Related papers: Merger of Massive Black Holes using N-Body Simulat…
We discuss the latest results of numerical simulations following the orbital decay of massive black hole pairs in galaxy mergers. We highlight important differences between gas-poor and gas-rich hosts, and between orbital evolution taking…
The spin of black holes in black hole-neutron star (BHNS) binaries can have a strong influence on the merger dynamics and the postmerger state; a wide variety of spin magnitudes and orientations are expected to occur in nature. In this…
Primordial black holes formed through the collapse of cosmological density fluctuations have been hypothesised as contributors to the dark matter content of the Universe. At the same time, their mergers could contribute to the recently…
The detection of gravitational waves from the merger of binary black holes by the LIGO Collaboration has opened a new window to astrophysics. With the sensitivities of ground based detectors in the coming years we can only detect the local…
Because they are likely to accrete substantial amounts of interstellar gas, merging supermassive binary black holes are expected to be strong multimessenger sources, radiating gravitational waves, photons from thermal gas, and photons from…
We study identical mass black hole binaries with spins perpendicular to the binary's orbital plane. These binaries have individual spins ranging from $s/m^2=-0.90$ to 0.90, ($s_1 = s_2$ in all cases) which is near the limit possible with…
Recent breakthroughs in the field of numerical relativity have led to dramatic progress in understanding the predictions of General Relativity for the dynamical interactions of two black holes in the regime of very strong gravitational…
Massive black hole binaries (BHBs) are expected to be one of the most powerful sources of gravitational waves (GWs) in the frequency range of the pulsar timing array and of forthcoming space-borne detectors. They are believed to form in the…
Recent gravitational wave observations include possible detections of black hole - neutron star binary mergers. As with binary black hole mergers, numerical simulations help characterize the sources. For binary systems with neutron star…
We introduce a method to quantify the initial eccentricity, gravitational wave frequency, and mean anomaly of numerical relativity simulations that describe non-spinning black holes on moderately eccentric orbits. We demonstrate that this…
Gravitational waves (GWs) from massive black hole (MBH) mergers will provide a novel way to probe the high-redshift universe and are key to understanding galactic dynamics and evolution. In this work, we analyze MBH mergers, their GW…
We present the results of 61 new simulations of nonprecessing spinning black hole binaries with mass ratios $q=m_1/m_2$ in the range $1/3\leq q\leq1$ and individual spins covering the parameter space $-0.85\leq\alpha_{1,2}\leq0.85$. We…
Using SPH numerical simulations, we investigate the effects of gas on the inspiral and merger of a massive black hole binary. This study is motivated by the very massive nuclear gas disks observed in the central regions of merging galaxies.…
Galactic nuclei are densely populated by stellar mass compact objects such as black holes and neutron stars. Bound, highly eccentric binaries form as a result of gravitational wave (GW) losses during close flybys between these objects. We…
We examine whether massive binary black holes in spherically symmetric bulges of galaxies can achieve coalescence through the emission of gravitational radiation under the action of stellar dynamical processes alone. In particular, we…
The detection of gravitational waves emitted during a neutron star - black hole merger and the associated electromagnetic counterpart will provide a wealth of information about stellar evolution nuclear matter, and General Relativity. While…
The evolution of dense star clusters is followed by direct high-accuracy N-body simulation. The problem is to first order a gravitational N-body problem, but stars evolve due to astrophysics and the more massive ones form black holes or…
We derive an analytic phenomenological expression that predicts the final mass of the black-hole remnant resulting from the merger of a generic binary system of black holes on quasi-circular orbits. Besides recovering the correct…
This a particularly exciting time for gravitational wave physics. Ground-based gravitational wave detectors are now operating at a sensitivity such that gravitational radiation may soon be directly detected, and recently several groups have…
Results from pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) show evidence of a gravitational wave background (GWB) consistent with a population of unresolved supermassive black hole binaries (BHBs). The observed spectrum shows a flattening at lower…