Related papers: Massive black hole binary plane reorientation in r…
Circumbinary discs are generally thought to take up angular momentum and energy from the binary orbit over time through gravitational torques mediated by orbital resonances. This process leads to the shrinkage of the binary orbit over time,…
In a high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) a massive star interacts with a neutron-star or black-hole companion in various ways. The gravitational interaction enables the measurement of fundamental parameters such as the mass of both binary…
Supermassive black hole binaries (BHBs) are expected to be one of the most powerful sources of low-frequency gravitational waves (GWs) for future space-borne detectors. Prior to the GW emission stage, BHBs evolving in gas-poor nuclei shrink…
In black hole X-ray binaries, a misalignment between the spin axis of the black hole and the orbital angular momentum can occur during the supernova explosion that forms the compact object. In this letter we present population synthesis…
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…
Recent studies indicate that the progenitors of merging black hole (BH) binaries from young star clusters can undergo a common envelope phase just like isolated binaries. If the stars emerge from the common envelope as naked cores, tidal…
We study the long-term evolution of massive black hole binaries (MBHBs) at the centers of galaxies using detailed full three-body scattering experiments. Stars, drawn from a distribution unbound to the binary, are ejected by the…
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…
In this paper, we explore the mechanisms that regulate the formation and evolution of stellar black hole binaries (BHBs) around supermassive black holes (SMBHs). We show that dynamical interactions can efficiently drive "in-situ" BHB…
We study the evolution of a massive black hole pair in a rotationally supported nuclear disc. The distributions of stars and gas mimic the nuclear region of a gas-rich galaxy merger remnant. Using high-resolution SPH simulations, we follow…
The evolution of main sequence binaries that reside in the Galactic Centre can be heavily influenced by the central supermassive black hole (SMBH). Due to these perturbative effects, the stellar binaries in dense environments are likely to…
The orbits of planetary systems can be deformed from their initial configurations due to close encounters with larger astrophysical bodies. Typical candidates for close encounters are stars and binaries. We explore the prospect that if…
Circumbinary disks are found in a variety of astrophysical scenarios, spanning binary star formation to accreting supermassive black hole binaries. The interaction with a circumbinary disk can yield opposite effects on the binary orbit…
The origin of black hole (BH) spins remains one of the least understood aspects of BHs. Despite many uncertainties, it is commonly assumed that if BHs originated from isolated massive star binaries, their spins should be aligned with the…
The study of the interaction of a massive black hole binary with its gaseous environment is crucial in order to be able to predict merger rates and possible electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave signals. The evolution of the…
We evolve a binary black hole system bearing a mass ratio of $q=m_1/m_2=2/3$ and individual spins of $S^z_1/m_1^2=0.95$ and $S^z_2/m_2^2=-0.95$ in a configuration where the large black hole has its spin antialigned with the orbital angular…
These are exciting times for binary black hole (BBH) research. LIGO and Virgo detections are progressively drawing a spectacular fresco of BBH masses, spins and merger rates. In this review, we discuss the main formation channels of BBHs…
The Kepler satellite has discovered a number of transiting planets around close binary stars. These circumbinary systems have highly aligned planetary and binary orbits. In this paper, we explore how the mutual inclination between the…
We review the main physical processes that lead to the formation of stellar binary black holes (BBHs) and to their merger. BBHs can form from the isolated evolution of massive binary stars. The physics of core-collapse supernovae and the…
Recent detections of gravitational waves from merging binary black holes opened new possibilities to study the evolution of massive stars and black hole formation. In particular, stellar evolution models may be constrained on the basis of…