Related papers: Black Hole Spin Axis in Numerical Relativity
X-ray irradiation of the accretion disc leads to strong reflection features, which are then broadened and distorted by relativistic effects. We present a detailed, general relativistic approach to model this irradiation for different…
Angular momentum, or spin, is a fundamental property of black holes (BHs), yet it is much more difficult to estimate than mass or accretion rate (for actively accreting systems). In recent years, high-quality X-ray observations have allowed…
One of the primary means of determining the spin of an astrophysical black hole is by actually measuring the inner radius of a surrounding accretion disk and using that to infer the spin. By comparing a number of different estimates of the…
Gravitational waves from coalescing binary black holes encode the evolution of their spins prior to merger. In the post-Newtonian regime and on the precession timescale, this evolution has one of three morphologies, with the spins either…
A new approach to constraining or determining the spin of a massive black hole is proposed. A key parameter in the analysis is the dimensionless ratio, r, of the energy released to the mass of the hole. It is shown that the black hole spin,…
In an effort to understand the Penrose inequality for black holes with angular momentum, an axisymmetric, vacuum, asymptotically Euclidean initial data set subject to certain quasi-stationary conditions is considered for a case study. A new…
The motion of a stellar compact object around a supermassive black hole can be approximated by the motion of a spinning test particle. The equations of motion describing such systems are in general non-integrable, and therefore, chaotic…
The inclusion of spin effects in the binary dynamics for black hole and neutron stars is crucial for the computation of gravitational wave observables. Worldline supersymmetric models have shown to be particularly efficient at this task up…
Massive merging black holes will be the primary sources of powerful gravitational waves at low frequency, and will permit to test general relativity with candidate galaxies close to a binary black hole merger. In this paper we identify the…
We consider a subset of the physical processes that determine the spin j = a/M of astrophysical black holes. These include: (1) Initial conditions. Recent models suggest that the collapse of supermassive stars are likely to produce black…
Astrophysical black holes do not exist in vacuum, and their motion is affected by the galactic environment. As a black hole moves it attracts stars and matter, creating a wake that, in turn, exerts an effective friction slowing down the…
Although the orbits of comparable mass, spinning black holes seem to defy simple decoding, we find a means to decipher all such orbits. The dynamics is complicated by extreme perihelion precession compounded by spin-induced precession. We…
We determine the spin of a supermassive black hole in the context of discseismology by comparing newly detected quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) of radio emission in the Galactic centre, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), as well as infrared and…
We present the results of a semianalytical model that evolves the masses and spins of massive black holes together with the properties of their host galaxies along the cosmic history. As a consistency check, our model broadly reproduces a…
Gravitational waves from spin-precessing binaries exhibit amplitude oscillations that provide an invaluable method to extract the spins of the inspiraling compact objects. The spin-spin and spin-orbit interactions that cause this effect are…
Characterizing the properties of black holes is one of the most important science objectives for gravitational-wave observations. Astrophysical evidence suggests that black holes that are nearly extremal (i.e. spins near the theoretical…
The precise measurement of neutron star (NS) spins can provide important insight into the formation and evolution of compact binaries containing NS. While traditional methods of NS spin measurement rely on pulsar observations, gravitational…
We study the general relativistic periastron advance in spinning black hole binaries on quasi-circular orbits, with spins aligned or anti-aligned with the orbital angular momentum, using numerical-relativity simulations, the post-Newtonian…
Black holes are real astrophysical objects, but their interiors are hidden and can only be "observed" through mathematics. The structure of rotating black holes is typically illustrated with the help of special coordinates. But any such…
We determine the binding energy, the total gravitational wave energy flux, and the gravitational wave modes for a binary of rapidly spinning black holes, working in linearized gravity and at leading orders in the orbital velocity, but to…