Related papers: Binary-black-hole initial data with nearly-extrema…
I construct initial data for equal-mass irrotational binary black holes using the conformal thin-sandwich puncture (CTSP) approach. I locate quasi-circular orbits using the effective-potential method, and estimate the location of the…
We present preliminary results from self-consistent, high resolution direct {\it N}-body simulations of massive black hole binaries in mergers of galactic nuclei. The dynamics of the black hole binary includes the full Post-Newtonian…
There are at least two formation scenarios consistent with the first gravitational-wave observations of binary black hole mergers. In field models, black hole binaries are formed from stellar binaries that may undergo common envelope…
Population inference of gravitational-wave catalogues is a useful tool to translate observations of black-hole mergers into constraints on compact-binary formation. Different formation channels predict identifiable signatures in the…
We prove the existence of a family of initial data for the Einstein vacuum equation which can be interpreted as the data for two Kerr-like black holes in arbitrary location and with spin in arbitrary direction. When the mass parameter of…
Two important parameters inferred from the gravitational wave signals of binaries of precessing black holes are the spin tilt angles, i.e., the angles at which the black holes' spin axes are inclined with respect to the binary's orbital…
We propose and explore a "stationary 1+log" slicing condition for the construction of solutions to Einstein's constraint equations. For stationary spacetimes, these initial data will give a stationary foliation when evolved with "moving…
Numerical relativity codes now being developed will evolve initial data representing colliding black holes at a relatively late stage in the collision. The choice of initial data used for code development has been made on the basis of…
The fourth gravitational-wave transient catalog, GWTC-4.0, reports 153 binary black hole mergers with false-alarm rates $<1,\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$. Chirp masses are typically measured well, with the smallest fractional uncertainty being $2%$ at…
The most popular method to construct initial data for black-hole-binary simulations is the puncture method, in which compactified wormholes are given linear and angular momentum via the Bowen-York extrinsic curvature. When these data are…
The LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave detectors have uncovered binary black hole systems with definitively nonzero spins, as well as systems with significant spin residing in the more massive black hole of the pair. We investigate the…
Given the absence of observations of black hole binaries, it is critical that the full range of accessible parameter space be explored in anticipation of future observation with gravitational wave detectors. To this end, we compile the…
We define and extensively test a set of boundary conditions that can be applied at black hole excision surfaces when the Hamiltonian and momentum constraints of general relativity are solved within the conformal thin-sandwich formalism.…
Binary black holes formed via different pathways are predicted to have distinct spin properties. Measuring these properties with gravitational waves provides an opportunity to unveil the origins of binary black holes. Recent work draws…
Hierarchical structure formation inevitably leads to the formation of supermassive binary black holes (BBHs) with a sub-parsec separation in galactic nuclei. However, to date there has been no unambiguous detection of such systems. In an…
Binary black-hole coalescence is treated semi-analytically by a novel approach. Our prescription employs the conservative Skeleton Hamiltonian that describes orbiting Brill-Lindquist wormholes (termed punctures in Numerical Relativity)…
We present results from a new code for binary black hole evolutions using the moving-puncture approach, implementing finite differences in generalised coordinates, and allowing the spacetime to be covered with multiple communicating…
We evolve equal-mass, equal-spin black-hole binaries with specific spins of a/mH 0.925, the highest spins simulated thus far and nearly the largest possible for Bowen-York black holes, in a set of configurations with the spins…
We compute the gravitational waveform emitted during the transition from quasi-spherical inspiral to plunge, merger and ringdown for a system of two black holes in the extreme mass ratio limit, where the primary is spinning and the…
Binary black holes (BBHs) can form from the collapsed cores of isolated high-mass binary stars. The masses and spins of these BBHs are determined by the complicated interplay of phenomena such as tides, winds, accretion, common-envelope…