Fundamental properties and applications of quasi-local black hole horizons

Abstract

The traditional description of black holes in terms of event horizons is inadequate for many physical applications, especially when studying black holes in non-stationary spacetimes. In these cases, it is often more useful to use the quasi-local notions of trapped and marginally trapped surfaces, which lead naturally to the framework of trapping, isolated, and dynamical horizons. This framework allows us to analyze diverse facets of black holes in a unified manner and to significantly generalize several results in black hole physics. It also leads to a number of applications in mathematical general relativity, numerical relativity, astrophysics, and quantum gravity. In this review, I will discuss the basic ideas and recent developments in this framework, and summarize some of its applications with an emphasis on numerical relativity.

14 pages, 2 figures. Based on a talk presented at the 18th International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation, 8-13 July 2007, Sydney, Australia

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• The region with trapped surfaces in spherical symmetry, its core, and their boundaries
• Black holes and black hole thermodynamics without event horizons
• Comparing Remnant Properties from Horizon Data and Asymptotic Data in Numerical Relativity
• What Happens to Apparent Horizons in a Binary Black Hole Merger?
• Ultimate fate of apparent horizons during a binary black hole merger II: Horizons weaving back and forth in time
• Dynamical black holes and accretion-induced backreaction