Related papers: Busting Up Binaries: Encounters Between Compact Bi…

The Galactic Center (GC) is dominated by the gravity of a super-massive black hole (SMBH), Sagittarius A$^*$, and is suspected to contain a sizable population of binary stars. Such binaries form hierarchical triples with the SMBH,…

A common origin for a host of stellar phenomena in galactic centres is the tidal encounter between stellar binaries and a massive black hole (MBH), known as the ``Hills mechanism''. Following the encounter, binaries may disrupt into an…

Binaries containing a stellar-mass black hole and a recycled radio pulsar have so far eluded detection. We present a focused investigation of the formation and evolution of these systems in the Galactic disk, highlighting the factors that…

The population of binary black hole mergers identified through gravitational waves has uncovered unexpected features in the intrinsic properties of black holes in the universe. One particularly surprising and exciting result is the possible…

We outline the eccentricity evolution of sub-parsec massive black hole binaries (MBHBs) forming in galaxy mergers. In both stellar and gaseous environments, MBHBs are expected to grow large orbital eccentricities before they enter the…

When binary black holes form in the field, it is expected that their orbits typically circularize before coalescence. In galactic nuclei and globular clusters, binary black holes can form dynamically. Recent results suggest that…

I overview the current understanding of the evolution of massive black hole (MBH) binaries in the center of the host stellar system. One of the main questions is whether the stellar dynamical effect can make the MBH binary hard enough that…

Circumbinary disks crucially affect the orbital and electromagnetic properties of binary systems across the universe, from stars in our galactic neighborhood to supermassive black hole binaries formed as the result of tumultuous galactic…

We investigate interactions of stellar binaries in galactic nuclear clusters with a massive black hole (MBH). We consider binaries on highly eccentric orbits around the MBH that change due to random gravitational interactions with other…

The coalescence of massive black hole binaries (with masses $10^4 - 10^7 M_{\odot}$) leads to gravitational wave emission that is detectable out to high redshifts ($z \sim 20$) with the forthcoming LISA observatory. We combine the…

We review the theory behind the formation of primordial black hole binaries and their merger rates. We consider the binary formation in the early and late Universe, emphasising the former as it gives the dominant contribution of the present…

We present the first fully relativistic longterm numerical evolutions of three equal-mass black holes in a system consisting of a third black hole in a close orbit about a black-hole binary. We find that these close-three-black-hole systems…

We detail the population properties of merging compact objects using 158 mergers from the cumulative Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog 4.0, which includes three types of binary mergers: binary neutron star, neutron star--black hole…

We present preliminary results from self-consistent, high resolution direct {\it N}-body simulations of massive black hole binaries in mergers of galactic nuclei. The dynamics of the black hole binary includes the full Post-Newtonian…

In spherical galaxies, binary supermassive black holes (SMBHs) have difficulty reaching sub-parsec separations due to depletion of stars on orbits that intersect the massive binary - the final-parsec problem. Galaxies that form via major…

We investigate the prospects of observing residual eccentricity in a population of compact binaries by calculating the power in the eccentric harmonics, following the methodology in arXiv:2411.04187. Although most observed compact binary…

Merging compact black-hole (BH) binaries are likely to exist in the nuclear star clusters around supermassive BHs (SMBHs), such as Sgr A$^\ast$. They may also form in the accretion disks of active galactic nuclei. Such compact binaries can…

Recent studies of accretion onto supermassive black hole binaries suggest that much, perhaps most, of the matter eventually accretes onto one hole or the other. If so, then for binaries whose inspiral from ~1 pc to 0.001 - 0.01 pc is driven…

Stars can be tidally destroyed or swallowed by supermassive black hole binaries. Using a large number of accurate few-body simulations, we investigate the enhancement and suppression of full and partial disruption and direct capture events…

We show that nearly half of all binary black hole (BBH) mergers dynamically assembled in globular clusters have measurable eccentricities ($e>0.01$) in the LISA band ($10^{-2}$ Hz), when General Relativistic corrections are properly…