Related papers: Implications of recoil kicks for black hole merger…
Merging binary black holes embedded in gaseous environments, such as supermassive black hole binaries following gas-rich galaxy mergers, are promising sources of multi-messenger transients in the upcoming age of space-based gravitational…
Recent detailed observations of the radio-loud quasar 3C 186 indicate the possibility that a supermassive recoiling black hole is moving away from the host galaxy at a speed of nearly 2100km/s. If this is the case, we can model the mass…
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) may not always reside right at the centers of their host galaxies. This is a prediction of numerical relativity simulations, which imply that the newly formed single SMBH, after binary coalescence in a…
In globular clusters, hierarchical mergers are among the most promising pathways to forming massive black holes such as GW231123. A key factor determining whether a merger-remnant black hole will be retained in these environments and thus…
We calculate the linear momentum flux from merging black holes (BHs) with arbitrary masses and spin orientations, using the effective-one-body (EOB) model. This model includes an analytic description of the inspiral phase, a short merger,…
We review theoretical findings, astrophysical modeling, and current gravitational-wave evidence of hierarchical stellar-mass black-hole mergers. While most of the compact binary mergers detected by LIGO and Virgo are expected to consist of…
Most of the binary black hole (BBH) mergers detected by LIGO and Virgo could be explained by first-generation mergers formed from the collapse of stars, while others might come from second (or higher) generation mergers, namely hierarchical…
Supermassive black hole binaries (BHBs) produced in galaxy mergers recoil at the time of their coalescence due to the emission of gravitational waves (GWs). We simulate the response of a thin, 2D disk of collisionless particles, initially…
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 $40 - 50$…
Anisotropy of gravitational wave (GW) emission results in a net momentum gained by the black hole (BH) merger product, leading to a recoil velocity up to $\sim10^3\text{ km s}^{-1}$, which may kick it out of a globular cluster (GC). We…
The gravitational recoil or "kick" of a black hole formed from the merger of two orbiting black holes, and caused by the anisotropic emission of gravitational radiation, is an astrophysically important phenomenon. We combine (i) an earlier…
The LIGO/Virgo collaboration has reported 50 black hole-black hole (BH-BH) mergers and 8 candidates recovered from digging deeper into the detectors noise. The majority of these mergers have low effective spins pointing toward low BH spins…
Gravitational waves from the coalescence of binary black holes carry linear momentum, causing center of mass recoil. This ``radiation rocket'' has important implications for systems with escape speeds of order the recoil velocity. We…
The binary black hole mergers observed by LIGO-Virgo gravitational-wave detectors pose two major challenges: (i) how to produce these massive black holes from stellar processes; and (ii) how to bring them close enough to merge within the…
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…
Central supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are a ubiquitous feature of locally-observed galaxies, and ample evidence suggests that the growth of SMBHs and their host galaxies is closely linked. However, in the event of a merger,…
Merging black holes (BH) are expected to produce remnants with large dimensionless spin parameters ($a_{\rm spin} \sim 0.7$). However, gravitational wave (GW) observations with LIGO/Virgo suggest that merging BH are consistent with modestly…
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…
Recoil ``kicks'' induced by gravitational radiation are expected in the inspiral and merger of black holes. Recently the numerical relativity community has begun to measure the significant kicks found when both unequal masses and spins are…
We model the formation of black hole-neutron star (BH-NS) binaries via dynamical interactions in globular clusters. We find that in dense, massive clusters, 16-61% of the BH-NS binaries formed by interactions with existing BH binaries will…