Acoustic black holes

Abstract

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