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The Physics of Accretion onto Black Holes

  • Provides a comprehensive summary on the physical models and current theory of black hole accretion, growth and mergers, in both the supermassive and stellar-mass cases
  • Gives an up-to-date overview of recent black hole observational results over the entire electromagnetic range
  • Offers a historical account of black hole exploration, including international space missions and ground-based observations

Part of the book series: Space Sciences Series of ISSI (SSSI, volume 49)

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Table of contents (23 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-vii
  2. Foreword

    • Maurizio Falanga, Luigi Stella
    Pages 1-3
  3. Searching for Black Holes in Space

    • Ken Pounds
    Pages 5-19
  4. Fast Variability from Black-Hole Binaries

    • Tomaso M. Belloni, Luigi Stella
    Pages 43-60
  5. Current Status of Simulations

    • P. Chris Fragile
    Pages 87-100
  6. Observational Tests of the Picture of Disk Accretion

    • Thomas J. Maccarone
    Pages 101-120
  7. Observational Appearance of Black Holes in X-Ray Binaries and AGN

    • Marat Gilfanov, Andrea Merloni
    Pages 121-148
  8. Menus for Feeding Black Holes

    • Bence Kocsis, Abraham Loeb
    Pages 163-187
  9. Measuring the Masses of Supermassive Black Holes

    • Bradley M. Peterson
    Pages 253-275
  10. Black Hole Spin via Continuum Fitting and the Role of Spin in Powering Transient Jets

    • Jeffrey E. McClintock, Ramesh Narayan, James F. Steiner
    Pages 295-322
  11. An Overview of Jets and Outflows in Stellar Mass Black Holes

    • Rob Fender, Elena Gallo
    Pages 323-337
  12. Outflow Launching Mechanisms

    • Ken Ohsuga, Shin Mineshige
    Pages 353-369

About this book

Provides a comprehensive summary on the physical models and current theory of black hole accretion, growth and mergers, in both the supermassive and stellar-mass cases.

This title reviews in-depth research on accretion on all scales, from galactic binaries to intermediate mass and supermassive black holes. Possible future directions of accretion are also discussed. The following main themes are covered: a historical perspective; physical models of accretion onto black holes of all masses; black hole fundamental parameters; and accretion, jets and outflows. An overview and outlook on the topic is also presented.

This volume summarizes the status of the study of astrophysical black hole research and is aimed at astrophysicists and graduate students working in this field.

Originally published in Space Science Reviews, Vol 183/1-4, 2014.

Editors and Affiliations

  • International Space Science Institute, Bern, Switzerland

    Maurizio Falanga

  • The National Institute of Astrophysics, Merate, Italy

    Tomaso Belloni

  • The National Institute of Astrophysics, Rome, Italy

    Piergiorgio Casella

  • Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Garching, Germany

    Marat Gilfanov

  • Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Peter Jonker

  • University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

    Andrew King

About the editors

Professor Maurizio Falanga is the Science Program Manager at the International Space Science Institute. His research areas include high-energy astrophysics, observations and numerical simulations.

Professor Tomaso Belloni is a senior scientist at INAF’s Brera Astronomical Observatory. He is an expert in X-ray astronomy, accreting sources and time series analysis.

Dr. Piergiorgio Casella is an astronomer at INAF's Rome Astronomical Observatory. He is an expert in high-energy astrophysics, accretion and jet physics.

Professor Marat Gilfanov is a senior scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics. His research areas include theoretical and observational astrophysics, black holes and galaxies.

Professor Peter Jonker is an astronomer at SRON. He is an expert in high-energy astrophysics and observations.

Professor Andrew King is a senior scientist at the University of Leicester. He is an expert in theoretical astrophysics, accretion, black holes and galaxies.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access