PublishedOxford University Press, January 2015 |
ISBN9780199686766 |
FormatHardcover, 240 pages |
Dimensions22.3cm × 14.7cm × 1.6cm |
This book describes some of the most fascinating occurences in the universe - black holes and space-time singularities. These arise when massive stars reach the end of their life cycle and collapse and shrink under their own gravity as they exhaust their supply of internal nuclear fuel. A star that was once millions of kilometers in size shrinks to a pinprick smaller than the dot on an "i". This is the space-time singularity, an extreme region of the universe
where densities, temperatures, and all other physical quantities take arbitrarily large values. According to Einstein's theory of gravity, the singularity is either covered within an event horizon, thus
giving a black hole, or it can be a visible naked singularity. The final fate of the star depends on its internal structure. In cases of the singularity being visible to faraway observers in the universe, we have the possibility to witness the workings of quantum gravity effects. Such observational signatures related to how the gravity and quantum may operate together could help us formulate the quantum gravity theory, a long cherished dream of physicists. Thus these issues are found to be
intimately related to our search for the Unification of Physics, understanding all the basic forces in nature in a single theoretical framework.
