Related papers: Dynamical double black holes and their host cluste…
We study a new channel for binary system formation involving stars and stellar-mass primordial black holes (PBHs) embedded in dark matter (DM) minihalos. In this scenario, binaries form when a star passes through the DM minihalo surrounding…
It is now well-established that a dark, compact object (DCO), very likely a massive black hole (MBH) of around four million solar masses is lurking at the centre of the Milky Way. While a consensus is emerging about the origin and growth of…
In this work we establish and test methods for implementing dynamical friction for massive black hole pairs that form in large volume cosmological hydrodynamical simulations which include galaxy formation and black hole growth. We verify…
Multi-body dynamical interactions of binaries with other objects are one of the main driving mechanisms for the evolution of star clusters. It is thus important to bring our understanding of three-body interactions beyond the commonly…
We simulate the inner 100pc of the Milky-Way Galaxy to study the formation and evolution of the population of star clusters and intermediate mass black holes. For this study we perform extensive direct N-body simulations of the star…
The possible formation mechanisms of massive close binary black holes (BHs) that can merge in the Hubble time to produce powerful gravitational wave bursts detected during advanced LIGO O1 and O2 science runs include the evolution from…
Intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) in the mass range $10^2-10^5\,\mathrm{M_{\odot}}$ bridge the gap between stellar black holes (BHs) and supermassive BHs. Here, we investigate the possibility that IMBHs form in young star clusters via…
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…
Gravitational-wave detectors are now making it possible to investigate how the merger rate of binary black holes (BBHs) evolves with redshift. In this study, we examine whether the BBH merger rate of isolated binaries deviates from a scaled…
Observations and high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations indicate that massive star clusters form through a complex hierarchical assembly. We use simulations including post-Newtonian dynamics (the BIFROST code) and stellar evolution (the…
We revisit the phases of the pairing and sinking of BHs in galaxy mergers and circunmunclear disks in light of the results of recent simulations with massive BHs embedded in predominantly gaseous backgrounds. After a general overview we…
Fragmentation often occurs in disk-like structures, both in the early Universe and in the context of present-day star formation. Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are astrophysical objects whose origin is not well understood; they weigh…
Despite a decade's worth of gravitational wave observation, the origin of the binary black hole (BBH) mergers detected by the LIGO-VIRGO-Kagra (LVK) collaboration remains an open question. Towards assessing the feasibility and prevalence of…
Astrophysical models of binary-black hole mergers in the Universe require a significant fraction of stellar-mass black holes (BHs) to receive negligible natal kicks to explain the gravitational wave detections. This implies that BHs should…
We present a novel self-consistent theoretical framework to characterize the formation, evolution, and merger sites of dynamically-formed black hole binaries, with a focus on explaining the most massive events observed by the…
The dynamical assembly of binary black holes (BBHs) in dense star clusters (SCs) is one of the most promising pathways for producing observable gravitational wave (GW) sources, however several other formation scenarios likely operate as…
This paper explores the theoretical relation between star clusters and black holes within, focusing on the potential role of nuclear star clusters (NSCs), globular clusters (GCs), and ultra compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs) as environments that…
We report on key studies on the dynamics of black holes (BHs) in gas-rich galaxy mergers that underscore the vital role played by gas dissipation in promoting BH inspiral down to the smallest scales ever probed with use of high-resolution…
We study the long-term evolution of two or more stellar black holes (BHs) on initially separated but unstable circular orbits around a supermassive BH (SMBH). Such a close-packed orbital configuration can naturally arise from BH migrations…
We study supermassive black holes (BHs) in merging galaxies, using a suite of hydrodynamical simulations with very high spatial (~10 pc) and temporal (~1 Myr) resolution, where we vary the initial mass ratio, the orbital configuration, and…