Related papers: Massive black hole binary evolution in gas-rich me…
Pair instability (PI) and pulsational PI prevent the formation of black holes (BHs) with mass $\gtrsim{}60$ M$_\odot$ from single star evolution. Here, we investigate the possibility that BHs with mass in the PI gap form via stellar mergers…
Regardless of their initial spins, the merger of two roughly equal mass black holes (BHs) produces a remnant BH of dimensionless spin $0.69$. Such remnants can merge with other BHs in dense stellar environments and produce hierarchical…
Coalescing massive black hole binaries are produced by the mergers of galaxies. The final stages of the black hole coalescence produce strong gravitational radiation that can be detected by the space-borne LISA. In cases where the black…
We study the growth of massive black holes (BH) in galaxies using smoothed particle hydrodynamic simulations of major galaxy mergers with new implementations of BH accretion and feedback. The effect of BH accretion on gas in its host galaxy…
Binary black hole (BBH) mergers are the primary sources of gravitational wave (GW) events detected by LIGO/Virgo. Binary black holes embedded in the accretion discs of active galactic nuclei (AGN) are possible candidates for such GW events.…
Binary supermassive black holes (SMBH) are expected to form naturally during galaxy mergers. After the dynamical friction phase, when the two SMBHs become gravitationally bound to each other, and a brief stage of initial rapid hardening,…
The observed binary black hole (BBH) mergers indicate a large Galactic progenitor population continuously evolving from large orbital separations and low gravitational wave (GW) frequencies to the final merger phase. We investigate the…
The putative ubiquity of massive black holes (MBH) at the center of galaxies, and the hierarchical progress of structure formation along the cosmic history, together necessarily imply the existence of a large population of cosmic MBH…
Merging binary black holes (BBHs) formed dynamically in dense star clusters are expected to have uncorrelated spin--orbit orientations since they are assembled through many random interactions. However, measured effective spins in BBHs…
Scalar fields of masses between $10^{-21}\rm{eV}/c^2$ and $10^{-11} \rm{eV}/c^2$ can exhibit enhanced gravitational interactions with black holes, and form scalar clouds around them. Such a cloud modifies the dynamics of a coalescing…
Numerical studies of gas accretion onto supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) have generally been limited to conditions where the circumbinary disk (CBD) is 10-100 times thicker than expected for disks in active galactic nuclei (AGN).…
Mergers of gas-rich galaxies lead to black hole binaries that coalesce as a result of dynamical friction on the ambient gas. Once the binary tightens to <10^3 Schwarzschild radii, its merger is driven by the emission of gravitational waves…
Black hole (BH) mergers driven by gravitational perturbations of external companions constitute an important class of formation channels for merging BH binaries detected by LIGO. We have studied the orbital and spin evolution of binary BHs…
Young star clusters are the most common birth-place of massive stars and are dynamically active environments. Here, we study the formation of black holes (BHs) and binary black holes (BBHs) in young star clusters, by means of 6000 N-body…
In dense stellar environments, the merger products of binary black hole mergers may undergo additional mergers. These hierarchical mergers are predicted to have higher masses than the first generation of black holes made from stars. The…
Coalescing supermassive black hole binaries (BHBs) are expected to be the loudest sources of gravitational waves (GWs) in the Universe. Detection rates for ground or space-based detectors based on cosmological simulations and semi-analytic…
Repeated mergers of stellar-mass black holes (BHs) in dense star clusters can produce intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs). In particular, nuclear star clusters at the centers of galaxies have deep enough potential wells to retain most of…
Stellar-mass binary black holes (BBHs) embedded in active galactic nucleus (AGN) discs are possible progenitors of black-hole mergers detected in gravitational waves by LIGO/VIRGO. To better understand the hydrodynamical evolution of BBHs…
The formation of massive black hole binaries (MBHBs) is an unavoidable outcome of galaxy evolution via successive mergers. However, the mechanism that drives their orbital evolution from parsec separations down to the gravitational wave…
We present the results of 2D, moving-mesh, viscous hydrodynamical simulations of an accretion disc around a merging supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB). The simulation is pseudo-Newtonian, with the BHs modeled as point masses with a…