Related papers: Misaligned accretion on to supermassive black hole…
We study the formation of a supermassive black hole (SMBH) binary and the shrinking of the separation of the two holes to sub-pc scales starting from a realistic major merger between two gas-rich spiral galaxies with mass comparable to our…
The interaction of a massive binary and a non-self-gravitating circumbinary accretion disc is considered. The shape of the stationary twisted disc produced by the binary is calculated. It is shown that the inner part of the disc must lie in…
We review recent works on the dynamics of circumbinary accretion, including time variability, angular momentum transfer between the disk and the binary, and the secular evolution of accreting binaries. These dynamics can impact stellar…
Binary star systems can accrete material originating from a circumbinary disc. Since it is common for the circumbinary disc to be tilted with respect to the binary orbital plane, we test whether the accretion dynamics can be a diagnostic…
In this paper we report on the formation of magnetically-levitating accretion disks around supermassive black holes. The structure of these disks is calculated by numerically modelling tidal disruption of magnetized interstellar gas clouds.…
We study the orbital decay of a pair of massive black holes (BHs) with masses 5 * 10^5 and 10^7 M_sun, using hydrodynamical simulations of circumnuclear disks (CNDs) with the alternating presence of sub-grid physics such as radiative…
The accretion disks that power active galactic nuclei (AGN) are thought to house populations of stars and compact objects; after forming binaries these compact objects may merge, begetting gravitational waves such as those detected by LIGO…
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 present numerical simulations of misaligned discs around a spinning black hole covering a range of parameters. Previous simulations have shown that discs that are strongly warped by a forced precession -- in this case the Lense-Thirring…
The accretion disks that fuel active galactic nuclei (AGN) may house numerous stars and compact objects, formed in situ or captured from nearby star clusters. Embedded neutron stars and black holes may form binaries and eventually merge,…
In this work, we use general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics simulations to explore the effect of spin orientation on the dynamics of gas in the vicinity of merging black holes. We present a suite of eight simulations of unequal-mass,…
We simulate the viscous evolution of an accretion disc around a spinning black hole. In general any such disc is misaligned, and warped by the Lense-Thirring effect. Unlike previous studies we use effective viscosities constrained to be…
We investigate the effect of black hole spin on warped or misaligned accretion discs - in particular i) whether or not the inner disc edge aligns with the black hole spin and ii) whether the disc can maintain a smooth transition between an…
Modeling the late inspiral and merger of supermassive black holes is central to understanding accretion processes and the conditions under which electromagnetic emission accompanies gravitational waves. We use fully general relativistic,…
A test particle orbit around an eccentric binary has two stationary states in which there is no nodal precession: coplanar and polar. Nodal precession of a misaligned test particle orbit centres on one of these stationary states. A low mass…
I review the evolution of binary supermassive black holes and focus on the stellar-dynamical mechanisms that may help to overcome the final-parsec problem - the possible stalling of the binary at a separation much larger than is required…
Gas falling into a black hole (BH) from large distances is unaware of BH spin direction, and misalignment between the accretion disc and BH spin is expected to be common. However, the physics of tilted discs (e.g., angular momentum…
Recent studies have shown that AGN discs can host sources of gravitational waves. Compact binaries can form and merge in AGN discs through their interactions with the gas and other compact objects in the disc. It is also possible for the…
Binary systems exert a gravitational torque on misaligned discs orbiting them, causing differential precession which may produce disc warping and tearing. While this is well understood for gas-only discs, misaligned cirumbinary discs of gas…
If supermassive black holes (BHs) are generically present in galaxy centers, and if galaxies are built up through hierarchical merging, BH binaries are at least temporary features of most galactic bulges. Observations suggest, however, that…