Weighing black holes in the universe

The determination of the mass of black holes in our universe is crucial to understand their physics nature but is a great challenge to scientists. In this paper I briefly review some methods that are currently used to estimate the mass of black holes, especially those in X-ray binary systems and in galactic nuclei. Our recent progress in improving the mass estimates of supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei by involving some empirical relations is presented. Finally I point out the similarities and common physics in Galactic black hole X-ray binaries and active galactic nuclei, and demonstrate that the black hole mass estimation is very much helpful to understand the accretion physics around black holes.     

Stochastic equations in black hole backgrounds and non-equilibrium fluctuation theorems

We apply the non-equilibrium fluctuation theorems developed in the statistical physics to the thermodynamics of black hole horizons. In particular, we consider a scalar field in a black hole background. The system of the scalar field behaves stochastically due to the absorption of energy into the black hole and emission of the Hawking radiation from the black hole horizon. We derive the stochastic equations, i.e. Langevin and Fokker-Planck equations for a scalar field in a black hole background in the ?→0 limit with the Hawking temperature ?κ/2π fixed. We consider two cases, one confined in a box with a black hole at the center and the other in contact with a heat bath with temperature different from the Hawking temperature. In the first case, the system eventually becomes equilibrium with the Hawking temperature while in the second case there is an energy flow between the black hole and the heat bath. Applying the fluctuation theorems to these cases, we derive the generalized second law of black hole thermodynamics. In the present paper, we treat the black hole as a constant background geometry.Since the paper is also aimed to connect two different areas of physics, non-equilibrium physics and black holes physics, we include pedagogical reviews on the stochastic approaches to the non-equilibrium fluctuation theorems and some basics of black holes physics.     

黑洞与奇点

黑洞可以说是引力最极端的体现，其视界内是个连光也逃不出去的时空区域。近来黑洞在天 文观测方面取得令人惊讶的发展，这其中包括：黑洞碰撞的引力波探测以及M87 星系的超大质量 黑洞的所谓第一张黑洞照片。但是在理论的层面上，黑洞物理尚有许多未解之谜。其中，信息遗失 的悖论是最有名的。但是，有另一个问题至少和信息的丢失一样{甚至更加{令人费解的，就是黑洞 内部的奇点性质。时空奇点是广义相对论本身无法描述的，在那里究竟发生什么事？黑洞内部的奇 点和宇宙大爆炸时的奇点有何不同？奇点是否会裸露在黑洞外面？所谓“宇宙监督猜想”的假设目 前有何进展？我们在这篇半科普的文章中简单的介绍这些课题，希望本文章对物理和数学的本科生 有所帮助。     

Observing higher-dimensional black holes at the LHC

A new approach to spacetime proposing the existence of n compactified large extra dimensions predicts the creation of higher-dimensional black holes at the LHC of CERN. In case they form, signatures of such black holes at accelerators would be quite significant and black hole decay products would carry valuable information for particle physics and cosmology. In this study we first make a short theoretical introduction, then present the results of an analysis made on a Monte Carlo simulation modeling black hole production and decay at the LHC. This analysis includes the examination of the lepton case in black hole to Higgs decay channels, reconstruction of the black hole masses, a calculation of the Hawking temperature and a determination of the radiated jets/leptons multiplicity ratio.Received: 2 April 2004, Revised: 29 October 2004, Published online: 25 January 2005PACS: 04.70, 04.50, 14.80.-j Corresponding author: S. Sekmen     

Black holes and information theory

During the past three decades investigators have unveiled a number of deep connections between physical information and black holes whose consequences for ordinary systems go beyond what has been deduced purely from the axioms of information theory. After a self-contained introduction to black hole thermodynamics, we review from its vantage point topics such as the information conundrum that emerges from the ability of incipient black holes to radiate, the various entropy bounds for non-black hole systems (holographic bound, universal entropy bound, etc.) which are most easily derived from black hole thermodynamics, Bousso's covariant entropy bound, the holographic principle of particle physics, and the subject of channel capacity of quantum communication channels.     

Fragile black holes and an angular momentum cutoff in peripheral heavy ion collisions

In collisions of heavy ions at extremely high energies, it is possible for a significant quantity of angular momentum to be deposited into the Quark–Gluon Plasma which is thought to be produced. We develop a simple geometric model of such a system, and show that it is dual, in the AdS/CFT sense, to a rotating AdS black hole with a topologically planar event horizon. However, when this black hole is embedded in string theory, it proves to be unstable, for all non-zero angular momenta, to a certain non-perturbative effect: the familiar planar black hole, as used in most AdS/CFT analyses of QGP physics, is “fragile”. The upshot is that the AdS/CFT duality apparently predicts that the QGP should always become unstable when it is produced in peripheral collisions. However, we argue that holography indicates that relatively low angular momenta delay the development of the instability, so that in practice it may be observable only for peripheral collisions involving favorable impact parameters, generating extremely large angular momenta. In principle, the result may be holographic prediction of a cutoff for the observable angular momenta of the QGP, or perhaps of an analogous phenomenon in condensed matter physics.     

Gravitational collapse of dark energy field configurations and supermassive black hole formation

Dark energy is the dominant component of the total energy density of our Universe. The primary interaction of dark energy with the rest of the Universe is gravitational. It is therefore important to understand the gravitational dynamics of dark energy. Since dark energy is a low-energy phenomenon from the perspective of particle physics and field theory, a fundamental approach based on fields in curved space should be sufficient to understand the current dynamics of dark energy. Here, we take a field theory approach to dark energy. We discuss the evolution equations for a generic dark energy field in curved space-time and then discuss the gravitational collapse for dark energy field configurations. We describe the 3 + 1 BSSN formalism to study the gravitational collapse of fields for any general potential for the fields and apply this formalism to models of dark energy motivated by particle physics considerations. We solve the resulting equations for the time evolution of field configurations and the dynamics of space-time. Our results show that gravitational collapse of dark energy field configurations occurs and must be considered in any complete picture of our Universe. We also demonstrate the black hole formation as a result of the gravitational collapse of the dark energy field configurations. The black holes produced by the collapse of dark energy fields are in the supermassive black hole category with the masses of these black holes being comparable to the masses of black holes at the centers of galaxies.     

银河系中心超大质量黑洞

通过对位于银河系中心的非热、致密射电源人马座A^＊（Sagittarius A^＊）的高分辨率甚长基线干涉（VLBI）观测,文章作者及其合作者成功地得到人马座A＊的固有辐射区域的直径仅为1个天文单位,支持其是超大质量黑洞的物理解释.文章在较详细地介绍此研究的同时,也简要提及了从黑洞概念的最早提出至今的200多年里人们在黑洞物理认知上的一些重大进展.可以预期,未来亚毫米波VLBI观测将有望揭示银河系中心超大质量黑洞的阴影结构.     

Effects of acceleration on the collision of particles in the rotating black hole spacetime

We study the collision of two geodesic particles in the accelerating and rotating black hole spacetime and probe the effects of the acceleration of black hole on the center-of-mass energy of the colliding particles and on the high-velocity collision belts. We find that the dependence of the center-of-mass energy on the acceleration in the near event-horizon collision is different from that in the near acceleration-horizon case. Moreover, the presence of the acceleration changes the shape and position of the high-velocity collision belts. Our results show that the acceleration of black holes brings about richer physics for the collision of particles.     

A Planck-Like Problem for Quantum Charged Black Holes

Motivated by the parallelism existing between the puzzles of classical physics at the beginning of the XXth century and the current paradoxes in the search of a quantum theory of gravity, we give, in analogy with Planck's black body radiation problem, a solution for the exact Hawking flux of evaporating Reissner-Nordström black holes. Our results show that when back-reaction effects are fully taken into account the standard picture of black hole evaporation is significantly altered, thus implying a possible resolution of the information loss problem.     

Lower dimensional black holes

A survey of black hole physics in two spacetime dimensions is presented. Basic properties, specific solutions and quantum aspects are considered in turn. The relationship between string theoretic black holes and those arising in other (1+l)-dimensional theories of gravity is discussed.     

The Devil in the (Implicit) Details

The black hole information loss paradox has long been one of the most studied and fascinating aspects of black hole physics. In its latest incarnation, it takes the form of the firewall paradox. In this paper, we first give a conceptually oriented presentation of the paradox, based on the notion of causal structure. We then suggest a possible strategy for its resolutions and see that the core idea behind it is that there are connections that are non- local for semiclassical physics which have nonetheless to be taken into account when studying black holes. We see how to concretely implement this strategy in some physical models connected to the ER=EPR conjecture.

     

Order parameter in the critical phenomena of Kerr–Newman black holes

An order parameter is introduced in describing the singular thermodynamical behaviour of Kerr–Newman black holes in the vicinity of a certain critical temperature. The mean square fluctuation of the order parameter is calculated. The analogy between the critical temperature of a black hole and the Hagedorn temperature in hadronic physics and string theory is discussed.     

Direct imaging rapidly-rotating non-Kerr black holes

Recently, two of us have argued that non-Kerr black holes in gravity theories different from General Relativity may have a topologically non-trivial event horizon. More precisely, the spatial topology of the horizon of non-rotating and slow-rotating objects would be a 2-sphere, like in Kerr space–time, while it would change above a critical value of the spin parameter. When the topology of the horizon changes, the black hole central singularity shows up. The accretion process from a thin disk can potentially overspin these black holes and induce the topology transition, violating the Weak Cosmic Censorship Conjecture. If the astrophysical black hole candidates are not the black holes predicted by General Relativity, we might have the quite unique opportunity to see their central region, where classical physics breaks down and quantum gravity effects should appear. Even if the quantum gravity region turned out to be extremely small, at the level of the Planck scale, the size of its apparent image would be finite and potentially observable with future facilities.     

Accurate correction of arbitrary spin fermion quantum tunneling from non-stationary Kerr-de Sitter black hole based on corrected Lorentz dispersion relation

According to a corrected dispersion relation proposed in the study on the string theory and quantum gravity theory, the Rarita-Schwinger equation was precisely modified, which resulted in the Rarita-Schwinger-Hamilton-Jacobi equation. Using this equation, the characteristics of arbitrary spin fermion quantum tunneling radiation from non-stationary Kerr-de Sitter black holes were determined. A number of accurately corrected physical quantities, such as surface gravity, chemical potential, tunneling probability, and Hawking temperature, which describe the properties of black holes, were derived. This research has enriched the research methods and enabled increased precision in black hole physics research.     

Hawking Radiation as a Possible Probe for the Interior Structure of Regular Black Holes

The notion of black hole singularity and the proof of the singularity theorem were considered great successes in classical general relativity whereas they meanwhile brought with deep puzzles. Conceptual challenges were set up by the intractability of the singularity. The existence of black hole horizons which cover up the black hole interior including the singularity from outside observers, builds an information curtain, further hindering physicists from understanding the nature of the singularity and the interior structure of black holes. The regular black hole is a concept produced out of multiple attempts of establishing a tractable and understandable interior structure for black holes as well as avoiding the singularity behind the black hole horizon. The practicality of the new constructions of black holes would be considered more reliable if there can be found some connection between the interior of regular black holes and some far-reaching signals released from the black hole. After studying the Hawking radiation by fermion tunnelling from one type of regular black hole, structure dependent results were obtained. The result being structure dependent hints the prospects of employing the Hawking radiation as a method to probe into the structure of black holes.     

Has Hawking Radiation Been Measured?

It is argued that Hawking radiation has indeed been measured and shown to posses a thermal spectrum, as predicted. This contention is based on three separate legs. The first is that the essential physics of the Hawking process for black holes can be modelled in other physical systems. The second is the white hole horizons are the time inverse of black hole horizons, and thus the physics of both is the same. The third is that the quantum emission, which is the Hawking process, is completely determined by measurements of the classical parameters of a linear physical system. The experiment conducted in 2010 fulfils all of these requirements, and is thus a true measurement of Hawking radiation.     

How black holes form in high energy collisions

Abstract We elucidate how black holes form in trans-Planckian collisions. In the rest frame of one of the incident particles, the gravitational field of the other, which is rapidly moving, looks like a gravitational shock wave. The shock wave focuses the target particle down to a much smaller impact parameter. In turn, the gravitational field of the target particle captures the projectile when the resultant impact parameter is smaller than its own Schwarzschild radius, forming a black hole. One can deduce this by referring to the original argument of escape velocities exceeding the speed of light, which Michell and Laplace used to discover the existence of black holes. Second Award in the 2007 Essay Competition of the Gravity Research Foundation.     

静态球对称黑洞的热质点模型及辐射功率

利用静态球对称黑洞的热质点模型,研究了黑洞的热辐射规律,得到了当η取固有厚度时,对所有Schwarzschild黑洞,其辐射功率都相同,其视界处的辐射能通量与黑洞的质量的平方成反比,而距黑洞遥远的观察者所接收到的辐射能通量与观测者到黑洞的距离的平方成反比; Reissner-Nordstrm黑洞视界处的辐射能通量和辐射功率不仅与黑洞的质量有关,还与黑洞的电荷有关,而距黑洞遥远的观察者所接收到的辐射能通量,当截断的固有厚度η、黑洞的质量m和电荷Q取定后与观测者到黑洞之间的距离的 关键词： 静态球对称黑洞 热质点模型 辐射功率 辐射能通量     

Particle collisions near the cosmological horizon of a Reissner-Nordström-de Sitter black hole

It has recently been shown that black holes can act as particle accelerators and two particles can collide with arbitrarily high center-of-mass (CM) energy under certain critical conditions. In this paper, we investigate particle collisions outside a Reissner-Nordström-de Sitter (RN-dS) black hole. We find that infinite CM energy can be produced near the cosmological horizon for generic spacetime configurations. Remarkably, such infinite CM energy does not require the black hole to be extremal, in contrast to spacetimes in the absence of cosmological constants. However, since the charge of an astrophysical body is negligible, the required charge to mass ratio of the particle is extremely higher than that of any elementary particle.