The Theory of Black Holes

CRAQ 2016 Summer School on Compact Objects

This half-day lecture course covers theoretical aspects related to astrophysical black holes. I taught this course to graduate students (and some advanced undergraduates) at the 2016 CRAQ summer school on the astrophysics of compact objects held in Montreal, QC.

Topics covered include

• Overview of the development of general relativity

• General relativity as a description of black holes (Schwarzschild and Kerr)

• Accretion physics. accretion discs and RIAFs

• Introduction to magnetohydrodynamics and GRMHD

• The launching of jets by black holes

• General relativistic ray tracing and using the theory to get close to black holes