Black Hole Astrophysics : The Engine Paradigm (Springer Praxis Books / Astronomy and Planetary Sciences) (2010. X, 947 p. w. 20 b&w and 10 col. figs. 235 mm)

This book begins by reviewing quasars, microquasars, and gamma-ray bursts and shows why black holes are responsible for them. It describes simple, isolated black holes, adding rotation, accretion, radiation and magnetic fields, to show how these objects work.

As a result of significant research over the past 20 years, black holes are now linked to some of the most spectacular and exciting phenomena in the Universe, ranging in size from those that have the same mass as stars to the super-massive objects that lie at the heart of most galaxies, including our own Milky Way. This book first introduces the properties of simple isolated holes, then adds in complications like rotation, accretion, radiation, and magnetic fields, finally arriving at a basic understanding of how these immense engines work.

Black Hole Astrophysics

- reviews our current knowledge of cosmic black holes and how they generate the most powerful observed pheonomena in the Universe;

- highlights the latest, most up-to-date theories and discoveries in this very active area of astrophysical research;

- demonstrates why we believe that black holes are responsible for important phenomena such as quasars, microquasars and gammaray bursts;

- explains to the reader the nature of the violent and spectacular outfl ows (winds and jets) generated by black hole accretion.

Part I Observations of Black Hole Engines.- Recognizing Black Holes.- Macroquasars: Supermassive Black Holes in the Centers of Galaxies.- Microquasars: Black holes (and Neutron Stars) of Stellar Mass in Our Galaxy.- Miniquasars: Elusive Black Holes of Intermediate Mass.- Part II Physics of Black Hole Engines.- Physics in Everyday Life: A Review of Newtonian Mechanics.- Geometry and Physics Without Gravity: Special Relativity.- Physics in Curved Spacetime: General Relativity and Black Holes.- Four-Dimensional Evolving Geometry: Gravitational Waves and Gravitational Collapse.- Nuts and Bolts of the Black Hole Engine: General Relativistic Mechanics.- Part III Astrophysics of Black Hole Engines.- Assembling the Engine Block: Formation of Black Holes in the Universe.- Fueling and Carburetion: Breakup and Accretion of Stars and Gas Clouds.- The Combustion Chamber: Energy Generation by Gravitational Accretion.- The Thermal Exhaust System: Radiation and Thermally-Driven Winds.- The Non-Thermal Exhaust System I. Rotating Magnetospheres: The Fan that Drives the Turbo-Exhaust System.- The Non-Thermal Exhaust System II. Magnetic Winds and Jets.- Putting it All Together: Black Hole Engines of All Sizes.

David Meier is a Senior Research Scientist and supervisor of the Evolution of Galaxies Group at Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. David had an early career doing research in genetics at Washington University School of Medicine and in solid state physics at the University of Missouri - Rolla (UMR), before achieving his goal of research in astrophysics. He was educated in physics at UMR (BS 1971; MS 1973) and in astrophysics at The University of Texas at Austin (MA 1975; PhD 1977), working there under D. Schramm, B. Tinsley, and J.C. Wheeler on astrophysical jet production, galaxy formation, and winds from accretion disks around black holes. In 1976, with Tinsley, he predicted the existence of primeval Lyman break galaxies, which since have been discovered and found to have many of their expected properties. At Caltech and JPL David has been an integral part of a number of projects and missions involving observations of galaxies and black hole systems, including very long baseline radio interferometry (VLBI) in the southern hemisphere, VLBI using a space-based antenna (which created a telescope three times the size of the earth), and the space interferometer mission SIM. He also spent several years working on the US government's "star wars" project and was the group leader for parallel computing applications in that effort. While much of his recent work has been theoretical investigations of accretion inflows and outflows from black holes systems, David also enjoys occasional observational studies, using some of the satellites and telescopes on which he has worked. He also greatly enjoys his three grandsons, with a fourth soon to arrive.

From the reviews:

"This gigantic and outstanding book summarizes the state of the art of black hole physics. ... The mathematical presentation is didactically excellent. ... The chapters about the exhaust systems are a further highlight of the book. The different mechanisms are clearly explained and judged ... . The book can be sincerely recommended for all astrophysical tutorials and to all students engaged in astrophysics." (Johannes Viktor Feitzinger, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1259, 2013)