Acoustic black holes

We discuss some general aspects of acoustic black holes. We begin by describing the associated formalism with which acoustic black holes are established, then we show how to model arbitrary geometries by using a de Laval nozzle. It is argued that even though the Hawking temperature of these black holes is too low to be detected, acoustic black holes have interesting classical properties, some of which are outlined here, that should be explored.Comment: 13 pages, 9 Figures, ReVTeX4. Based on a talk delivered at the Fifth Meeting on New Worlds in Astroparticle Physics (Faro, Portugal, 8-10 January 2005). Updated references and overall improvemen

Testing the nature of dark compact objects: a status report

Very compact objects probe extreme gravitational fields and may be the key to understand outstanding puzzles in fundamental physics. These include the nature of dark matter, the fate of spacetime singularities, or the loss of unitarity in Hawking evaporation. The standard astrophysical description of collapsing objects tells us that massive, dark and compact objects are black holes. Any observation suggesting otherwise would be an indication of beyond-the-standard-model physics. Null results strengthen and quantify the Kerr black hole paradigm. The advent of gravitational-wave astronomy and precise measurements with very long baseline interferometry allow one to finally probe into such foundational issues. We overview the physics of exotic dark compact objects and their observational status, including the observational evidence for black holes with current and future experiments.Comment: 76 pages + references. Invited review article for Living Reviews in Relativity. v3: Overall improvements and references added, a few typos corrected. Version to appear in LR

Testing the black hole "no-hair" hypothesis

Black holes in General Relativity are very simple objects. This property, that goes under the name of "no-hair," has been refined in the last few decades and admits several versions. The simplicity of black holes makes them ideal testbeds of fundamental physics and of General Relativity itself. Here we discuss the no-hair property of black holes, how it can be measured in the electromagnetic or gravitational window, and what it can possibly tell us about our universe.Comment: Commissioned by Classical and Quantum Gravit

Tests for the existence of horizons through gravitational wave echoes

The existence of black holes and of spacetime singularities is a fundamental issue in science. Despite this, observations supporting their existence are scarce, and their interpretation unclear. We overview how strong a case for black holes has been made in the last few decades, and how well observations adjust to this paradigm. Unsurprisingly, we conclude that observational proof for black holes is impossible to come by. However, just like Popper's black swan, alternatives can be ruled out or confirmed to exist with a single observation. These observations are within reach. In the next few years and decades, we will enter the era of precision gravitational-wave physics with more sensitive detectors. Just as accelerators require larger and larger energies to probe smaller and smaller scales, more sensitive gravitational-wave detectors will be probing regions closer and closer to the horizon, potentially reaching Planck scales and beyond. What may be there, lurking?Comment: Published in Nature Astronomy, expanded version with further details available at arXiv:1707.0302

Ultralight scalars and resonances in black-hole physics

Ultralight degrees of freedom coupled to matter lead to resonances, which can be excited when the Compton wavelength of the field equals a dynamical scale in the problem. For binaries composed of a star orbiting a supermassive black hole, these resonances lead to a smoking-gun effect: a periastron distance which {\it stalls}, even in the presence of gravitational-wave dissipation. This effect, also called a {\it floating orbit}, occurs for generic equatorial but eccentric orbits and we argue that finite-size effects are not enough to suppress it.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure