Related papers: MOCCA-SURVEY Database I: Coalescing Binary Black H…
Repeated mergers of stellar-mass black holes (BHs) in dense star clusters can produce intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs). In particular, nuclear star clusters at the centers of galaxies have deep enough potential wells to retain most of…
We model the inspiral of globular clusters (GCs) towards a galactic nucleus harboring a supermassive black hole (SMBH), a leading scenario for the formation of nuclear star clusters. We consider the case of GCs containing either an…
Hierarchical mergers are one of the distinctive signatures of binary black hole (BBH) formation through dynamical evolution. Here, we present a fast semi-analytic approach to simulate hierarchical mergers in nuclear star clusters (NSCs),…
Motivated by the recent detection of gravitational waves from the black hole binary merger GW150914, we study the dynamical evolution of black holes in galactic nuclei where massive star clusters reside. With masses of ~10^7M_Sun and sizes…
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…
We have followed the evolution of multi-mass star clusters containing massive central black holes through collisional N-body simulations done on GRAPE6. Each cluster is composed of between 16,384 to 131,072 stars together with a black hole…
With about a hundred binary black hole (BBH) mergers detected by LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA, and with several hundreds expected in the current O4 run, GWs are revolutionizing our understanding of the universe. Some BBH sources are too faint to be…
The connection between the binary black hole (BBH) mergers observed by LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) and their stellar progenitors remains uncertain. Specifically, the fraction $\epsilon$ of stellar mass that ends up in BBH mergers and the delay…
Gravitational-wave detectors are unveiling a population of binary black hole (BBH) mergers out to redshifts $z \approx 1$, and are starting to constrain how the BBH population evolves with redshift. We present predictions for the redshift…
Star clusters can interact and merge in galactic discs, halos, or centers. We present direct N-body simulations of binary mergers of star clusters with $M_{\star} = 2.7 \times 10^4 \: \mathrm{M_{\odot}}$ each, using the N-body code BIFROST…
Theoretical predictions suggest that very massive stars have the potential to form through multiple collisions and eventually evolve into intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) within Population III star clusters embedded in mini dark matter…
In a star cluster with a sufficiently large escape velocity, black holes (BHs) that are produced by BH mergers can be retained, dynamically form new BH binaries, and merge again. This process can repeat several times and lead to significant…
Numerical relativity predicts that the coalescence of a black hole-binary causes the newly formed black hole to recoil, and evidence for such recoils has been found in the gravitational waves observed during the merger of stellar-mass black…
After the nearly hundred gravitational-wave detections reported by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration, the question of the cosmological origin of merging binary black holes (BBHs) remains open. The two main formation channels generally…
Since the first signal in 2015, the gravitational-wave detections of merging binary black holes (BBHs) by the LIGO and Virgo collaborations (LVC) have completely transformed our understanding of the lives and deaths of compact object…
Gravitational-wave (GW) detections by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) observatories suggest multiple formation channels for GW compact binary mergers. Here I assess the role of young massive clusters (YMC) evolving into old open clusters (OC) --…
We explore the connection between the gravitational wave (GW) merger rates of stellar-mass binary black holes (BBH) and galaxy properties. We do this by generating populations of stars using the binary population synthesis code COMPAS and…
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…
Black hole (BH) binary mergers formed through dynamical interactions in dense star clusters are believed to be one of the main sources of gravitational waves for Advanced LIGO and Virgo. Here we present a fast numerical method for…
Stellar mass black holes (BHs) are expected to segregate and form a steep density cusp around supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in galactic nuclei. We follow the evolution of a multi-mass system of BHs and stars by numerically integrating…