Theory of Black Hole Accretion Discs

• Part I. Observations of Black Holes: 1. Black holes in our Galaxy: observations P. Charles; 2. Black holes in Active Galactic Nuclei: observations G. M. Madejski; Part II. Physics Close to a Black Hole: 3. Physics of black holes I. D. Novikov; 4. Physics of black hole accretion M. A. Abramowicz; Part III. Turbulence, Viscosity: 5. Disc turbulence and viscosity A. Brandenburg; Part IV. Radiative Processes: 6. The role of electron-positron pairs in accretion flows G. Björnsson; 7. Accretion disc-corona models and X/Y-ray spectra of accreting black holes J. Poutanen; 8. Emission lines: signatures of relativistic rotation A. C. Fabian; Part V. Accretion Discs: 9. Spectral tests of models for accretion disks around black holes J. H. Krolik; 10. Advection-dominated accretion around black holes R. Narayan, R. Mahadevan and E. Quataert; 11. Accretion disc instabilities and advection dominated accretion flows J.-P. Lasota; 12. Magnetic field and multi-phase gas in AGN A. Celotti and M. J. Rees; Part V. Discs in Binary Black Holes: 13. Supermassive binary black holes in galaxies P. Artymowicz; Part VI. Stability of Accretion Discs: 14. Large scale perturbation of an accretion disc by a black hole binary companion J. C. B. Papaloizou, C. Terquem and D. N. C. Lin; 15. Stable oscillations of black hole accretion discs M. Nowak and D. Lehr; Part VI. Coherant Structures: 16. Spotted discs A. Bracco, A. Provenzale, E. A. Spiegel and P. Yecko; Self-organized critically in accretion discs P. Wiita and Y. Xiong; Summary: old and new advances in black hole accretion disc theory R. Svensson.

Review of the hardback: '… the editors should be congratulated on assembling a collection of high-quality articles'. Roger Blandford, The Observatory