Aspects of Black Hole Physics

A special issue of Galaxies (ISSN 2075-4434).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2013) | Viewed by 30913

Special Issue Editor

Department of Physics, University of Trento, Via Sommarive, 14, 38123 Povo, Italy
Interests: black holes; Hawking radiation; event horizons; quantum tunneling; cosmology; dark energy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Researches in black hole physics cover now a vast territory ranging from general relativity to observational astrophysics to cosmology. Black holes are not only theoretical predictions of relativistic gravity theories, they may well be abundant in our universe, which enhances the motivation for their theoretical study and observation. The present “special issue” is to focus on these objects from different viewpoints, thereby adding to the physical understanding of the black holes. We would like to call for papers sharing ideas on a diversity of topics, including but not restricted to:

  • black hole radiation and information loss
  • dynamical black holes and trapping horizons
  • black hole solutions in theories of modified gravity
  • black hole formation in high energy collisions
  • black holes in an expanding universe
  • mathematical aspects related to black holes and the theory of horizons
  • brane world black holes, stringy black holes
  • conformal symmetry and black hole entropy

Review papers are also welcome.

Prof. Dr. Luciano Vanzo
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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1418 KiB  
Article
Thermodynamics of Rotating Black Holes and Black Rings: Phase Transitions and Thermodynamic Volume
by Natacha Altamirano, David Kubizňák, Robert B. Mann and Zeinab Sherkatghanad
Galaxies 2014, 2(1), 89-159; https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies2010089 - 03 Mar 2014
Cited by 342 | Viewed by 10531
Abstract
In this review we summarize, expand, and set in context recent developments on the thermodynamics of black holes in extended phase space, where the cosmological constant is interpreted as thermodynamic pressure and treated as a thermodynamic variable in its own right. We specifically [...] Read more.
In this review we summarize, expand, and set in context recent developments on the thermodynamics of black holes in extended phase space, where the cosmological constant is interpreted as thermodynamic pressure and treated as a thermodynamic variable in its own right. We specifically consider the thermodynamics of higher-dimensional rotating asymptotically flat and AdS black holes and black rings in a canonical (fixed angular momentum) ensemble. We plot the associated thermodynamic potential—the Gibbs free energy—and study its behavior to uncover possible thermodynamic phase transitions in these black hole spacetimes. We show that the multiply-rotating Kerr-AdS black holes exhibit a rich set of interesting thermodynamic phenomena analogous to the “every day thermodynamics” of simple substances, such as reentrant phase transitions of multicomponent liquids, multiple first-order solid/liquid/gas phase transitions, and liquid/gas phase transitions of the van derWaals type. Furthermore, the reentrant phase transitions also occur for multiply-spinning asymptotically flat Myers–Perry black holes. These phenomena do not require a variable cosmological constant, though they are more naturally understood in the context of the extended phase space. The thermodynamic volume, a quantity conjugate to the thermodynamic pressure, is studied for AdS black rings and demonstrated to satisfy the reverse isoperimetric inequality; this provides a first example of calculation confirming the validity of isoperimetric inequality conjecture for a black hole with non-spherical horizon topology. The equation of state P = P(V,T) is studied for various black holes both numerically and analytically—in the ultraspinning and slow rotation regimes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aspects of Black Hole Physics)
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177 KiB  
Article
Revisiting Vaidya Horizons
by Alex B. Nielsen
Galaxies 2014, 2(1), 62-71; https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies2010062 - 10 Feb 2014
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4421
Abstract
In this study, we located and compared different types of horizons in the spherically symmetric Vaidya solution. The horizons we found were trapping horizons, which can be null, timelike, or spacelike, null surfaces with constant area change and also conformal Killing horizons. The [...] Read more.
In this study, we located and compared different types of horizons in the spherically symmetric Vaidya solution. The horizons we found were trapping horizons, which can be null, timelike, or spacelike, null surfaces with constant area change and also conformal Killing horizons. The conformal Killing horizons only exist for certain choices of the mass function. Under a conformal transformation, the conformal Killing horizons can be mapped into true Killing horizons. This allows conclusions drawn in the dynamical Vaidya spacetime to be related to known properties of static spacetimes. We found the conformal factor that performs this transformation and wrote the new metric in explicitly static coordinates. Using this construction we found that the tunneling argument for Hawking radiation does not umabiguously support Hawking radiation being associated with the trapping horizon. We also used this transformation to derive the form of the surface gravity for a class of physical observers in Vaidya spacetimes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aspects of Black Hole Physics)
123 KiB  
Article
A No-Go Theorem for Rotating Stars of a Perfect Fluid without Radial Motion in Projectable Hořava–Lifshitz Gravity
by Naoki Tsukamoto and Tomohiro Harada
Galaxies 2013, 1(3), 261-274; https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies1030261 - 16 Dec 2013
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3805
Abstract
Hořava–Lifshitz gravity has covariance only under the foliation-preserving diffeomorphism. This implies that the quantities on the constant-time hypersurfaces should be regular. In the original theory, the projectability condition, which strongly restricts the lapse function, is proposed. We assume that a star is filled [...] Read more.
Hořava–Lifshitz gravity has covariance only under the foliation-preserving diffeomorphism. This implies that the quantities on the constant-time hypersurfaces should be regular. In the original theory, the projectability condition, which strongly restricts the lapse function, is proposed. We assume that a star is filled with a perfect fluid with no-radial motion and that it has reflection symmetry about the equatorial plane. As a result, we find a no-go theorem for stationary and axisymmetric star solutions in projectable Hořava–Lifshitz gravity under the physically reasonable assumptions in the matter sector. Since we do not use the gravitational action to prove it, our result also works out in other projectable theories and applies to not only strong gravitational fields, but also weak gravitational ones. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aspects of Black Hole Physics)

Review

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590 KiB  
Review
Evolving Black Hole Horizons in General Relativity and Alternative Gravity
by Valerio Faraoni
Galaxies 2013, 1(3), 114-179; https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies1030114 - 25 Sep 2013
Cited by 54 | Viewed by 6970
Abstract
From the microscopic point of view, realistic black holes are time-dependent and the teleological concept of the event horizon fails. At present, the apparent or trapping horizon seem to be its best replacements in various areas of black hole physics. We discuss the [...] Read more.
From the microscopic point of view, realistic black holes are time-dependent and the teleological concept of the event horizon fails. At present, the apparent or trapping horizon seem to be its best replacements in various areas of black hole physics. We discuss the known phenomenology of apparent and trapping horizons for analytical solutions of General Relativity and alternative theories of gravity. These specific examples (we focus on spherically symmetric inhomogeneities in a background cosmological spacetime) are useful as toy models for research on various aspects of black hole physics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aspects of Black Hole Physics)
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Other

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119 KiB  
Short Communication
Musings on Firewalls and the Information Paradox
by Michael Devin
Galaxies 2014, 2(2), 189-198; https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies2020189 - 14 Apr 2014
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 3706
Abstract
The past year has seen an explosion of new and old ideas about black hole physics. Prior to the firewall paper, the dominant picture was the thermofield model apparently implied by anti-de Sitter conformal field theory duality. While some seek a narrow responce [...] Read more.
The past year has seen an explosion of new and old ideas about black hole physics. Prior to the firewall paper, the dominant picture was the thermofield model apparently implied by anti-de Sitter conformal field theory duality. While some seek a narrow responce to Almheiri, Marolf, Polchinski, and Sully (AMPS) , there are a number of competing models. One problem in the field is the ambiguity of the competing proposals. Some are equivalent while others incompatible. This paper will attempt to define and classify a few models representative of the current discussions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aspects of Black Hole Physics)
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