Related papers: Massive Binary Black Holes in the Cosmic Landscape
The existence of massive black holes was postulated in the sixties, when the first quasars were discovered. In the late nineties their reality was proven beyond doubt, in the Milky way and a handful nearby galaxies. Since then, enormous…
The gravitational wave signals of black hole-neutron star (BHNS) binary systems have now been detected, and future detections might be accompanied by electromagnetic counterparts. BHNS mergers involve much of the same physics as binary…
Observations indicate that most massive galaxies contain a supermassive black hole, and theoretical studies suggest that when such galaxies have a major merger, the central black holes will form a binary and eventually coalesce. Here we…
When modeling the population of merging binary black holes, analyses have generally focused on characterizing the distribution of primary (i.e. more massive) black holes in the binary, while simplistic prescriptions are used for the…
Mergers are fundamental to the standard paradigm of galaxy evolution, and provide a natural formation mechanism for supermassive black hole binaries. The formation process of such a binary can have a direct impact on the rate at which stars…
Gravitational waves from binary black hole pairs have emerged as an important observational tool in current times. The energy of the BH - BH binary pair is radiated in the form of gravitational waves and to compensate for that energy,…
Superradiant instabilities can trigger the formation of bosonic clouds around rotating black holes. If the bosonic field growth is sufficiently fast, these clouds could form shortly after a binary black hole merger. Such clouds are…
We use a hybrid N-body program to study the evolution of massive black hole binaries in the centers of galaxies, mainly to understand the factors affecting the binary eccentricity, the response of the galaxy to the binary merger, and the…
A numerical solution scheme for the Einstein field equations based on generalized harmonic coordinates is described, focusing on details not provided before in the literature and that are of particular relevance to the binary black hole…
The first directly detected gravitational waves (GW 150914) were emitted by two coalescing black holes (BHs) with masses of ~36Msun and ~29Msun. Several scenarios have been proposed to put this detection into an astrophysical context. The…
Black holes in binary star systems are vital for understanding the process of pr oducing gravitational wave sources, understanding how supernovae work, and for p roviding fossil evidence for the high mass stars from earlier in the Universe.…
The detection of gravitational waves from merging black holes with masses $\sim\,80-150\,\mathrm{M_\odot}$ suggests that some proportion of black hole binary systems form hierarchically in dense astrophysical environments, as most stellar…
Possible formation mechanisms of massive close binary black holes that can merge in the Hubble time to produce powerful gravitational wave bursts detected during advanced LIGO O1 science run are briefly discussed. The pathways include the…
Binary black hole coalescences emit gravitational waves that will be measurable by the space-based detector it LISA to large redshifts. This suggests that LISA may be able to observe black holes grow and evolve as the universe evolves,…
Coalescing binary black holes experience an impulsive kick due to anisotropic emission of gravitational waves. We discuss the dynamical consequences of the recoil accompanying massive black hole mergers. Recoil velocities are sufficient to…
We consider the evolution of sub-horizon-sized black holes which are formed during the high energy phase of the braneworld scenario. These black holes are long-lived due to modified evaporation and accretion of radiation during the…
Multi-frequency gravitational wave (GW) observations are useful probes of the formation processes of coalescing stellar-mass binary black holes (BBHs). We discuss the phase drift in the GW inspiral waveform of the merging BBH caused by its…
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…
The observation of gravitational-waves from merging supermassive black holes will be transformative: the detection of a low-frequency gravitational-wave background can tell us if and how supermassive black holes merge, inform our knowledge…
The interaction of binary black hole mergers with their environments can be studied using numerical relativity simulations. These start only a short finite time before merger, at which point appropriate initial conditions must be imposed. A…