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. Cover Half-title Reviews Title page Copyright information Dedication Epigraph Contents The Beginning of the Journey 1 Gravity . . . Attracts! Instinctive Knowledge Rational Knowledge Imaginative Knowledge One of Four, but Definitely Different from the Others But What Is Gravity, and How Does It Work? 2 The Fathers of Gravity Galileo Galilei: The Importance of the Method Isaac Newton: A Complete Mathematical Picture Albert Einstein: A Revolutionary Vision 3 Spacetime, Curvature and Gravity Spacetime: Everything That Has Happened and Will Happen Curvature Curvature and the Einstein Equations Spacetime Is an Elastic Fabric Curvature and Gravity Nothing Moves in a Straight Line 4 How to Bend Spacetime Curving Time? In Search of Strong Curvature A Theory Nobody Liked . . . A Gedankenexperiment 5 Neutron Stars: Wonders of Physics X-Ray Astronomy and the Demolition of Certainties What Remains of a Massive Star A Condensate of Extremes Revealed by a Beam of Light A Mysterious and Fascinating Interior Maximum Mass Who's Afraid of a Neutron Star? 6 Black Holes: Champions of Curvature An Utterly Bizarre Solution Escape Velocity, Event Horizon and Singularities When the Escape Velocity Is as Large as Possible When Time Makes Fun of Us How Do You Produce a Black Hole? Black Holes Have No Hair Cosmic Engines and Hawking Radiation A Difficult-To-Digest Idea Giving Up a Cherished Method Observations vs Experiments Black-Hole Mimickers 7 The First Image of a Black Hole Doing What Was Thought to Be Impossible A Telescope as Big as the Earth A Most Amazing Technique All a Matter of Trajectories The Vortical Motion near a Rotating Black Hole A Game of Lights and Shadows Shadows and Discs The Predictions of the Theory From a Turbulent Plasma to a Map of Light The Images of M87* Like a Needle in a Haystack Are We Really Sure? 8 Gravitational Waves: Curvature in Motion Waves Like the Others, but Different Gravitational and Electromagnetic Waves How Do We Detect Gravitational Waves? Who Makes the Waves? The Zoology of Gravitational-Wave Sources The Difficult Life of a Couple 1 + 1 = 1: The Bizarre Arithmetic of Binary Black Holes The Perfect Sources of Energy A Formidable Theoretical Challenge Closing with Pure Amazement The Complex Dynamics of Binary Neutron Stars A Fatal Battle against Gravity A Mystery That Started with the Cold War Much More Than Sources of Gravitational Waves An Explosion Worth Its Weight in Gold The End of the Journey Acknowledgements Notes Index