The Irresistible Attraction of Gravity: A Journey to Discover Black Holes

Description

The mystery of gravity has captivated us for centuries. But what is gravity and how does it work? This engaging book delves into the bizarre and often counter-intuitive world of gravitational physics. Join distinguished astrophysicist Professor Luciano Rezzolla on this virtual journey into Einstein's world of gravity, with each milestone presenting ever more fascinating aspects of gravitation. Through gentle exposure to concepts such as spacetime curvature and general relativity, you will discover some of the most curious consequences of gravitational physics, such as black holes, neutron stars and gravitational waves. The author presents and explains one of the most impressive scientific achievements of recent times: the first image of a supermassive black hole. Written by one of the key scientists involved in producing these results, you'll get a behind-the-scenes view of how the image was captured and discover what happens to matter and light near a black hole. THE BEGINNING OF THE JOURNEY 1 1 GRAVITY... ATTRACTS! ... 4 2 THE FATHERS OF GRAVITY ... 13 3 SPACETIME, CURVATURE AND GRAVITY ... 25 4 HOW TO BEND SPACETIME ... 49 5 NEUTRON STARS: WONDERS OF PHYSICS ... 65 6 BLACK HOLES: CHAMPIONS OF CURVATURE ... 105 7 THE FIRST IMAGE OF A BLACK HOLE ... 146 8 GRAVITATIONAL WAVES: CURVATURE IN MOTION ... 205 THE END OF THE JOURNEY ... 260 Acknowledgements ... 262 Notes ... 263 Index ... 274 Colour plates can be found between pages 148 and 149.