Related papers: Misaligned gas discs around eccentric black-hole b…
Massive early-type galaxies commonly have gas discs which are kinematically misaligned with the stellar component. These discs feel a torque from the stars and the angular momentum vectors are expected to align quickly. We present results…
We investigate close encounters between initially unbound black holes (BHs) in the gaseous discs of active galactic nuclei (AGN), performing the first 3D non-isothermal hydrodynamical simulations of gas-assisted binary BH formation. We…
The disks of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) provide a natural environment where stellar-mass black holes (BHs) can dynamically pair, undergo repeated interactions, and eventually merge. It is commonly assumed that gas accretion will both…
Understanding the interaction of massive black hole binaries with their gaseous environment is crucial since at sub-parsec scales the binary is too wide for gravitational wave emission to take over and to drive the two black holes to merge.…
We study the dynamical evolution of quasi-circular equal mass massive black hole binaries embedded in circumbinary discs from separations of $\sim 100R_{\rm g}$ down to the merger, following the post merger evolution. The binary orbit…
We present general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of merging equal-mass, spinning black holes embedded in an equatorial thin slab of magnetized gas. We evolve black holes either non-spinning, with spins aligned to the orbital…
(Abridged) We review the results of the first multi-scale, hydrodynamical simulations of mergers between galaxies with central supermassive black holes (SMBHs) to investigate the formation of SMBH binaries in galactic nuclei. We demonstrate…
In numerical evolutions of binary black holes (BBH) it is desirable to easily control the orbital eccentricity of the BBH, and the number of orbits completed by the binary through merger. This paper presents fitting formulae that allow to…
Gaseous disks have been proposed as a mechanism for facilitating mergers of binary black holes. We explore circumbinary disk systems to determine the evolution of the central binary. To do so, we perform 3D, hydrodynamic, locally isothermal…
Coalescing supermassive black hole binaries (BHBs) are expected to be the loudest sources of gravitational waves (GWs) in the Universe. Detection rates for ground or space-based detectors based on cosmological simulations and semi-analytic…
Variability of active galactic nuclei is not well understood. One possible explanation is existence of supermassive binary black holes (SMBBH) in their centres. It is expected that major mergers are common in the Universe. It is expected…
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…
We examine the pairing process of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) down to scales of 20-100 pc using a set of N-body/SPH simulations of binary mergers of disk galaxies with mass ratios of 1:4 and 1:10. Our numerical experiments are designed…
Tidal torques acting on a gaseous accretion disk around a binary black hole can create a gap in the disk near the orbital radius. At late times, when the binary inspiral timescale due to gravitational wave emission becomes shorter than the…
We investigate the misalignment of the circumbinary disk around the binary HD 98800 BaBb with eccentricity $e\simeq 0.8$. \cite{Kennedy2019} observed the disk to be either at an inclination of $48^{\circ}$ or polar aligned to the binary…
Binary black holes may form both through isolated binary evolution and through dynamical interactions in dense stellar environments. The formation channel leaves an imprint on the alignment between the black hole spins and the orbital…
Mass and spin are the only two parameters needed to completely characterize black holes in General Relativity. However, the interaction between black holes and their environment is where complexity lies, as the relevant physical processes…
We study the 10 Myr evolution of parsec-scale stellar disks with initial masses of $M_{\mathrm{disk}} = 1.0$ - $7.5 \times 10^4 M_\odot$ and eccentricities $e_\mathrm{init}=0.1$-$0.9$ around supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Our disk models…
Although supermassive black holes (SMBHs) correlate well with their host galaxies, there is an emerging view that outliers exist. Henize 2-10, NGC 4889, and NGC1277 are examples of SMBHs at least an order of magnitude more massive than…
Since many or most galaxies have central massive black holes (BHs), mergers of galaxies can form massive binary black holes (BBHs). In this paper, we study the evolution of massive BBHs in realistic galaxy models, using a generalization of…