Related papers: Puncture Initial Data for Black-Hole Binaries with…
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…
Characterizing the properties of black holes is one of the most important science objectives for gravitational-wave observations. Astrophysical evidence suggests that black holes that are nearly extremal (i.e. spins near the theoretical…
A shortcoming of current binary black-hole initial data is the generation of spurious gravitational radiation, so-called junk radiation, when they are evolved. This problem is a consequence of an oversimplified modeling of the binary's…
Binary black hole simulations have traditionally been computationally very expensive: current simulations are performed in supercomputers involving dozens if not hundreds of processors, thus systematic studies of the parameter space of…
Using a post-Newtonian diagnostic tool developed by Mora and Will, we examine numerically generated quasiequilibrium initial data sets that have been used in recently successful numerical evolutions of binary black holes through plunge,…
The parabolic-hyperbolic form of the constraints is integrated numerically. The applied numerical stencil is $4^{th}$ order accurate (in the spatial directions) while 'time'-integration is made by using the method of lines with a $4^{th}$…
We solve for single distorted black hole initial data using the puncture method, where the Hamiltonian constraint is written as an elliptic equation in R^3 for the nonsingular part of the metric conformal factor. With this approach we can…
We investigate the accretion induced spin up of the black hole via numerical simulations. Our method is based on general-relativistic magneto-hydrodynamics of the slowly-rotating flows in the Kerr metric, where possibly transonic shock…
It has been suggested that amplitudes for quantum higher-spin massive particles exchanging gravitons lead, via a classical limit, to results for scattering of spinning black holes in general relativity, when the massive particles are in a…
Black hole-neutron star (BHNS) binaries are important sources of gravitational waves for second-generation interferometers, and BHNS mergers are also a proposed engine for short, hard gamma-ray bursts. The behavior of both the spacetime…
Astrophysical black holes (BHs) have two fundamental properties: mass and spin. While the mass-evolution of BHs has been extensively studied, much less work has been done on predicting the distribution of BH spins. In this paper we present…
Gravitational waves from spin-precessing binaries exhibit amplitude oscillations that provide an invaluable method to extract the spins of the inspiraling compact objects. The spin-spin and spin-orbit interactions that cause this effect are…
We perform fully non-linear numerical simulations of charged-black-hole collisions, described by the Einstein-Maxwell equations, and contrast the results against analytic expectations. We focus on head-on collisions of non-spinning black…
We study the radiation of energy and linear momentum emitted to infinity by the headon collision of binary black holes, starting from rest at a finite initial separation, in the extreme mass ratio limit. For these configurations we identify…
The origin and formation of stellar-mass binary black holes remains an open question that can be addressed by precise measurements of the binary and orbital parameters from their gravitational-wave signal. Such binaries are expected to…
We study the spin and eccentricity evolution of black-hole (BH) binaries that are perturbed by tertiary masses and experience the Lidov-Kozai (LK) excitation. We focus on three aspects. Firstly, we study the spin-orbit alignment of the…
With the goal of bringing theory, particularly numerical relativity, to bear on an astrophysical problem of critical interest to gravitational wave observers we introduce a model for coalescence radiation from binary black hole systems. We…
We consider general relativistic Cauchy data representing two nonspinning, equal-mass black holes boosted toward each other. When the black holes are close enough to each other and their momentum is sufficiently high, an encompassing…
The black holes that have been detected via gravitational waves (GW) can have either astrophysical or primordial origin. Some GW events show significant spin for one of the components and have been assumed to be astrophysical, since…
Significant advances in numerical simulations of black-hole binaries have recently been achieved using the puncture method. We examine how and why this method works by evolving a single black hole. The coordinate singularity and hence the…