Related papers: Determining the Hubble Constant with AGN-assisted …
We investigate the relation between black hole (BH) mass and bulge stellar mass for a sample of 117 local ($z \sim 0$) galaxies hosting low-luminosity, broad-line active galactic nuclei (AGN). Our sample comes from Reines & Volonteri…
Space-borne gravitational wave detectors, such as the proposed Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, are expected to observe black hole coalescences to high redshift and with large signal-to-noise ratios, rendering their gravitational waves…
We investigate a possible method for determining the progenitors of black hole (BH) mergers observed via their gravitational wave (GW) signal. We argue that measurements of the cross-correlation of the GW events with overlapping galaxy…
The observations of gravitational wave (GW) provide us a new probe to study the universe. GW events can be used as standard sirens if their redshifts are measured. Normally, stardard sirens can be divided into bright/dark sirens according…
A supermassive black hole has been found at the centre of nearly every galaxy observed with sufficient sensitivity. The masses of these black holes are observed to increase with either the total mass or the mean (random) velocity of the…
The determination of the central black hole mass is crucial to the understanding of AGN physics. In this paper we briefly review some methods that are currently used to estimate the black hole mass of AGNs. Particularly we demonstrate the…
If the activity of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is predominantly induced by major galaxy mergers, then a significant fraction of AGNs should harbor binary massive black holes in their centers. We study the mass function of binary massive…
Context: The LIGO consortium announced the first direct detection of gravitation wave event GW150914 from two merging black holes; however the nature of the black holes are still not clear. Aims: We study whether electromagnetic radiation…
The existence of merging black hole-neutron star (BHNS) binaries has been ascertained through the observation of their gravitational wave (GW) signals. However, to date, no definitive electromagnetic (EM) emission has been confidently…
The tight correlations found between masses of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and the luminosities, total stellar masses, and velocity dispersions of their host galaxies are often interpreted as a sign of their co-evolution. Studying…
Accretion disks in active galactic nuclei (AGN) are promising sites for mergers of stellar-mass black holes (BHs) detectable via gravitational waves (GWs). These environments facilitate both in-situ formation and dynamical capture of…
Reverberation mapping methods have been used to measure masses in about three dozen AGNs. The consistency of the virial masses computed from line widths and time delays, the relationship between black hole mass and host-galaxy stellar bulge…
We calculate the observable signature of a black hole accretion disk with a gap or hole created by a secondary black hole embedded in the disk. We find that for an interesting range of parameters of black hole masses (~10^6 to 10^9 solar…
Binary neutron-star mergers will predominantly produce black-hole remnants of mass $\sim 3-4\,M_{\odot}$, thus populating the putative \emph{low mass gap} between neutron stars and stellar-mass black holes. If these low-mass black holes are…
Simultaneous measurements of distance and redshift can be used to constrain the expansion history of the universe and associated cosmological parameters. Merging binary black hole (BBH) systems are standard sirens---their gravitational…
We present the first direct comparison of numerical simulations of neutron star-black hole and black hole-black hole mergers in full general relativity. We focus on a configuration with non spinning objects and within the most likely range…
We show that Massive Black Holes of AGNs follow the same approximately linear relation with the luminosity of the host spheroid (bulge) found in normal (quiescent) galaxies, with the black hole mass being ~0.002 that of the bulge. We also…
Hierarchical models of galaxy formation predict that galaxy mergers represent a significant transitional stage of rapid supermassive black hole (SMBH) growth. Yet, the connection between the merging process and enhanced active galactic…
We present an empirical approach for interpreting gravitational wave signals of binary black hole mergers under the assumption that the underlying black hole population is sourced by remnants of stellar evolution. Using the observed…
Galaxy pairs with separations of only a few kpc represent important stages in the merger-driven growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs). However, such mergers are difficult to identify observationally due to the correspondingly small…