Description

Black holes are fascinating astrophysical objects from which light cannot escape. Their description within Einstein's General Theory of Relativity lead Hawking and others (Bekenstein, Bardeen, Carter, Israel) to conclude that black holes obey the laws of thermodynamics. In particular, they attached a well defined meaning within thermodynamics to geometric characteristics of black holes such as their area and surface gravity. Later on, Hawking demonstrated that when quantum mechanical effects are taken into account, black holes radiate in exactly the same way as a black body would.

The students will have the opportunity to learn about black holes and explore different aspects of their properties. Possible directions include Black Hole Mechanics, Hawking Radiation and the Membrane Paradigm.

Prerequisites:

• Mathematical Physics II
• Differential Geometry III (recommended but not required)

Co-requisites:

• General Relativity IV
• Statistical Mechanics IV

Resources:

• For a brief introduction to the concepts see the Wiki pages
• One of the best textbook in GR is "General Relativity" by R. Wald
• Another (slightly less mathematical) textbook is "Spacetime and Geometry" by S. Carroll
• An excellent set of notes on Black Holes by P. Townsend