Related papers: Hybrid method for understanding black-hole mergers…
Gravitational-wave observations of binary black holes currently rely on theoretical models that predict the dominant multipoles (l,m) of the radiation during inspiral, merger and ringdown. We introduce a simple method to include the…
Gravitational waves emitted from a generic binary black-hole merger carry away linear momentum anisotropically, resulting in a gravitational recoil, or "kick", of the center of mass. For certain merger configurations the time evolution of…
The gravitational-wave GW170817 is associated to the inspiral phase of a binary neutron star coalescence event. The LIGO-Virgo detectors sensitivity at high frequencies was not sufficient to detect the signal corresponding to the merger and…
Several groups have recently computed the gravitational radiation recoil produced by the merger of two spinning black holes. The results suggest that spin can be the dominant contributor to the kick, with reported recoil speeds of hundreds…
The measurement of multiple ringdown modes in gravitational waves from binary black hole mergers will allow for testing fundamental properties of black holes in General Relativity, and to constrain modified theories of gravity. To enhance…
We calculate the kick generated by an eccentric black hole binary inspiral as it evolves through a resonant orbital configuration where the precession of the system temporarily halts. As a result, the effects of the asymmetric emission of…
We study the spin dynamics of individual black holes in a binary system. In particular we focus on the polar precession of spins and the possibility of a complete flip of spins with respect to the orbital plane. We perform a full numerical…
It has been recently pointed out that nonlinear effects are necessary to model the ringdown stage of the gravitational waveform produced by the merger of two black holes giving rise to a remnant Kerr black hole. We show that this nonlinear…
We present numerically-informed closed-form expressions for the dominant $(\ell,m)=(2,2)$ waveform harmonic of the post-merger emission from mergers of non-spinning binary black holes with comparable masses on highly eccentric orbits. Using…
We investigate the capability of LISA to measure the sky position of equal-mass, nonspinning black hole binaries, combining for the first time the entire inspiral-merger-ringdown signal, the effect of the LISA orbits, and the complete…
The gravitational waves emitted by a perturbed black hole ringing down are well described by damped sinusoids, whose frequencies are those of quasinormal modes. Typically, first-order black hole perturbation theory is used to calculate…
Information about the neutron-star equation of state is encoded in the waveform of a black hole-neutron star system through tidal interactions and the possible tidal disruption of the neutron star. During the inspiral this information…
The behavior of quasi-local black hole horizons in a binary black hole merger is studied numerically. We compute the horizon multipole moments, fluxes and other quantities on black hole horizons throughout the merger. These lead to a better…
Using recent results from numerical relativity simulations of black hole mergers, we revisit previous studies of cosmological black hole spin evolution. We show that mergers are very unlikely to yield large spins, unless alignment of the…
Identifying weak gravitational wave signals in noise and estimating the source properties require high-precision waveform templates. Numerical relativity (NR) simulations can provide the most accurate waveforms. However, it is challenging…
We perform fully non-linear numerical simulations of charged-black-hole collisions, described by the Einstein-Maxwell equations, and contrast the results against analytic expectations. We focus on head-on collisions of non-spinning black…
Simultaneous gravitational and electromagnetic wave observations of merging black hole binaries (BHBHs) can provide unique opportunities to study gravitation physics, accretion and cosmology. Here we perform fully general relativistic,…
We present the first fully-nonlinear numerical study of the dynamics of highly spinning black-hole binaries. We evolve binaries from quasicircular orbits (as inferred from Post-Newtonian theory), and find that the last stages of the orbital…
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…
Binary black-hole systems with spins aligned or anti-aligned to the orbital angular momentum provide the natural ground to start detailed studies of the influence of strong-field spin effects on gravitational wave observations of coalescing…