Related papers: Explaining LIGO's observations via isolated binary…
Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo's newly-released GWTC-2 catalog of gravitational-wave detections offers unprecedented information about the spin magnitudes and orientations of merging binary black holes (BBHs). Notably, analysis of the BBH…
The long wait for the detection of merging black hole -- neutron star (BH--NS) binaries is finally over with the announcement by the LIGO/Virgo/Kagra collaboration of GW200105 and GW200115. Remarkably, the primary of GW200115 has a negative…
A population of more than 50 binary black hole mergers has now been observed by the LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave observatories. While neutron stars are known to have large velocities associated with impulsive kicks imparted to them at…
The identification of the first confirmed neutron star - black hole (NS-BH) binary mergers by the LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA collaboration provides the opportunity to investigate the properties of the early sample of confirmed and candidate…
The origin of black hole (BH) spins remains one of the least understood aspects of BHs. Despite many uncertainties, it is commonly assumed that if BHs originated from isolated massive star binaries, their spins should be aligned with the…
The inferred parameters of the binary black hole GW151226 are consistent with nonzero spin for the most massive black hole, misaligned from the binary's orbital angular momentum. If the black holes formed through isolated binary evolution…
Binary black holes (BBHs) are one of the endpoints of isolated binary evolution, and their mergers a leading channel for gravitational wave events. Here, using the evolutionary code \textsc{StarTrack}, we study the statistical properties of…
We investigate whether stellar-mass black holes have to receive natal kicks in order to explain the observed distribution of low-mass X-ray binaries containing black holes within our Galaxy. Such binaries are the product of binary…
Many astrophysical scenarios have been proposed to explain the several black hole (BH) and neutron star binary mergers observed via gravitational waves (GWs) by the LIGO-Virgo collaboration. Contributions from various channels can be…
We study the expected spin misalignments of merging binary black holes (BHs) formed in isolation by combining state-of-the-art population-synthesis models with efficient post-Newtonian evolutions, thus tracking sources from stellar…
In their most recent observing run, the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) Collaboration observed gravitational waves (GWs) from compact binary mergers with highly asymmetric mass ratios, including both binary black holes (BBHs) and neutron star--black…
We compare evolutionary predictions of double compact object merger rate densities with initial and forthcoming LIGO/Virgo upper limits. We find that: (i) Due to the cosmological reach of advanced detectors, current conversion methods of…
With the detection of four candidate binary black hole (BBH) mergers by the Advanced LIGO detectors thus far, it is becoming possible to constrain the properties of the BBH merger population in order to better understand the formation of…
The first and second Gravitational Wave Transient Catalogs by the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration include $50$ confirmed merger events from the first, second, and first half of the third observational runs. We compute the distribution of recoil…
Using stellar kinematic data from Gaia DR3, we revisit constraints on black hole (BH) natal kicks from observed accreting and detached BH binaries. We compare the space velocities and Galactic orbits of a sample of 12 BHs in the Galactic…
In massive binary-star systems, supernova explosions can significantly alter the orbit during the formation of compact objects. Some compact objects are predicted to form via direct collapse, a scenario with negligible mass loss and no…
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…
Multiple pieces of evidence suggest that neutron stars receive large kicks when formed from the remnant of a collapsing star. However, the evidence for whether black holes (BH) receive natal kicks is less clear, reliant on weak constraints…
One proposed black hole formation channel involves hierarchical mergers, where black holes form through repeated binary mergers. Previous studies have shown that such black holes follow a near-universal spin distribution centered around…
The formation of stellar mass black holes is still very uncertain. Two main uncertainties are the amount of mass ejected in the supernova event (if any) and the magnitude of the natal kick the black hole receives at birth (if any). Repetto…