Related papers: Infalling clouds on to supermassive black hole bin…
The recent discovery of the binary black hole (BBH) merger event GW190521, between two black holes (BHs) of $\approx100M_\odot$, and as well as other massive BBH merger events involving BHs within the pair-instability supernova (PSN) mass…
Motivated by observational searches for sub-parsec supermassive black hole binaries (SBHBs) we develop a modular analytic model to determine the likelihood for detection of SBHBs by ongoing spectroscopic surveys. The model combines the…
We explore the growth of super-massive black holes and host galaxy bulges in the galaxy population using the Millennium Run LCDM simulation coupled with a model of galaxy formation. We find that, if galaxy mergers are the primary drivers…
Most globular clusters (GCs) show evidence for multiple stellar populations, suggesting the occurrence of several distinct star-formation episodes. The large fraction of second population (2P) stars observed requires a very large 2P gaseous…
We investigate the effect of cutting-edge circumbinary disk (CBD) evolution models on massive black hole binary (MBHB) populations and the gravitational wave background (GWB). We show that CBD-driven evolution leaves a tell-tale signature…
We explore how the co-evolution of massive black holes (MBHs) and galaxies is affected by environmental effects, addressing in particular MBHs hosted in the central galaxies of clusters (we will refer to these galaxies in general as 'CGs').…
Gravitational Waves (GW) have now been detected from stellar-mass black hole binaries, and the first observations of GW from Massive Black Hole (MBH) Binaries are expected within the next decade. Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTA), which can…
The predicted rate of binary black hole mergers from galactic fields can vary over several orders of magnitude and is extremely sensitive to the assumptions of stellar evolution. But in dense stellar environments such as globular clusters,…
We investigated the evolution of the black hole binary formed by the merging of two galaxies each containing a central massive black hole. Our main goal here is to determine if the black hole binary can merge through the hardening by…
Studying the formation and evolution of black hole binaries (BHBs) is essential for the interpretation of current and forthcoming gravitational wave (GW) detections. We investigate the statistics of BHBs that form from isolated binaries, by…
Understanding how supermassive black holes (SMBHs) pair and merge helps to inform predictions of off-center, dual, and binary AGN, and provides key insights into how SMBHs grow and co-evolve with their galaxy hosts. As the loudest known…
We present the first study of the dynamical evolution of a star cluster that combines a significant population of primordial binaries with the presence of a central black hole. We use direct N-body simulations, with a black hole mass of…
We investigate the evolution of intermediate-mass (IMBHs), stellar (BHs) and binary black holes (BHBs), deposited near a supermassive black hole (SMBH) by a population of massive star clusters. Stellar BHs rapidly segregate around the SMBH,…
We explore the formation of mass-transferring binary systems containing black holes within globular clusters. We show that it is possible to form mass-transferring black hole binaries with main sequence, giant, and white dwarf companions…
We study the dynamical evolution of the stellar mass binary black holes (BBHs) in a galactic nucleus that contains a massive black hole (MBH). For a comprehensive study of their merging events, we consider simultaneously the non-resonant…
Using a one-dimensional height integrated model, we calculate the evolution of an unequal mass binary black hole with a coplanar gas disk that contains a gap due to the presence of the secondary black hole. Viscous evolution of the outer…
The gravitational wave event GW190521 involves the merger of two black holes of $\sim 85\text{M}_\odot$ and $\sim 66\text{M}_\odot$ forming an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) of mass $\sim 142\text{M}_\odot$. Both progenitors are…
Hierarchical mergers of black holes are proposed as a mechanism to explain the observations of binary black holes with component masses between $\sim 50M_{\odot}\hbox{--}130M_{\odot}$ by LIGO/Virgo, often referred to as "upper mass gap". We…
The recent discovery of GW150914, the binary black hole merger detected by Advanced LIGO, has the potential to revolutionize observational astrophysics. But to fully utilize this new window into the universe, we must compare these new…
GW231123, the most massive binary black hole (BBH) merger detected by LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA, highlights the need to understand the origins of massive, high-spin stellar black holes (BHs). Dense star clusters provide natural environments for…