Related papers: Hypercompact Stellar Systems Around Recoiling Supe…
Numerical simulations have established that star clusters with densities comparable to the high redshift ($z>6$-$10$) James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) proto globular clusters may build up extremely massive (EMSs; $m_\mathrm{\star}>1000…
The Advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors have now observed approximately 50 black-hole-binary mergers, from which we can begin to infer how rapidly astrophysical black holes spin. The LIGO-Virgo Collaboration (LVC) analysis of detections up to…
We investigate the connection between globular clusters and ultra-compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs) by examining the properties of several compact objects associated with M87, all of which were previously classified as globular clusters.…
When binary black holes merge in dense star clusters, their remnants can pair up with other black holes in the cluster, forming heavier and heavier black holes in a process called hierarchical merger. The most important condition for…
The center of our Galaxy is known to host a massive compact object, Sgr A$^*$, which is commonly considered as a super-massive black hole of $\sim 4\times 10^6$ M$_\odot$. It is surrounded by a dense and massive nuclear star cluster, with a…
Motivated by recent observations that suggest a low density of old stars around the Milky Way supermassive black hole, models for the nuclear star cluster are considered that have not yet reached a steady state under the influence of…
The latest detection of GW231123, a binary black hole (BH) merger with exceptionally large masses and high spins for the incoming components, has been suggested as a smoking gun for hierarchical formation. In this scenario, a first…
We analytically investigate a new family of horizonless compact objects in vector-tensor theories of gravity, called ultracompact vector stars. They are sourced by a vector condensate, induced by a non-minimal coupling with gravity. They…
At cosmological distances, gravitational lensing can provide a direct measurement of supermassive black hole (SMBH) masses irrespective of their luminosities. Here, we directly estimate the mass of a SMBH in the brightest cluster galaxy…
We have developed a new method for post-Newtonian, high-precision integration of stellar systems containing a super-massive black hole (SMBH), splitting the forces on a particle between a dominant central force and perturbations. We used…
Gravitational waves carry energy, angular momentum, and linear momentum. In generic binary black hole mergers, the loss of linear momentum imparts a recoil velocity, or a "kick", to the remnant black hole. We exploit recent advances in…
Merging compact black-hole (BH) binaries are likely to exist in the nuclear star clusters around supermassive BHs (SMBHs), such as Sgr A$^\ast$. They may also form in the accretion disks of active galactic nuclei. Such compact binaries can…
The accretion of metal-poor gas sustains galactic star formation. In the Milky Way, this process is fueled by high-velocity clouds (HVCs), yet their fundamental properties have remained elusive in the absence of stellar tracers. Here we…
Generic inspirals and mergers of binary black holes produce beamed emission of gravitational radiation that can lead to a gravitational recoil or kick of the final black hole. The kick velocity depends on the mass ratio and spins of the…
We describe a new survey for unbound hypervelocity stars (HVSs), stars traveling with such extreme velocities that dynamical ejection from a massive black hole (MBH) is their most likely origin. We investigate the possible contribution of…
According to recent general-relativistic simulations, the coalescence of two spinning black holes (BHs) could lead to recoil speeds of the BH remnant of up to thousands of km/s as a result of the emission of gravitational radiation. Such…
Observational studies of nearby galaxies have demonstrated correlations between the mass of the central supermassive black holes (BHs) and properties of the host galaxies, notably the stellar bulge mass or central stellar velocity…
We estimate cluster masses and velocity dispersions for 123 clusters from optical spectroscopy to compare the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) mass proxy and dynamical masses. Our new survey, HeCS-SZ (Hectospec Cluster Survey of SZ-selected…
Recent observations and stellar dynamics simulations suggest that thousand solar mass black holes can form in compact massive young star clusters. Any such clusters in the bulge of their host galaxy will spiral to the center within a few…
Compact galaxy groups are at the extremes of the group environment, with high number densities and low velocity dispersions that likely affect member galaxy evolution. To explore the impact of this environment in detail, we examine the…