Related papers: What Would Happen If We Were About 1 pc Away from …
The S-star cluster in the Galactic center allows us to study the physics close to a supermassive black hole, including distinctive dynamical tests of general relativity. Our best estimates for the mass of and the distance to Sgr A* using…
Recently, the possibility that several starless telluric planets may form around supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and receive an energy input from the hole's accretion disk, which, under certain plausible circumstances, may make them…
We report new precision measurements of the properties of our Galaxy's supermassive black hole. Based on astrometric (1995-2007) and radial velocity (2000-2007) measurements from the W. M. Keck 10-meter telescopes, a fully unconstrained…
We analytically work out the long-term variations caused on the motion of a planet orbiting a star by a very distant, pointlike massive object X. Apart from the semi-major axis a, all the other Keplerian osculating orbital elements…
Supermassive black holes are a key ingredient of galaxy evolution. However, their origin is still highly debated. In one of the leading formation scenarios, a black hole of $\sim100$ M$_{\odot}$ results from the collapse of the inner core…
We analyze the dynamical evolution of binary stars that interact with a static background of single stars in the environment of a massive black hole (MBH). All stars are considered to be single mass, Newtonian point particles. We follow the…
In the outer regions of the habitable zone, the risk of transitioning into a globally frozen "snowball" state poses a threat to the habitability of planets with the capacity to host water-based life. We use a one-dimensional energy balance…
The center of our Galaxy is known to host a massive compact object, Sgr A$^*$, which is commonly considered as a super-massive black hole of $\sim 4\times 10^6$ M$_\odot$. It is surrounded by a dense and massive nuclear star cluster, with a…
The interest in the implications that astrophysical observations have for the understanding of the structure of black holes has grown since the first detection of gravitational waves. Many arguments that are put forward in order to…
We developed a theoretical model able to give a common origin to the correlations between the mass of supermassive black holes and the mass, velocity dispersion, kinetic energy and momentum parameter of the corresponding host galaxies. Our…
We analytically and numerically investigate the long-term, i.e. averaged over one full revolution, orbital effects of the non-isotropic percent mass loss \dot m/m experienced by several transiting hot Jupiters whose atmospheres are hit by…
Observations of exoplanets have revealed that systems with planets on closely-spaced orbits are common, which motivates the question "How closely can planets orbit to one another and still be dynamically-stable for very long times?". To…
Dwarf galaxies and globular clusters may contain intermediate mass black holes ($10^{3}$ to $10^{5}$ solar masses) in their cores. Estimates of ~$10^{3}$ neutron stars in the central parsec of the Galaxy and similar numbers in small…
We analytically compute the effects that a mass variation rate \dot M/M of a pulsar may have on the changes \Delta\tau in the times of arrival of its pulses due to test particle companions, and on their orbital dynamics. We apply our…
I report the discovery of a new effect of General Relativity which is important to understand very rapidly rotating (Kerr) black holes. The orbital velocity of a test particle is no longer a monotonic function of the orbit radius when the…
Aims: We aim to investigate the consequences of a fast massive stellar remnant - a black hole (BH) or a neutron star (NS) - encountering a planetary system. Methods: We modelled a close encounter between the actual Solar System (SS) and a…
Supermassive black holes containing ~0.5% of the stellar mass of their host galaxies appear to be ubiquitous components of galactic nuclei. The gravitational force from these central singularities can influence the motion of stars far…
The orbits of planetary systems can be deformed from their initial configurations due to close encounters with larger astrophysical bodies. Typical candidates for close encounters are stars and binaries. We explore the prospect that if…
We follow the collapse in axisymmetry of a uniformly rotating, supermassive star (SMS) to a supermassive black hole (SMBH) in full general relativity. The initial SMS of arbitrary mass $M$ is marginally unstable to radial collapse and…
We apply our recent results on orbital dynamics around a mass-varying central body to the phenomenon of accretion of Dark Matter-assumed not self-annihilating-on the Sun and the major bodies of the solar system due to its motion throughout…