Ebook: Black Holes in Binaries and Galactic Nuclei: Diagnostics, Demography and Formation: Proceedings of the ESO Workshop Held at Garching, Germany, 6-8 September 1999, in Honour of Riccardo Giacconi

The observational evidence for the existence of black holes has grown significantly over recent decades. Stellar-mass black holes are detected as X-ray sources in binary systems, while supermassive black holes, with masses more than a million times the mass of the Sun, lurk in the nuclei of galaxies. These proceedings provide a useful and up-to-date overview of the observations of black holes in binaries, in the center of the Milky Way, and in the nuclei of galaxies, presented by leading expert astronomers. Special attention is given to the formation (including the recent evidence from gamma-ray bursts), physical properties, and demographics of black holes.

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The observational evidence for the existence of black holes has grown significantly over recent decades. Stellar-mass black holes are detected as X-ray sources in binary systems, while supermassive black holes, with masses more than a million times the mass of the Sun, lurk in the nuclei of galaxies. These proceedings provide a useful and up-to-date overview of the observations of black holes in binaries, in the center of the Milky Way, and in the nuclei of galaxies, presented by leading expert astronomers. Special attention is given to the formation (including the recent evidence from gamma-ray bursts), physical properties, and demographics of black holes.

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The observational evidence for the existence of black holes has grown significantly over recent decades. Stellar-mass black holes are detected as X-ray sources in binary systems, while supermassive black holes, with masses more than a million times the mass of the Sun, lurk in the nuclei of galaxies. These proceedings provide a useful and up-to-date overview of the observations of black holes in binaries, in the center of the Milky Way, and in the nuclei of galaxies, presented by leading expert astronomers. Special attention is given to the formation (including the recent evidence from gamma-ray bursts), physical properties, and demographics of black holes.
Content:
Black Hole Research Past and Future....Pages 3-15
Overview: Black Holes in the Universe....Pages 16-24
Black Holes in X-Ray Binaries....Pages 27-38
Neutron Star Mass Determinations....Pages 39-44
On the Limiting Mass of Neutron Stars....Pages 45-52
Keck Observations of Black Hole X-Ray Transients....Pages 53-56
Measuring the Mass of the Black Hole in GS2000+25 Using IR Ellipsoidal Variations....Pages 57-58
YALO Observations of 4U 1543-47....Pages 59-60
Optical Spectroscopic Observations of Black-Hole Candidates....Pages 61-62
The Center of the Galaxy: Evidence for a Massive Black Hole....Pages 63-71
Towards Complete Stellar Orbits Around the Galaxy’s Central Black Hole: The First Acceleration Measurements....Pages 72-77
Evidence for Massive Black Holes in Nearby Galactic Nuclei....Pages 78-87
Effects of Anisotropy on the Central Dark Mass in NGC 3115. New Results from Integral Field Spectroscopy....Pages 88-90
Black-Hole Results from STIS....Pages 91-94
Gas/Stars Coupling in Early-Type Galaxies: Diagnostics for Supermassive Black Holes....Pages 95-98
Molecular Gas in Nuclei of the Seyfert Galaxies NGC3227 and NGC1068....Pages 99-100
Centaurus A: The Supermassive Black Hole in the Nearest AGN....Pages 101-106
SINFONI - Galaxy Dynamics at $0^{primeprime}hspace{-0.2cm}.05$ Resolution with the VLT....Pages 107-110
Accretion onto Black Holes and Neutron Stars: Differences and Similarities....Pages 113-124
X-Ray Variability of Neutron Stars versus Black Holes....Pages 125-130