Related papers: A non-interacting Galactic black hole candidate in…
Supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHs) are a fascinating byproduct of galaxy mergers in the hierarchical universe. In the last stage of their orbital evolution, gravitational wave radiation drives the binary inspiral and produces the…
IRAS~04158+2805 has long been thought to be a very low mass T-Tauri star (VLMS) surrounded by a nearly edge-on, extremely large disc. Recent observations revealed that this source hosts a binary surrounded by an extended circumbinary disc…
Identification of white dwarfs (WD) with main-sequence (MS) companions and characterization of their properties can put important constraints on our understanding of binary stellar evolution and guide the theoretical predictions for a wide…
The stalling radius of a merging massive binary black hole (BBH) is expected to be below 0".1 even in nearby galaxies (Yu 2002), and thus BBHs are not expected to be spatially resolved in the near future. However, as we show below, a BBH…
The recent discovery by LIGO/Virgo of a merging binary having a $\sim 23 M_\odot$ black hole and a $\sim 2.6 M_\odot$ compact companion has triggered a debate regarding the nature of the secondary, which falls into the so-called mass gap.…
We present a spectroscopic and photometric analysis of the remarkable massive binary system, BD +36 4063. We argue that the visible ON star is undergoing a rapid mass transfer episode that results in a thick and opaque disk that surrounds…
Soon after the Gaia data release (DR) 3 in June 2022, some candidates (and one confirmed) of detached black hole (BH) - luminous companion (LC) binaries have been reported. Existing and future detections of astrometric BH-LC binaries will…
As part of an ongoing programme of observing detached eclipsing binary stars in the southern sky, we present the first analysis of spectroscopic observations of the Algol-type binary system DG Mic. A spectroscopic analysis of mid-resolution…
Studying a centi-parsec supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) would allow us to explore a new parameter space in active galactic nuclei, and these objects are also potential sources of gravitational waves. We report evidence that an SMBHB…
The intriguing binary LS V +22 25 (LB-1) has drawn much attention following claims of it being a single-lined spectroscopic binary with a 79-day orbit comprising a B-type star and a ~70 Msun black hole. Recent analyses have implied that the…
We present a detailed analysis of five bright spectroscopic binary systems (HD 18665, HD 27131, HD 171852, HD 215550, HD 217427) that have orbital periods of P < 500 days. We determined the complete set of orbital parameters using the…
Binary pulsar systems are superb probes of stellar and binary evolution and the physics of extreme environments. In a survey with the Arecibo telescope, we have found PSR J1903+0327, a radio pulsar with a rotational period of 2.15 ms in a…
We describe optical photometric and spectroscopic observations of the bright variable BG Geminorum. Optical photometry shows a pronounced ellipsoidal variation of the K0 I secondary, with amplitudes of ~0.5 mag at VRI and a period of 91.645…
We develop a formalism for studying the dynamics of massive black hole binaries embedded in gravitationally-bound stellar cusps, and study the binary orbital decay by three-body interactions, the impact of stellar slingshots on the density…
If the activity of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is predominantly induced by major galaxy mergers, then a significant fraction of AGNs should harbor binary massive black holes in their centers. We study the mass function of binary massive…
We analyze multicolor light curves and high resolution optical spectroscopy of the eclipsing binary and Double Periodic Variable OGLE 05155332-6925581. According to Mennickent et al., this system shows a significant change in the long…
Identifying sources exhibiting ellipsoidal variability in large photometric surveys is becoming a promising method to search for candidate detached black holes in binaries. This technique aims to exploit the orbital-phase dependent…
The recent Gaia Focused Product Release contains radial velocity time-series for more than 9,000 Gaia long-period photometric variables. Here we search for binary systems with large radial velocity amplitudes to identify candidates with…
We present the first direct comparison of numerical simulations of neutron star-black hole and black hole-black hole mergers in full general relativity. We focus on a configuration with non spinning objects and within the most likely range…
We report the serendipitous discovery of a nitrogen-rich, mildly metal-poor ([Fe/H]=-1.08) giant star in a single-lined spectroscopic binary system found in the SDSS-IV Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2)…