Related papers: Do floating orbits in extreme mass ratio binary bl…
A complete formalism for constructing initial data representing black-hole binaries in quasi-equilibrium is developed. Radiation reaction prohibits, in general, true equilibrium binary configurations. However, when the timescale for orbital…
It has long been known that, in higher-dimensional general relativity, there are black hole solutions with an arbitrarily large angular momentum for a fixed mass. We examine the geometry of the event horizon of such ultra-spinning black…
We perform a suite of numerical simulations of tidal disruption events, using smoothed particle hydrodynamics, for a close binary system consisting of two low-mass white dwarfs, and an intermediate mass non-spinning black hole. The binary…
We demonstrate that gas disks around binary systems might deliver gas to the binary components only when the circumbinary disk is relatively warm. We present new grid-based hydrodynamics simulations, performed with the binary on the grid…
We present numerical relativity results of tidal disruptions of white dwarfs from ultra-close encounters with a spinning, intermediate mass black hole. These encounters require a full general relativistic treatment of gravity. We show that…
The search for dark matter candidates includes primordial black holes (PBHs) as possible constituents. Recent studies show that some PBHs can survive to the present epoch by gaining angular momentum through Hawking radiating photons and…
Astrophysical black holes (BHs) can be fully described by their mass and spin. However, producing rapidly spinning ones is extremely difficult as the stars that produce them lose most of their angular momentum before the BH is formed.…
We study the orbital evolution of a radiation-damped binary in the extreme mass ratio limit, and the resulting waveforms, to one order beyond what can be obtained using the conservation laws approach. The equations of motion are solved…
A star orbiting a supermassive black hole can be tidally disrupted if the black hole's gravitational tidal field exceeds the star's self gravity at pericenter. Some of this stellar tidal debris can become gravitationally bound to the black…
In presence of magnetic fields, the orbits of charged particles can be displaced from the equatorial plane. We study circular orbits of electrically charged massive objects around a magnetic black hole in the probe approximation. We show…
Binary systems of black holes emit gravitational waves as they move through their orbits. While most of the emitted radiation escapes to future null infinity, a small fraction is absorbed by the black holes themselves. This is known as…
We present a new approach to the problem of binary black holes in the pre-coalescence stage, i.e. when the notion of orbit has still some meaning. Contrary to previous numerical treatments which are based on the initial value formulation of…
The Weak Gravity Conjecture arises from the assertion that all extremal black holes, even those which are "classical" in the sense of being very massive, must decay by quantum-mechanical emission of particles or smaller black holes. This is…
Tidal disruption events, which occur when a star is shredded by the tidal field of a supermassive black hole, provide a means of fueling black hole accretion. Here we show, using a combination of three body orbit integrations and…
We show that transient resonances occur in the two body problem in general relativity, in the highly relativistic, extreme mass-ratio regime for spinning black holes. These resonances occur when the ratio of polar and radial orbital…
We study the orbital evolution and accretion history of massive black hole (MBH) pairs in rotationally supported circumnuclear discs up to the point where MBHs form binary systems. Our simulations have high resolution in mass and space…
Circumbinary accretion occurs throughout the universe, from the formation of stars and planets to the aftermath of major galactic mergers. We present an extensive investigation of circumbinary accretion disks, studying circular binaries…
The activity of at least one repeating Fast Radio Burst (FRB) source is periodically modulated. If this modulation is the result of precession of the rotation axis and throat of an accretion disc around a black hole, driven by a companion…
In a previous paper, we developed tools for studying the horizon geometry of a Kerr black hole that is tidally distorted by a binary companion using techniques that require large mass ratios but can be applied to any bound orbit and allow…
Binary stars that are on close orbits around massive black holes (MBH) such as Sgr A* in the center of the Milky Way are liable to undergo tidal disruption and eject a hypervelocity star. We study the interaction between such a MBH and…