Related papers: A conservation-based method for simulating the ins…
We present a new algorithm for evolving orbiting black-hole binaries that does not require excision or a corotating shift. Our algorithm is based on a novel technique to handle the singular puncture conformal factor. This system, based on…
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) pair and form bound binaries after their host galaxies merge. In a gas-rich merger, accretion discs are expected to form around the binary and its components. These discs control the binary orbital evolution…
Based on the consideration of potential energy of the di-black-hole as a function of mass asymmetry (transfer) collective coordinate, the possibility of matter transfer between the black holes in a binary system is investigated. The…
By using direct N-body numerical simulations, we model the dynamical co-evolution of two supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and the surrounding stars in merging galaxies. In order to investigate how different stellar components evolve during…
Recent simulations of wave dark matter around black hole binaries revealed the formation of a universal density profile that co-rotates with the binary. We derive this profile from first principles, interpreting it as the steady state of a…
We present the results of 14 simulations of nonspinning black hole binaries with mass ratios $q=m_1/m_2$ in the range $1/100\leq q\leq1$. For each of these simulations we perform three runs at increasing resolution to assess the finite…
The recent discovery of GW150914, the binary black hole merger detected by Advanced LIGO, has the potential to revolutionize observational astrophysics. But to fully utilize this new window into the universe, we must compare these new…
As 2 black holes bound to each other in a close binary approach merger their inspiral time becomes shorter than the characteristic inflow time of surrounding orbiting matter. Using an innovative technique in which we represent the changing…
We consider the formation of binary black hole mergers through the evolution of field massive triple stars. In this scenario, favorable conditions for the inspiral of a black hole binary are initiated by its gravitational interaction with a…
Circumbinary disks crucially affect the orbital and electromagnetic properties of binary systems across the universe, from stars in our galactic neighborhood to supermassive black hole binaries formed as the result of tumultuous galactic…
Supermassive black holes are expected to pair as a result of galaxy mergers, and form a bound binary at parsec or sub-parsec scales. These scales are unresolved even in nearby galaxies, and thus detection of non-active black hole binaries…
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…
Understanding binary black hole (BBH) dynamics in dense star clusters is key to interpreting the gravitational wave detections by LIGO and Virgo. Here, we perform $N$-body simulations of star clusters, focusing on BBH formation mechanisms,…
To describe a general bound binary black hole system, we need to consider orbital eccentricity and the misalignment of black holes' spin vectors with respect to the orbital angular momentum. While binary black holes produced through many…
Fragmentation of highly differentially rotating massive stars that undergo collapse has been suggested as a possible channel for binary black hole formation. Such a scenario could explain the formation of the new population of massive black…
The evolution of a protostellar binary system is investigated while it is embedded in its parent molecular cloud core and acted upon by gas drag due to dynamical friction. Approximate analytical results are obtained for the energy and…
We consider how dynamical friction acts on black holes that receive a velocity kick while located at the center of a gravitational potential, analogous to a star cluster, due to either a natal kick or the anisotropic emission of…
The coalescence of supermassive black hole binaries occurs via the emission of gravitational waves, that can impart a substantial recoil to the merged black hole. We consider the energy dissipation, that results if the recoiling black hole…
We explore the hardening of a massive black hole binary embedded in a circum-binary gas disc when the binary and the gas are coplanar and the gas is counter-rotating. The secondary black hole, revolving in the direction opposite to the gas,…
(abridged) We consider a secular orbital evolution of a supermassive binary black hole (SBBH) with unequal masses $M_p$ and $M_s < M_p$ in a central part of a non-spherical nuclear star cluster (NSC). When the mass of NSC inside the orbit…