Related papers: Avoiding a Cluster Catastrophe: Retention Efficien…
Whether intermediate-mass black holes reside in nearby star clusters has remained contested for decades. We address this question by training neural network and random forest regressors on synthetic catalogs generated with the {\sc Rapster}…
In recent years, the existence of a gap in the mass spectrum of compact objects formed from stellar collapse, between the heaviest neutron stars and the lightest black holes, has been a matter of significant debate. The presence or absence…
The hierarchical build-up of galactic bulges should lead to the build-up of present-day supermassive black holes by a mixture of gas accretion and merging of supermassive black holes. The tight relation between black hole mass and stellar…
Dynamical interactions in dense star clusters could significantly influence the properties of black holes, leaving imprints on their gravitational-wave signatures. While previous studies have mostly focused on repeated black hole mergers…
In current stellar evolutionary models, the occurrence of pair instability supernovae implies the lack of stellar black holes (BHs) with masses between about $[60, \, 120] \, \rm{M}_\odot$, resulting in the presence of an upper mass gap in…
Studying compact-object binary mergers in star clusters is crucial for understanding stellar evolution and dynamical interactions in galaxies. Open clusters in particular are more abundant over cosmic time than globular clusters, however,…
We present the population properties of binary black hole mergers identified by the $\tt{IAS\text{-}HM}$ pipeline (which incorporates higher-order modes in the search templates) during the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO, Virgo, and…
Future ground-based gravitational wave observatories will be ideal probes of the environments surrounding black holes with masses $1 - 10\,\mathrm{M_\odot}$. Binary black hole mergers with mass ratios of order $q=m_2/m_1\lesssim10^{-3}$ can…
We explore the formation of mass-transferring binary systems containing black holes within globular clusters. We show that it is possible to form mass-transferring black hole binaries with main sequence, giant, and white dwarf companions…
The recent binary black hole (BH) merger GW231123, with both components likely in the high-mass gap and with high spins, challenges standard BH binary formation models. It is usually thought that the BHs are of second (or higher) generation…
Young star clusters are likely the most common birthplace of massive stars across cosmic time and influence the formation of compact binaries in several ways. Here, we simulate the formation of black hole -- neutron star binaries (BHNSs) in…
Vast amounts of entropy are produced in black hole formation, and the amount of entropy stored in supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies is now much greater than the entropy free in the rest of the universe. Either mergers…
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…
The latest detection of GW231123, a binary black hole (BH) merger with exceptionally large masses and high spins for the incoming components, has been suggested as a smoking gun for hierarchical formation. In this scenario, a first…
Population III stars, born from the primordial gas in the Universe, lose a negligible fraction of their mass via stellar winds and possibly follow a top-heavy mass function. Hence, they have often been regarded as the ideal progenitors of…
Massive merging black holes will be the primary sources of powerful gravitational waves at low frequency, and will permit to test general relativity with candidate galaxies close to a binary black hole merger. In this paper we identify the…
One proposed formation channel for stellar mass black holes (BHs) is through hierarchical mergers of smaller BHs. Repeated mergers between comparable mass BHs leave an imprint on the spin of the resulting BH, since the final BH spin is…
Making use of a new N-body model to describe the evolution of a moderate-size globular cluster we investigate the characteristics of the population of black holes within such a cluster. This model reaches core-collapse and achieves a peak…
We present the first study of the dynamical evolution of an isolated star cluster that combines a significant population of primordial binaries with the presence of a central black hole. We use equal-mass direct N-body simulations, with N…
Compact binary mergers forming in star clusters may exhibit distinctive features that can be used to identify them among observed gravitational-wave (GW) sources. Such features likely depend on the host cluster structure and the physics of…