Related papers: Are the observed black hole mergers spins consiste…
We explore the implications of the observed low spin of GW150914 within the context of stellar astrophysics and progenitor models. We conclude that many of the recently proposed scenarios are in marked tension with this observation. We…
We performed direct N-body simulations of open clusters with four different metallicities. To investigate the effective spins of merging binary black holes (BBHs) originated from these open clusters, we calculated the spin evolution of…
While the Advanced LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave experiments now regularly observe binary black hole mergers, the evolutionary origin of these events remains a mystery. Analysis of the binary black hole spin distribution may shed light…
We explore the consequences of dynamical evolution of field binaries composed of a primary black hole (BH) and a Wolf-Rayet (WR) star in the context of gravitational wave (GW) source progenitors. We argue, from general considerations, that…
The first direct detections of gravitational waves from merging binary black holes open a unique window into the binary black hole formation environment. One promising environmental signature is the angular distribution of the black hole…
Possible formation mechanisms of massive close binary black holes that can merge in the Hubble time to produce powerful gravitational wave bursts detected during advanced LIGO O1 science run are briefly discussed. The pathways include the…
We explore the implications of the observed low spins aligned with the orbital axis in Advanced~LIGO~O1 run on binary black hole (BBH)~merger scenarios in which the merging BBHs have evolved from field binaries. The coalescence time…
Recent work paints a conflicting portrait of the distribution of black hole spins in merging binaries measured with gravitational waves. Some analyses find that a significant fraction of merging binaries contain at least one black hole with…
The observation of gravitational-wave signals from merging black-hole binaries enables direct measurement of the properties of the black holes. An individual observation allows measurement of the black-hole masses, but only limited…
The LIGO/Virgo detections of gravitational waves from merging black holes of $\simeq$ 30 solar mass suggest progenitor stars of low metallicity (Z/Z$_{\odot} \lesssim 0.3$). In this talk I will provide constrains on where the progenitors of…
The discovery of the gravitational-wave source GW150914 with the Advanced LIGO detectors provides the first observational evidence for the existence of binary black-hole systems that inspiral and merge within the age of the Universe. Such…
The binary black hole mergers detected by Advanced LIGO/Virgo have shown no evidence of large black hole spins. However, because LIGO/Virgo best measures the effective combination of the two spins along the orbital angular momentum…
The spin-orbit tilt angles $\theta_{1(2)}$ of merging stellar-mass black holes provide key insights into their astrophysical origin. Non-parametric population modelling of The LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA Collaborations (2025a, arXiv:2508.18083)…
LIGO's detection of gravitational waves from binary black hole mergers was an unexpected surprise that immediately raised the question - what is the origin of these black hole binaries? The "simplest" scenario is evolution of field massive…
With the growing number of binary black hole (BBH) mergers detected by LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA, several systems have become difficult to explain via isolated binary evolution, having components in the pair-instability mass gap, high orbital…
Recent studies indicate that the progenitors of merging black hole (BH) binaries from young star clusters can undergo a common envelope phase just like isolated binaries. If the stars emerge from the common envelope as naked cores, tidal…
We aim to study the progenitor properties and expected rates of the two lowest-mass binary black hole (BH) mergers, GW 151226 and GW 170608, detected within the first two Advanced LIGO-Virgo runs, in the context of the isolated…
The fourth gravitational-wave transient catalog, GWTC-4.0, reports 153 binary black hole mergers with false-alarm rates $<1,\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$. Chirp masses are typically measured well, with the smallest fractional uncertainty being $2%$ at…
The recent detections of the binary black hole mergers GW150914 and GW151226 have inaugurated the field of gravitational-wave astronomy. For the two main formation channels that have been proposed for these sources, isolated binary…
We have performed an extensive numerical study of coalescing black-hole binaries to understand the gravitational-wave spectrum of quasi-normal modes excited in the merged black hole. Remarkably, we find that the masses and spins of the…