Supermassive Black Holes: Their Formation, and Their Prospects as Probes of Relativistic Gravity
Abstract
Description
The existence of supermassive collapsed objects in the cores of most galaxies poses still-unanswered questions. First, how did they form, and how does their mass depend on the properties of the host galaxy? Second, can observations probe the metric in the strong-field domain, testing whether it indeed agrees with the Kerr geometry predicted by general relativity (and, if so, what the spin is)?
For proceedings of ESO conference in honour of R. Giacconi on Black Holes in Binaries and Galactic Nuclei, ed L Kaper et al
For proceedings of ESO conference in honour of R. Giacconi on Black Holes in Binaries and Galactic Nuclei, ed L Kaper et al