Top Research Papers on Black Holes

We present a simple analytical model for studying the collapse of an ultracompact stellar object (regular black hole mimicker with infinite redshift surface) to form a (integrable) black hole, in the framework of General Relativity. Both initial and final configurations have the same ADM mass, so that the transition represents an internal redistribution of matter without emission of energy. The model, despite being quite idealized, can be viewed as a good starting point to investigate near-horizon quantum physics

In this paper, we present the spherically symmetric Proca star in the presence of a phantom field and obtain a traversable wormhole solution for non-trivial topological spacetime. Using numerical methods, symmetric solutions and asymmetric solutions are obtained in two asymptotically flat regions. We find that when changing the throat size $r_{0}$, both the mass $M$ and the Noether charge $Q$ no longer have the spiral characteristics of an independent Proca star, furthermore, the asymmetric solution can be turned into the symmetric solution at some frequency $\omega$ in certain $r_{0}$. In par...

For the Schwarzschild black hole, the Bekenstein–Hawking entropy is proportional to the area of the event horizon. For the black holes with two horizons, the thermodynamics is not very clear, since the role of the inner horizons is not well established. Here we calculate the entropy of the Reissner–Nordström black hole and of the Kerr black hole, which have two horizons. For the spherically symmetric Reissner–Nordström black hole, we used several different approaches. All of them give the same result for the entropy and for the corresponding temperature of the thermal Hawking radiation. The en...

The spectroscopic study of black hole quasinormal modes in gravitational-wave ringdown observations is hindered by our ignorance of which modes should dominate astrophysical signals for different binary configurations, limiting tests of general relativity and astrophysics. In this work, we present a description of the quasinormal modes that are excited in the ringdowns of comparable mass, quasi-circular precessing binary black hole coalescences -- a key region of parameter space that has yet to be fully explored within the framework of black hole spectroscopy. We suggest that the remnant pertu...

Despite the absence of a lightcone structure, some solutions of Carroll gravity show black hole-like behaviour. We define Carroll black holes as solutions of Carroll gravity that exhibit Carroll thermal properties and have a Carroll extremal surface, notions introduced in our work. The latter is a Carroll analogue of a Lorentzian extremal surface. As examples, we discuss the Carroll versions of Schwarzschild, Reissner-Nordström, and BTZ black holes and black hole solutions of generic 1+1 dimensional Carroll dilaton gravity, including Carroll JT and Carroll Witten black holes.

Singularity-free regular black holes are a popular alternative to the singular mathematical black holes predicted by general relativity. Here, we derive a generic condition that spherically symmetric dynamical regular black holes must satisfy to be compatible with the first law of black hole mechanics based on an expression for the surface gravity at the outer horizon. We examine the dynamical generalizations of models typically considered in the literature and demonstrate that none of them satisfies the condition required for compatibility with the first law, suggesting that modifications are...

We review conceptual aspects of inflationary scenarios able to produce primordial black holes by amplifying the size of curvature fluctuations to the level required to trigger black hole formation. We identify general mechanisms to do so, both for single- and multiple-field inflation. In single-field inflation, the spectrum of curvature fluctuations is enhanced by pronounced gradients of background quantities controlling the cosmological dynamics, which can induce brief phases of non-slow-roll inflationary evolution. In multiple-field inflation, the amplification occurs through appropriate cou...

The Penrose process for the decay of electrically charged particles in a Reissner-Nordstr\"om-anti-de Sitter black hole spacetime is studied. To extract large quantities of energy one needs to mount a recursive Penrose process where particles are confined and can bounce back to suffer ever again a decaying process in the black hole electric ergoregion. In an asymptotically anti-de Sitter (AdS) spacetime, two situations of confinement are possible. One situation uses a reflecting mirror at some radius, which obliges the energetic outgoing particles to return to the decaying point. The other sit...

The presence of supermassive black holes at redshift z>6 raises some questions about their formation and growth in the early universe. Due to the construction of new telescopes like the ELT to observe and detect SMBHs, it will be useful to derive theoretical estimates for the population and to compare observations and model predictions in the future. In consequence our main goal is to estimate the population of SMBHs using a semi-analytic code known as Galacticus which is a code for the formation and evolution of galaxies where we are about to include different scenarios for SMBHs formation in...

They are out there in the sky in huge numbers. They are the most astonishing objects in the universe. Their existence was predicted and understood before we detected them. They behave precisely as the theory predicted. Yet, we do not know what happens at their center, nor in their future. But this confusion is our key towards what we most lack in fundamental physics: understanding quantum gravity.

We study the magnetospheric evolution of a nonaccreting spinning black hole (BH) with an initially inclined split monopole magnetic field by means of 3D general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations. This serves as a model for a neutron star (NS) collapse or a BH–NS merger remnant after the inherited magnetosphere has settled into a split monopole field creating a striped wind. We show that the initially inclined split monopolar current sheet aligns over time with the BH equatorial plane. The inclination angle evolves exponentially toward alignment, with an alignment timescale that is i...

More than 300 supermassive black holes have been detected at redshifts larger than six, and they are abundant in the centers of local galaxies. Their formation mechanisms, however, are still rather unconstrained. A possible origin of these supermassive black holes could be mergers in dense black hole clusters, forming as a result of mass segregation within nuclear star clusters at the center of galaxies. In this study, we present the first systematic investigation of the evolution of such black hole clusters in which the effect of an external potential is taken into account. Such a potential c...

In this work, we explore the connection between the critical curves ("shadows") and the quasinormal mode frequencies (in the eikonal limit) of Kerr black holes. This mapping has been previously established for non-rotating black holes. We show that, the shadow seen by an distant observer at a given inclination angle, can be mapped to a family of quasinormal modes with $m/(\ell+1/2)$ bounded within certain range, where $m$ is is azimuthal node number and $\ell$ is the angular node number. We discuss the possibility of testing such relation with space-borne gravitational wave detectors and the n...

In this paper, the merger rate of black holes in a cluster of primordial black holes (PBHs) is investigated. The clusters have characteristics close to those of typical globular star clusters. A cluster that has a wide mass spectrum ranging from 10−2 to 10M⊙ (Solar mass) and contains a massive central black hole of the mass M•=103M⊙ is considered. It is shown that in the process of the evolution of cluster, the merger rate changed significantly, and by now, the PBH clusters have passed the stage of active merging of the black holes inside them.

Mass distribution of black holes in low-mass X-ray binaries previously suggested the existence of a ∼2–5 M ⊙ mass gap between the most massive neutron stars and the least massive black holes, while some recent evidence appears to support that this mass gap is being populated. Whether there is a mass gap or not can potentially shed light on the physics of supernova explosions that form neutron stars and black holes, although significant mass accretion of neutron stars including binary mergers may lead to the formation of mass-gap objects. In this review, I collect the compact objects that are p...

We present new 5 GHz VLA observations of a sample of 8 active intermediate-mass black holes with masses 10 4 . 9 < 𝑀 < 10 6 . 1 𝑀 (cid:12) found in galaxies with stellar masses 𝑀 ∗ < 3 × 10 9 𝑀 (cid:12) . We detected 5 of the 8 sources at high significance. Of the detections, 4 were consistent with a point source, and one (SDSS J095418.15+471725.1, with black hole mass 𝑀 < 10 5 𝑀 (cid:12) ) clearly shows extended emission that has a jet morphology. Combining our new radio data with the black hole masses and literature X-ray measurements, we put the sources on the fundamental plane of blac...

Science as Inquiry Students discover the properties of black holes based on their understanding of gravity and velocity. They also analyze astronomical images from the Hubble Space Telescope and Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Through an experiment, they define escape velocity. Then they extend this idea to a black hole, which is an object with an escape velocity equal to the speed of light. In the final activity, students become astronomers in charge of a new database of super-massive black holes. Their job is to evaluate new claims to decide if they are valid. They design an evaluation rubric and ...

Recent observations of the high-redshift universe have uncovered a significant number of active galactic nuclei, implying that supermassive black holes (SMBHs) would have to have been formed at much earlier times than expected. Direct collapse of metal-free gas clouds to SMBHs after recombination could help explain the early formation of SMBHs, but this scenario is stymied by the fragmentation of the clouds due to efficient molecular hydrogen cooling. We show that a subdominant population of tiny, evaporating primordial black holes, with significant clustering in some gas clouds, can heat the ...

We propose a new formula for the entropy of a dynamical black hole$-$valid to leading order for perturbations off of a stationary black hole background$-$in an arbitrary classical diffeomorphism covariant Lagrangian theory of gravity in $n$ dimensions. In stationary eras, this formula agrees with the usual Noether charge formula, but in nonstationary eras, we obtain a nontrivial correction term. In general relativity, our formula for the entropy of a dynamical black hole is $1/4$ of the horizon area plus a term involving the integral of the expansion of the null generators of the horizon, whic...

The so-called black bounce mechanism of singularity suppression, proposed by Simpson and Visser, consists in replacing the spherical radius $r$ in the metric tensor with $\sqrt{r^2 + a^2}$, $a = \rm const>0$. This removes a singularity at $r=0$ and its neighborhood from space-time, and there emerges a regular minimum of the spherical radius that can be a wormhole throat or a regular bounce (if located inside a black hole). Instead, it is proposed here to make $r=0$ a regular center by proper (Bardeen type) replacements in the metric, preserving its form at large $r$. Such replacements are appl...

The LIGO–Virgo collaboration has reported 50 black hole–black hole (BH–BH) mergers and 8 candidates recovered from digging deeper into the detector noise. The majority of these mergers have low effective spins pointing toward low BH spins and efficient angular momentum (AM) transport in massive stars as proposed by several models (e.g., the Tayler–Spruit dynamo). However, out of these 58 mergers, 7 are consistent with having high effective-spin parameter (χ eff > 0.3). Additionally, two events seem to have high effective spins sourced from the spin of the primary (more massive) BH. These parti...

The black hole information paradox has been with us for some time. We outline the nature of the paradox. We then propose a resolution based on an examination of the properties of quantum gravity under circumstances that give rise to a classical singularity. We show that the gravitational wavefunction vanishes as one gets close to the classical singularity. This results in a future boundary condition inside the black hole that allows for quantum information to be recovered in the evaporation process.

The Black Hole Explorer (BHEX), an orbiting, multi-band, millimeter radio-telescope, in hybrid combination with millimeter terrestrial radio-telescopes, is designed to discover and measure the thin photon ring around the supermassive black holes M87* and Sgr A*. As background to the BHEX instruments, this paper explores various aspects of the photon ring, focusing on the intricate flow of light around a spinning black hole, and tracking, through visual simulations, photons as they course along geodesics. Ultimately, the aim of these visualizations is to advance the foundational aims of the BHE...

We prove there is a unique vacuum solution in split-signature spacetimes with Kleinian SO(2,1) spherical symmetry. We extend our analysis to accommodate a positive or negative cosmological constant and we prove the Kleinian spherically symmetric solutions to Einstein's equation are locally isomorphic to the split-signature analogues of Schwarzschild-(Anti)-de Sitter or Nariai spacetimes. Our analysis provides a Kleinian extension of Birkhoff's theorem to metrics with split-signature. Axisymmetric vacuum solutions are also considered, including (2,2) signature formulations of the Kerr and Taub-...

In this paper, we show that depending on the sign of the electric charge $Q$, the charged AdS black hole (BH) possesses two alternative facets when the cosmological constant is identified to the thermodynamic pressure $P$. It is discovered that: 1) the equation of state of BH corresponds to $Q>0$ and when $Q$ changes from $Q>0$ to $Q<0$ we obtain the equation of state (EOS) of white hole (WH); 2) Based on the WH equation of state we found the phase transition from small to large WHs which behaves like the liquid $-$ gas phase transition at negative temperature, $T<0$, and, at the same time, it...

The gravitational wave strain emitted by a perturbed black hole (BH) ringing down is typically modeled analytically using first-order BH perturbation theory. In this Letter, we show that second-order effects are necessary for modeling ringdowns from BH merger simulations. Focusing on the strain's (ℓ,m)=(4,4) angular harmonic, we show the presence of a quadratic effect across a range of binary BH mass ratios that agrees with theoretical expectations. We find that the quadratic (4,4) mode's amplitude exhibits quadratic scaling with the fundamental (2,2) mode-its parent mode. The nonlinear mode's...

The inspiral and merger of two black holes produces a remnant black hole with mass and spin determined by the properties of its parent black holes. Using the inferred population properties of component black holes from the first two and a half observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Virgo, we calculate the population properties of the leftover remnant black holes. By integrating their rate of formation over the age of the universe, we estimate the number density of remnant black holes today. Using simple prescriptions for the cosmic star formation rate and black hole inspiral delay times, we deter...

Stellar black holes (sBHs) are widely believed to exist in the accretion disks of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Previous studies often focus on the transient emission produced by embedded sBHs. Here, we explore the possible observational consequences of an AGN accretion disk that contains a population of accreting sBHs. Embedded accreting sBHs change the effective temperature distribution of the AGN accretion disk by heating gas in the outer regions. Two possible observational consequences are presented. First, the spectral energy distribution has a turnover feature at ∼4700 Å when the superm...

We examine the effect of supermassive black hole (SMBH) mass scaling relation choice on the inferred SMBH mass population since redshift z ∼ 3. To make robust predictions for the gravitational wave background (GWB) we must have a solid understanding of the underlying SMBH demographics. Using the SDSS and 3D HST+CANDELS surveys for 0 < z < 3 we evaluate the inferred SMBH masses from two SMBH-galaxy scaling relations: MBH–Mbulge and MBH–σ. Our SMBH mass functions come directly from stellar mass measurements for MBH–Mbulge, and indirectly from stellar mass and galaxy radius measurements along w...

We present a simple formula for the effective ringdown frequencies of the gravitational-wave signal of a precessing black-hole binary in the co-precessing frame. This formula requires only knowledge of the quasi-normal mode frequencies of the system and the value of the precession angle $\beta$ during ringdown. Such a formula will be useful in modelling precessing systems. We also provide a comprehensive description of the oscillations in the ringdown frequency in an inertial frame where the spin of the final black hole is in the $z$-direction. These oscillations arise due to the superposition...

In binary black hole mergers from isolated binary-star evolution, both black holes are from progenitor stars that have lost their hydrogen-rich envelopes by binary mass transfer. Envelope stripping is known to affect the pre-supernova core structures of such binary-stripped stars and thereby their final fates and compact remnant masses. In this paper, we show that binary-stripped stars give rise to a bimodal black hole mass spectrum with characteristic black hole masses of about 9 M ⊙ and 16 M ⊙ across a large range of metallicities. The bimodality is linked to carbon and neon burning becoming...

In this article, we provide a model-free test for whether the dynamic hedging argument actually works in practice and a quantification of how much jumps influence the delta hedge.

Written by an international leader in the field, this is a coherent and accessible account of the concepts that are now vital for understanding cutting-edge work on supermassive black holes. These include accretion disc misalignment, disc breaking and tearing, chaotic accretion, the merging of binary supermassive holes, the demographics of supermassive black holes, and the defining effects of feedback on their host galaxies. The treatment is largely analytic and gives in-depth discussions of the underlying physics, including gas dynamics, ideal and non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics, force-free el...

We argue that black holes admit vortex structure. This is based both on a graviton-condensate description of a black hole as well as on a correspondence between black holes and generic objects with maximal entropy compatible with unitarity, so-called saturons. We show that due to vorticity, a Q-ball-type saturon of a calculable renormalizable theory obeys the same extremality bound on the spin as the black hole. Correspondingly, a black hole with extremal spin emerges as a graviton condensate with vorticity. This offers a topological explanation for the stability of extremal black holes agains...

We show that heavy primordial black holes may originate from much lighter ones if the latter are strongly clustered at the time of their formation. While this population is subject to the usual constraints from late-time universe observations, its relation to the initial conditions is different from the standard scenario and provides a new mechanism to generate massive primordial black holes even in the absence of efficient accretion, opening new scenarios, e.g., for the generation of supermassive black holes.

A critical point is an important structure in the phase diagram of a thermodynamic system. In this work, we introduce topology to the study of the black hole thermodynamics for the first time by following Duan's topological current $\phi$-mapping theory. Each critical point is endowed with a topological charge. We find that critical points can be divided into two classes, the conventional and the novel. Further study shows that the first-order phase transition can extend from the conventional critical point, while the presence of the novel critical point cannot serve as an indicator of the pre...

Post-inflationary reheating phase is usually said to be solely governed by the decay of coherently oscillating inflaton into radiation. In this submission, we explore a new avenue toward reheating through the evaporation of primordial black holes (PBHs). After the inflation, if PBHs form, depending on its initial mass, abundance, and inflaton coupling with the radiation, we found two physically distinct possibilities of reheating the universe. In one possibility, the thermal bath is solely obtained from the decay of PBHs while inflaton plays the role of dominant energy component in the entire ...

We construct examples of black hole formation from regular, one-ended asymptotically flat Cauchy data for the Einstein–Maxwell-charged scalar field system in spherical symmetry which are exactly isometric to extremal Reissner–Nordström after a finite advanced time along the event horizon. Moreover, in each of these examples the apparent horizon of the black hole coincides with that of a Schwarzschild solution at earlier advanced times. In particular, our result can be viewed as a definitive disproof of the “third law of black hole thermodynamics.” The main step in the construction is a no...

Brandon Carter’s lectures on the general theory of stationary black holes, reprinted here as a Golden Oldie, belong to the vivid legend of the 1972 Les Houches Summer School.1 The School was a marvelous and unforgettable experience for its youngest student participants, like me. Although Carter and a few other lecturers were just slightly older than most of us, they already enjoyed the fame of deep thinkers, great physicists and masterly mathematicians, and were well-known for their fundamental discoveries in the black hole theory. Carter’s black hole lectures at Les Houches concentrated aroun...

Theoretical studies of angular momentum transport suggest that isolated stellar-mass black holes are born with negligible dimensionless spin magnitudes χ ≲ 0.01. However, recent gravitational-wave observations indicate ≳40% of binary black hole systems contain at least one black hole with a nonnegligible spin magnitude. One explanation is that the firstborn black hole spins up the stellar core of what will become the second-born black hole through tidal interactions. Typically, the second-born black hole is the “secondary” (less massive) black hole though it may become the “primary” (more mass...

We show that it is not possible to concentrate enough light to precipitate the formation of an event horizon. We argue that the dissipative quantum effects coming from the self-interaction of light (such as vacuum polarization) are enough to prevent any meaningful buildup of energy that could create a black hole in any realistic scenario.

We study the quantum dynamics of the Lema\^itre-Tolman-Bondi space-times using a polymer quantization prescription based on loop quantum cosmology that incorporates fundamental discreteness. By solving an effective equation derived from this quantization, we find analytical solutions for the Oppenheimer-Snyder and thin-shell collapse models, and numerical solutions for a variety of asymptotically flat collapsing dust profiles. Our study (i) tracks the formation, evolution and disappearance of dynamical horizons, (ii) shows that matter undergoes a non-singular bounce that results in an outgoing...

These notes aim to provide an introduction to the basics of black hole thermodynamics. After explaining Bekenstein's original proposal that black holes have entropy, we discuss Hawking's discovery of black hole radiation, its analog for Rindler space in the Unruh effect, the Euclidean approach to black hole thermodynamics, some basics about von Neumann entropy and its applications, the Ryu-Takayanagi formula, and the nature of a white hole.

The model is constructed, some features of which comes from quantum thin dust shells and is, in fact, an extension of the "no hair" property of classical black hole on a quantum level. It appears that the proposed classical analog of quantum black hole is heated, the temperature being exactly the Hawking's temperature.

We continue a study by Adler and Ramazanoǧlu (AR) of black holes as modified by a scale invariant dark energy action. For the spherically symmetric Schwarzschild-like case, (AR) found that there is no event horizon; hence spacetime is not divided by the black hole into causally disconnected regions. We review the formalism for locating trapped surfaces and apparent horizons, and show that the modified black hole has no trapped surfaces. Thus one expects that it is “leaky”, and that there will be a “black hole wind” of particles streaming out from the location of the nominal horizon. This will ...

In this paper, a brief analysis of repeated and overlapped gamma-ray bursts, fast radio bursts and gravitational waves is done. These signals may not be emitted by isolated cataclysmic events and we suggest interpreting some of them within the impenetrable black hole model, as the radiation reflected and amplified by the black hole horizons.

A distinct visual signature occurs in black holes that are surrounded by optically thin and geometrically thick emission regions. This signature is a sharp-edged dip in brightness that is coincident with the black hole’s shadow, which is the projection of the black hole’s unstable-photon region on the observer’s sky. We highlight two key mechanisms that are responsible for producing the sharp-edged dip: (i) the reduction of intensity observed in rays that intersect the unstable-photon region, and thus the perfectly absorbing event horizon, versus rays that do not (blocking); and (ii) the incre...

A perturbed black hole rings down by emitting gravitational waves in tones with specific frequencies and durations. Such tones encode prized information about the geometry of the source spacetime and the fundamental nature of gravity, making the measurement of black hole ringdowns a key goal of gravitational wave astronomy. However, this task is plagued by technical challenges that invalidate the naive application of standard data analysis methods and complicate sensitivity projections. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive account of the formalism required to properly carry out ringdown a...

In general relativity (without matter), there is typically a one parameter family of static, maximally symmetric black hole solutions labeled by their mass. We show that there are situations with many more black holes. We study asymptotically anti-de Sitter solutions in six and seven dimensions having a conformal boundary which is a product of spheres cross time. We show that the number of families of static, maximally symmetric black holes depends on the ratio, λ, of the radii of the boundary spheres. As λ approaches a critical value, λ c , the number of such families becomes infinite. In eac...

In General Relativity, the spacetimes of black holes have three fundamental properties: (i) they are the same, to lowest order in spin, as the metrics of stellar objects; (ii) they are independent of mass, when expressed in geometric units; and (iii) they are described by the Kerr metric. In this paper, we quantify the upper bounds on potential black-hole metric deviations imposed by observations of black-hole shadows and of binary black-hole inspirals in order to explore the current experimental limits on possible violations of the last two predictions. We find that both types of experiments ...