Black Holes, Gravitational Waves and Cosmology

This volume, faithfully reprinted here in its entirety, first appeared in the English and Russian editions in 1974 as an introduction to the rapidly developing field of relativistic astrophysics and cosmology. Some of the classic concepts introduced in that first edition included: - the lines of force of electric and magnetic fields near a black hole - the ergosphere and effective potential techniques for a rotating black hole - the details of rotational energy extraction from a black hole - basic estimates for the cross-sections of gravitational wave detectors and for the energy sources of gravitational waves - the scenario for gravitational collapse In cosmology, the foundations of the hot big bang model, the cosmic background radiation and cosmological nucleosynthesis were reviewed and the volume concluded with a lecture entitled Beyond the End of Time by J.A. Wheeler. This new edition is an effort to bridge the gap since 1974 in view of the enormous progress made in some of these areas over the intervening years and the increased complexity of the corresponding treatments that have been required. 26 key articles that mark this progress have been added here together with a lengthy new introduction linking them to the ideas of the original edition.Gurzadyan, V. is the author of 'Black Holes, Gravitational Waves and Cosmology', published 2005 under ISBN 9781904868255 and ISBN 1904868258.