Black

Black Holes
Holes :: escape
escape speed
speed exceeds
exceeds the
the speed
speed of
of light
light
Artist
Artist conception:
conception: glowing
glowing matter
matter from
from accretion
accretion disk
disk around
around aa black
black hole
hole is is all
all that
that is
is visible
visible
 The Speed of Light Is Constant

As seen from the ground, photons of As seen from the car, moving
light from the lamp are traveling toward toward the lamp at v = 0.5c,
the car with a speed v = c (ignoring the the photons are also traveling
slight decrease in speed due to the at the speed v = c. The
presence of the air). difference in color between
the light in the two figures is
due to the Doppler shift
 Movement and Space

According to the theory of special relativity, the faster an object

moves, the shorter it becomes in its direction of motion as observed
by someone not moving with the object. It becomes infinitesimally
short as its speed approaches the speed of light. The dimensions
perpendicular to the object’s motion are unchanged.
Einstein’s General Relativity 1907
 Einstein’s General Relativity
Matter tends to warp
spacetime, and in doing
so redefines straight lines
(the path a light beam
would take):

A black hole occurs when

the “indentation” caused
by the mass of the hole
becomes infinitely deep.
Curvature of Spacetime due to mass
Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity

(a) This flat surface represents two dimensions in spacetime. In the

absence of any matter in the spacetime, straight lines are straight in our
intuitive sense (the sheet is flat). (b) In the presence of matter, spacetime
curves, as shown by the curvature of the sheet when mass is laid on it.
Straight lines, defined by the paths that light rays take, are no longer
straight in the “usual” sense. Besides changing the path of photons, this
curvature also creates gravity, which (c) pulls the two masses toward
each other.
 Time Slows Down Near Matter

(a) Two clocks in space set at exactly the same time are (b) brought to
Earth and the Moon. From a vantage point far from Earth and the
Moon, the clock on Earth is ticking more slowly than the clock on the
Moon. This occurs because mass slows down the flow of time, and
Earth has more mass (and a higher density, which adds to the effect)
than the Moon.
(b) Atomic clocks on GPS satellites run faster than reference clocks on
Earth. General Relativity is required to make GPS work!!
 Near Black Holes

A probe nearing the event horizon of a black hole

will be seen by observers as experiencing a dramatic
gravitational time dilation as it gets closer, so that
time appears to be going more and more slowly as it
approaches the event horizon.
Related to gravitational redshift –
it is not due to motion, but to the large gravitational
fields present.
The probe itself, however, does not experience any
such shifts; time would appear normal
‘proper’ time to anyone inside.
 Curved Spacetime and the Path of Light

The warping of space by matter causes light to be deflected. This was the
first prediction of general relativity to be confirmed, in 1919. This
confirmation came when stars behind the Sun were observed during an
eclipse. The star in this drawing was not observed where it was supposed
to be, as a result of the Sun’s gravity changing the path of its light.
 Gravitational Redshift

The color of light from the same

object located at different
distances from a mass appears
different as seen from far away.
The photons that leave the
vicinity of the massive object lose
energy and therefore redshift.
The closer the light source is to
the mass, the redder the light
appears, and hence the name
gravitational redshift. The same
argument applies to light leaving
the surfaces of different stars.
Mercury’s Orbit Explained by General Relativity

The location of Mercury’s perihelion (its position closest to the Sun)

and its long axis of orbit change, or precess, with each orbit. This
occurs because of the gravitational influences of the other planets
plus the curvature of space as predicted by Einstein’s general theory
of relativity. The amount of precession is inconsistent with the
prediction of the orbit made by Newton’s law of gravity alone.
 Trapping of Light by a Black Hole

(a) The paths and color of light rays departing from a main-sequence, giant,
or supergiant star are affected very little by the star’s gravitational force. (b)
Light leaving the vicinity of a white dwarf curves and redshifts more,
whereas (c) near a neutron star, some of the photons actually return to the
star’s surface. (d) Inside a black hole, all light remains trapped. Most
photons curve back in, except those that fly straight upward, which become
infinitely redshifted, thereby disappearing.
Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO)

Located in Hanford, Washington, this is one of several gravitational

wave (colloquially, gravity wave) detectors around the world. It has
two perpendicular arms, each 4 km long. Gravity waves that pass
the detector cause unequal changes in the lengths of the arms.
These changes are detected by lasers inside each arm.
 Structure of a Schwarzschild (Nonrotating) Black Hole

A nonrotating black hole has only two notable features: its singularity
and its boundary. Its mass, called a singularity because it is so dense,
collects at its center. The spherical boundary between the black hole and
the outside universe is called the event horizon. The distance from the
center to the event horizon is the Schwarzschild radius, RSch. There is no
solid, liquid, or gas surface at the event horizon. In fact, except for its
location at the boundary of the black hole, an event horizon lacks any
features at all.
 Structure of a Kerr (Rotating) Black Hole

Rotating black holes are only slightly

more complex than nonrotating ones.
The singularity of a Kerr black hole is
located in an infinitely thin ring around
the center of the hole. It appears as
an arc in this cutaway drawing. The
event horizon is again a spherical
surface. There is also a doughnut-
shaped region, called ergoregion, just
outside the event horizon, in which
nothing can remain at rest. Space in
the ergoregion is being curved or
pulled around by the rotating black
hole.
 Swirling Space in an Ergoregion

Just as the chocolate in this blender is being dragged by

the spinning blade, so, too, is space dragged by a
spinning (Kerr) black hole.
Effect of a Black Hole’s Tidal Force on Infalling Matter

(a) A cube-shaped probe 1500 km from a 5-M black hole. (b, c, d) Near
the Schwarzschild radius, the probe is pulled long and thin by the
difference in the gravitational forces felt by its different sides. This tidal
effect is a greatly magnified version of the Moon’s gravitational force on
Earth. The probe changes color as its photons undergo extreme
gravitational redshift and time slows down on the probe, as seen from far
away.
 Formation of an Accretion Disk

Just as the water in this photograph swirls around

waiting to get down the drain, the matter pulled
toward a black hole spirals inward. Angular
momentum of the infalling gas and dust causes them
to form an accretion disk around the hole.
X Rays Generated by Accretion of Matter Near a Black Hole

Stellar-remnant black holes, such

as Cygnus X-1, LMC X-3, V404
Cygni, and probably A0620-00,
are detected in close binary star
systems. This drawing (of the
Cygnus X-1 system) shows how
gas from the 30 M companion
star, HDE 226868, transfers to
the black hole, which has at least
11 MSun. This process creates an
accretion disk. As the gas spirals
inward, friction and compression
heat it so much that the gas
emits X rays, which astronomers
can detect.
 Observational Evidence for Black Holes

Cygnus X-1 is a strong black-hole candidate:

• Its visible partner is about 25 solar masses
• The system’s total mass is about 35 solar
masses, so the X-ray source must be about
10 solar masses
• Hot gas appears to be flowing from the
visible star to an unseen companion
• Short time-scale variations indicate that the
source must be very small
 HDE 226868

This star is the visual companion

of the X-ray source Cygnus X-1.
This binary system is located
about 8000 light-years from Earth
and contains a black hole of at
least 11 M in orbit with HDE
226868, a B0 blue supergiant star.
The photograph was taken with the
200-in. telescope at Palomar
Observatory on Palomar Mountain,
north of San Diego. The slightly
dimmer star above is an optical
double that is not part of the binary
system.
 Supermassive Black Hole

The bright region in the center of galaxy M87 has stars and gas held
in tight orbits by a black hole. M87’s bright nucleus (center of the
region in the white box) is only about the size of the solar system
and pulls on the nearby stars with so much force that astronomers
calculate that it is a 3-billion-M black hole.
Sgr A*
Sgr A* Central supermassive 3.7 million solar mass Black Hole
at the center of our Galaxy * A supermassive BH is seen in every galaxy.
Accretion Disk Around a Supermassive Black Hole

Swirling around a 300-million-M black hole in

the center of the galaxy NGC 7052, this disk
of gas and dust is 3700 ly across. The gas is
cascading into the black hole, which will
consume it all over the next few billion years.
The black hole appears bright because of
light emitted by the hot, accreting gas outside
its event horizon. NGC 7052 is 191 million ly
from Earth in the constellation Vulpecula.

This drawing shows how the gases spiraling

inward in an accretion disk heat up as they
approach the black hole. Color coding
follows Wien’s displacement law: red
(coolest), followed by orange, yellow, green,
blue, and violet (hottest).
 An “Intermediate-Mass” Black Hole

M82 is an unusual galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. The inset

shows an image of the central region of M82 from the Chandra
X-ray Observatory. The bright, compact X-ray source shown
varies in its light output over a period of months. The properties
of this source suggest that it is a black hole of roughly 500 M Sun.
Jets Created by a Black Hole in a Binary System

Some of the matter spiraling inward in the accretion disk around a

black hole is superheated and redirected outward to produce two
powerful jets of particles that travel at close to the speed of light. The
companion star is off to one side of this drawing.
 Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) are the most luminous (transient)
sources in the universe putting out > 1044 Joules (Watt-sec) of energy in just a few
seconds --that’s ~ 1018 Lsol or ten million galaxies!

GRBs were discovered in 1967 by the Vela satellite on a mission to monitor

the Earth for gamma ray events (i.e. nuclear explosions)

GRBs are categorized as

Long: ten’s of seconds
Short ~ seconds

BeppoSAX (1997) established that long GRBs are extra-galactic <<<<<

Long GRBs are believed to emit jets

otherwise their luminosity would have to be 1000 X greater still
are supernova-like event called a collapsar

Short GRBs may be neutron star collision with a neutron star or black hole
Gamma-ray bursts also occur, and were first spotted
by satellites looking for violations of nuclear test-ban
treaties. This map of where the bursts have been
observed shows no “clumping” of bursts anywhere,
particularly not within the Milky Way. Therefore, the
bursts must originate from outside our Galaxy:
Therefore extremely powerful ~ 1018 Lsol
 Gamma-Ray Bursts
These are some sample luminosity curves for
gamma-ray bursts:
you can sign up for Swift alerts
http://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/swift/swiftsc.html
Distance measurements of some gamma bursts show them
to be very far away – 2 billion parsecs for the first one
measured.
Occasionally the spectrum of a burst can be measured,
allowing distance determination:
 Gamma-Ray Bursts
Two models – merging neutron stars or a
hypernova – have been proposed as the source of
gamma-ray bursts:
Collapsar model of long-duration GRB
 The Most Powerful Known Gamma Ray Bursts

Gamma-ray bursts have been observed everywhere in the sky,

indicating that, unlike X-ray bursters, most do not originate in the disk
of the Milky Way Galaxy. This map of the entire sky “unfolded” onto the
page shows 2704 bursts detected by the Burst and Transient Source
Experiment (BATSE) aboard the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory.
The colors indicate the brightness of the bursts; they are coded
brightest in red, dimmest in violet. Gray dots indicate incomplete
information about the burst strength.
 Gamma-Ray Bursts

In 1999, astronomers photographed the visible-light counterpart of a 100-s

gamma ray burst some 9 billion light-years away in the constellation Boötes.
The times indicated are after the burst began.
The Host Galaxy of a Gamma-Ray Burst

The Hubble Space Telescope recorded this visible-light image in

1999, 16 days after a gamma-ray burst was observed at this
location. The image shows a faint galaxy that is presumed to be the
home of the gamma-ray burst. The galaxy has a bright blue color,
indicating the presence of many recently formed stars.
 Evaporation of a Black Hole

Throughout the universe, pairs of virtual particles spontaneously appear

and disappear so quickly that they do not violate any laws of nature. The
tidal force just outside of the event horizon of a black hole is strong enough
to tear apart two virtual particles that appear there before they destroy each
other. The gravitational energy that goes into separating them makes them
real and, therefore, permanent. At least one of each pair of newly created
particles falls into the black hole. Sometimes the other particle escapes into
the universe. Because the gravitational energy used to create the particles
came from the black hole, the hole loses mass and shrinks, eventually
evaporating completely. Here we see just a few particles in the making: an
electron (e-) and a positron (e+) and a pair of photons (γ).
 Mount Everest

Primordial black holes, formed at the beginning of time, may have

had masses similar to those of Mount Everest, as shown here.
Calculations indicate that the universe is old enough for such black
holes to have evaporated. Their final particle production rate is so
high, that they should look as though they are exploding.
Summary of Key Ideas
 Black Hole Basics
• If a stellar corpse is more massive than about 3 MSun,
gravitational compression overcomes neutron
degeneracy (or the theorized quark degeneracy
pressure) and forces it to collapse further and become a
black hole.
• A black hole is an object so dense that the escape
velocity from it exceeds the speed of light.
 The Relativity Theories
 Special relativity reveals that space and time are
intimately connected and change with an observer’s
motion. The speed of light is the only constant.
 As seen by observers moving more slowly, the faster an
object moves, the slower time passes for it (time dilation)
and the shorter it becomes (length contraction).
 According to Einstein’s General Relativity, mass causes
space to curve and time to slow down (gravitational
redshift). These effects are significant only near large
masses or compact objects.
 The Relativity Theories
 Observations indicate that some binary star systems
harbor black holes. In such systems, gases captured by
the black hole from the companion star heat up and emit
detectable X rays and jets of gas.
 Supermassive black holes exist in the centers of many
galaxies. Intermediate-mass black holes exist in clusters
of stars. Very low mass (primordial) black holes may
have formed at the beginning of the universe.
 Inside a Black Hole
 The event horizon of a black hole is a spherical boundary
where the escape velocity equals the speed of light. No
matter or electromagnetic radiation can escape from
inside the event horizon. The distance from the center of
the black hole to the event horizon is called the
Schwarzschild radius.
 The matter inside a black hole collapses to a singularity.
The singularity for nonrotating matter is a point at the
center of the black hole. For rotating matter, the
singularity is a ring inside the event horizon.
 Matter inside a black hole has only three physical
properties: mass, angular momentum, and electric
charge.
 Inside a Black Hole
 Nonrotating black holes are called Schwarzschild black
holes. Rotating black holes are called Kerr black holes.
The event horizon of a Kerr black hole is surrounded by an
ergoregion in which all matter must constantly move to
avoid being pulled into the black hole.
 Matter that approaches a black hole’s event horizon is
stretched and torn by the extreme tidal forces generated
by the black hole; light from the matter is redshifted; and
time slows down.
 Black holes can evaporate by the Hawking process, in
which virtual particles near the black hole become real.
These transformations of virtual particles into real ones
decrease the mass of a black hole until, eventually, it
disappears.
 Gamma-Ray Bursts
 Gamma-ray bursts are events believed to be caused by
some supernovae and by the collisions of dense objects,
such as neutron stars or black holes. Some occur in the
Milky Way and nearby galaxies, whereas many occur
billions of light-years away from Earth.
 Typical gamma-ray bursts occur for a few tens of
seconds and emit more energy than the Sun will radiate
over its entire 10-billion-year lifetime.
 Key Terms
accretion disk Schwarzschild black hole
black hole Schwarzschild radius
cosmic censorship singularity
ergoregion spacetime
event horizon supermassive black hole
gamma-ray burst theory of general
gravitational radiation relativity
gravitational redshift theory of special relativity
gravitational wave virtual particle
Hawking process wormhole
intermediate-mass black hole Wolf-Rayet stars
Kerr black hole
primordial black hole
 WHAT DID YOU THINK?
 Are black holes empty holes in space? If
not, what are they?
 No, black holes contain highly compressed
matter—they are not empty.
 WHAT DID YOU THINK?
 Does a black hole have a solid surface? If
not, what is at its surface?
 No. The surface of a black hole, called the
event horizon, is empty space. No
stationary matter exists there.
 WHAT DID YOU THINK?
 What power or force enables black holes
to draw things into them?
 The only force that pulls things in is the
gravitational attraction of the matter in the
black hole.
 WHAT DID YOU THINK?
 How close to a black hole do you have to
be for its special effects to be apparent?
 About 100 times the Schwarzschild radius.
 WHAT DID YOU THINK?
 Can you use black holes to travel to
different places in the universe?
 No, most astronomers believe that the
wormholes predicted by general relativity
do not exist.
 WHAT DID YOU THINK?
 Do black holes last forever? If not, what
happens to them?
 No, black holes evaporate.