Related papers: Fishing massive black hole binaries with THAMES
The intermediate mass-ratio inspiral of a stellar compact remnant into an intermediate mass black hole (IMBH) can produce a gravitational wave (GW) signal that is potentially detectable by current ground-based GW detectors (e.g., Advanced…
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…
It is known that massive black holes (MBHs) of $10^{5-7}\,M_\odot$ could capture small compact objects to form extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs). Such systems emit gravitational waves (GWs) in the band of the Laser Interferometer Space…
During the final moments of a binary black hole (BH) merger, the gravitational wave (GW) luminosity of the system is greater than the combined electromagnetic output of the entire observable universe. However, the extremely weak coupling…
The most massive galaxies in the Universe also host the largest supermassive black holes (SMBHs), with masses of $10^9 \: \mathrm{M_{\odot}}$ and above. During their hierarchical assembly, these galaxies have experienced only a few major…
The growing database of gravitational-wave (GW) detections with the binary black holes (BHs) merging in the distant Universe contains subtle insights into their formation scenarios. One of the puzzling properties of detected GW sources is…
We estimate the rate at which the proposed space gravitational-wave interferometer LISA could detect intermediate-mass black-hole binaries, that is, binaries containing a black hole in the mass range 10 -- 100 Msun orbiting a black hole in…
(Abridged) While the gravitational-wave (GW) signal GW170817 was accompanied by a variety of electromagnetic (EM) counterparts, sufficiently high-mass binary neutron star (BNS) mergers are expected to be unable to power bright EM…
[Abridged] We introduce an improved version of the Eccentric, Non-spinning, Inspiral-Gaussian-process Merger Approximant (ENIGMA) waveform model. We find that this ready-to-use model can: (i) produce physically consistent signals when…
Despite decades of research, the existence of asteroid-mass primordial black holes (PBHs) remains almost completely unconstrained and thus could still comprise the totality of dark matter (DM). In this paper, we show that standard searches…
The gravitational wave signals from coalescing Supermassive Black Hole Binaries are prime targets for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). With optimal data processing techniques, the LISA observatory should be able to detect…
Pulsar timing arrays have recently found evidence for nanohertz gravitational waves that are consistent with being produced by a cosmological population of binary supermassive black holes (SMBHs). However, the amplitude of this…
Massive black holes (MBHs) are crucial in shaping their host galaxies. How the MBH co-evolves with its host galaxy is a pressing problem in astrophysics and cosmology. The valuable information carried by the binary MBH is encoded in the…
Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs, $10^{3-6} \, \rm{M_\odot}$), are typically found at the center of dwarf galaxies and might be wandering, thus far undetected, in the Milky Way (MW). We use model spectra for advection-dominated…
Recent studies show that an intermediate mass black hole (IMBH) may develop a dark matter (DM) mini-halo according to some BH formation scenarios. We consider a binary system composed of an IMBH surrounded by a DM mini-spike and a stellar…
The quasi normal modes (QNMs) associated with gravitational-wave signals from binary black hole (BBH) mergers can provide deep insight into the remnant's properties. Once design sensitivity is achieved, present ground-based gravitational…
We present the study of multi-messenger signatures of massive black hole (MBH) binaries residing in the centres of galaxy merger remnants. In particular, we first focus on the gravitational wave background (GWB) produced by an ensemble of…
Observation of gravitational waves from inspiralling binary black holes has offered a unique opportunity to study the physical parameters of the component black holes. To infer these parameters, Bayesian methods are employed in conjunction…
Gravitational-wave (GW) dark sirens provide an independent probe of the cosmic expansion history. Their cosmological constraining power, however, depends critically on precise luminosity-distance measurements and sky localizations for…
Over the past year, a handful of new gravitational wave models have been developed to include multiple harmonic modes thereby enabling for the first time fully Bayesian inference studies including higher modes to be performed. Using one…