Black Holes in Binaries and Galactic Nuclei: Diagnostics, Demography and Formation, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2001 Proceedings of the ESO Workshop Held at Garching, Germany, 6-8 September 1999, in Honour of Riccardo Giacconi ESO Astrophysics Symposia Series

The observational evidence for the existence of black holes has grown significantly over recent decades. Stellar-mass black holes are detected as X-ray sources in binary systems, while supermassive black holes, with masses more than a million times the mass of the Sun, lurk in the nuclei of galaxies. These proceedings provide a useful and up-to-date overview of the observations of black holes in binaries, in the center of the Milky Way, and in the nuclei of galaxies, presented by leading expert astronomers. Special attention is given to the formation (including the recent evidence from gamma-ray bursts), physical properties, and demographics of black holes.

From the Contents: Setting the Stage: Black Holes, Past and future Perspectives.- Black-Hole Diagnostics: Dynamical Evidence.- Black-Hole Phenomenology: Variability, Jets, Disks and Accretion Tori.- Black-Hole Demography.- Black-Hole Formation.