Contents
Foreword by Stephen Hawking 11
Introduction by Frederick Seitz 13
Preface 17
what this book is about, and how to read it
Prologue: A Voyage among the Holes 23
in which the reader, in a science fiction tale, encounters black holes and all their strange properties as best we understand them in the 1990s
1. The Relativity of Space and Time 59
in which Einstein destroys Newton 's conceptions of space and time as Absolute
2. The Warping of Space and Time
in which Hermann Minkowski unifies space and time, and Einstein warps them
3. Black Holes Discovered and Rejected 121
in which Einstein's laws of warped spacetime predict black holes, and Einstein rejects the prediction
4. The Mystery of the White Dwarfs 140
in which Eddington and Chandrasekhar do battle over the deaths of massive stars; must they shrink when they die, creating black holes? or will quantum mechanics save them? 140
5. Implosion Is Compulsory 164
in which even the nuclear force, supposedly the strongest of all forces, cannot resist the crush of gravity
6. Implosion to What? 209
in which all the armaments of theoretical physics cannot ward off the conclusion· implosion produces black holes
7. The Golden Age 258
in which black holes are found to spin and pulsate, store energy and release it, and have no hair
8. The Search 300
in which a method to search for black holes in the sky is proposed and pursued and succeeds (probably)
9. Serendipity 322
in which astronomers are forced to conclude, without any prior predictions, that black holes a millionfold heavier than the Sun inhabit the cores of galaxies (probably)
10. Ripples of Curvature 357
in which gravitational waves carry to Earth encoded symphonies of black holes colliding, and physicists devise instruments to monitor the waves and decipher their symphonies
11. What Is Reality? 397
in which spacetime is viewed as curved on Sundays and flat on Mondays, and horizons are made from vacuum on Sundays and charge on Mondays, but Sunday's experiments and Monday's experiments agree in all details
12. Black Holes Evaporate 412
in which a black-hole horizon is clothed in.an atmosphere of radiation and hot particles that slowly evaporate, and the hole shrinks and then explodes
13. Inside Black Holes 449
in which physicists, wrestling with Einstein's equation,seek the secret of what is inside a black hole: a route into another universe? a singularity with infinite tidal gravity? the end of space and time, and birth of quantum foam?
14. Wormholes and Time Machines 483
in which the author seeks insight into physical laws by asking: can highly advanced civilizations build wormholes through hyperspace for rapid interstellar travel and machines for traveling backward in time?
Epilogue 523
an overview of Einstein's legacy, past and future, and an update on several central characters
Acknowledgments 529
my debts of gratitude to friends and colleagues who influenced this book
Characters 531
a list of characters who appear significantly at several different places in the book
Chronology 537
a chronology of events, insights, and discoveries
Glossary 547
definitions of exotic terms
Notes 561
what makes me confident of what I say?
Bibliography 585
People Index 601
Subject Index 613