Gravitational Radiation, Luminous Black Holes and Gamma-Ray Burst Supernovae

by Maurice H. P. M. van Putten

Overview

Black holes and gravitational radiation are two of the most dramatic predictions of general relativity. The quest for rotating black holes - discovered by Roy P. Kerr as exact solutions to the Einstein equations - is one of the most exciting challenges facing physicists and astronomers. Gravitational Radiation, Luminous Black Holes and Gamma-Ray Burst Supernovae takes the reader through the theory of gravitational radiation and rotating black holes, and the phenomenology of GRB-supernovae. Topics covered include Kerr black holes and the frame-dragging of spacetime, luminous black holes, compact tori around black holes, and black-hole spin interactions. It concludes with a discussion of prospects for gravitational-wave detections of a long-duration burst in gravitational-waves as a method of choice for identifying Kerr black holes in the Universe. This book is ideal for a special topics graduate course on gravitational-wave astronomy and as an introduction to those interested in this contemporary development in physics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521849609
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/15/2005
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	7.13(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Professor Maurice H. P. M. van Putten is a theoretical astrophysicist at the Laser Interferometric Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) at MIT.

Table of Contents

Foreword; Introduction; Acknowledgements; Notation; 1. Superluminal motion in the quasar 3C273; 2. Curved spacetime and SgrA*; 3. Parallel transport and isometry of tangent bundles; 4. Maxwell's equations; 5. Riemannian curvature; 6. Gravitational radiation; 7. Cosmological event rates; 8. Compressible fluid dynamics; 9. Waves in relativistic magnetohydrodynamics; 10. Nonaxisymmetric waves in a torus; 11. Phenomenology of GRB supernovae; 12. Kerr black holes; 13. Luminous black holes; 14. A luminous torus in gravitational radiation; 15. GRB supernovae from rotating black holes; 16. Observational opportunities for LIGO and VIRGO; 17. Epilogue: GRB/XRF singlets, doublets? Triplets!; Appendices; References; Index.