Black Hole Astrophysics

Black Holes The Ultimate Engines is about cosmic black holes and how they generate the most powerful observed phenomena in the universe. It begins by reviewing the most important of these (quasars, microquasars, and gamma-ray bursts) and explains why we believe that black holes are responsible for them. The book then introduces the properties of simple, isolated black holes, then adds in complications such as rotation, accretion, radiation and magnetic fields, finally arriving at an understanding of how these objects work. Throughout the book the close relationship between terrestrial engines and these ultimate, cosmic engines is exploited.§A key feature of the book is its discussion and explanation of the violent and spectacular outflows (winds and jets) that are generated by black hole accretion. This is currently a very active area of research in the astronomical community. The book is written in a relaxed style, with the level of mathematics used within the text appropriate for final year university students in the USA, incorporating algebra, matrices, vector calculus, ordinary and partial differential equations. Tensor calculus is kept to a minimum, but when necessary it employs readable matrix equations, rather than the more daunting summation convention.