Related papers: Modeling maximum astrophysical gravitational recoi…
Exploiting simple yet remarkable properties of relativistic gravitational scattering, we use first-order self-force (linear-in-mass-ratio) results to obtain arbitrary-mass-ratio results for the complete third-subleading post-Newtonian…
The merger of two neutron stars will in general lead to the formation of a torus surrounding a black hole whose rotational energy can be tapped to potentially power a short gamma-ray burst. We have studied the merger of equal-mass binaries…
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…
Determining the final spin of a black-hole (BH) binary is a question of key importance in astrophysics. Modelling this quantity in general is made difficult by the fact that it depends on the 7-dimensional space of parameters characterizing…
Anisotropic gravitational radiation from a coalescing black hole binary can impart a recoil velocity of up to several hundred km/s to the remnant black hole. We examine the effects of recoiling massive black holes on their host stellar…
The gravitational wave signature of a binary black hole (BBH) merger is dependent on its component mass and spin. If such black holes originate from rapidly rotating progenitors, the large angular momentum reserve in the star could drive a…
We examine the gravitational wave recoil waves and the associated net kick velocities in non-axisymmetric Robinson-Trautman spacetimes. We use characteristic initial data for the dynamics corresponding to non-head-on collisions of black…
I report the discovery of a new effect of General Relativity which is important to understand very rapidly rotating (Kerr) black holes. The orbital velocity of a test particle is no longer a monotonic function of the orbit radius when the…
The evolution under radiation backreaction of a binary system consisting of a black hole and a companion is studied in the limiting case when the spin of the companion is negligible compared with the spin S of the black hole. To first order…
We determine the binding energy, the total gravitational wave energy flux, and the gravitational wave modes for a binary of rapidly spinning black holes, working in linearized gravity and at leading orders in the orbital velocity, but to…
We consider black holes resulting from binary black hole mergers. By fitting to numerical results we construct analytic formulas that predict the mass and spin of the final black hole. Our formulas are valid for arbitrary initial spins and…
Radiation from a narrow circular ring shows a characteristic double-horn profile dominated by photons having energy around the maximum or minimum of the allowed range, i.e. near the extremal values of the energy shift. The energy span of a…
The understanding of strong-field dynamics near black-hole horizons is a long-standing and challenging prob- lem in general relativity. Recent advances in numerical relativity and in the geometric characterization of black- hole horizons…
During the final phases of inspiral, a massive black hole (MBH) binary experiences a recoil due to the asymmetric emission of gravitational waves. We use recent results from numerical relativity simulations together with models of the…
We explore spinning, precessing, unequal mass binary black holes to display the long term orbital angular momentum, $\vec{L}$, flip dynamics. We study two prototypical cases of binaries with mass ratios $q=1/7$ and $q=1/15$ and a misaligned…
The observation of gravitational-wave signals from merging black-hole binaries enables direct measurement of the properties of the black holes. An individual observation allows measurement of the black-hole masses, but only limited…
Thorne and Kidder give expressions which allow for analytical estimates of the "kick", it i.e. the recoil, produced from asymmetrical gravitational radiation during the interaction of black holes, or in fact any gravitating compact bodies.…
We evolve a set of 32 equal-mass black-hole binaries with collinear spins (with intrinsic spin magnitudes $|\vec{S}_{1,2}/m^2_{1,2}|=0.8$) to study the effects of precession in the highly nonlinear plunge and merger regimes. We compare the…
We present three simultaneous/quasi-simultaneous NuSTAR and Swift datasets of the black hole GRS 1716-249 in its hard intermediate state. The accretion disk in this state may have reached the innermost stable circular orbit, and the NuSTAR…
The process of superradiance can extract angular momentum and energy from astrophysical black holes (BHs) to populate gravitationally-bound states with an exponentially large number of light bosons. We analytically calculate superradiant…