Related papers: Model systematics in time domain tests of binary b…
We study the spin dynamics of individual black holes in a binary system. In particular we focus on the polar precession of spins and the possibility of a complete flip of spins with respect to the orbital plane. We perform a full numerical…
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…
Binary black hole (BBH) systems residing in the centers of galaxies evolve within complex astrophysical environments. These environments, comprising dark matter (DM) halos and baryonic accretion disks, can significantly alter the orbital…
When two black holes merge, the late stage of gravitational wave emission is a superposition of exponentially damped sinusoids. According to the black hole no-hair theorem, this ringdown spectrum depends only on the mass and angular…
Higher-order gravitational wave modes from quasi-circular, spinning, non-precessing binary black hole mergers encode key information about these systems' nonlinear dynamics. We model these waveforms using transformer architectures,…
The population of black holes observed via gravitational waves currently covers the local universe up to a redshift $z\lesssim 1$, for the most massive merging binaries, or $z\lesssim 0.25$ for low-mass BH binaries (BBH). Evolution of the…
Advances in the field of numerical relativity now make it possible to calculate the final, most powerful merger phase of binary black-hole coalescence for generic binaries. The state of the art has advanced well beyond the equal-mass case…
We present the first effective-one-body (EOB) model for generic-spins quasi-circular black-hole--neutron-star (BHNS) inspiral-merger-ringdown gravitational waveforms (GWs). Our model is based on a new numerical-relativity (NR) informed…
Binary black hole (BBH) mergers detected via gravitational waves are addressing key open questions in astrophysics, cosmology, and fundamental physics. Our scientific conclusions rely on extracting accurate source parameters, for which we…
The Kerr nature of a compact-object-coalescence remnant can be unveiled by observing multiple quasi-normal modes (QNMs) in the post-merger signal. Current methods to achieve this goal rely on matching the data with a superposition of…
We perform a systematic study to explore the accuracy with which the parameters of intermediate-mass black-hole binary systems can be measured from their gravitational wave (GW) signatures using second-generation GW detectors. We make use…
We present the results of 74 new simulations of nonprecessing spinning black hole binaries with mass ratios $q=m_1/m_2$ in the range $1/7\leq q\leq1$ and individual spins covering the parameter space $-0.95\leq\alpha_{1,2}\leq0.95$ with one…
We perform a sequence of binary black hole simulations with increasingly small mass ratios, reaching to a 128:1 binary that displays 13 orbits before merger. Based on a detailed convergence study of the $q=m_1/m_2=1/15$ nonspinning case, we…
Modeling the remnant recoil velocity (kick) distribution from binary black hole mergers is crucial for understanding hierarchical mergers in active galactic nuclei or globular clusters. Existing analytic models often show large…
Black holes in General Relativity are famously characterized by two "hairs" only, the mass and the spin of the Kerr spacetime. Theories extending General Relativity, however, allow in principle for additional black hole charges, which will…
Determining the astrophysical origin of binary black holes and whether merger remnants are retained in their birth environments is essential for understanding hierarchical mergers and the growth of intermediate-mass black holes. We…
We examine recent claims that evidence for an overtone in the ringdown of the GW150914 binary black hole merger was a result of noise anomalies. We cannot reproduce these claims, finding that our previous analysis of this event is robust to…
The interaction of binary black hole mergers with their environments can be studied using numerical relativity simulations. These start only a short finite time before merger, at which point appropriate initial conditions must be imposed. A…
We study to what extent the effective-one-body description of the dynamical state of a nonspinning, coalescing binary black hole (considered either at merger, or after ringdown) agrees with numerical relativity results. This comparison uses…
Gravitational wave (GW) detection has enabled us to test General Relativity in an entirely new regime. A prominent role in tests of General Relativity takes the detection of the Quasi-normal modes (QNMs) that arise as the highly distorted…