What Does a Black Hole Look Like? by Charles D. Bailyn (English) Hardcover Book

Description: FREE SHIPPING UK WIDE What Does a Black Hole Look Like? by Charles D. Bailyn Emitting no radiation or any other kind of information, black holes mark the edge of the universe - both physically and in our scientific understanding. Yet astronomers have found clear evidence for the existence of black holes, employing the same tools and techniques used to explore other celestial objects. This title deals with this topic. FORMAT Hardcover LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description Emitting no radiation or any other kind of information, black holes mark the edge of the universe--both physically and in our scientific understanding. Yet astronomers have found clear evidence for the existence of black holes, employing the same tools and techniques used to explore other celestial objects. In this sophisticated introduction, leading astronomer Charles Bailyn goes behind the theory and physics of black holes to describe how astronomers are observing these enigmatic objects and developing a remarkably detailed picture of what they look like and how they interact with their surroundings. Accessible to undergraduates and others with some knowledge of introductory college-level physics, this book presents the techniques used to identify and measure the mass and spin of celestial black holes. These key measurements demonstrate the existence of two kinds of black holes, those with masses a few times that of a typical star, and those with masses comparable to whole galaxies--supermassive black holes. The book provides a detailed account of the nature, formation, and growth of both kinds of black holes.The book also describes the possibility of observing theoretically predicted phenomena such as gravitational waves, wormholes, and Hawking radiation. A cutting-edge introduction to a subject that was once on the border between physics and science fiction, this book shows how black holes are becoming routine objects of empirical scientific study. Back Cover "This book goes straight to the heart of astronomical intuition and evidence about black holes. Written in a highly accessible style, it provides enough information to educate an undergraduate astronomy or physics major without going into the many details required in a graduate class. I think students will greatly enjoy this book and derive significant insight from it." --Coleman Miller, University of Maryland, College Park "Providing the essential information on all the key topics, this concise and authoritative book covers the whole field of empirical black-hole studies." --W. Niel Brandt, Pennsylvania State University Flap "This book goes straight to the heart of astronomical intuition and evidence about black holes. Written in a highly accessible style, it provides enough information to educate an undergraduate astronomy or physics major without going into the many details required in a graduate class. I think students will greatly enjoy this book and derive significant insight from it." --Coleman Miller, University of Maryland, College Park "Providing the essential information on all the key topics, this concise and authoritative book covers the whole field of empirical black-hole studies." --W. Niel Brandt, Pennsylvania State University Author Biography Charles D. Bailyn is the A. Bartlett Giamatti Professor of Astronomy and Physics at Yale University. He is currently serving as dean of faculty at Yale-NUS College in Singapore. He was awarded the 2009 Bruno Rossi Prize from the American Astronomical Society for his work on measuring the masses of black holes. Table of Contents PREFACE xi 1. Introducing Black Holes: Event Horizons and Singularities 1 1.1 Escape Velocity and Event Horizons 3 1.2 The Metric 6 1.3 What Is a Black Hole? 11 2. Accretion onto a Black Hole 13 2.1 Spherical Accretion and the Eddington Limit 14 2.2 Standard Accretion Disks 17 2.3 Radiatively Inefficient Accretion Flows 23 2.4 Accretion Instabilities 24 2.5 Radiation Emission Mechanisms 27 2.6 Radiative Transfer 32 2.7 The alpha-Disk 35 3. Outflows and Jets 43 3.1 Superluminal Motion 45 3.2 Jet Physics and Magnetohydrodynamics 48 4. Stellar-Mass Black Holes 53 4.1 X-Ray Binaries 54 4.2 Varieties of X-Ray Binaries 58 4.3 X-Ray Accretion States 60 4.4 Compact Objects 63 4.5 Mass Measurements in X-Ray Binaries 68 4.6 Are High-Mass Compact Objects Black Holes? 73 4.7 Isolated Stellar-Mass Black Holes 76 4.8 The Chandrasekhar Limit 79 5. Supermassive Black Holes 84 5.1 Discovery of Quasars 85 5.2 Active Galaxies and Unification 88 5.3 Superluminal Jets and Blazars 94 5.4 Nonaccreting Central Black Holes 98 5.5 Mass Determinations for Extragalactic SMBHs 99 6. Formation and Evolution of Black Holes 106 6.1 Stellar-Mass Black Holes 107 6.2 Supermassive Black Holes 119 7. Do Intermediate-Mass Black Holes Exist? 127 7.1 Ultraluminous X-Ray Binaries 127 7.2 Black Holes in Star Clusters and Low-Mass Galaxies 132 8. Black Hole Spin 135 8.1 The Innermost Stable Circular Orbit 137 8.2 Observations of the ISCO through Line Emission 139 8.3 Observations of the ISCO through Thermal Emission 144 8.4 Consequences of Spin for Jets and Other Phenomena 147 9. Detecting Black Holes through Gravitational Waves 150 9.1 Gravitational Waves and Their Effects 152 9.2 Binary Pulsars 156 9.3 Direct Detection of Gravity Waves 158 9.4 Detecting Astrophysical Signals 163 10. Black Hole Exotica 167 10.1 Hawking Radiation 167 10.2 Primordial Black Holes 171 10.3 Wormholes 174 10.4 Multiverses 176 GLOSSARY 179 INDEX 187 Review "This book goes straight to the heart of astronomical intuition and evidence about black holes. Written in a highly accessible style, it provides enough information to educate an undergraduate astronomy or physics major without going into the many details required in a graduate class. I think students will greatly enjoy this book and derive significant insight from it."—Coleman Miller, University of Maryland, College Park"Providing the essential information on all the key topics, this concise and authoritative book covers the whole field of empirical black-hole studies."—W. Niel Brandt, Pennsylvania State University Review Quote "This book goes straight to the heart of astronomical intuition and evidence about black holes. Written in a highly accessible style, it provides enough information to educate an undergraduate astronomy or physics major without going into the many details required in a graduate class. I think students will greatly enjoy this book and derive significant insight from it." --Coleman Miller, University of Maryland, College Park Details ISBN0691148821 Author Charles D. Bailyn Publisher Princeton University Press Series Princeton Frontiers in Physics Year 2014 ISBN-10 0691148821 ISBN-13 9780691148823 Format Hardcover Imprint Princeton University Press Place of Publication New Jersey Country of Publication United States Illustrations 21 line illus. DEWEY 523.8875 Short Title WHAT DOES A BLACK HOLE LOOK LI Language English Media Book Pages 224 Publication Date 2014-08-31 Translated from English Series Number 4 UK Release Date 2014-08-31 NZ Release Date 2014-08-31 US Release Date 2014-08-31 Audience Tertiary & Higher Education AU Release Date 2014-11-09 We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! 30 DAY RETURN POLICY No questions asked, 30 day returns! FREE DELIVERY No matter where you are in the UK, delivery is free. SECURE PAYMENT Peace of mind by paying through PayPal and eBay Buyer Protection TheNile_Item_ID:161691439;

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