gravitational radiation resulting from the merger of an astrophysical system of equal-mass non-spinning black holes. We also find good agreement at a level of roughly 10% for the radiation generated in the preceding few orbits.

Revisiting Black Holes as Dark Matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2017-02-01

Could dark matter be made of intermediate-mass black holes formed in the beginning of the universe? A recent study takes a renewed look at this question.Galactic LurkersThe nature of dark matter has long been questioned, but the recent discovery of gravitational waves by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) has renewed interest in the possibility that dark matter could consist of primordial black holes in the mass range of 101000 solar masses.The relative amounts of the different constituents of the universe. Dark matter makes up roughly 27%. [ESA/Planck]According to this model, the extreme density of matter present during the universes early expansion led to the formation of a large number of intermediate-mass black holes. These black holes now hide in the halos of galaxies, constituting the mass that weve measured dynamically but remains unseen.LIGOs first gravitational-wave detection revealed the merger of two black holes that were both tens of solar masses in size. If primordial black holes are indeed a major constituent of dark matter, then LIGOs detection is consistent with what we would expect to find: occasional mergers of the intermediate-mass black holes that formed in the early universe and now lurk in galactic halos.Quasar MicrolensingTheres a catch, however. If there truly were a large number of intermediate-mass primordial black holes hiding in galactic halos, they wouldnt go completely unnoticed: we would see signs of their presence in the gravitational microlensing of background quasars. Unseen primordial black holes in a foreground galaxy could cause an image of a background quasar to briefly brighten which would provide us with clear evidence of such black holes despite our not being able to detect them directly.A depiction of quasar microlensing (click for a closer look!). The microlensing object in the foreground galaxy could be a star (as depicted), a primordial black hole, or any other compact object. [NASA

Numerical Relativity, Black Hole Mergers, and Gravitational Waves: Part I

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, Joan

2012-01-01

This series of 3 lectures will present recent developments in numerical relativity, and their applications to simulating black hole mergers and computing the resulting gravitational waveforms. In this first lecture, we introduce the basic ideas of numerical relativity, highlighting the challenges that arise in simulating gravitational wave sources on a computer.

Black Hole as a Supercollider

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zaslavskii, O. B.

Recently, it was found that in the vicinity of the black hole horizon of a rotating black hole two particles can collide in such a way that the energy in their centre of mass frame becomes infinite (so-called BSW effect). I give a brief review of basic features of this effect and show that this is a generic property of rotating black holes. In addition, there exists its counterpart for radial motion of charged particles in the charged black hole background. Simple kinematic explanation is suggested that is based on observation that all massive particles fall in two classes. In the first case (by definition, "usual particles"), the velocity approaches that of light on the horizon in the locally-nonrotating frame due to special relationship between the energy and the angular momentum. In the second case, it tends to some value less than speed of light. As a result, the relative velocity also tends to the speed of light with infinitely growing Lorentz factor.

Black Hole as a Supercollider

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zaslavskii, O. B.

2011-06-01

Recently, it was found that in the vicinity of the black hole horizon of a rotating black hole two particles can collide in such a way that the energy in their centre of mass frame becomes infinite (so-called BSW effect). I give a brief review of basic features of this effect and show that this is a generic property of rotating black holes. In addition, there exists its counterpart for radial motion of charged particles in the charged black hole background. Simple kinematic explanation is suggested that is based on observation that all massive particles fall in two classes. In the first case (by definition, "usual particles"), the velocity approaches that of light on the horizon in the locally-nonrotating frame due to special relationship between the energy and the angular momentum. In the second case, it tends to some value less than speed of light. As a result, the relative velocity also tends to the speed of light with infinitely growing Lorentz factor.

Black holes and beyond

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mathur, Samir D., E-mail: mathur.16@osu.edu

The black hole information paradox forces us into a strange situation: we must find a way to break the semiclassical approximation in a domain where no quantum gravity effects would normally be expected. Traditional quantizations of gravity do not exhibit any such breakdown, and this forces us into a difficult corner: either we must give up quantum mechanics or we must accept the existence of troublesome 'remnants'. In string theory, however, the fundamental quanta are extended objects, and it turns out that the bound states of such objects acquire a size that grows with the number of quanta in themore » bound state. The interior of the black hole gets completely altered to a 'fuzzball' structure, and information is able to escape in radiation from the hole. The semiclassical approximation can break at macroscopic scales due to the large entropy of the hole: the measure in the path integral competes with the classical action, instead of giving a subleading correction. Putting this picture of black hole microstates together with ideas about entangled states leads to a natural set of conjectures on many long-standing questions in gravity: the significance of Rindler and de Sitter entropies, the notion of black hole complementarity, and the fate of an observer falling into a black hole. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The information paradox is a serious problem. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer To solve it we need to find 'hair' on black holes. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer In string theory we find 'hair' by the fuzzball construction. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Fuzzballs help to resolve many other issues in gravity.« less

Using 3D Spectroscopy to Probe the Orbital Structure of Composite Bulges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erwin, Peter; Saglia, Roberto; Thomas, Jens; Fabricius, Maximilian; Bender, Ralf; Rusli, Stephanie; Nowak, Nina; Beckman, John E.; Vega Beltrán, Juan Carlos

2015-02-01

Detailed imaging and spectroscopic analysis of the centers of nearby S0 and spiral galaxies shows the existence of ``composite bulges'', where both classical bulges and disky pseudobulges coexist in the same galaxy. As part of a search for supermassive black holes in nearby galaxy nuclei, we obtained VLT-SINFONI observations in adaptive-optics mode of several of these galaxies. Schwarzschild dynamical modeling enables us to disentangle the stellar orbital structure of the different central components, and to distinguish the differing contributions of kinematically hot (classical bulge) and kinematically cool (pseudobulge) components in the same galaxy.

An Active Black Hole in a Compact Dwarf

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2016-05-01

a supermassive black hole of ~2 million solar masses, according to the authors estimates. Paudel and collaboratorsshow that this mass is consistent with the low-mass extension of the known scaling relation between central black-hole mass and brightness of the host galaxy.Central black hole mass vs. bulge K-band magnitude. SDSS J085431.18+173730.5 (red dot) falls right on the low-mass extension of the observed scaling relation. It has similar properties to M32, another compact elliptical galaxy. [Adapted from Paudel et al. 2016]To add to the mystery, SDSS J085431.18+173730.5 has no nearby neighbors: like the few other isolated compact ellipticals recently discovered, there are no massive galaxies in the immediate vicinity that could have led to its tidal stripping. So how was this puzzling ancient galaxy formed?The authors of this study support a previously proposed flyby scenario: isolated compact ellipticals may simply be tidally stripped systems that ran away from their hosts. Paudel and collaborators suggest that SDSS J085431.18+173730.5 might have long ago interacted with NGC 2672 a galaxy group located a whopping 6.5 million light-years away before being flung out to its current location.Further studies of this unique galaxys emission profile, as well as efforts to learn about its underlying stellar population and central kinematics, will hopefully help us to better understand not only the origins of this galaxy, but how all compact ellipticals form and evolve.CitationSanjaya Paudel et al 2016 ApJ 820 L19. doi:10.3847/2041-8205/820/1/L19

Black hole radiation with modified dispersion relation in tunneling paradigm: Static frame

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tao, Jun; Wang, Peng; Yang, Haitang

2017-09-01

To study possible deviations from the Hawking's prediction, we assume that the dispersion relations of matter fields are modified at high energies and use the Hamilton-Jacobi method to investigate the corresponding effects on the Hawking radiation in this paper. The preferred frame is the static frame of the black hole. The dispersion relation adopted agrees with the relativistic one at low energies but is modified near the Planck mass mp. We calculate the corrections to the Hawking temperature for massive and charged particles to O (mp-2) and massless and neutral particles to all orders. Our results suggest that the thermal spectrum of radiations near horizon is robust, e.g. corrections to the Hawking temperature are suppressed by mp. After the spectrum of radiations near the horizon is obtained, we use the brick wall model to compute the thermal entropy of a massless scalar field near the horizon of a 4D spherically symmetric black hole. We find that the subleading logarithmic term of the entropy does not depend on how the dispersion relations of matter fields are modified. Finally, the luminosities of black holes are computed by using the geometric optics approximation.

When Charged Black Holes Merge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2016-08-01

Most theoretical models assume that black holes arent charged. But a new study shows that mergers of charged black holes could explain a variety of astrophysical phenomena, from fast radio bursts to gamma-ray bursts.No HairThe black hole no hair theorem states that all black holes can be described by just three things: their mass, their spin, and their charge. Masses and spins have been observed and measured, but weve never measured the charge of a black hole and its widely believed that real black holes dont actually have any charge.That said, weve also never shown that black holes dont have charge, or set any upper limits on the charge that they might have. So lets suppose, for a moment, that its possible for a black hole to be charged. How might that affect what we know about the merger of two black holes? A recent theoretical study by Bing Zhang (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) examines this question.Intensity profile of a fast radio burst, a sudden burst of radio emission that lasts only a few milliseconds. [Swinburne Astronomy Productions]Driving TransientsZhangs work envisions a pair of black holes in a binary system. He argues that if just one of the black holes carries charge possibly retained by a rotating magnetosphere then it may be possible for the system to produce an electromagnetic signal that could accompany gravitational waves, such as a fast radio burst or a gamma-ray burst!In Zhangs model, the inspiral of the two black holes generates a global magnetic dipole thats perpendicular to the plane of the binarys orbit. The magnetic flux increases rapidly as the separation between the black holes decreases, generating an increasingly powerful magnetic wind. This wind, in turn, can give rise to a fast radio burst or a gamma-ray burst, depending on the value of the black holes charge.Artists illustration of a short gamma-ray burst, thought to be caused by the merger of two compact objects. [ESO/A. Roquette]Zhang calculates lower limits on the charge

Binary Black Hole Mergers, Gravitational Waves, and LISA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, Joan; Baker, J.; Boggs, W.; Kelly, B.; McWilliams, S.; vanMeter, J.

2008-01-01

The final merger of comparable mass binary black holes is expected to be the strongest source of gravitational waves for LISA. Since these mergers take place in regions of extreme gravity, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute black hole mergers using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities, causing them to crash well before the black holes in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Within the past few years, however, this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of remarkable breakthroughs. We will present the results of new simulations of black hole mergers with unequal masses and spins, focusing on the gravitational waves emitted and the accompanying astrophysical "kicks." The magnitude of these kicks has bearing on the production and growth of supermassive black holes during the epoch of structure formation, and on the retention of black holes in stellar clusters.

The Thermodynamics of Black Holes.

PubMed

Wald, Robert M

2001-01-01

We review the present status of black hole thermodynamics. Our review includes discussion of classical black hole thermodynamics, Hawking radiation from black holes, the generalized second law, and the issue of entropy bounds. A brief survey also is given of approaches to the calculation of black hole entropy. We conclude with a discussion of some unresolved open issues.

Gravity, black holes and the universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nicolson, I.

The book treats current understandings of the nature and properties of gravity, with particular emphasis on its role in the physics of black holes and the structure and evolution of the universe as a whole. The development of modern ideas on force, motion and gravity is traced from the systems of Aristotle and Ptolemy through the work of Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler to Newton's law of universal gravitation and Einstein's general theory of relativity. Particular attention is then given to the role of gravity in stellar motions and to the phenomena determined by the immense gravitational forces associated with bodies of such great density, including relativistic effects, tidal forces, space-time effects, event horizons, rotation, mass and electrical charge, the existence of naked singularities and white holes, and black-hole thermodynamics. The existence of actual black holes in the universe is considered, and various black-hole candidates in the Galaxy, quasars and galactic nuclei are indicated. The role of gravity in cosmology is then examined, with attention given to the implications of general relativity, the Hubble law, the age of the universe, the density of the universe and its eventual fate. Possible alternative to general relativity as a theory of gravitation are considered, including theories of variable gravitational constant, grand unified theories, and quantum gravity.

Characterizing Black Hole Mergers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baker, John; Boggs, William Darian; Kelly, Bernard

2010-01-01

Binary black hole mergers are a promising source of gravitational waves for interferometric gravitational wave detectors. Recent advances in numerical relativity have revealed the predictions of General Relativity for the strong burst of radiation generated in the final moments of binary coalescence. We explore features in the merger radiation which characterize the final moments of merger and ringdown. Interpreting the waveforms in terms of an rotating implicit radiation source allows a unified phenomenological description of the system from inspiral through ringdown. Common features in the waveforms allow quantitative description of the merger signal which may provide insights for observations large-mass black hole binaries.

No supermassive black hole in M33?

PubMed

Merritt, D; Ferrarese, L; Joseph, C L

2001-08-10

We observed the nucleus of M33, the third-brightest galaxy in the Local Group, with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph at a resolution at least a factor of 10 higher than previously obtained. Rather than the steep rise expected within the radius of gravitational influence of a supermassive black hole, the random stellar velocities showed a decrease within a parsec of the center of the galaxy. The implied upper limit on the mass of the central black hole is only 3000 solar masses, about three orders of magnitude lower than the dynamically inferred mass of any other supermassive black hole. Detecting black holes of only a few thousand solar masses is observationally challenging, but it is critical to establish how supermassive black holes relate to their host galaxies, and which mechanisms influence the formation and evolution of both.

Thermal stability of charged rotating quantum black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinha, Aloke Kumar; Majumdar, Parthasarathi

2017-12-01

Criteria for thermal stability of charged rotating black holes of any dimension are derived for horizon areas that are large relative to the Planck area (in these dimensions). The derivation is based on generic assumptions of quantum geometry, supported by some results of loop quantum gravity, and equilibrium statistical mechanics of the Grand Canonical ensemble. There is no explicit use of classical spacetime geometry in this analysis. The only assumption is that the mass of the black hole is a function of its horizon area, charge and angular momentum. Our stability criteria are then tested in detail against specific classical black holes in spacetime dimensions 4 and 5, whose metrics provide us with explicit relations for the dependence of the mass on the charge and angular momentum of the black holes. This enables us to predict which of these black holes are expected to be thermally unstable under Hawking radiation.

Dark Candles of the Universe: Black Hole Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aykutalp, Aycin

2016-03-01

In 1916, when Karl Schwarzschild solved the Einstein field equations of general relativity for a spherically symmetric, non-rotating mass no one anticipated the impact black holes would have on astrophysics. I will review the main formation channels for black hole seeds and their evolution through cosmic time. In this, emphasis will be placed on the observational diagnostics of astrophysical black holes and their role on the assembly of galaxy formation and evolution. I then review how these observations put constrain on the seed black hole formation theories. Finally, I present an outlook for how future observations can shed light on our understanding of black holes. This work is supported by NSF Grant AST-1333360.

Modeling rapidly spinning, merging black holes with numerical relativity for the era of first gravitational-wave observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lovelace, Geoffrey; Simulating eXtreme Collaboration; LIGO Scientific Collaboration

2016-03-01

The Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (Advanced LIGO) began searching for gravitational waves in September 2015, with three times the sensitivity of the initial LIGO experiment. Merging black holes are among the most promising sources of gravitational waves for Advanced LIGO, but near the time of merger, the emitted waves can only be computed using numerical relativity. In this talk, I will present new numerical-relativity simulations of merging black holes, made using the Spectral Einstein Code [black-holes.org/SpEC.html], including cases with black-hole spins that are nearly as fast as possible. I will discuss how such simulations will be able to rapidly follow up gravitational-wave observations, improving our understanding of the waves' sources.

Are black holes springlike?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Good, Michael R. R.; Ong, Yen Chin

2015-02-01

A (3 +1 )-dimensional asymptotically flat Kerr black hole angular speed Ω+ can be used to define an effective spring constant, k =m Ω+2. Its maximum value is the Schwarzschild surface gravity, k =κ , which rapidly weakens as the black hole spins down and the temperature increases. The Hawking temperature is expressed in terms of the spring constant: 2 π T =κ -k . Hooke's law, in the extremal limit, provides the force F =1 /4 , which is consistent with the conjecture of maximum force in general relativity.

Black-hole-regulated star formation in massive galaxies.

PubMed

Martín-Navarro, Ignacio; Brodie, Jean P; Romanowsky, Aaron J; Ruiz-Lara, Tomás; van de Ven, Glenn

2018-01-18

Supermassive black holes, with masses more than a million times that of the Sun, seem to inhabit the centres of all massive galaxies. Cosmologically motivated theories of galaxy formation require feedback from these supermassive black holes to regulate star formation. In the absence of such feedback, state-of-the-art numerical simulations fail to reproduce the number density and properties of massive galaxies in the local Universe. There is, however, no observational evidence of this strongly coupled coevolution between supermassive black holes and star formation, impeding our understanding of baryonic processes within galaxies. Here we report that the star formation histories of nearby massive galaxies, as measured from their integrated optical spectra, depend on the mass of the central supermassive black hole. Our results indicate that the black-hole mass scales with the gas cooling rate in the early Universe. The subsequent quenching of star formation takes place earlier and more efficiently in galaxies that host higher-mass central black holes. The observed relation between black-hole mass and star formation efficiency applies to all generations of stars formed throughout the life of a galaxy, revealing a continuous interplay between black-hole activity and baryon cooling.

Black-hole-regulated star formation in massive galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martín-Navarro, Ignacio; Brodie, Jean P.; Romanowsky, Aaron J.; Ruiz-Lara, Tomás; van de Ven, Glenn

2018-01-01

Supermassive black holes, with masses more than a million times that of the Sun, seem to inhabit the centres of all massive galaxies. Cosmologically motivated theories of galaxy formation require feedback from these supermassive black holes to regulate star formation. In the absence of such feedback, state-of-the-art numerical simulations fail to reproduce the number density and properties of massive galaxies in the local Universe. There is, however, no observational evidence of this strongly coupled coevolution between supermassive black holes and star formation, impeding our understanding of baryonic processes within galaxies. Here we report that the star formation histories of nearby massive galaxies, as measured from their integrated optical spectra, depend on the mass of the central supermassive black hole. Our results indicate that the black-hole mass scales with the gas cooling rate in the early Universe. The subsequent quenching of star formation takes place earlier and more efficiently in galaxies that host higher-mass central black holes. The observed relation between black-hole mass and star formation efficiency applies to all generations of stars formed throughout the life of a galaxy, revealing a continuous interplay between black-hole activity and baryon cooling.

BULGES OF NEARBY GALAXIES WITH SPITZER: SCALING RELATIONS IN PSEUDOBULGES AND CLASSICAL BULGES

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fisher, David B.; Drory, Niv, E-mail: dbfisher@astro.as.utexas.ed

2010-06-20

We investigate scaling relations of bulges using bulge-disk decompositions at 3.6 {mu}m and present bulge classifications for 173 E-Sd galaxies within 20 Mpc. Pseudobulges and classical bulges are identified using Sersic index, Hubble Space Telescope morphology, and star formation activity (traced by 8 {mu}m emission). In the near-IR pseudobulges have n{sub b} < 2 and classical bulges have n{sub b} >2, as found in the optical. Sersic index and morphology are essentially equivalent properties for bulge classification purposes. We confirm, using a much more robust sample, that the Sersic index of pseudobulges is uncorrelated with other bulge structural properties, unlikemore » for classical bulges and elliptical galaxies. Also, the half-light radius of pseudobulges is not correlated with any other bulge property. We also find a new correlation between surface brightness and pseudobulge luminosity; pseudobulges become more luminous as they become more dense. Classical bulges follow the well-known scaling relations between surface brightness, luminosity, and half-light radius that are established by elliptical galaxies. We show that those pseudobulges (as indicated by Sersic index and nuclear morphology) that have low specific star formation rates are very similar to models of galaxies in which both a pseudobulge and classical bulge exist. Therefore, pseudobulge identification that relies only on structural indicators is incomplete. Our results, especially those on scaling relations, imply that pseudobulges are very different types of objects than elliptical galaxies.« less

Gravitational Waves from Black Hole Mergers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, Joan

2007-01-01

The final merger of two black holes is expected to be the strongest gravitational wave source for ground-based interferometers such as LIGO, VIRGO, and GEO600, as well as the space-based interferometer LISA. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. Since these mergers take place in regions of extreme gravity, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute black hole mergers using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities, causing them to crash well before the black holes in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Within the past few years, however, this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of remarkable breakthroughs. This talk will focus on new simulations that are revealing the dynamics and waveforms of binary black hole mergers, and their applications in gravitational wave detection, data analysis, and astrophysics.

Black Hole in 3-D

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-11-30

This three-dimensional illustration shows how the rotating space around a black hole twists up the magnetic field in the plasma falling toward the black hole. The black sphere at the center of the figure is the black hole itself. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04207

NASA's Chandra Finds Black Holes Are "Green"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2006-04-01

Black holes are the most fuel efficient engines in the Universe, according to a new study using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. By making the first direct estimate of how efficient or "green" black holes are, this work gives insight into how black holes generate energy and affect their environment. The new Chandra finding shows that most of the energy released by matter falling toward a supermassive black hole is in the form of high-energy jets traveling at near the speed of light away from the black hole. This is an important step in understanding how such jets can be launched from magnetized disks of gas near the event horizon of a black hole. Illustration of Fuel for a Black Hole Engine Illustration of Fuel for a Black Hole Engine "Just as with cars, it's critical to know the fuel efficiency of black holes," said lead author Steve Allen of the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford University, and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. "Without this information, we cannot figure out what is going on under the hood, so to speak, or what the engine can do." Allen and his team used Chandra to study nine supermassive black holes at the centers of elliptical galaxies. These black holes are relatively old and generate much less radiation than quasars, rapidly growing supermassive black holes seen in the early Universe. The surprise came when the Chandra results showed that these "quiet" black holes are all producing much more energy in jets of high-energy particles than in visible light or X-rays. These jets create huge bubbles, or cavities, in the hot gas in the galaxies. Animation of Black Hole in Elliptical Galaxy Animation of Black Hole in Elliptical Galaxy The efficiency of the black hole energy-production was calculated in two steps: first Chandra images of the inner regions of the galaxies were used to estimate how much fuel is available for the black hole; then Chandra images were used to estimate the power required to produce

Charged Galileon black holes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Babichev, Eugeny; Charmousis, Christos; Hassaine, Mokhtar, E-mail: eugeny.babichev@th.u-psud.fr, E-mail: christos.charmousis@th.u-psud.fr, E-mail: hassaine@inst-mat.utalca.cl

We consider an Abelian gauge field coupled to a particular truncation of Horndeski theory. The Galileon field has translation symmetry and couples non minimally both to the metric and the gauge field. When the gauge-scalar coupling is zero the gauge field reduces to a standard Maxwell field. By taking into account the symmetries of the action, we construct charged black hole solutions. Allowing the scalar field to softly break symmetries of spacetime we construct black holes where the scalar field is regular on the black hole event horizon. Some of these solutions can be interpreted as the equivalent of Reissner-Nordstrommore » black holes of scalar tensor theories with a non trivial scalar field. A self tuning black hole solution found previously is extended to the presence of dyonic charge without affecting whatsoever the self tuning of a large positive cosmological constant. Finally, for a general shift invariant scalar tensor theory we demonstrate that the scalar field Ansatz and method we employ are mathematically compatible with the field equations. This opens up the possibility for novel searches of hairy black holes in a far more general setting of Horndeski theory.« less

NGC 1275: an outlier of the black hole-host scaling relations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sani, Eleonora; Ricci, Federica; La Franca, Fabio; Bianchi, Stefano; Bongiorno, Angela; Brusa, Marcella; Marconi, Alessandro; Onori, Francesca; Shankar, Francesco; Vignali, Cristian

2018-02-01

The active galaxy NGC 1275 lies at the center of the Perseus cluster of galaxies, being an archetypal BH-galaxy system that is supposed to fit well with the M_{BH}-host scaling relations obtained for quiescent galaxies. Since it harbours an obscured AGN, only recently our group has been able to estimate its black hole mass. Here our aim is to pinpoint NGC 1275 on the less dispersed scaling relations, namely the M_{BH}-σ_\\star and M_{BH}-L_{bul} planes. Starting from our previous work tep{ricci17b}, we estimate that NGC 1275 falls well outside the intrinsic dispersion of the M_{BH}-σ_\\star plane being 1.2 dex (in black hole mass) displaced with respect to the scaling relations. We then perform a 2D morphological decomposition analysis on Spitzer/IRAC images at 3.6 μm and find that, beyond the bright compact nucleus that dominates the central emission, NGC 1275 follows a de Vaucouleurs profile with no sign of significant star formation nor clear merger remnants. Nonetheless, its displacement on the M_{BH}-L_{bul,3.6} plane with respect to the scaling relation is as high as observed in the M_{BH}-σ_\\star. We explore various scenarios to interpret such behaviors, of which the most realistic one is the evolutionary pattern followed by NGC 1275 to approach the scaling relation. We indeed speculate that NGC 1275 might be a specimen for those galaxies in which the black holes adjusted to its host.

Black hole event horizons — Teleology and predictivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhattacharya, Swastik; Shankaranarayanan, S.

2017-11-01

General Relativity predicts the existence of black holes. Access to the complete spacetime manifold is required to describe the black hole. This feature necessitates that black hole dynamics is specified by future or teleological boundary condition. Here, we demonstrate that the statistical mechanical description of black holes, the raison d’être behind the existence of black hole thermodynamics, requires teleological boundary condition. Within the fluid-gravity paradigm — Einstein’s equations when projected on spacetime horizons resemble Navier-Stokes equation of a fluid — we show that the specific heat and the coefficient of bulk viscosity of the horizon fluid are negative only if the teleological boundary condition is taken into account. We argue that in a quantum theory of gravity, the future boundary condition plays a crucial role. We briefly discuss the possible implications of this at late stages of black hole evaporation.

Big Black Holes Mean Bad News for Stars (diagram)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2006-01-01

[figure removed for brevity, see original site] Poster Version Suppression of Star Formation from Supermassive Black Holes

This diagram illustrates research from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer showing that black holes -- once they reach a critical size -- can put the brakes on new star formation in elliptical galaxies.

In this graph, galaxies and their supermassive black holes are indicated by the drawings (the black circle at the center of each galaxy represents the black hole). The relative masses of the galaxies and their black holes are reflected in the sizes of the drawings. Blue indicates that the galaxy has new stars, while red means the galaxy does not have any detectable new stars.

The Galaxy Evolution Explorer observed the following trend: the biggest galaxies and black holes (shown in upper right corner) are more likely to have no observable star formation (red) than the smaller galaxies with smaller black holes. This is evidence that black holes can create environments unsuitable for stellar birth.

The white line in the diagram illustrates that, for any galaxy no matter what the mass, its black hole must reach a critical size before it can shut down star formation.

Perspectives: Black Holes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dolan, Joseph F.; Fisher, Richard R. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

When asked to discuss Cyg XR-1, E. E. Salpeter once concluded, 'A black hole in Cyg X(R)-1 is the most conservative hypothesis.' Recent observations now make it likely that a black hole in Cyg XR-1 is the only hypothesis tenable. Chandrasekhar first showed that compact stars - those with the inward force of gravity on their outer layers balanced by the pressure generated by the Pauli exclusion principle acting on its electrons (in white dwarfs) or nucleons (in neutron stars) - have a maximum mass. Equilibrium is achieved at a minimum of the total energy of the star, which is the sum of the positive Fermi energy and the negative gravitational energy. The maximum mass attainable in equilibrium is found by setting E = 0: M(max) = 1.5 M(Sun). If the mass of the star is larger than this, then E can be decreased without bound by decreasing the star's radius and increasing its (negative) gravitational energy. No equilibrium value of the radius exist, and general relativity predicts that gravitational collapse to a point occurs. This point singularity is a black hole.

Gravity, black holes, and the universe

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nicolson, I.

1981-01-01

The book treats current understandings of the nature and properties of gravity, with particular emphasis on its role in the physics of black holes and the structure and evolution of the universe as a whole. The development of modern ideas on force, motion and gravity is traced from the systems of Aristotle and Ptolemy through the work of Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler to Newton's law of universal gravitation and Einstein's general theory of relativity. Particular attention is then given to the role of gravity in stellar motions and to the phenomena determined by the immense gravitational forces associated with bodiesmore » of such great density, including relativistic effects, tidal forces, space-time effects, event horizons, rotation, mass and electrical charge, the existence of naked singularities and white holes, and black-hole thermodynamics. The existence of actual black holes in the universe is considered, and various black-hole candidates in the Galaxy, quasars and galactic nuclei are indicated. The role of gravity in cosmology is then examined, with attention given to the implications of general relativity, the Hubble law, the age of the universe, the density of the universe and its eventual fate. Possible alternative to general relativity as a theory of gravitation are considered, including theories of variable gravitational constant, grand unified theories, and quantum gravity.« less

Pulsation of black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Changjun; Lu, Youjun; Shen, You-Gen; Faraoni, Valerio

2018-01-01

The Hawking-Penrose singularity theorem states that a singularity forms inside a black hole in general relativity. To remove this singularity one must resort to a more fundamental theory. Using a corrected dynamical equation arising in loop quantum cosmology and braneworld models, we study the gravitational collapse of a perfect fluid sphere with a rather general equation of state. In the frame of an observer comoving with this fluid, the sphere pulsates between a maximum and a minimum size, avoiding the singularity. The exterior geometry is also constructed. There are usually an outer and an inner apparent horizon, resembling the Reissner-Nordström situation. For a distant observer the horizon crossing occurs in an infinite time and the pulsations of the black hole quantum "beating heart" are completely unobservable. However, it may be observable if the black hole is not spherical symmetric and radiates gravitational wave due to the quadrupole moment, if any.

Chandra Data Reveal Rapidly Whirling Black Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2008-01-01

A new study using results from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory provides one of the best pieces of evidence yet that many supermassive black holes are spinning extremely rapidly. The whirling of these giant black holes drives powerful jets that pump huge amounts of energy into their environment and affects galaxy growth. A team of scientists compared leading theories of jets produced by rotating supermassive black holes with Chandra data. A sampling of nine giant galaxies that exhibit large disturbances in their gaseous atmospheres showed that the central black holes in these galaxies must be spinning at near their maximum rates. People Who Read This Also Read... NASA’s Swift Satellite Catches First Supernova in The Act of Exploding Black Holes Have Simple Feeding Habits Jet Power and Black Hole Assortment Revealed in New Chandra Image Erratic Black Hole Regulates Itself "We think these monster black holes are spinning close to the limit set by Einstein's theory of relativity, which means that they can drag material around them at close to the speed of light," said Rodrigo Nemmen, a visiting graduate student at Penn State University, and lead author of a paper on the new results presented at American Astronomical Society in Austin, Texas. The research reinforces other, less direct methods previously used which have indicated that some stellar and supermassive black holes are spinning rapidly. According to Einstein's theory, a rapidly spinning black hole makes space itself rotate. This effect, coupled with gas spiraling toward the black hole, can produce a rotating, tightly wound vertical tower of magnetic field that flings a large fraction of the inflowing gas away from the vicinity of the black hole in an energetic, high-speed jet. Computer simulations by other authors have suggested that black holes may acquire their rapid spins when galaxies merge, and through the accretion of gas from their surroundings. "Extremely fast spin might be very common for large

Black hole evaporation rates without spacetime.

PubMed

Braunstein, Samuel L; Patra, Manas K

2011-08-12

Verlinde recently suggested that gravity, inertia, and even spacetime may be emergent properties of an underlying thermodynamic theory. This vision was motivated in part by Jacobson's 1995 surprise result that the Einstein equations of gravity follow from the thermodynamic properties of event horizons. Taking a first tentative step in such a program, we derive the evaporation rate (or radiation spectrum) from black hole event horizons in a spacetime-free manner. Our result relies on a Hilbert space description of black hole evaporation, symmetries therein which follow from the inherent high dimensionality of black holes, global conservation of the no-hair quantities, and the existence of Penrose processes. Our analysis is not wedded to standard general relativity and so should apply to extended gravity theories where we find that the black hole area must be replaced by some other property in any generalized area theorem.

Black Hole Magnetospheres

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nathanail, Antonios; Contopoulos, Ioannis

2014-06-01

We investigate the structure of the steady-state force-free magnetosphere around a Kerr black hole in various astrophysical settings. The solution Ψ(r, θ) depends on the distributions of the magnetic field line angular velocity ω(Ψ) and the poloidal electric current I(Ψ). These are obtained self-consistently as eigenfunctions that allow the solution to smoothly cross the two singular surfaces of the problem, the inner light surface inside the ergosphere, and the outer light surface, which is the generalization of the pulsar light cylinder. Magnetic field configurations that cross both singular surfaces (e.g., monopole, paraboloidal) are uniquely determined. Configurations that cross only one light surface (e.g., the artificial case of a rotating black hole embedded in a vertical magnetic field) are degenerate. We show that, similar to pulsars, black hole magnetospheres naturally develop an electric current sheet that potentially plays a very important role in the dissipation of black hole rotational energy and in the emission of high-energy radiation.

Black Holes and Qubits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borsten, L.; Duff, M. J.; Rubens, W.

These notes have been compiled to accompany a series of four lectures given at the Kinki University Quantum Computing Series Summer School on Decoherence, Entanglement and Entropy, August 2009 at the Oxford Kobe Institute (Kobe, Japan). Each of the four lectures focuses on a particular topic falling under the broad umbrella of the "black-hole/qubit correspondence". Lecture I introduces the first instance of the black-hole/qubit correspondence, the relationship between the entanglement of three qubits and the entropy of STU black holes. Lecture II develops this correspondence to the case of {N} = 8 black holes and the tripartite entanglement of seven qubits. Lecture III examines the use of Jordan algebras and the Freudenthal triple system, which capture the U-duality symmetries of these black hole systems, in entanglement classification. Lecture IV introduces the superqubit, a natural candidate to represent supersymmetric quantum information. These lectures draw on work done with D. Dahanayake, H. Ebrahim, S. Ferrara and A. Marrani whose efforts are most gratefully acknowledged.

Black Hole Universe Model for Explaining GRBs, X-Ray Flares, and Quasars as Emissions of Dynamic Star-like, Massive, and Supermassive Black Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Tianxi

2014-01-01

Slightly modifying the standard big bang theory, the author has recently developed a new cosmological model called black hole universe, which is consistent with Mach’s principle, governed by Einstein’s general theory of relativity, and able to explain all observations of the universe. Previous studies accounted for the origin, structure, evolution, expansion, cosmic microwave background radiation, and acceleration of the black hole universe, which grew from a star-like black hole with several solar masses through a supermassive black hole with billions of solar masses to the present state with hundred billion-trillions of solar masses by accreting ambient matter and merging with other black holes. This study investigates the emissions of dynamic black holes according to the black hole universe model and provides a self-consistent explanation for the observations of gamma ray bursts (GRBs), X-ray flares, and quasars as emissions of dynamic star-like, massive, and supermassive black holes. It is shown that a black hole, when it accretes its ambient matter or merges with other black holes, becomes dynamic. Since the event horizon of a dynamic black hole is broken, the inside hot (or high-frequency) blackbody radiation leaks out. The leakage of the inside hot blackbody radiation leads to a GRB if it is a star-like black hole, an X-ray flare if it is a massive black hole like the one at the center of the Milky Way, or a quasar if it is a supermassive black hole like an active galactic nucleus (AGN). The energy spectra and amount of emissions produced by the dynamic star-like, massive, and supermassive black holes can be consistent with the measurements of GRBs, X-ray flares, and quasars.

A Black Hole Choir.

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-07-28

The blue dots in this field of galaxies, known as the COSMOS field, show galaxies that contain supermassive black holes emitting high-energy X-rays. The black holes were detected by NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Array, or NuSTAR, which spotted 32 such black holes in this field and has observed hundreds across the whole sky so far. The other colored dots are galaxies that host black holes emitting lower-energy X-rays, and were spotted by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. Chandra data show X-rays with energies between 0.5 to 7 kiloelectron volts, while NuSTAR data show X-rays between 8 to 24 kiloelectron volts. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20865

How big can a black hole grow?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

King, Andrew

2016-02-01

I show that there is a physical limit to the mass of a black hole, above which it cannot grow through luminous accretion of gas, and so cannot appear as a quasar or active galactic nucleus (AGN). The limit is Mmax ≃ 5 × 1010 M⊙ for typical parameters, but can reach Mmax ≃ 2.7 × 1011 M⊙ in extreme cases (e.g. maximal prograde spin). The largest black hole masses so far found are close to but below the limit. The Eddington luminosity ≃6.5 × 1048 erg s-1 corresponding to Mmax is remarkably close to the largest AGN bolometric luminosity so far observed. The mass and luminosity limits both rely on a reasonable but currently untestable hypothesis about AGN disc formation, so future observations of extreme supermassive black hole masses can therefore probe fundamental disc physics. Black holes can in principle grow their masses above Mmax by non-luminous means such as mergers with other holes, but cannot become luminous accretors again. They might nevertheless be detectable in other ways, for example through gravitational lensing. I show further that black holes with masses ˜Mmax can probably grow above the values specified by the black-hole-host-galaxy scaling relations, in agreement with observation.

Higher order corrections to holographic black hole chemistry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinamuli, Musema; Mann, Robert B.

2017-10-01

We investigate the holographic Smarr relation beyond the large N limit. By making use of the holographic dictionary, we find that the bulk correlates of subleading 1 /N corrections to this relation are related to the couplings in Lovelock gravity theories. We likewise obtain a holographic equation of state and check its validity for a variety of interesting and nontrivial black holes, including rotating planar black holes in Gauss-Bonnet-Born-Infeld gravity, and nonextremal rotating black holes in minimal five-dimensional gauged supergravity. We provide an explanation of the N -dependence of the holographic Smarr relation in terms of contributions due to planar and nonplanar diagrams in the dual theory.

Black Hole Interior in Quantum Gravity.

PubMed

Nomura, Yasunori; Sanches, Fabio; Weinberg, Sean J

2015-05-22

We discuss the interior of a black hole in quantum gravity, in which black holes form and evaporate unitarily. The interior spacetime appears in the sense of complementarity because of special features revealed by the microscopic degrees of freedom when viewed from a semiclassical standpoint. The relation between quantum mechanics and the equivalence principle is subtle, but they are still consistent.

Searching for Black Holes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Garcia, M.

1998-01-01

Our UV/VIS work concentrates on black hole X-ray nova. These objects consist of two stars in close orbit, one of which we believe is a black hole - our goal is to SHOW that one is a black hole. In order to reach this goal we carry out observations in the Optical, UV, IR and X-ray bands, and compare the observations to theoretical models. In the past year, our UV/VIS grant has provided partial support (mainly travel funds and page charges) for work we have done on X-ray nova containing black holes and neutron stars. We have been very successful in obtaining telescope time to support our project - we have completed approximately a dozen separate observing runs averaging 3 days each, using the MMT (5M), Lick 3M, KPNO 2.1M, CTIO 4M, CTIO 1.5M, and the SAO/WO 1.2M telescopes. These observations have allowed the identification of one new black hole (Nova Oph 1977), and allowed the mass of another to be measured (GS2000+25). Perhaps our most exciting new result is the evidence we have gathered for the existence of 'event horizons' in black hole X-ray nova.

BOOK REVIEW: Black Holes, Cosmology and Extra Dimensions Black Holes, Cosmology and Extra Dimensions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frolov, Valeri P.

2013-10-01

The book Black holes, Cosmology and Extra Dimensions written by Kirill A Bronnikov and Sergey G Rubin has been published recently by World Scientific Publishing Company. The authors are well known experts in gravity and cosmology. The book is a monograph, a considerable part of which is based on the original work of the authors. Their original point of view on some of the problems makes the book quite interesting, covering a variety of important topics of the modern theory of gravity, astrophysics and cosmology. It consists of 11 chapters which are organized in three parts. The book starts with an introduction, where the authors briefly discuss the main ideas of General Relativity, giving some historical remarks on its development and application to cosmology, and mentioning some more recent subjects such as brane worlds, f(R)-theories and gravity in higher dimensions. Part I of the book is called 'Gravity'. Chapters two and three are devoted to the Einstein equations and their spherical symmetric black hole solutions. This material is quite standard and can be found in practically any book on General Relativity. A brief summary of the Kerr metric and black hole thermodynamics are given in chapter four. The main part of this chapter is devoted to spherically symmetric black holes in non-Einstein gravity (with scalar and phantom fields), black holes with regular interior, and black holes in brane worlds. Chapters five and six are mainly dedicated to wormholes and the problem of their stability. Part II (Cosmology) starts with discussion of the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker and de Sitter solutions of the Einstein equations and their properties. It follows by describing a `big picture' of the modern cosmology (inflation, post-inflationary reheating, the radiation-dominated and matter-dominated states, and modern stage of the (secondary) inflation). The authors explain how the inflation models allow one to solve many of the long-standing problems of cosmology, such as

Black holes and the multiverse

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garriga, Jaume; Vilenkin, Alexander; Zhang, Jun

2016-02-01

Vacuum bubbles may nucleate and expand during the inflationary epoch in the early universe. After inflation ends, the bubbles quickly dissipate their kinetic energy; they come to rest with respect to the Hubble flow and eventually form black holes. The fate of the bubble itself depends on the resulting black hole mass. If the mass is smaller than a certain critical value, the bubble collapses to a singularity. Otherwise, the bubble interior inflates, forming a baby universe, which is connected to the exterior FRW region by a wormhole. A similar black hole formation mechanism operates for spherical domain walls nucleating during inflation. As an illustrative example, we studied the black hole mass spectrum in the domain wall scenario, assuming that domain walls interact with matter only gravitationally. Our results indicate that, depending on the model parameters, black holes produced in this scenario can have significant astrophysical effects and can even serve as dark matter or as seeds for supermassive black holes. The mechanism of black hole formation described in this paper is very generic and has important implications for the global structure of the universe. Baby universes inside super-critical black holes inflate eternally and nucleate bubbles of all vacua allowed by the underlying particle physics. The resulting multiverse has a very non-trivial spacetime structure, with a multitude of eternally inflating regions connected by wormholes. If a black hole population with the predicted mass spectrum is discovered, it could be regarded as evidence for inflation and for the existence of a multiverse.

Black holes and the multiverse

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Garriga, Jaume; Vilenkin, Alexander; Zhang, Jun, E-mail: jaume.garriga@ub.edu, E-mail: vilenkin@cosmos.phy.tufts.edu, E-mail: jun.zhang@tufts.edu

Vacuum bubbles may nucleate and expand during the inflationary epoch in the early universe. After inflation ends, the bubbles quickly dissipate their kinetic energy; they come to rest with respect to the Hubble flow and eventually form black holes. The fate of the bubble itself depends on the resulting black hole mass. If the mass is smaller than a certain critical value, the bubble collapses to a singularity. Otherwise, the bubble interior inflates, forming a baby universe, which is connected to the exterior FRW region by a wormhole. A similar black hole formation mechanism operates for spherical domain walls nucleatingmore » during inflation. As an illustrative example, we studied the black hole mass spectrum in the domain wall scenario, assuming that domain walls interact with matter only gravitationally. Our results indicate that, depending on the model parameters, black holes produced in this scenario can have significant astrophysical effects and can even serve as dark matter or as seeds for supermassive black holes. The mechanism of black hole formation described in this paper is very generic and has important implications for the global structure of the universe. Baby universes inside super-critical black holes inflate eternally and nucleate bubbles of all vacua allowed by the underlying particle physics. The resulting multiverse has a very non-trivial spacetime structure, with a multitude of eternally inflating regions connected by wormholes. If a black hole population with the predicted mass spectrum is discovered, it could be regarded as evidence for inflation and for the existence of a multiverse.« less

Breaking the Supermassive Black Hole Speed Limit

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Smidt, Joseph

A new computer simulation helps explain the existence of puzzling supermassive black holes observed in the early universe. The simulation is based on a computer code used to understand the coupling of radiation and certain materials. “Supermassive black holes have a speed limit that governs how fast and how large they can grow,” said Joseph Smidt of the Theoretical Design Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory. “The relatively recent discovery of supermassive black holes in the early development of the universe raised a fundamental question, how did they get so big so fast?” Using computer codes developed at Los Alamosmore » for modeling the interaction of matter and radiation related to the Lab’s stockpile stewardship mission, Smidt and colleagues created a simulation of collapsing stars that resulted in supermassive black holes forming in less time than expected, cosmologically speaking, in the first billion years of the universe.« less

Black Hole Jerked Around Twice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2010-07-01

Scientists have found evidence that a giant black hole has been jerked around twice, causing its spin axis to point in a different direction from before. This discovery, made with new data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, might explain several mysterious-looking objects found throughout the Universe. The axis of the spinning black hole is thought to have moved, but not the black hole itself, so this result differs from recently published work on recoiling black holes. "We think this is the best evidence ever seen for a black hole having been jerked around like this," said Edmund Hodges-Kluck of the University of Maryland. "We're not exactly sure what caused this behavior, but it was probably triggered by a collision between two galaxies." A team of astronomers used Chandra for a long observation of a galaxy known as 4C+00.58, which is located about 780 million light years from Earth. Like most galaxies, 4C+00.58 contains a supermassive black hole at its center, but this one is actively pulling in copious quantities of gas. Gas swirling toward the black hole forms a disk around the black hole. Twisted magnetic fields in the disk generate strong electromagnetic forces that propel some of the gas away from the disk at high speed, producing radio jets. A radio image of this galaxy shows a bright pair of jets pointing from left to right and a fainter, more distant line of radio emission running in a different direction. More specifically, 4C+00.58 belongs to a class of "X-shaped" galaxies, so called because of the outline of their radio emission. The new Chandra data have allowed astronomers to determine what may be happening in this system, and perhaps in others like it. The X-ray image reveals four different cavities around the black hole. These cavities come in pairs: one in the top-right and bottom-left, and another in the top-left and bottom-right. When combined with the orientation of the radio jets, the complicated geometry revealed in the Chandra image may

Black Hole Grabs Starry Snack

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2006-01-01

[figure removed for brevity, see original site] Poster Version

This artist's concept shows a supermassive black hole at the center of a remote galaxy digesting the remnants of a star. NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer had a 'ringside' seat for this feeding frenzy, using its ultraviolet eyes to study the process from beginning to end.

The artist's concept chronicles the star being ripped apart and swallowed by the cosmic beast over time. First, the intact sun-like star (left) ventures too close to the black hole, and its own self-gravity is overwhelmed by the black hole's gravity. The star then stretches apart (middle yellow blob) and eventually breaks into stellar crumbs, some of which swirl into the black hole (cloudy ring at right). This doomed material heats up and radiates light, including ultraviolet light, before disappearing forever into the black hole. The Galaxy Evolution Explorer was able to watch this process unfold by observing changes in ultraviolet light.

The area around the black hole appears warped because the gravity of the black hole acts like a lens, twisting and distorting light.

Shadows of rotating five-dimensional charged EMCS black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amir, Muhammed; Singh, Balendra Pratap; Ghosh, Sushant G.

2018-05-01

Higher-dimensional theories admit astrophysical objects like supermassive black holes, which are rather different from standard ones, and their gravitational lensing features deviate from general relativity. It is well known that a black hole shadow is a dark region due to the falling geodesics of photons into the black hole and, if detected, a black hole shadow could be used to determine which theory of gravity is consistent with observations. Measurements of the shadow sizes around the black holes can help to evaluate various parameters of the black hole metric. We study the shapes of the shadow cast by the rotating five-dimensional charged Einstein-Maxwell-Chern-Simons (EMCS) black holes, which is characterized by four parameters, i.e., mass, two spins, and charge, in which the spin parameters are set equal. We integrate the null geodesic equations and derive an analytical formula for the shadow of the five-dimensional EMCS black hole, in turn, to show that size of black hole shadow is affected due to charge as well as spin. The shadow is a dark zone covered by a deformed circle, and the size of the shadow decreases with an increase in the charge q when compared with the five-dimensional Myers-Perry black hole. Interestingly, the distortion increases with charge q. The effect of these parameters on the shape and size of the naked singularity shadow of the five-dimensional EMCS black hole is also discussed.

The mass formula for an exotic BTZ black hole

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Baocheng, E-mail: zhangbc.zhang@yahoo.com

2016-04-15

An exotic Bañados–Teitelboim–Zanelli (BTZ) black hole has an angular momentum larger than its mass in three dimension (3D), which suggests the possibility that cosmic censorship could be violated if angular momentum is extracted by the Penrose process. In this paper, we propose a mass formula for the exotic BTZ black hole and show no violation of weak cosmic censorship in the gedanken process above by understanding properly its mass formula. Unlike the other black holes, the total energy of the exotic BTZ black hole is represented by the angular momentum instead of the mass, which supports a basic point ofmore » view that the same geometry should be determined by the same energy in 3D general relativity whose equation of motion can be given either by normal 3D Einstein gravity or by exotic 3D Einstein gravity. However, only the mass of the exotic black hole is related to the thermodynamics and other forms of energy are “dumb”, which is consistent with the earlier thermodynamic analysis about exotic black holes.« less

Topological transport from a black hole

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Melnikov, Dmitry

2018-03-01

In this paper the low temperature zero-frequency transport in a 2 + 1-dimensional theory dual to a dyonic black hole is discussed. It is shown that transport exhibits topological features: the transverse electric and heat conductivities satisfy the Wiedemann-Franz law of free electrons; the direct heat conductivity is measured in units of the central charge of CFT2+1, while the direct electric conductivity vanishes; the thermoelectric conductivity is non-zero at vanishing temperature, while the O (T) behavior, controlled by the Mott relation, is subleading. Provided that the entropy of the black hole, and the dual system, is non-vanishing at T = 0, the observations indicate that the dyonic black hole describes a ħ → 0 limit of a highly degenerate topological state, in which the black hole charge measures the density of excited non-abelian quasiparticles. The holographic description gives further evidence that non-abelian nature of quasiparticles can be determined by the low temperature behavior of the thermoelectric transport.

Black holes in loop quantum gravity.

PubMed

Perez, Alejandro

2017-12-01

This is a review of results on black hole physics in the context of loop quantum gravity. The key feature underlying these results is the discreteness of geometric quantities at the Planck scale predicted by this approach to quantum gravity. Quantum discreteness follows directly from the canonical quantization prescription when applied to the action of general relativity that is suitable for the coupling of gravity with gauge fields, and especially with fermions. Planckian discreteness and causal considerations provide the basic structure for the understanding of the thermal properties of black holes close to equilibrium. Discreteness also provides a fresh new look at more (at the moment) speculative issues, such as those concerning the fate of information in black hole evaporation. The hypothesis of discreteness leads, also, to interesting phenomenology with possible observational consequences. The theory of loop quantum gravity is a developing program; this review reports its achievements and open questions in a pedagogical manner, with an emphasis on quantum aspects of black hole physics.

Improved methods for simulating nearly extremal binary black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scheel, Mark A.; Giesler, Matthew; Hemberger, Daniel A.; Lovelace, Geoffrey; Kuper, Kevin; Boyle, Michael; Szilágyi, Béla; Kidder, Lawrence E.

2015-05-01

Astrophysical black holes could be nearly extremal (that is, rotating nearly as fast as possible); therefore, nearly extremal black holes could be among the binaries that current and future gravitational-wave observatories will detect. Predicting the gravitational waves emitted by merging black holes requires numerical-relativity simulations, but these simulations are especially challenging when one or both holes have mass m and spin S exceeding the Bowen-York limit of S/{{m}2}=0.93. We present improved methods that enable us to simulate merging, nearly extremal black holes (i.e., black holes with S/{{m}2}\\gt 0.93) more robustly and more efficiently. We use these methods to simulate an unequal-mass, precessing binary black hole (BBH) coalescence, where the larger black hole has S/{{m}2}=0.99. We also use these methods to simulate a non-precessing BBH coalescence, where both black holes have S/{{m}2}=0.994, nearly reaching the Novikov-Thorne upper bound for holes spun up by thin accretion disks. We demonstrate numerical convergence and estimate the numerical errors of the waveforms; we compare numerical waveforms from our simulations with post-Newtonian and effective-one-body waveforms; we compare the evolution of the black hole masses and spins with analytic predictions; and we explore the effect of increasing spin magnitude on the orbital dynamics (the so-called ‘orbital hangup’ effect).

Black holes, anti de Sitter space, and topological strings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yin, Xi

This thesis is devoted to the study of black holes in string theory, their connection to two and three dimensional anti de-Sitter space, and topological strings. We start by proposing a relation between supersymmetric black holes in four and five dimensions, as well as connections between multi-centered black holes in four dimensions and black rings in five dimensions. This connection is then applied to counting supersymmetric dyonic black holes in four dimensional string compactifications with 16 and 32 supersymmetries, respectively. We then turn to the near horizon attractor geometry AdS 2 x S2 x CY 3, and study the classical supersymmetric D-branes in this background. We also find supersymmetric black hole solutions in supergravity in AdS2 x S2, although the solutions have regions of closed timelike curves. Finally we consider the M-theory attractor geometry AdS3 x S2 x CY3, and compute the elliptic genus of the dual (0, 4) CFT by counting wrapped M2-brane states in the bulk in a dilute gas approximation. This leads to a derivation of the conjectured relation between black hole partition function and topological string amplitudes.

Shaping Globular Clusters with Black Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2018-03-01

How many black holes lurk within the dense environments of globular clusters, and how do these powerful objects shape the properties of the cluster around them? One such cluster, NGC 3201, is now helping us to answer these questions.Hunting Stellar-Mass Black HolesSince the detection of merging black-hole binaries by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), the dense environments of globular clusters have received increasing attention as potential birthplaces of these compact binary systems.The central region of the globular star cluster NGC 3201, as viewed by Hubble. The black hole is in orbit with the star marked by the blue circle. [NASA/ESA]In addition, more and more stellar-mass black-hole candidates have been observed within globular clusters, lurking in binary pairs with luminous, non-compact companions. The most recent of these detections, found in the globular cluster NGC 3201, stands alone as the first stellar-mass black hole candidate discovered via radial velocity observations: the black holes main-sequence companion gave away its presence via a telltale wobble.Now a team of scientists led by Kyle Kremer (CIERA and Northwestern University) is using models of this system to better understand the impact that black holes might have on their host clusters.A Model ClusterThe relationship between black holes and their host clusters is complicated. Though the cluster environment can determine the dynamical evolution of the black holes, the retention rate of black holes in a globular cluster (i.e., how many remain in the cluster when they are born as supernovae, rather than being kicked out during the explosion) influences how the host cluster evolves.Kremer and collaborators track this complex relationship by modeling the evolution of a cluster similar to NGC 3201 with a Monte Carlo code. The code incorporates physics relevant to the evolution of black holes and black-hole binaries in globular clusters, such as two-body relaxation

Spinning BTZ black hole versus Kerr black hole: A closer look

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Hongsu

1999-03-01

By applying Newman's algorithm, the AdS3 rotating black hole solution is ``derived'' from the nonrotating black hole solution of Bañados, Teitelboim, and Zanelli (BTZ). The rotating BTZ solution derived in this fashion is given in ``Boyer-Lindquist-type'' coordinates whereas the form of the solution originally given by BTZ is given in kind of ``unfamiliar'' coordinates which are related to each other by a transformation of time coordinate alone. The relative physical meaning between these two time coordinates is carefully studied. Since the Kerr-type and Boyer-Lindquist-type coordinates for rotating BTZ solution are newly found via Newman's algorithm, the transformation to Kerr-Schild-type coordinates is looked for. Indeed, such a transformation is found to exist. In these Kerr-Schild-type coordinates, a truly maximal extension of its global structure by analytically continuing to an ``antigravity universe'' region is carried out.

Remarks on non-singular black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frolov, Valeri P.

2018-01-01

We briefly discuss non-singular black hole models, with the main focus on the properties of non-singular evaporating black holes. Such black holes possess an apparent horizon, however the event horizon may be absent. In such a case, the information from the black hole interior may reach the external observer after the complete evaporation of the black hole. This model might be used for the resolution of the information loss puzzle. However, as we demonstrate, in a general case the quantum radiation emitted from the black hole interior, calculated in the given black hole background, is very large. This outburst of the radiation is exponentially large for models with the redshift function α = 1. We show that it can be suppressed by including a non-trivial redshift function. However, even this suppression is not enough to guarantee self-consistency of the model. This problem is a manifestation of a general problem, known as the "mass inflation". We briefly comment on possible ways to overcome this problem in the models of non-singular evaporating black holes.

Stability of squashed Kaluza-Klein black holes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kimura, Masashi; Ishihara, Hideki; Murata, Keiju

2008-03-15

The stability of squashed Kaluza-Klein black holes is studied. The squashed Kaluza-Klein black hole looks like a five-dimensional black hole in the vicinity of horizon and looks like a four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime with a circle at infinity. In this sense, squashed Kaluza-Klein black holes can be regarded as black holes in the Kaluza-Klein spacetimes. Using the symmetry of squashed Kaluza-Klein black holes, SU(2)xU(1){approx_equal}U(2), we obtain master equations for a part of the metric perturbations relevant to the stability. The analysis based on the master equations gives strong evidence for the stability of squashed Kaluza-Klein black holes. Hence, the squashed Kaluza-Kleinmore » black holes deserve to be taken seriously as realistic black holes in the Kaluza-Klein spacetime.« less

Turbulent black holes.

PubMed

Yang, Huan; Zimmerman, Aaron; Lehner, Luis

2015-02-27

We demonstrate that rapidly spinning black holes can display a new type of nonlinear parametric instability-which is triggered above a certain perturbation amplitude threshold-akin to the onset of turbulence, with possibly observable consequences. This instability transfers from higher temporal and azimuthal spatial frequencies to lower frequencies-a phenomenon reminiscent of the inverse cascade displayed by (2+1)-dimensional fluids. Our finding provides evidence for the onset of transitory turbulence in astrophysical black holes and predicts observable signatures in black hole binaries with high spins. Furthermore, it gives a gravitational description of this behavior which, through the fluid-gravity duality, can potentially shed new light on the remarkable phenomena of turbulence in fluids.

Imaging black holes: past, present and future

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Falcke, Heino

2017-12-01

This paper briefly reviews past, current, and future efforts to image black holes. Black holes seem like mystical objects, but they are an integral part of current astrophysics and are at the center of attempts to unify quantum physics and general relativity. Yet, nobody has ever seen a black hole. What do they look like? Initially, this question seemed more of an academic nature. However, this has changed over the past two decades. Observations and theoretical considerations suggest that the supermassive black hole, Sgr A*, in the center of our Milky Way is surrounded by a compact, foggy emission region radiating at and above 230 GHz. It has been predicted that the event horizon of Sgr A* should cast its shadow onto that emission region, which could be detectable with a global VLBI array of radio telescopes. In contrast to earlier pictures of black holes, that dark feature is not supposed to be due to a hole in the accretion flow, but would represent a true negative image of the event horizon. Currently, the global Event Horizon Telescope consortium is attempting to make such an image. In the future those images could be improved by adding more telescopes to the array, in particular at high sites in Africa. Ultimately, a space array at THz frequencies, the Event Horizon Imager, could produce much more detailed images of black holes. In combination with numerical simulations and precise measurements of the orbits of stars - ideally also of pulsars - these images will allow us to study black holes with unprecedented precision.

Era of Galaxy and Black Hole Growth Spurt Discovered

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2005-04-01

Universe that they can be detected at all. "The deeper we look into the Universe with Chandra, the more fascinating things we find" says Niel Brandt of Penn State University in University Park. "Who knows what nature has in store for us as we push the boundaries yet further." The X-ray observations also showed that the black holes are surrounded by a dense shroud of gas and dust. This is probably the material that will be consumed by the growing black holes. Hubble Space Telescope observations indicate that most of the submillimeter galaxies are actually two galaxies that are colliding and merging. Recent sophisticated computer simulations performed by Tiziana Di Matteo of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Penn., and her collaborators have shown that such mergers drive gas toward the central regions of galaxies, triggering a burst of star formation and providing fuel for the growth of a central black hole. Chandra's X-ray Image of Black Holes in the Early Universe Chandra's X-ray Image of Black Holes in the Early Universe "It is exciting that these recent observations are in good agreement with our simulation," says Di Matteo, "We seem to be converging on a consistent picture of galaxy formation with both observations and theory." In particular, this work will help scientists to understand the observed link in the present epoch between the total mass of stars in the central bulges of large galaxies and the size of their central, supermassive black holes. The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) is operated on behalf of the United Kingdom, Canada & Netherlands by the Joint Astronomy Centre. With its 15-meter (50-foot) diameter dish the JCMT detects light with "submillimeter" wavelengths, between infrared light and radio waves on the wavelength scale. The W. M. Keck Observatory is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate

Quantum capacity of quantum black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adami, Chris; Bradler, Kamil

2014-03-01

The fate of quantum entanglement interacting with a black hole has been an enduring mystery, not the least because standard curved space field theory does not address the interaction of black holes with matter. We discuss an effective Hamiltonian of matter interacting with a black hole that has a precise analogue in quantum optics and correctly reproduces both spontaneous and stimulated Hawking radiation with grey-body factors. We calculate the quantum capacity of this channel in the limit of perfect absorption, as well as in the limit of a perfectly reflecting black hole (a white hole). We find that the white hole is an optimal quantum cloner, and is isomorphic to the Unruh channel with positive quantum capacity. The complementary channel (across the horizon) is entanglement-breaking with zero capacity, avoiding a violation of the quantum no-cloning theorem. The black hole channel on the contrary has vanishing capacity, while its complement has positive capacity instead. Thus, quantum states can be reconstructed faithfully behind the black hole horizon, but not outside. This work sheds new light on black hole complementarity because it shows that black holes can both reflect and absorb quantum states without violating the no-cloning theorem, and makes quantum firewalls obsolete.

Hamiltonian formalism for Perturbed Black Hole Spacetimes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mihaylov, Deyan; Gair, Jonathan

2017-01-01

Present and future gravitational wave observations provide a new mechanism to probe the predictions of general relativity. Observations of extreme mass ratio inspirals with millihertz gravitational wave detectors such as LISA will provide exquisite constraints on the spacetime structure outside astrophysical black holes, enabling tests of the no-hair property that all general relativistic black holes are described by the Kerr metric. Previous work to understand what constraints LISA observations will be able to place has focussed on specific alternative theories of gravity, or generic deviations that preserve geodesic separability. We describe an alternative approach to this problem--a technique that employs canonical perturbations of the Hamiltonian function describing motion in the Kerr metric. We derive this new approach and demonstrate its application to the cases of a slowly rotating Kerr black hole which is viewed as a perturbation of a Schwarzschild black hole, of coupled perturbations of black holes in the second-order Chern-Simons modified gravity theory, and several more indicative scenarios. Deyan Mihaylov is funded by STFC.

Andreev reflections and the quantum physics of black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manikandan, Sreenath K.; Jordan, Andrew N.

2017-12-01

We establish an analogy between superconductor-metal interfaces and the quantum physics of a black hole, using the proximity effect. We show that the metal-superconductor interface can be thought of as an event horizon and Andreev reflection from the interface is analogous to the Hawking radiation in black holes. We describe quantum information transfer in Andreev reflection with a final state projection model similar to the Horowitz-Maldacena model for black hole evaporation. We also propose the Andreev reflection analogue of Hayden and Preskill's description of a black hole final state, where the black hole is described as an information mirror. The analogy between crossed Andreev reflections and Einstein-Rosen bridges is discussed: our proposal gives a precise mechanism for the apparent loss of quantum information in a black hole by the process of nonlocal Andreev reflection, transferring the quantum information through a wormhole and into another universe. Given these established connections, we conjecture that the final quantum state of a black hole is exactly the same as the ground state wave function of the superconductor/superfluid in the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory of superconductivity; in particular, the infalling matter and the infalling Hawking quanta, described in the Horowitz-Maldacena model, forms a Cooper pairlike singlet state inside the black hole. A black hole evaporating and shrinking in size can be thought of as the analogue of Andreev reflection by a hole where the superconductor loses a Cooper pair. Our model does not suffer from the black hole information problem since Andreev reflection is unitary. We also relate the thermodynamic properties of a black hole to that of a superconductor, and propose an experiment which can demonstrate the negative specific heat feature of black holes in a growing/evaporating condensate.

Violent flickering in Black Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2008-10-01

Unique observations of the flickering light from the surroundings of two black holes provide new insights into the colossal energy that flows at their hearts. By mapping out how well the variations in visible light match those in X-rays on very short timescales, astronomers have shown that magnetic fields must play a crucial role in the way black holes swallow matter. Flickering black hole ESO PR Photo 36/08 Flickering black hole Like the flame from a candle, light coming from the surroundings of a black hole is not constant -- it flares, sputters and sparkles. "The rapid flickering of light from a black hole is most commonly observed at X-ray wavelengths," says Poshak Gandhi, who led the international team that reports these results. "This new study is one of only a handful to date that also explore the fast variations in visible light, and, most importantly how these fluctuations relate to those in X-rays." The observations tracked the shimmering of the black holes simultaneously using two different instruments, one on the ground and one in space. The X-ray data were taken using NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer satellite. The visible light was collected with the high speed camera ULTRACAM, a visiting instrument at ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), recording up to 20 images a second. ULTRACAM was developed by team members Vik Dhillon and Tom Marsh. "These are among the fastest observations of a black hole ever obtained with a large optical telescope," says Dhillon. To their surprise, astronomers discovered that the brightness fluctuations in the visible light were even more rapid than those seen in X-rays. In addition, the visible-light and X-ray variations were found not to be simultaneous, but to follow a repeated and remarkable pattern: just before an X-ray flare the visible light dims, and then surges to a bright flash for a tiny fraction of a second before rapidly decreasing again. None of this radiation emerges directly from the black hole, but from the

Non-renormalization for non-supersymmetric black holes

DOE PAGES

Charles, Anthony M.; Larsen, Finn; Mayerson, Daniel R.

2017-08-11

We analyze large logarithmic corrections to 4D black hole entropy and relate them to the Weyl anomaly. We use duality to show that counter-terms in EinsteinMaxwell theory can be expressed in terms of geometry alone, with no dependence on matter terms. We analyze the two known N = 2 supersymmetric invariants for various non-supersymmetric black holes and find that both reduce to the Euler invariant. The c-anomaly therefore vanishes in these theories and the coefficient of the large logarithms becomes topological. It is therefore independent of continuous black hole parameters, such as the mass, even far from extremality.

Non-renormalization for non-supersymmetric black holes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Charles, Anthony M.; Larsen, Finn; Mayerson, Daniel R.

We analyze large logarithmic corrections to 4D black hole entropy and relate them to the Weyl anomaly. We use duality to show that counter-terms in EinsteinMaxwell theory can be expressed in terms of geometry alone, with no dependence on matter terms. We analyze the two known N = 2 supersymmetric invariants for various non-supersymmetric black holes and find that both reduce to the Euler invariant. The c-anomaly therefore vanishes in these theories and the coefficient of the large logarithms becomes topological. It is therefore independent of continuous black hole parameters, such as the mass, even far from extremality.

Quantum information erasure inside black holes

DOE PAGES

Lowe, David A.; Thorlacius, Larus

2015-12-15

An effective field theory for infalling observers in the vicinity of a quasi-static black hole is given in terms of a freely falling lattice discretization. The lattice model successfully reproduces the thermal spectrum of outgoing Hawking radiation, as was shown by Corley and Jacobson, but can also be used to model observations made by a typical low-energy observer who enters the black hole in free fall at a prescribed time. The explicit short distance cutoff ensures that, from the viewpoint of the infalling observer, any quantum information that entered the black hole more than a scrambling time earlier has beenmore » erased by the black hole singularity. Furthermore, this property, combined with the requirement that outside observers need at least of order the scrambling time to extract quantum information from the black hole, ensures that a typical infalling observer does not encounter drama upon crossing the black hole horizon in a theory where black hole information is preserved for asymptotic observers.« less

Periastron advance in spinning black hole binaries: Gravitational self-force from numerical relativity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le Tiec, Alexandre; Buonanno, Alessandra; Mroué, Abdul H.; Pfeiffer, Harald P.; Hemberger, Daniel A.; Lovelace, Geoffrey; Kidder, Lawrence E.; Scheel, Mark A.; Szilágyi, Bela; Taylor, Nicholas W.; Teukolsky, Saul A.

2013-12-01

We study the general relativistic periastron advance in spinning black hole binaries on quasicircular orbits, with spins aligned or antialigned with the orbital angular momentum, using numerical-relativity simulations, the post-Newtonian approximation, and black hole perturbation theory. By imposing a symmetry by exchange of the bodies’ labels, we devise an improved version of the perturbative result and use it as the leading term of a new type of expansion in powers of the symmetric mass ratio. This allows us to measure, for the first time, the gravitational self-force effect on the periastron advance of a nonspinning particle orbiting a Kerr black hole of mass M and spin S=-0.5M2, down to separations of order 9M. Comparing the predictions of our improved perturbative expansion with the exact results from numerical simulations of equal-mass and equal-spin binaries, we find a remarkable agreement over a wide range of spins and orbital separations.

Binary Black Holes: Mergers, Dynamics, and Waveforms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Centrella, Joan

2007-04-01

The final merger of two black holes is expected to be the strongest gravitational wave source for ground-based interferometers such as LIGO, VIRGO, and GEO600, as well as the space-based interferometer LISA. Observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the radiation waveforms they emit. Since these mergers take place in regions of extreme gravity, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute black hole mergers using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities, causing them to crash well before the black holes in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Within the past few years, however, this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of remarkable breakthroughs. This talk will focus on new simulations that are revealing the dynamics and waveforms of binary black hole mergers, and their applications in gravitational wave detection, data analysis, and astrophysics.

Black holes as antimatter factories

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bambi, Cosimo; Petrov, Alexey A.; Dolgov, Alexander D., E-mail: cosimo.bambi@ipmu.jp, E-mail: dolgov@fe.infn.it, E-mail: apetrov@physics.wayne.edu

2009-09-01

We consider accretion of matter onto a low mass black hole surrounded by ionized medium. We show that, because of the higher mobility of protons than electrons, the black hole would acquire positive electric charge. If the black hole's mass is about or below 10{sup 20} g, the electric field at the horizon can reach the critical value which leads to vacuum instability and electron-positron pair production by the Schwinger mechanism. Since the positrons are ejected by the emergent electric field, while electrons are back-captured, the black hole operates as an antimatter factory which effectively converts protons into positrons.

Thermodynamics of Accelerating Black Holes.

PubMed

Appels, Michael; Gregory, Ruth; Kubizňák, David

2016-09-23

We address a long-standing problem of describing the thermodynamics of an accelerating black hole. We derive a standard first law of black hole thermodynamics, with the usual identification of entropy proportional to the area of the event horizon-even though the event horizon contains a conical singularity. This result not only extends the applicability of black hole thermodynamics to realms previously not anticipated, it also opens a possibility for studying novel properties of an important class of exact radiative solutions of Einstein equations describing accelerated objects. We discuss the thermodynamic volume, stability, and phase structure of these black holes.

Forming supermassive black holes by accreting dark and baryon matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Jian; Shen, Yue; Lou, Yu-Qing; Zhang, Shuangnan

2006-01-01

Given a large-scale mixture of self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) particles and baryon matter distributed in the early Universe, we advance here a two-phase accretion scenario for forming supermassive black holes (SMBHs) with masses around ~109Msolar at high redshifts z(>~6). The first phase is conceived to involve a rapid quasi-spherical and quasi-steady Bondi accretion of mainly SIDM particles embedded with baryon matter on to seed black holes (BHs) created at redshifts z<~ 30 by the first generation of massive Population III stars; this earlier phase rapidly gives birth to significantly enlarged seed BH masses of during z~ 20-15, where σ0 is the cross-section per unit mass of SIDM particles and Cs is the velocity dispersion in the SIDM halo referred to as an effective `sound speed'. The second phase of BH mass growth is envisaged to proceed primarily via baryon accretion, eventually leading to SMBH masses of MBH~ 109Msolar such SMBHs may form either by z~ 6 for a sustained accretion at the Eddington limit or later at lower z for sub-Eddington mean accretion rates. In between these two phases, there is a transitional yet sustained diffusively limited accretion of SIDM particles which in an eventual steady state would be much lower than the accretion rates of the two main phases. We intend to account for the reported detections of a few SMBHs at early epochs, e.g. Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) 1148+5251 and so forth, without necessarily resorting to either super-Eddington baryon accretion or very frequent BH merging processes. Only extremely massive dark SIDM haloes associated with rare peaks of density fluctuations in the early Universe may harbour such early SMBHs or quasars. Observational consequences are discussed. During the final stage of accumulating a SMBH mass, violent feedback in circumnuclear environs of a galactic nucleus leads to the central bulge formation and gives rise to the familiar empirical MBH-σb correlation inferred for nearby normal

Rotating hairy black holes.

PubMed

Kleihaus, B; Kunz, J

2001-04-23

We construct stationary black-hole solutions in SU(2) Einstein-Yang-Mills theory which carry angular momentum and electric charge. Possessing nontrivial non-Abelian magnetic fields outside their regular event horizon, they represent nonperturbative rotating hairy black holes.

Black holes with halos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Monten, Ruben; Toldo, Chiara

2018-02-01

We present new AdS4 black hole solutions in N =2 gauged supergravity coupled to vector and hypermultiplets. We focus on a particular consistent truncation of M-theory on the homogeneous Sasaki–Einstein seven-manifold M 111, characterized by the presence of one Betti vector multiplet. We numerically construct static and spherically symmetric black holes with electric and magnetic charges, corresponding to M2 and M5 branes wrapping non-contractible cycles of the internal manifold. The novel feature characterizing these nonzero temperature configurations is the presence of a massive vector field halo. Moreover, we verify the first law of black hole mechanics and we study the thermodynamics in the canonical ensemble. We analyze the behavior of the massive vector field condensate across the small-large black hole phase transition and we interpret the process in the dual field theory.

The Final Merger of Black-Hole Binaries

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kelly, Bernard J.; Centrealla, Joan; Baker, John G.; Kelly, Bernard J.; vanMeter, James R.

2010-01-01

Recent breakthroughs in the field of numerical relativity have led to dramatic progress in understanding the predictions of General Relativity for the dynamical interactions of two black holes in the regime of very strong gravitational fields. Such black-hole binaries are important astrophysical systems and are a key target of current and developing gravitational-wave detectors. The waveform signature of strong gravitational radiation emitted as the black holes fall together and merge provides a clear observable record of the process. After decades of slow progress / these mergers and the gravitational-wave signals they generate can now be routinely calculated using the methods of numerical relativity. We review recent advances in understanding the predicted physics of events and the consequent radiation, and discuss some of the impacts this new knowledge is having in various areas of astrophysics

Black holes in higher spin supergravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Datta, Shouvik; David, Justin R.

2013-07-01

We study black hole solutions in Chern-Simons higher spin supergravity based on the superalgebra sl(3|2). These black hole solutions have a U(1) gauge field and a spin 2 hair in addition to the spin 3 hair. These additional fields correspond to the R-symmetry charges of the supergroup sl(3|2). Using the relation between the bulk field equations and the Ward identities of a CFT with {N} = 2 super- {{{W}}_3} symmetry, we identify the bulk charges and chemical potentials with those of the boundary CFT. From these identifications we see that a suitable set of variables to study this black hole is in terms of the charges present in three decoupled bosonic sub-algebras of the {N} = 2 super- {{{W}}_3} algebra. The entropy and the partition function of these R-charged black holes are then evaluated in terms of the charges of the bulk theory as well as in terms of its chemical potentials. We then compute the partition function in the dual CFT and find exact agreement with the bulk partition function.

Binary Black Hole Mergers and Recoil Kicks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, Joan; Baker, J.; Choi, D.; Koppitz, M.; vanMeter, J.; Miller, C.

2006-01-01

Recent developments in numerical relativity have made it possible to follow reliably the coalescence of two black holes from near the innermost stable circular orbit to final ringdown. This opens up a wide variety of exciting astrophysical applications of these simulations. Chief among these is the net kick received when two unequal mass or spinning black holes merge. The magnitude of this kick has bearing on the production and growth of supermassive black holes during the epoch of structure formation, and on the retention of black holes in stellar clusters. Here we report the first accurate numerical calculation of this kick, for two nonspinning black holes in a 1.5:1 mass ratio, which is expected based on analytic considerations to give a significant fraction of the maximum possible recoil. We have performed multiple runs with different initial separations, orbital angular momenta, resolutions, extraction radii, and gauges. The full range of our kick speeds is 86-116 kilometers per second, and the most reliable runs give kicks between 86 and 97 kilometers per second. This is intermediate between the estimates from two recent post-Newtonian analyses and suggests that at redshifts z greater than 10, halos with masses less than 10(exp 9) M(sub SUN) will have difficulty retaining coalesced black holes after major mergers.

Rethinking Black Hole Accretion Discs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salvesen, Greg

Accretion discs are staples of astrophysics. Tapping into the gravitational potential energy of the accreting material, these discs are highly efficient machines that produce copious radiation and extreme outflows. While interesting in their own right, accretion discs also act as tools to study black holes and directly influence the properties of the Universe. Black hole X-ray binaries are fantastic natural laboratories for studying accretion disc physics and black hole phenomena. Among many of the curious behaviors exhibited by these systems are black hole state transitions -- complicated cycles of dramatic brightening and dimming. Using X-ray observations with high temporal cadence, we show that the evolution of the accretion disc spectrum during black hole state transitions can be described by a variable disc atmospheric structure without invoking a radially truncated disc geometry. The accretion disc spectrum can be a powerful diagnostic for measuring black hole spin if the effects of the disc atmosphere on the emergent spectrum are well-understood; however, properties of the disc atmosphere are largely unconstrained. Using statistical methods, we decompose this black hole spin measurement technique and show that modest uncertainties regarding the disc atmosphere can lead to erroneous spin measurements. The vertical structure of the disc is difficult to constrain due to our ignorance of the contribution to hydrostatic balance by magnetic fields, which are fundamental to the accretion process. Observations of black hole X-ray binaries and the accretion environments near supermassive black holes provide mounting evidence for strong magnetization. Performing numerical simulations of accretion discs in the shearing box approximation, we impose a net vertical magnetic flux that allows us to effectively control the level of disc magnetization. We study how dynamo activity and the properties of turbulence driven by the magnetorotational instability depend on the

Ergosurfaces for Kerr black holes with scalar hair

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herdeiro, Carlos; Radu, Eugen

2014-06-01

We have recently reported the existence of Kerr black holes with scalar hair in General Relativity minimally coupled to a massive, complex scalar field [C. Herdeiro and E. Radu, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 221101 (2014)]. These solutions interpolate between boson stars and Kerr black holes. The latter have a well-known topologically S2 ergosurface (ergosphere) whereas the former develop a S1×S1 ergosurface (ergotorus) in a region of parameter space. We show that hairy black holes always have an ergoregion, and that this region is delimited by either an ergosphere or an ergo-Saturn—i.e. a S2⊕(S1×S1) ergosurface. In the phase space of solutions, the ergotorus can either appear disconnected from the ergosphere or pinch off from it. We provide a heuristic argument, based on a measure of the size of the ergoregion, that superradiant instabilities—which are likely to be present—are weaker for hairy black holes than for Kerr black holes with the same global charges. We observe that Saturn-like, and even more remarkable, ergosurfaces should also arise for other rotating "hairy" black holes.

Entropy of black holes with multiple horizons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Yun; Ma, Meng-Sen; Zhao, Ren

2018-05-01

We examine the entropy of black holes in de Sitter space and black holes surrounded by quintessence. These black holes have multiple horizons, including at least the black hole event horizon and a horizon outside it (cosmological horizon for de Sitter black holes and "quintessence horizon" for the black holes surrounded by quintessence). Based on the consideration that the two horizons are not independent each other, we conjecture that the total entropy of these black holes should not be simply the sum of entropies of the two horizons, but should have an extra term coming from the correlations between the two horizons. Different from our previous works, in this paper we consider the cosmological constant as the variable and employ an effective method to derive the explicit form of the entropy. We also try to discuss the thermodynamic stabilities of these black holes according to the entropy and the effective temperature.

Algebraically special space-time in relativity, black holes, and pulsar models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adler, R. J.; Sheffield, C.

1973-01-01

The entire field of astronomy is in very rapid flux, and at the center of interest are problems relating to the very dense, rotating, neutron stars observed as pulsars. the hypothesized collapsed remains of stars known as black holes, and quasars. Degenerate metric form, or Kerr-Schild metric form, was used to study several problems related to intense gravitational fields.

Black Hole Paradoxes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joshi, Pankaj S.; Narayan, Ramesh

2016-10-01

We propose here that the well-known black hole paradoxes such as the information loss and teleological nature of the event horizon are restricted to a particular idealized case, which is the homogeneous dust collapse model. In this case, the event horizon, which defines the boundary of the black hole, forms initially, and the singularity in the interior of the black hole at a later time. We show that, in contrast, gravitational collapse from physically more realistic initial conditions typically leads to the scenario in which the event horizon and space-time singularity form simultaneously. We point out that this apparently simple modification can mitigate the causality and teleological paradoxes, and also lends support to two recently suggested solutions to the information paradox, namely, the ‘firewall’ and ‘classical chaos’ proposals.

Sizes of Black Holes Throughout the Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2018-05-01

What is the distribution of sizes of black holes in our universe? Can black holes of any mass exist, or are there gaps in their possible sizes? The shape of this black-hole mass function has been debated for decades and the dawn of gravitational-wave astronomy has only spurred further questions.Mind the GapsThe starting point for the black-hole mass function lies in the initial mass function (IMF) for stellar black holes the beginning size distribution of black holes after they are born from stars. Instead of allowing for the formation of stellar black holes of any mass, theoretical models propose two gaps in the black-hole IMF:An upper mass gap at 50130 solar masses, due to the fact that stellar progenitors of black holes in this mass range are destroyed by pair-instability supernovae.A lower mass gap below 5 solar masses, which is argued to arise naturally from the mechanics of supernova explosions.Missing black-hole (BH) formation channels due to the existence of the lower gap (LG) and the upper gap (UG) in the initial mass function. a) The number of BHs at all scales are lowered because no BH can merge with BHs in the LG to form a larger BH. b) The missing channel responsible for the break at 10 solar masses, resulting from the LG. c) The missing channel responsible for the break at 60 solar masses, due to the interaction between the LG and the UG. [Christian et al. 2018]We can estimate the IMF for black holes by scaling a typical IMF for stars and then adding in these theorized gaps. But is this initial distribution of black-hole masses the same as the distribution that we observe in the universe today?The Influence of MergersBased on recent events, the answer appears to be no! Since the first detections of gravitational waves in September 2015, we now know that black holes can merge to form bigger black holes. An initial distribution of black-hole masses must therefore evolve over time, as mergers cause the depletion of low-mass black holes and an increase in

Black Hole Thermodynamics in an Undergraduate Thermodynamics Course.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Barry R.; McLeod, Robert J.

1980-01-01

An analogy, which has been drawn between black hole physics and thermodynamics, is mathematically broadened in this article. Equations similar to the standard partial differential relations of thermodynamics are found for black holes. The results can be used to supplement an undergraduate thermodynamics course. (Author/SK)

Resource Letter BH-1: Black Holes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Detweiler, Steven

1981-01-01

Lists resources on black holes, including: (1) articles of historical interest; (2) books and journal articles on elementary expositions; (3) elementary and advanced textbooks; and (4) research articles on analytic structure of black holes, black hole dynamics, and astrophysical processes. (SK)

Black Hole Blows Big Bubble

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2010-07-01

Combining observations made with ESO's Very Large Telescope and NASA's Chandra X-ray telescope, astronomers have uncovered the most powerful pair of jets ever seen from a stellar black hole. This object, also known as a microquasar, blows a huge bubble of hot gas, 1000 light-years across, twice as large and tens of times more powerful than other known microquasars. The discovery is reported this week in the journal Nature. "We have been astonished by how much energy is injected into the gas by the black hole," says lead author Manfred Pakull. "This black hole is just a few solar masses, but is a real miniature version of the most powerful quasars and radio galaxies, which contain black holes with masses of a few million times that of the Sun." Black holes are known to release a prodigious amount of energy when they swallow matter. It was thought that most of the energy came out in the form of radiation, predominantly X-rays. However, the new findings show that some black holes can release at least as much energy, and perhaps much more, in the form of collimated jets of fast moving particles. The fast jets slam into the surrounding interstellar gas, heating it and triggering an expansion. The inflating bubble contains a mixture of hot gas and ultra-fast particles at different temperatures. Observations in several energy bands (optical, radio, X-rays) help astronomers calculate the total rate at which the black hole is heating its surroundings. The astronomers could observe the spots where the jets smash into the interstellar gas located around the black hole, and reveal that the bubble of hot gas is inflating at a speed of almost one million kilometres per hour. "The length of the jets in NGC 7793 is amazing, compared to the size of the black hole from which they are launched," says co-author Robert Soria [1]. "If the black hole were shrunk to the size of a soccer ball, each jet would extend from the Earth to beyond the orbit of Pluto." This research will help

Black holes at neutrino telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kowalski, M.; Ringwald, A.; Tu, H.

2002-03-01

In scenarios with extra dimensions and TeV-scale quantum gravity, black holes are expected to be produced in the collision of light particles at center-of-mass energies above the fundamental Planck scale with small impact parameters. Black hole production and evaporation may thus be studied in detail at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). But even before the LHC starts operating, neutrino telescopes such as AMANDA/IceCube, ANTARES, Baikal, and RICE have an opportunity to search for black hole signatures. Black hole production in the scattering of ultrahigh energy cosmic neutrinos on nucleons in the ice or water may initiate cascades and through-going muons with distinct characteristics above the Standard Model rate. In this Letter, we investigate the sensitivity of neutrino telescopes to black hole production and compare it to the one expected at the Pierre Auger Observatory, an air shower array currently under construction, and at the LHC. We find that, already with the currently available data, AMANDA and RICE should be able to place sensible constraints in black hole production parameter space, which are competitive with the present ones from the air shower facilities Fly's Eye and AGASA. In the optimistic case that a ultrahigh energy cosmic neutrino flux significantly higher than the one expected from cosmic ray interactions with the cosmic microwave background radiation is realized in nature, one even has discovery potential for black holes at neutrino telescopes beyond the reach of LHC.

Possible evolution of supermassive black holes from FRI quasars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Matthew I.; Christian, Damian J.; Garofalo, David; D'Avanzo, Jaclyn

2016-08-01

We explore the question of the rapid buildup of black hole mass in the early universe employing a growing black hole mass-based determination of both jet and disc powers predicted in recent theoretical work on black hole accretion and jet formation. Despite simplified, even artificial assumptions about accretion and mergers, we identify an interesting low probability channel for the growth of one billion solar mass black holes within hundreds of millions of years of the big bang without appealing to super Eddington accretion. This result is made more compelling by the recognition of a connection between this channel and an end product involving active galaxies with FRI radio morphology but weaker jet powers in mildly sub-Eddington accretion regimes. While FRI quasars have already been shown to occupy a small region of the available parameter space for black hole feedback in the paradigm, we further suggest that the observational dearth of FRI quasars is also related to their connection to the most massive black hole growth due to both these FRIs high redshifts and relative weakness. Our results also allow us to construct the AGN (active galactic nucleus) luminosity function at high redshift, that agree with recent studies. In short, we produce a connection between the unexplained paucity of a given family of AGNs and the rapid growth of supermassive black holes, two heretofore seemingly unrelated aspects of the physics of AGNs.

Scalar fields in black hole spacetimes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thuestad, Izak; Khanna, Gaurav; Price, Richard H.

2017-07-01

The time evolution of matter fields in black hole exterior spacetimes is a well-studied subject, spanning several decades of research. However, the behavior of fields in the black hole interior spacetime has only relatively recently begun receiving some attention from the research community. In this paper, we numerically study the late-time evolution of scalar fields in both Schwarzschild and Kerr spacetimes, including the black hole interior. We recover the expected late-time power-law "tails" on the exterior (null infinity, timelike infinity, and the horizon). In the interior region, we find an interesting oscillatory behavior that is characterized by the multipole index ℓ of the scalar field. In addition, we also study the extremal Kerr case and find strong indications of an instability developing at the horizon.

Bird's eye view of black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simien, Clayton

1998-03-01

Black hole theory can be quite complex, and from a mathematical point of view very abstract. However, from a bird's perspective its concepts and theories can be easily understood with the aid of a few fundamental ideas of physics. Black holes are just massive dead stars whose very existence originates from the ideas of the great mathematician and scientific pioneer, Pierre Laplace. These astrological wonders of the universe are currently governed by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. It must be understood that the laws of the universe in accord with the black hole are only valid to its surface known as the horizon . After the horizon, the laws of physics are no longer valid. Consequently, science is replaced with imaginative ideas that are meaningfully probable through hypothetical assumptions.

Lovelock black holes surrounded by quintessence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghosh, Sushant G.; Maharaj, Sunil D.; Baboolal, Dharmanand; Lee, Tae-Hun

2018-02-01

Lovelock gravity consisting of the dimensionally continued Euler densities is a natural generalization of general relativity to higher dimensions such that equations of motion are still second order, and the theory is free of ghosts. A scalar field with a positive potential that yields an accelerating universe has been termed quintessence. We present exact black hole solutions in D-dimensional Lovelock gravity surrounded by quintessence matter and also perform a detailed thermodynamical study. Further, we find that the mass, entropy and temperature of the black hole are corrected due to the quintessence background. In particular, we find that a phase transition occurs with a divergence of the heat capacity at the critical horizon radius, and that specific heat becomes positive for r_hblack hole to become thermodynamically stable.

Universally stable black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bueno, Pablo; Cano, Pablo A.

We argue that, when certain higher-curvature corrections are added to the four-dimensional Einstein-Hilbert action, black holes become stable below certain mass. We show this to be the case for an infinite family of ghost-free theories involving terms of arbitrarily high order in curvature. The thermodynamic behavior of the new black holes is universal for arbitrary values of the couplings, with the only exception of the Schwarzschild solution itself, which is recovered when all the couplings are set to zero. For this class of theories, the issue of non-unitary evolution is inexistent, as black holes never evaporate completely.

Black holes in the Milky Way Galaxy

PubMed Central

Filippenko, Alexei V.

1999-01-01

Extremely strong observational evidence has recently been found for the presence of black holes orbiting a few relatively normal stars in our Milky Way Galaxy and also at the centers of some galaxies. The former generally have masses of 4–16 times the mass of the sun, whereas the latter are “supermassive black holes” with millions to billions of solar masses. The evidence for a supermassive black hole in the center of our galaxy is especially strong. PMID:10468548

Extremal higher spin black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bañados, Máximo; Castro, Alejandra; Faraggi, Alberto; Jottar, Juan I.

2016-04-01

The gauge sector of three-dimensional higher spin gravities can be formulated as a Chern-Simons theory. In this context, a higher spin black hole corresponds to a flat connection with suitable holonomy (smoothness) conditions which are consistent with the properties of a generalized thermal ensemble. Building on these ideas, we discuss a definition of black hole extremality which is appropriate to the topological character of 3 d higher spin theories. Our definition can be phrased in terms of the Jordan class of the holonomy around a non-contractible (angular) cycle, and we show that it is compatible with the zero-temperature limit of smooth black hole solutions. While this notion of extremality does not require supersymmetry, we exemplify its consequences in the context of sl(3|2) ⊕ sl(3|2) Chern-Simons theory and show that, as usual, not all extremal solutions preserve supersymmetries. Remarkably, we find in addition that the higher spin setup allows for non-extremal supersymmetric black hole solutions. Furthermore, we discuss our results from the perspective of the holographic duality between sl(3|2) ⊕ sl(3|2) Chern-Simons theory and two-dimensional CFTs with W (3|2) symmetry, the simplest higher spin extension of the N = 2 super-Virasoro algebra. In particular, we compute W (3|2) BPS bounds at the full quantum level, and relate their semiclassical limit to extremal black hole or conical defect solutions in the 3 d bulk. Along the way, we discuss the role of the spectral flow automorphism and provide a conjecture for the form of the semiclassical BPS bounds in general N = 2 two-dimensional CFTs with extended symmetry algebras.

A massive binary black-hole system in OJ 287 and a test of general relativity.

PubMed

Valtonen, M J; Lehto, H J; Nilsson, K; Heidt, J; Takalo, L O; Sillanpää, A; Villforth, C; Kidger, M; Poyner, G; Pursimo, T; Zola, S; Wu, J-H; Zhou, X; Sadakane, K; Drozdz, M; Koziel, D; Marchev, D; Ogloza, W; Porowski, C; Siwak, M; Stachowski, G; Winiarski, M; Hentunen, V-P; Nissinen, M; Liakos, A; Dogru, S

2008-04-17

Tests of Einstein's general theory of relativity have mostly been carried out in weak gravitational fields where the space-time curvature effects are first-order deviations from Newton's theory. Binary pulsars provide a means of probing the strong gravitational field around a neutron star, but strong-field effects may be best tested in systems containing black holes. Here we report such a test in a close binary system of two candidate black holes in the quasar OJ 287. This quasar shows quasi-periodic optical outbursts at 12-year intervals, with two outburst peaks per interval. The latest outburst occurred in September 2007, within a day of the time predicted by the binary black-hole model and general relativity. The observations confirm the binary nature of the system and also provide evidence for the loss of orbital energy in agreement (within 10 per cent) with the emission of gravitational waves from the system. In the absence of gravitational wave emission the outburst would have happened 20 days later.

Building black holes: supercomputer cinema.

PubMed

Shapiro, S L; Teukolsky, S A

1988-07-22

A new computer code can solve Einstein's equations of general relativity for the dynamical evolution of a relativistic star cluster. The cluster may contain a large number of stars that move in a strong gravitational field at speeds approaching the speed of light. Unstable star clusters undergo catastrophic collapse to black holes. The collapse of an unstable cluster to a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy may explain the origin of quasars and active galactic nuclei. By means of a supercomputer simulation and color graphics, the whole process can be viewed in real time on a movie screen.

Phase structure of higher spin black hole

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Bin; Long, Jiang; Wang, Yi-Nan

2013-03-01

In this paper, we investigate the phase structure of the black holes with one single higher spin hair, focusing specifically on the spin 3 and spin widetilde{4} black holes. Based on dimensional analysis and the requirement of thermodynamic consistency, we derive a universal formula relating the entropy with the conserved charges for arbitrary AdS 3 higher spin black holes. Then we use it to study the phase structure of the higher spin black holes. We find that there are six branches of solutions in the spin 3 gravity, eight branches of solutions in the spin widetilde{4} gravity and twelve branches of solutions in the G 2 gravity. In each case, all the branches are related by a simple angle shift in the entropy functions. In the spin 3 case, we reproduce all the results found before. In the spin widetilde{4} case, we find that at low temperature it lies in the BTZ branch while at high temperature it undergoes a phase transition to one of the two other branches, depending on the signature of the chemical potential, a reflection of charge conjugate asymmetry found before.

Collisions Around a Black Hole Mean Mealtime

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2017-08-01

reverses course and migrates outward again as a brown dwarf.Metzger and Stone demonstrate that the timescale for this process is shorter than the time delay expected between successive EMRIs. The likelihood is high, they show, that two consecutive EMRIs would collide while one is inspiraling and the other is outspiraling.Results of a CollisionSchematic diagram (not to scale) showing how two circular EMRI orbits can intersect as the main-sequence star migrates inward (blue) and the brown dwarf very slowly migrates outward (red). [Metzger Stone 2017]Because both stars are deep in the black holes gravitational well, they collide with enormous relative velocities ( 10% the speed of light!). If this collision is head-on, one or both stars will be completely destroyed. The resulting gas then accretes onto the black hole, producing a flare very similar to a classical tidal disruption event.If the stars instead meet on a grazing collision, Metzger and Stone show that this liberates gas from at least one of the stars. The gas forms an accretion disk around the black hole, causing a transient flare similar to some of the harder-to-explain flares weve observed that dont quite fit our models for tidal disruption events.In this latter scenario, the stars survive to encounter each other again, decades to millennia later. These grazing collisions between the pair can continue to produce quasi-periodic flares for thousands of years or longer.Metzger and Stone argue that EMRI collisions have the potential to explain some of the flares from supermassive black holes that we had previously attributed to tidal disruption events. More detailed modeling will allow us to explore this idea further in the future.CitationBrian D. Metzger and Nicholas C. Stone 2017 ApJ 844 75. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aa7a16

Primordial Black Holes from First Principles (Overview)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lam, Casey; Bloomfield, Jolyon; Moss, Zander; Russell, Megan; Face, Stephen; Guth, Alan

2017-01-01

Given a power spectrum from inflation, our goal is to calculate, from first principles, the number density and mass spectrum of primordial black holes that form in the early universe. Previously, these have been calculated using the Press- Schechter formalism and some demonstrably dubious rules of thumb regarding predictions of black hole collapse. Instead, we use Monte Carlo integration methods to sample field configurations from a power spectrum combined with numerical relativity simulations to obtain a more accurate picture of primordial black hole formation. We demonstrate how this can be applied for both Gaussian perturbations and the more interesting (for primordial black holes) theory of hybrid inflation. One of the tools that we employ is a variant of the BBKS formalism for computing the statistics of density peaks in the early universe. We discuss the issue of overcounting due to subpeaks that can arise from this approach (the ``cloud-in-cloud'' problem). MIT UROP Office- Paul E. Gray (1954) Endowed Fund.

Interior of a charged distorted black hole

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Abdolrahimi, Shohreh; Frolov, Valeri P.; Shoom, Andrey A.

We study the interior of a charged, nonrotating distorted black hole. We consider static and axisymmetric black holes, and focus on a special case when an electrically charged distorted solution is obtained by the Harrison-Ernst transformation from an uncharged one. We demonstrate that the Cauchy horizon of such a black hole remains regular, provided the distortion is regular at the event horizon. The shape and the inner geometry of both the outer and inner (Cauchy) horizons are studied. We demonstrate that there exists a duality between the properties of the horizons. Proper time of a free fall of a testmore » particle moving in the interior of the distorted black hole along the symmetry axis is calculated. We also study the property of the curvature in the inner domain between the horizons. Simple relations between the 4D curvature invariants and the Gaussian curvature of the outer and inner horizon surfaces are found.« less

Determining Black Hole Mass of AGN using FWHM of H-beta Emission Line and Luminosity Relations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cameron, Thomas Jacob; Burris, Debra L.

2017-01-01

At the center of some active galaxies are super-massive black holes and for some time the accepted method of measuring the mass of such galaxies has been the method used by Vestergaard and Peterson, among others. By using the luminosity function which is related to H-β emission spectra from these black holes, both for cosmic redshift and for Fe-II emissions using IRAF. From there, H-β can accurately measure the full width half max of the H-beta line in these spectrum as well as the luminosity and these paired with the O-III lines give us an estimate on the mass of the black hole. The purpose of this is to compare it to the values obtained from the Mass-Pitch Angle relation being proposed by Kennefick et al. (2016 in preparation)

Binary Black Hole Mergers, Gravitational Waves, and LISA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Centrella, Joan; Baker, J.; Boggs, W.; Kelly, B.; McWilliams, S.; van Meter, J.

2007-12-01

The final merger of comparable mass binary black holes is expected to be the strongest source of gravitational waves for LISA. Since these mergers take place in regions of extreme gravity, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these waveforms. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute black hole mergers using the methods of numerical relativity. The resulting computer codes have been plagued by instabilities, causing them to crash well before the black holes in the binary could complete even a single orbit. Within the past few years, however, this situation has changed dramatically, with a series of remarkable breakthroughs. We will present the results of new simulations of black hole mergers with unequal masses and spins, focusing on the gravitational waves emitted and the accompanying astrophysical "kicks.” The magnitude of these kicks has bearing on the production and growth of supermassive blackholes during the epoch of structure formation, and on the retention of black holes in stellar clusters. This work was supported by NASA grant 06-BEFS06-19, and the simulations were carried out using Project Columbia at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division (Ames Research Center) and at the NASA Center for Computational Sciences (Goddard Space Flight Center).

Inclination Angles of Black Hole X-Ray Binaries Manifest Strong Gravity around Black Holes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, S. N.; Zhang, Xiao-Ling; Yao, Yangsen

2002-01-01

System inclination angles have been determined for about 15 X-ray binaries, in which stellar mass black holes are considered to exist. These inclination angles range between 25 degrees and 80 degrees, but peaked between 60-70 degrees. This peak is not explained in the frame work of Newtonian gravity. However, this peak is reproduced naturally if we model the observed X-ray radiations as being produced in the accretion disks very close to the black hole horizons, where the extremely strong general and special relativistic effects, caused by the extremely strong gravity near the black hole horizons, modify the local radiation significantly as the X-rays propagate to the remote observer. Therefore the peak of the inclination angle distribution provides evidence or strong gravity around stellar mass black holes.

Doomed Matter Near Black Hole Gets Second Lease on Life

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2003-03-01

his colleagues observed two quasars, which are exceedingly distant star-like objects thought to be the bright cores of galaxies fueled by a supermassive black hole. With Chandra, the team observed a quasar called APM 08279+5255; and with the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton, they observed a quasar named PG1115+080. Both quasars are billions of light years away from Earth. However, APM 08279+5255 was naturally magnified by a factor of about 100 and PG1115+080 by a factor of about 25 through a process called gravitational lensing. Essentially, their light, while en route to us, was distorted and magnified by the gravity of intervening galaxies acting like telescope lenses. Wind from Accretion Disk around a Black Hole Wind from Accretion Disk around a Black Hole With the natural boost in magnification, coupled with the X-ray observatories' abilities, the scientists could ascertain several key properties in the quasar light, such as the speed of the gas that absorbed the light, as well as the material's proximity to the black hole. The team found the first observational evidence of a wind component transporting a substantial amount of carbon, oxygen and iron into the interstellar and intergalactic medium. The wind was moving at 40 percent light speed, considerably faster than predicted. Brandt said the observation may spur new theoretical work about black hole winds and their effect on their environs. For example, Brandt said, "the wind might provide insight to the relationship between black hole mass and the central bulge of its host galaxy." Chandra, launched in July 1999, is the third in NASA's Great Observatory series, a sister craft to the Hubble Space Telescope. ESA's XMM-Newton was launched from French Guiana in December 1999 and carries three advanced X-ray telescopes. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program, and TRW, Inc., Redondo Beach, Calif., is the prime contractor for the spacecraft. The Smithsonian's Chandra X

Massive Binary Black Holes in the Cosmic Landscape

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Colpi, Monica; Dotti, Massimo

2011-02-01

Binary black holes occupy a special place in our quest for understanding the evolution of galaxies along cosmic history. If massive black holes grow at the center of (pre-)galactic structures that experience a sequence of merger episodes, then dual black holes form as inescapable outcome of galaxy assembly, and can in principle be detected as powerful dual quasars. But, if the black holes reach coalescence, during their inspiral inside the galaxy remnant, then they become the loudest sources of gravitational waves ever in the universe. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna is being developed to reveal these waves that carry information on the mass and spin of these binary black holes out to very large look-back times. Nature seems to provide a pathway for the formation of these exotic binaries, and a number of key questions need to be addressed: How do massive black holes pair in a merger? Depending on the properties of the underlying galaxies, do black holes always form a close Keplerian binary? If a binary forms, does hardening proceed down to the domain controlled by gravitational wave back reaction? What is the role played by gas and/or stars in braking the black holes, and on which timescale does coalescence occur? Can the black holes accrete on flight and shine during their pathway to coalescence? After outlining key observational facts on dual/binary black holes, we review the progress made in tracing their dynamics in the habitat of a gas-rich merger down to the smallest scales ever probed with the help of powerful numerical simulations. N-Body/hydrodynamical codes have proven to be vital tools for studying their evolution, and progress in this field is expected to grow rapidly in the effort to describe, in full realism, the physics of stars and gas around the black holes, starting from the cosmological large scale of a merger. If detected in the new window provided by the upcoming gravitational wave experiments, binary black holes will provide a deep view

Black Hole Blows Big Bubble

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2010-07-01

Combining observations made with ESO's Very Large Telescope and NASA's Chandra X-ray telescope, astronomers have uncovered the most powerful pair of jets ever seen from a stellar black hole. This object, also known as a microquasar, blows a huge bubble of hot gas, 1000 light-years across, twice as large and tens of times more powerful than other known microquasars. The discovery is reported this week in the journal Nature. "We have been astonished by how much energy is injected into the gas by the black hole," says lead author Manfred Pakull. "This black hole is just a few solar masses, but is a real miniature version of the most powerful quasars and radio galaxies, which contain black holes with masses of a few million times that of the Sun." Black holes are known to release a prodigious amount of energy when they swallow matter. It was thought that most of the energy came out in the form of radiation, predominantly X-rays. However, the new findings show that some black holes can release at least as much energy, and perhaps much more, in the form of collimated jets of fast moving particles. The fast jets slam into the surrounding interstellar gas, heating it and triggering an expansion. The inflating bubble contains a mixture of hot gas and ultra-fast particles at different temperatures. Observations in several energy bands (optical, radio, X-rays) help astronomers calculate the total rate at which the black hole is heating its surroundings. The astronomers could observe the spots where the jets smash into the interstellar gas located around the black hole, and reveal that the bubble of hot gas is inflating at a speed of almost one million kilometres per hour. "The length of the jets in NGC 7793 is amazing, compared to the size of the black hole from which they are launched," says co-author Robert Soria [1]. "If the black hole were shrunk to the size of a soccer ball, each jet would extend from the Earth to beyond the orbit of Pluto." This research will help

Perturbations of the Kerr black hole and the boundness of linear waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eskin, G.

2010-11-01

Artificial black holes (also called acoustic or optical black holes) are the black holes for the linear wave equation describing the wave propagation in a moving medium. They attracted a considerable interest of physicists who study them to better understand the black holes in general relativity. We consider the case of stationary axisymmetric metrics and we show that the Kerr black hole is not stable under perturbations in the class of all axisymmetric metrics. We describe families of axisymmetric metrics having black holes that are the perturbations of the Kerr black hole. We also show that the ergosphere can be determined by boundary measurements. Finally, we prove the uniform boundness of the solution in the exterior of the black hole when the event horizon coincides with the ergosphere.

Lectures on Black Hole Quantum Mechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilczek, Frank

The lectures that follow were originally given in 1992, and written up only slightly later. Since then there have been dramatic developments in the quantum theory of black holes, especially in the context of string theory. None of these are reflected here. The concept of quantum hair, which is discussed at length in the lectures, is certainly of permanent interest, and I continue to believe that in some generalized form it will prove central to the whole question of how information is stored in black holes. The discussion of scattering and emission modes from various classes of black holes could be substantially simplified using modern techniques, and from currently popular perspectives the choice of examples might look eccentric. On the other hand fashions have changed rapidly in the field, and the big questions as stated and addressed here, especially as formulated for "real" black holes (nonextremal, in four-dimensional, asymptotically flat space-time, with supersymmetry broken), remain pertinent even as the tools to address them may evolve. The four lectures I gave at the school were based on two lengthy papers that have now been published, "Black Holes as Elementary Particles," Nuclear Physics B380, 447 (1992) and "Quantum Hair on Black Holes," Nuclear Physics B378, 175 (1992). The unifying theme of this work is to help make plausible the possibility that black holes, although they are certainly unusual and extreme states of matter, may be susceptible to a description using concepts that are not fundamentally different from those we use in describing other sorts of quantum-mechanical matter. In the first two lectures I discussed dilaton black holes. The fact that apparently innocuous changes in the "matter" action can drastically change the properties of a black hole is already very significant: it indicates that the physical properties of small black holes cannot be discussed reliably in the abstract, but must be considered with due regard to the rest of

Stationary black holes with stringy hair

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boos, Jens; Frolov, Valeri P.

2018-01-01

We discuss properties of black holes which are pierced by special configurations of cosmic strings. For static black holes, we consider radial strings in the limit when the number of strings grows to infinity while the tension of each single string tends to zero. In a properly taken limit, the stress-energy tensor of the string distribution is finite. We call such matter stringy matter. We present a solution of the Einstein equations for an electrically charged static black hole with the stringy matter, with and without a cosmological constant. This solution is a warped product of two metrics. One of them is a deformed 2-sphere, whose Gaussian curvature is determined by the energy density of the stringy matter. We discuss the embedding of a corresponding distorted sphere into a three-dimensional Euclidean space and formulate consistency conditions. We also found a relation between the square of the Weyl tensor invariant of the four-dimensional spacetime of the stringy black holes and the energy density of the stringy matter. In the second part of the paper, we discuss test stationary strings in the Kerr geometry and in its Kerr-NUT-(anti-)de Sitter generalizations. Explicit solutions for strings that are regular at the event horizon are obtained. Using these solutions, the stress-energy tensor of the stringy matter in these geometries is calculated. Extraction of the angular momentum from rotating black holes by such strings is also discussed.

A universal minimal mass scale for present-day central black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alexander, Tal; Bar-Or, Ben

2017-08-01

The early stages of massive black hole growth are poorly understood1. High-luminosity active galactic nuclei at very high redshift2 z further imply rapid growth soon after the Big Bang. Suggested formation mechanisms typically rely on the extreme conditions found in the early Universe (very low metallicity, very high gas or star density). It is therefore plausible that these black hole seeds were formed in dense environments, at least a Hubble time ago (z > 1.8 for a look-back time of tH = 10 Gyr)3. Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) of mass M• ≈ 102-105 solar masses, M⊙, are the long-sought missing link4 between stellar black holes, born of supernovae5, and massive black holes6, tied to galaxy evolution by empirical scaling relations7,8. The relation between black hole mass, M•, and stellar velocity dispersion, σ★, that is observed in the local Universe over more than about three decades in massive black hole mass, correlates M• and σ★ on scales that are well outside the massive black hole's radius of dynamical influence6, rh≈GM•/σ★2. We show that low-mass black hole seeds that accrete stars from locally dense environments in galaxies following a universal M•/σ★ relation9,10 grow over the age of the Universe to be above M0≈3×105M⊙ (5% lower limit), independent of the unknown seed masses and formation processes. The mass M0 depends weakly on the uncertain formation redshift, and sets a universal minimal mass scale for present-day black holes. This can explain why no IMBHs have yet been found6, and it implies that present-day galaxies with σ★ < S0 ≈ 40 km s-1 lack a central black hole, or formed it only recently. A dearth of IMBHs at low redshifts has observable implications for tidal disruptions11 and gravitational wave mergers12.

Supermassive Black Holes and Galaxy Evolution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Merritt, D.

2004-01-01

Supermassive black holes appear to be generic components of galactic nuclei. The formation and growth of black holes is intimately connected with the evolution of galaxies on a wide range of scales. For instance, mergers between galaxies containing nuclear black holes would produce supermassive binaries which eventually coalesce via the emission of gravitational radiation. The formation and decay of these binaries is expected to produce a number of observable signatures in the stellar distribution. Black holes can also affect the large-scale structure of galaxies by perturbing the orbits of stars that pass through the nucleus. Large-scale N-body simulations are beginning to generate testable predictions about these processes which will allow us to draw inferences about the formation history of supermassive black holes.

Dual jets from binary black holes.

PubMed

Palenzuela, Carlos; Lehner, Luis; Liebling, Steven L

2010-08-20

The coalescence of supermassive black holes--a natural outcome when galaxies merge--should produce gravitational waves and would likely be associated with energetic electromagnetic events. We have studied the coalescence of such binary black holes within an external magnetic field produced by the expected circumbinary disk surrounding them. Solving the Einstein equations to describe black holes interacting with surrounding plasma, we present numerical evidence for possible jets driven by these systems. Extending the process described by Blandford and Znajek for a single, spinning black hole, the picture that emerges suggests that the electromagnetic field extracts energy from the orbiting black holes, which ultimately merge and settle into the standard Blandford-Znajek scenario. Emissions along these jets could potentially be observable at large distances.

Measuring Black Hole Spin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garmire, Gordon

1999-09-01

WE PROPOSE TO CARRY OUT A SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF EMISSION AND ABSORPTION SPECTRAL FEATURES THAT ARE OFTEN SEEN IN X-RAY SPECTRA OF BLACK HOLE BINARIES. THE EXCELLENT SENSITIVITY AND ENERGY RESOLUTION OF THE ACIS/HETG COMBINATION WILL NOT ONLY HELP RESOLVE AMBIGUITIES IN INTERPRETING THESE FEATURES, BUT MAY ALLOW MODELLING OF THE EMISSION LINE PROFILES IN DETAIL. THE PROFILES MAY CONTAIN INFORMATION ON SUCH FUNDAMENTAL PROPERTIES AS THE SPIN OF BLACK HOLES. THEREFORE, THIS STUDY COULD LEAD TO A MEASUREMENT OF BLACK HOLE SPIN FOR SELECTED SOURCES. THE RESULT CAN THEN BE DIRECTLY COMPARED WITH THOSE FROM PREVIOUS STUDIES BASED ON INDEPENDENT METHODS.

Boosting jet power in black hole spacetimes.

PubMed

Neilsen, David; Lehner, Luis; Palenzuela, Carlos; Hirschmann, Eric W; Liebling, Steven L; Motl, Patrick M; Garrett, Travis

2011-08-02

The extraction of rotational energy from a spinning black hole via the Blandford-Znajek mechanism has long been understood as an important component in models to explain energetic jets from compact astrophysical sources. Here we show more generally that the kinetic energy of the black hole, both rotational and translational, can be tapped, thereby producing even more luminous jets powered by the interaction of the black hole with its surrounding plasma. We study the resulting Poynting jet that arises from single boosted black holes and binary black hole systems. In the latter case, we find that increasing the orbital angular momenta of the system and/or the spins of the individual black holes results in an enhanced Poynting flux.

Black hole complementarity in gravity's rainbow

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gim, Yongwan; Kim, Wontae, E-mail: yongwan89@sogang.ac.kr, E-mail: wtkim@sogang.ac.kr

2015-05-01

To see how the gravity's rainbow works for black hole complementary, we evaluate the required energy for duplication of information in the context of black hole complementarity by calculating the critical value of the rainbow parameter in the certain class of the rainbow Schwarzschild black hole. The resultant energy can be written as the well-defined limit for the vanishing rainbow parameter which characterizes the deformation of the relativistic dispersion relation in the freely falling frame. It shows that the duplication of information in quantum mechanics could not be allowed below a certain critical value of the rainbow parameter; however, itmore » might be possible above the critical value of the rainbow parameter, so that the consistent formulation in our model requires additional constraints or any other resolutions for the latter case.« less

Can Black Hole Relax Unitarily?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Solodukhin, S. N.

2005-03-01

We review the way the BTZ black hole relaxes back to thermal equilibrium after a small perturbation and how it is seen in the boundary (finite volume) CFT. The unitarity requires the relaxation to be quasi-periodic. It is preserved in the CFT but is not obvious in the case of the semiclassical black hole the relaxation of which is driven by complex quasi-normal modes. We discuss two ways of modifying the semiclassical black hole geometry to maintain unitarity: the (fractal) brick wall and the worm-hole modification. In the latter case the entropy comes out correctly as well.

Songlines from Direct Collapse Seed Black Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aykutalp, Aycin; Wise, John; Spaans, Marco; Meijerink, Rowin

2015-01-01

In the last decade, the growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) has been intricately linked to galaxy formation and evolution, and is a key ingredient in the assembly of galaxies. Observations of SMBHs with masses of 109 solar at high redshifts (z~7) poses challenges to the theory of seed black hole formation and their growth in young galaxies. Fundamental to understanding their existence within the first billion years after the Big Bang, is the identification of their formation processes, growth rate and evolution through cosmic time. We perform cosmological hydrodynamic simulations following the growth of direct collapse seed black holes (DCBH) including X-ray irradiation from the central black hole, stellar feedback both from metal-free and metal-rich stars and H2 self-shielding. These simulations demonstrate that X-ray irradiation from the central black hole regulates its growth and influence the formation of stellar population in the host halo. In particular, X-ray radiation enhances H2 formation in metal-free gas and initially induces the star formation in the halo. However, in the long term, X-ray irradiation from the accreting seed DCBH stifles the initial growth relative to the Eddington rate argument. This further complicates the explanation for the existence of SMBHs in the early universe.

Host Galaxy Properties and Black Hole Mass of Swift J164449.3+573451 from Multi-wavelength Long-term Monitoring and HST Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoon, Yongmin; Im, Myungshin; Jeon, Yiseul; Lee, Seong-Kook; Choi, Philip; Gehrels, Neil; Pak, Soojong; Sakamoto, Takanori; Urata, Yuji

2015-07-01

We study the host galaxy properties of the tidal disruption object Swift J164449.3+573451 using long-term optical to near-infrared (NIR) data. First, we decompose the galaxy surface brightness distribution and analyze the morphology of the host galaxy using high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 images. We conclude that the host galaxy is bulge-dominant and well described by a single Sérsic model with Sérsic index n=3.43+/- 0.05. Adding a disk component, the bulge to total host galaxy flux ratio (B/ T) is 0.83 ± 0.03, which still indicates a bulge-dominant galaxy. Second, we estimate multi-band fluxes of the host galaxy through long-term light curves. Our long-term NIR light curves reveal the pure host galaxy fluxes ˜500 days after the burst. We fit spectral energy distribution models to the multi-band fluxes from the optical to NIR of the host galaxy and determine its properties. The stellar mass, the star formation rate, and the age of the stellar population are {log}({M}\\star /{M}⊙ )={9.14}-0.10+0.13, {0.03}-0.03+0.28 {M}⊙ yr-1, and {0.63}-0.43+0.95 Gyr. Finally, we estimate the mass of the central super massive black hole which is responsible for the tidal disruption event. The black hole mass is estimated to be {10}6.7+/- 0.4 {M}⊙ from {M}{BH}-{M}\\star ,{bul} and {M}{BH}-{L}{bul} relations for the K band, although a smaller value of ˜ {10}5 {M}⊙ cannot be excluded convincingly if the host galaxy harbors a pseudobulge.

Black hole binaries in galactic nuclei and gravitational wave sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hong, Jongsuk; Lee, Hyung Mok

2015-03-01

Stellar black hole (BH) binaries are one of the most promising gravitational wave (GW) sources for GW detection by the ground-based detectors. Nuclear star clusters (NCs) located at the centre of galaxies are known to harbour massive black holes (MBHs) and to be bounded by a gravitational potential by other galactic components such as the galactic bulge. Such an environment of NCs provides a favourable conditions for the BH-BH binary formation by the gravitational radiation capture due to the high BH number density and velocity dispersion. We carried out detailed numerical study of the formation of BH binaries in the NCs using a series of N-body simulations for equal-mass cases. There is no mass segregation introduced. We have derived scaling relations of the binary formation rate with the velocity dispersion of the stellar system beyond the radius of influence and made estimates of the rate of formation of BH binaries per unit comoving volume and thus expected detection rate by integrating the binary formation rate over galaxy population within the detection distance of the advanced detectors. We find that the overall formation rates for BH-BH binaries per NC is ˜10-10 yr-1 for the Milky Way-like galaxies and weakly dependent on the mass of MBH as Γ ∝ M_MBH^{3/28}. We estimate the detection rate of 0.02-14 yr-1 for advanced LIGO/Virgo considering several factors such as the dynamical evolution of NCs, the variance of the number density of stars and the mass range of MBH giving uncertainties.

LIGO Finds Lightest Black-Hole Binary

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2017-11-01

Wednesdayevening the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) collaboration quietly mentioned that theyd found gravitational waves from yet another black-hole binary back in June. This casual announcement reveals what is so far the lightest pair of black holes weve watched merge opening the door for comparisons to the black holes weve detected by electromagnetic means.A Routine DetectionThe chirp signal of GW170608 detected by LIGO Hanford and LIGO Livingston. [LIGO collaboration 2017]After the fanfare of the previous four black-hole-binary merger announcements over the past year and a half as well as the announcement of the one neutron-star binary merger in August GW170608 marks our entry into the era in which gravitational-wave detections are officially routine.GW170608, a gravitational-wave signal from the merger of two black holes roughly a billion light-years away, was detected in June of this year. This detection occurred after wed already found gravitational waves from several black-hole binaries with the two LIGO detectors in the U.S., but before the Virgo interferometer came online in Europe and increased the joint ability of the detectors to localize sources.Mass estimates for the two components of GW170608 using different models. [LIGO collaboration 2017]Overall, GW170608 is fairly unremarkable: it was detected by both LIGO Hanford and LIGO Livingston some 7 ms apart, and the signal looks not unlike those of the previous LIGO detections. But because were still in the early days of gravitational-wave astronomy, every discovery is still remarkable in some way! GW170608 stands out as being the lightest pair of black holes weve yet to see merge, with component masses before the merger estimated at 12 and 7 times the mass of the Sun.Why Size MattersWith the exception of GW151226, the gravitational-wave signal discovered on Boxing Day last year, all of the black holes that have been discovered by LIGO/Virgo have been quite large: the masses

Evolution of black holes in the galaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown, G. E.; Lee, C.-H.; Wijers, R. A. M. J.; Bethe, H. A.

2000-08-01

be observed with LIGO once the advanced detectors planned to begin in 2004 are in place. Black holes are also considered as progenitors for gamma ray bursters (GRB). Due to their rapid spin, potentially high magnetic fields, and relatively clean environment, mergers of black-hole, neutron-star binaries may be especially suitable. Combined with their 10 times greater formation rate than binary neutron stars this makes them attractive candidates for GRB progenitors, although the strong concentration of GRBs towards host galaxies may favor massive star progenitors or helium-star, black-hole mergers. We also consider binaries with a low-mass companion, and study the evolution of the very large number of black-hole transients, consisting of a black hole of mass ~7Msolar accompanied by a K or M main-sequence star (except for two cases with a somewhat more massive subgiant donor). We show that common envelope evolution must take place in the supergiant stage of the massive progenitor of the black hole, giving an explanation of why the donor masses are so small. We predict that there are about 22 times more binaries than observed, in which the main-sequence star, somewhat more massive than a K- or M-star, sits quietly inside its Roche Lobe, and will only become an X-ray source when the companion evolves off the main sequence. We briefly discuss the evolution of low-mass X-ray binaries into millisecond pulsars. We point out that in the usual scenario for forming millisecond pulsars with He white-dwarf companions, the long period of stable mass transfer will usually lead to the collapse of the neutron star into a black hole. We then discuss Van den Heuvel's ``Hercules X-1 scenario'' for forming low-mass X-ray binaries, commenting on the differences in accretion onto the compact object by radiative or semiconvective donors, rather than the deeply convective donors used in the earlier part of our review. In Appendix /A we describe the evolution of Cyg X-3, finding the compact

Simulations of high-spin black-hole binaries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scheel, Mark; Lovelace, Geoffrey

2014-03-01

Black holes can in principle have spins up to the Kerr limit a = 1 , and some (highly uncertain) estimates from X-ray binaries yield a > 0 . 98 . Because binaries with highly-spinning black holes may be detectable by LIGO, it is important to be able to simulate and understand these systems. We present binary black hole simulations with large spins, including a generic, precessing simulation with a spin of a > 0 . 99 on one of the black holes. We discuss some of the difficulties with simulating high-spin black holes and how to overcome them.

Thermodynamics and luminosities of rainbow black holes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mu, Benrong; Wang, Peng; Yang, Haitang, E-mail: mubenrong@uestc.edu.cn, E-mail: pengw@scu.edu.cn, E-mail: hyanga@scu.edu.cn

2015-11-01

Doubly special relativity (DSR) is an effective model for encoding quantum gravity in flat spacetime. As result of the nonlinearity of the Lorentz transformation, the energy-momentum dispersion relation is modified. One simple way to import DSR to curved spacetime is ''Gravity's rainbow'', where the spacetime background felt by a test particle would depend on its energy. Focusing on the ''Amelino-Camelia dispersion relation'' which is E{sup 2} = m{sup 2}+p{sup 2}[1−η(E/m{sub p}){sup n}] with n > 0, we investigate the thermodynamical properties of a Schwarzschild black hole and a static uncharged black string for all possible values of η and n in the framework ofmore » rainbow gravity. It shows that there are non-vanishing minimum masses for these two black holes in the cases with η < 0 and n ≥ 2. Considering effects of rainbow gravity on both the Hawking temperature and radius of the event horizon, we use the geometric optics approximation to compute luminosities of a 2D black hole, a Schwarzschild one and a static uncharged black string. It is found that the luminosities can be significantly suppressed or boosted depending on the values of η and n.« less

Small black holes in global AdS spacetime

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jokela, Niko; Pönni, Arttu; Vuorinen, Aleksi

2016-04-01

We study the properties of two-point functions and quasinormal modes in a strongly coupled field theory holographically dual to a small black hole in global anti-de Sitter spacetime. Our results are seen to smoothly interpolate between known limits corresponding to large black holes and thermal AdS space, demonstrating that the Son-Starinets prescription works even when there is no black hole in the spacetime. Omitting issues related to the internal space, the results can be given a field theory interpretation in terms of the microcanonical ensemble, which provides access to energy densities forbidden in the canonical description.

Rotating black hole solutions in relativistic analogue gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giacomelli, Luca; Liberati, Stefano

2017-09-01

Simulation and experimental realization of acoustic black holes in analogue gravity systems have lead to a novel understanding of relevant phenomena such as Hawking radiation or superradiance. We explore here the possibility of using relativistic systems for simulating rotating black hole solutions and possibly get an acoustic analogue of a Kerr black hole. In doing so, we demonstrate a precise relation between nonrelativistic and relativistic solutions and provide a new class of vortex solutions for relativistic systems. Such solutions might be used in the future as a test bed in numerical simulations as well as concrete experiments.

Spectral methods in general relativity and large Randall-Sundrum II black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdolrahimi, Shohreh; Cattoën, Céline; Page, Don N.; \\\\; Yaghoobpour-Tari, Shima

2013-06-01

Using a novel numerical spectral method, we have found solutions for large static Randall-Sundrum II (RSII) black holes by perturbing a numerical AdS5-CFT4 solution to the Einstein equation with a negative cosmological constant Λ that is asymptotically conformal to the Schwarzschild metric. We used a numerical spectral method independent of the Ricci-DeTurck-flow method used by Figueras, Lucietti, and Wiseman for a similar numerical solution. We have compared our black-hole solution to the one Figueras and Wiseman have derived by perturbing their numerical AdS5-CFT4 solution, showing that our solution agrees closely with theirs. We have obtained a closed-form approximation to the metric of the black hole on the brane. We have also deduced the new results that to first order in 1/(-ΛM2), the Hawking temperature and entropy of an RSII static black hole have the same values as the Schwarzschild metric with the same mass, but the horizon area is increased by about 4.7/(-Λ).

Noncommutative geometry inspired Einstein–Gauss–Bonnet black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghosh, Sushant G.

2018-04-01

Low energy limits of a string theory suggests that the gravity action should include quadratic and higher-order curvature terms, in the form of dimensionally continued Gauss–Bonnet densities. Einstein–Gauss–Bonnet is a natural extension of the general relativity to higher dimensions in which the first and second-order terms correspond, respectively, to general relativity and Einstein–Gauss–Bonnet gravity. We obtain five-dimensional (5D) black hole solutions, inspired by a noncommutative geometry, with a static spherically symmetric, Gaussian mass distribution as a source both in the general relativity and Einstein–Gauss–Bonnet gravity cases, and we also analyzes their thermodynamical properties. Owing the noncommutative corrected black hole, the thermodynamic quantities have also been modified, and phase transition is shown to be achievable. The phase transitions for the thermodynamic stability, in both the theories, are characterized by a discontinuity in the specific heat at r_+=rC , with the stable (unstable) branch for r < (>) rC . The metric of the noncommutative inspired black holes smoothly goes over to the Boulware–Deser solution at large distance. The paper has been appended with a calculation of black hole mass using holographic renormalization.

Modelling Gravitational Radiation from Binary Black Holes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Centrella, Joan

2006-01-01

The final merger and coalescence of binary black holes is a key source of strong gravitational waves for the LISA mission. Observing these systems will allow us to probe the formation of cosmic structure to high redshifts and test general relativity directly in the strong-field, dynamical regime. Recently, major breakthroughs have been made in modeling black hole mergers using numerical relativity. This talk will survey these exciting developments, focusing on the gravitational waveforms and the recoil kicks produced from non-equal mass mergers.

High Frequency QPOs due to Black Hole Spin

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kazanas, Demos; Fukumura, K.

2009-01-01

We present detailed computations of photon orbits emitted by flares at the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) of accretion disks around rotating black holes. We show that for sufficiently large spin parameter, i.e. a > 0.94 M, flare a sufficient number of photons arrive at an observer after multiple orbits around the black hole, to produce an "photon echo" of constant lag, i.e. independent of the relative phase between the black hole and the observer, of T approximates 14 M. This constant time delay, then, leads to a power spectrum with a QPO at a frequency nu approximates 1/14M, even for a totally random ensemble of such flares. Observation of such a QPO will provide incontrovertible evidence for the high spin of the black hole and a very accurate, independent, measurement of its mass.

Boosting jet power in black hole spacetimes

PubMed Central

Neilsen, David; Lehner, Luis; Palenzuela, Carlos; Hirschmann, Eric W.; Liebling, Steven L.; Motl, Patrick M.; Garrett, Travis

2011-01-01

The extraction of rotational energy from a spinning black hole via the Blandford–Znajek mechanism has long been understood as an important component in models to explain energetic jets from compact astrophysical sources. Here we show more generally that the kinetic energy of the black hole, both rotational and translational, can be tapped, thereby producing even more luminous jets powered by the interaction of the black hole with its surrounding plasma. We study the resulting Poynting jet that arises from single boosted black holes and binary black hole systems. In the latter case, we find that increasing the orbital angular momenta of the system and/or the spins of the individual black holes results in an enhanced Poynting flux. PMID:21768341

Compensating Scientism through "The Black Hole."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roth, Lane

The focal image of the film "The Black Hole" functions as a visual metaphor for the sacred, order, unity, and eternal time. The black hole is a symbol that unites the antinomic pairs of conscious/unconscious, water/fire, immersion/emersion, death/rebirth, and hell/heaven. The black hole is further associated with the quest for…

Black holes as bubble nucleation sites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gregory, Ruth; Moss, Ian G.; Withers, Benjamin

2014-03-01

We consider the effect of inhomogeneities on the rate of false vacuum decay. Modelling the inhomogeneity by a black hole, we construct explicit Euclidean instantons which describe the nucleation of a bubble of true vacuum centred on the inhomogeneity. We find that inhomogeneity significantly enhances the nucleation rate over that of the Coleman-de Luccia instanton — the black hole acts as a nucleation site for the bubble. The effect is larger than previously believed due to the contributions to the action from conical singularities. For a sufficiently low initial mass, the original black hole is replaced by flat space during this process, as viewed by a single causal patch observer. Increasing the initial mass, we find a critical value above which a black hole remnant survives the process. This resulting black hole can have a higher mass than the original black hole, but always has a lower entropy. We compare the process to bubble-to-bubble transitions, where there is a semi-classical Lorentzian description in the WKB approximation.

Probing Black Holes With Gravitational Radiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cornish, Neil J.

2006-09-01

Gravitational radiation can provide unique insights into the dynamics and evolution of black holes. Gravitational waveforms encode detailed information about the spacetime geometry, much as the sounds made by a musical instrument reflect the geometry of the instrument. The LISA gravitational wave observatory will be able to record black holes colliding out to the edge of the visible Universe, with an expected event rate of tens to thousands per year. LISA has unmatched capabilities for studying the role of black holes in galactic evolution, in particular, by studying the mergers of seed black holes at very high redshift, z > 5. Merger events at lower redshift will be detected at extremely high signal-to-noise, allowing for precision tests of the black hole paradigm. Below z=1 LISA will be able to record stellar remnants falling into supermassive black holes. These extreme mass ratio inspiral events will yield insights into the dynamics of galactic cusps, and the brighter events will provide incredibly precise tests of strong field, dynamical gravity.

Black holes thermodynamics in a new kind of noncommutative geometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faizal, Mir; Amorim, R. G. G.; Ulhoa, S. C.

Motivated by the energy-dependent metric in gravity’s rainbow, we will propose a new kind of energy-dependent noncommutative geometry. It will be demonstrated that like gravity’s rainbow, this new noncommutative geometry is described by an energy-dependent metric. We will analyze the effect of this noncommutative deformation on the Schwarzschild black holes and Kerr black holes. We will perform our analysis by relating the commutative and this new energy-dependent noncommutative metrics using an energy-dependent Moyal star product. We will also analyze the thermodynamics of these new noncommutative black hole solutions. We will explicitly derive expression for the corrected entropy and temperature for these black hole solutions. It will be demonstrated that, for these deformed solutions, black remnants cannot form. This is because these corrections increase rather than reduce the temperature of the black holes.

Magnetic Black Hole Waves

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-07-09

This cartoon shows how magnetic waves, called Alfvén S-waves, propagate outward from the base of black hole jets. The jet is a flow of charged particles, called a plasma, which is launched by a black hole. The jet has a helical magnetic field (yellow coil) permeating the plasma. The waves then travel along the jet, in the direction of the plasma flow, but at a velocity determined by both the jet's magnetic properties and the plasma flow speed. The BL Lac jet examined in a new study is several light-years long, and the wave speed is about 98 percent the speed of light. Fast-moving magnetic waves emanating from a distant supermassive black hole undulate like a whip whose handle is being shaken by a giant hand, according to a study using data from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Very Long Baseline Array. Scientists used this instrument to explore the galaxy/black hole system known as BL Lacertae (BL Lac) in high resolution. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19822