Related papers: Hierarchical Black Hole Mergers in Active Galactic…
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 astrophysical origin of gravitational wave (GW) events discovered by LIGO/VIRGO remains an outstanding puzzle. In active galactic nuclei (AGN), compact-object binaries form, evolve, and interact with a dense star cluster and a gas disk.…
LIGO and Virgo have reported the detection of GW190521, from the merger of a binary black hole (BBH) with a total mass around $150$ M$_\odot$. While current stellar models limit the mass of any black hole (BH) remnant to about $40 - 50$…
Prior to the detection of black holes (BHs) via the gravitational waves (GWs) they generate at merger, the presence of BHs was inferred in X-ray binaries, mostly via dynamical measurements, with masses in the range between $\sim…
The Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) channel for the formation of binary black hole (BBH) mergers has been previously studied as a potential formation channel for the merging compact binaries observed by the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA (LVK) scientific…
GW231123 exhibits exceedingly massive components and high spins, which challenges the formation of first-generation (1G) black holes from stellar collapse and implies that this event might originate from hierarchical mergers. Here we show…
When two black holes merge in a dense star cluster, they form a new black hole with a well-defined mass and spin. If that "second-generation" black hole remains in the cluster, it will continue to participate in dynamical encounters, form…
Binary black hole mergers encode information about their environment and the astrophysical processes that led to their formation. Measuring the redshift dependence of their merger rate will help probe the formation and evolution of galaxies…
Current stellar evolution models predict a dearth of black holes (BHs) with masses $\gtrsim 50$ M$_\odot$ and $\lesssim 5$ M$_\odot$, and intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs; $\sim10^2- 10^5$ M$_\odot$) have not yet been detected beyond…
We present models of realistic globular clusters with post-Newtonian dynamics for black holes. By modeling the relativistic accelerations and gravitational-wave emission in isolated binaries and during three- and four-body encounters, we…
Aims. The fueling and feedback of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) are important in understanding the co-evolution between black holes and host galaxies. Mergers are thought to have the capability to bring gas inwards and ignite nuclear…
The detection of an intermediate-mass black hole population ($10^2-10^6$ $M_{\odot}$) will provide clues to their formation environments (e.g., disks of active galactic nuclei, globular clusters) and illuminate a potential pathway to…
Statistical analyses based on the spatial correlation between the sky maps of Gravitational Wave (GW) events and the positions of potential host environments are a powerful tool to infer the origin of the black hole binary mergers that have…
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…
Hierarchical black hole (BH) mergers are one of the most straightforward mechanisms to produce BHs inside and above the pair-instability mass gap. Here, we investigate the impact of globular cluster (GC) evolution on hierarchical mergers,…
The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration recently reported an exceptional gravitational-wave event, GW231123. This gravitational-wave signal was assumed to be generated from the merger of a binary black hole system, with source frame masses of…
Dense star clusters are thought to contribute significantly to the merger rates of stellar-mass binary black holes (BBHs) detected by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration. We combine $N$-body dynamic models of realistic dense star clusters…
Galaxy mergers provide a mechanism for galaxies to effectively funnel gas and materials toward their nuclei and fuel the central starbursts and accretion of supermassive black holes. In turn, the active nuclei drive galactic-scale outflows…
The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration has detected over one hundred compact binary mergers in gravitational waves, but the formation history of these binaries remains an open question. Finding the host galaxies of these mergers will provide…
Hierarchical galaxy mergers will lead to the formation of binary and, in the case of a subsequent merger before a binary coalesce, triple supermassive black holes (SMBHs), given that most massive galaxies harbor SMBHs. A triple of SMBHs…