Related papers: The final-parsec problem in the collisionless limi…
We show the results of dynamical simulations of the coalescence of black hole-neutron star binaries. We use a Newtonian Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics code, and include the effects of gravitational radiation back reaction with the quadrupole…
Using high-resolution SPH numerical simulations, we investigate the effects of gas on the inspiral and merger of a massive black hole binary. This study is motivated by both observational and theoretical work that indicate the presence of…
(Abridged) In this celebratory contribution, we present some new data from standard star cluster modelling containing primordial binaries and triples, as well as results from a binary black hole simulation with two massive members. In the…
We investigate the orbital eccentricity evolution of supermassive black hole binaries within galactic environments. We analyze the dynamics in triaxial merger remnants and subsequent interactions with geometrically thick nuclear discs. We…
A paradigm deeply rooted in modern numerical relativity calculations prescribes the removal of those regions of the computational domain where a physical singularity may develop. We here challenge this paradigm by performing…
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are ubiquitous in galaxies with a sizable mass. It is expected that a pair of SMBHs originally in the nuclei of two merging galaxies would form a binary and eventually coalesce via a burst of gravitational…
In this paper we perform a multi-messenger investigation of the efficiency of stellar scattering in tightening supermassive black hole binaries by jointly comparing models to the observed galaxy stellar core population and to results of…
Using SPH numerical simulations, we investigate the effects of gas on the inspiral and merger of a massive black hole binary. This study is motivated by the very massive nuclear gas disks observed in the central regions of merging galaxies.…
The end state of a coalescing binary of compact objects depends strongly on the final total mass M and angular momentum J. Since gravitational radiation emission causes a slow evolution of the binary system through quasi-circular orbits…
A binary supermassive black hole leaves an imprint on a galactic nucleus in the form of a "mass deficit," a decrease in the mass of the nucleus due to ejection of stars by the binary. The magnitude of the mass deficit is in principle…
We study the evolution of a massive black hole pair in a rotationally supported nuclear disc. The distributions of stars and gas mimic the nuclear region of a gas-rich galaxy merger remnant. Using high-resolution SPH simulations, we follow…
Supermassive black holes (SMBH) are thought to grow through accretion of matter and mergers. Models of SMBH mergers have long suffered the final parsec problem, where SMBH binaries may stall before energy loss from gravitational waves (GW)…
Below a threshold energy, gas in the constant density core of a triaxial galaxy can find no simple non-intersecting periodic orbit to act as an attractor for its trajectory (El-Zant et al. 2003). If a disc of gas arriving from further out…
We investigate whether a circumbinary gas disc can coalesce a supermassive black hole binary system in the centre of a galaxy. This is known to be problematic for a prograde disc. We show that in contrast, interaction with a retrograde…
A star with main sequence mass greater than $25\sim 30\msun$ may collapse to a black hole of about 10 $\msun$ at the final stage of the evolution. About an order of 1\% of stellar mass is likely to be in form of such black holes in…
The study of how stars distribute themselves around a massive black hole (MBH) in the center of a galaxy is an important prerequisite for the understanding of many galactic-center processes. These include the observed overabundance of point…
We explore the behaviour of accreting protoclusters with a Monte Carlo dynamical code in order to evaluate the relative roles of accretion, two body relaxation and stellar collisions in the cluster evolution. We corroborate the suggestion…
We perform Monte Carlo simulations of stationary planar accretion of a collisionless gas onto a moving Schwarzschild black hole. In this work -- a sequel to our previous paper on the Monte Carlo method for stationary general-relativistic…
Stars and compact objects that plunge toward a black hole are either 1) captured, emitting gravitational waves as the orbit decays, 2) tidally disrupted, leaving a disc of baryonic material, 3) scattered to a large radius, where they may…
A numerical solution scheme for the Einstein field equations based on generalized harmonic coordinates is described, focusing on details not provided before in the literature and that are of particular relevance to the binary black hole…