Related papers: Mass flow in the circumbinary disk with gap around…
Current simulations of the rate at which stellar-mass compact objects merge with supermassive black holes (called extreme mass ratio inspirals, or EMRIs) focus on two-body capture by emission of gravitational radiation. The gravitational…
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 investigate the evolution of low mass (Md /Mb = 0.005) misaligned gaseous discs around eccentric supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries. These are expected to form from randomly oriented accretion events onto a SMBH binary formed in a…
We study the close encounters between two single black holes (BHs) embedded in an AGN disk using a series of global 2D hydrodynamics simulations. We find that when the disk density is sufficiently high, bound BH binaries can be formed by…
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 investigate the implications of a massive binary system in the centre of the gamma-ray blazar Mkn~501 and show that the periodical behaviour recently observed in the TeV and X-ray lightcurves may possibly be related to the orbital motion…
The recent discoveries of circumbinary planets by $\it Kepler$ raise questions for contemporary planet formation models. Understanding how these planets form requires characterizing their formation environment, the circumbinary…
The optical light curves of quiescent black hole low-mass X-ray binaries often exhibit significant non-ellipsoidal variabilities, showing the photospheric radiation of the companion star is veiled by other source of optical emission.…
Numerical studies of gas accretion onto supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) have generally been limited to conditions where the circumbinary disk (CBD) is 10-100 times thicker than expected for disks in active galactic nuclei (AGN).…
Binaries containing a compact object orbiting a supermassive black hole are thought to be precursors of gravitational wave events, but their identification has been extremely challenging. Here, we report quasi-periodic variability in X-ray…
Circumbinary disks are considered to exist in a wide variety of astrophysical objects, e.g., young binary stars, protoplanetary systems, and massive binary black hole systems in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). However, there is no definite…
We calculate the flux received from a binary system obscured by a circumbinary disc. The disc is modelled using two dimensional hydrodynamical simulations, and the vertical structure is derived by assuming it is isothermal. The…
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 consider the evolution of sub-horizon-sized black holes which are formed during the high energy phase of the braneworld scenario. These black holes are long-lived due to modified evaporation and accretion of radiation during the…
Although gravitational waves tend to erase eccentricity of an inspiraling binary system, ellipticity can be generated in the presence of surrounding matter. We present a semi-analytical method for understanding the eccentricity distribution…
Many astrophysical environments, from star clusters and globular clusters to the disks of Active Galactic Nuclei, are characterized by frequent interactions between stars and the compact objects that they leave behind. Here, using a suite…
Black holes formed in dense star clusters, where dynamical interactions are frequent, may have fundamentally different properties than those formed through isolated stellar evolution. Theoretical models for single star evolution predict a…
The interaction of binary black hole mergers with their environments can be studied using numerical relativity simulations. These start only a short finite time before merger, at which point appropriate initial conditions must be imposed. A…
Geometrically thick disks may form after tidal disruption events, and rapid accretion may lead to short flares followed by long-term, lower-level emission. Using a novel accretion disk code which relies primarily on global conservation laws…
We study the superradiant scattering of gravitational waves by a nearly extremal black hole (dimensionless spin $a=0.99$) by numerically solving the full Einstein field equations, thus including backreaction effects. This allows us to study…