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We consider the formation of binary black hole mergers through the evolution of field massive triple stars. In this scenario, favorable conditions for the inspiral of a black hole binary are initiated by its gravitational interaction with a…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2017-05-31 Fabio Antonini , Silvia Toonen , Adrian S. Hamers

We explore a newly proposed channel to create binary black holes of stellar origin. This scenario applies to massive, tight binaries where mixing induced by rotation and tides transports the products of hydrogen burning throughout the…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2016-06-07 Ilya Mandel , Selma E. de Mink

The maximum mass of black holes formed in isolated binaries is determined by stellar winds and the interactions between the binary components. We consider for the first time fully self-consistent detailed stellar structure and binary…

As the number of gravitational-wave detections grows, the merger rate of binary black holes (BBHs) can help us to constrain their formation, the properties of their progenitors, and their birth environment. Here, we aim to address the…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-06-24 Cecilia Sgalletta , Michela Mapelli , Lumen Boco , Filippo Santoliquido , M. Celeste Artale , Giuliano Iorio , Andrea Lapi , Mario Spera

Gravitational wave detectors are observing compact object mergers from increasingly far distances, revealing the redshift evolution of the binary black hole (BBH) -- and soon the black hole-neutron star (BHNS) and binary neutron star (BNS)…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2024-05-06 Adam Boesky , Floor S. Broekgaarden , Edo Berger

The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) collaboration has detected over 150 confirmed gravitational wave events through O4a. Binary black hole (BBH) systems represent the overwhelming majority of these observations. We construct a model for the…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-11-20 Tyler B. Smith , Manoj Kaplinghat

The ground-based measurement of gravitational waves (GW) from merging binary black holes (BBH) uniquely allows determination of spins of stellar-remnant black holes (BH), thereby offering insights into their formation mechanisms. The…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-07-08 Sambaran Banerjee , Aleksandra Olejak

The initial mass function (IMF), binary fraction and distributions of binary parameters (mass ratios, separations and eccentricities) are indispensable input for simulations of stellar populations. It is often claimed that these are poorly…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2015-10-07 S. E. de Mink , K. Belczynski

Mergers of black-hole binaries are expected to release large amounts of energy in the form of gravitational radiation. However, binary evolution models predict merger rates too low to be of observational interest. In this paper we explore…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-10-31 Simon Portegies Zwart , Stephen McMillan

Star clusters can interact and merge in galactic discs, halos, or centers. We present direct N-body simulations of binary mergers of star clusters with $M_{\star} = 2.7 \times 10^4 \: \mathrm{M_{\odot}}$ each, using the N-body code BIFROST…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-03-18 Lazaros Souvaitzis , Antti Rantala , Thorsten Naab

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…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2024-05-06 Adam Boesky , Floor S. Broekgaarden , Edo Berger

The vast majority of massive binary systems in the universe is evidently unsuited to produce merging binary black holes. However, several narrow evolutionary paths of isolated massive binaries towards this goal have recently been…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2025-12-24 Xiao-Tian Xu , Norbert Langer , Jakub Klencki , Chen Wang , Xiang-Dong Li

We construct evolutionary tracks for massive black hole binaries (MBHBs) embedded in a surrounding distribution of stars. The dynamics of the binary is evolved by taking into account the erosion of the central stellar cusp bound to the…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2011-08-03 A. Sesana

The detection of gravitational-wave events revealed that there are numerous populations of black hole (BH) binaries that can merge within the age of the Universe. Although several formation channels of such binaries are known, considerable…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2023-01-18 So Okano , Teruaki Suyama

The observed binary black hole (BBH) mergers indicate a large Galactic progenitor population continuously evolving from large orbital separations and low gravitational wave (GW) frequencies to the final merger phase. We investigate the…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2019-04-19 Xiao Fang , Todd A. Thompson , Christopher M. Hirata

Binary black holes are the primary endpoint of massive stellar evolution. Their properties provide a unique opportunity to constrain binary evolution, which is still poorly understood. In this paper, we predict the inventory of binary black…

Massive stars lose a significant fraction of their mass through stellar winds at various stages of their lives, including on the main sequence, during the red supergiant phase, and as evolved helium-rich Wolf--Rayet stars. In stellar…

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics · Physics 2025-07-24 JD Merritt , Simon Stevenson , Andreas Sander , Ilya Mandel , Jeff Riley , Ben Farr , L. A. C. van Son , Tom Wagg , Serena Vinciguerra , Holden Jose

Understanding binary black hole (BBH) dynamics in dense star clusters is key to interpreting the gravitational wave detections by LIGO and Virgo. Here, we perform $N$-body simulations of star clusters, focusing on BBH formation mechanisms,…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-02-14 Jordan Barber , Fabio Antonini

The merger rate density evolution of binary compact objects and the properties of their host galaxies carry crucial information to understand the sources of gravitational waves. Here, we present galaxyRate, a new code that estimates the…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2022-09-29 Filippo Santoliquido , Michela Mapelli , M. Celeste Artale , Lumen Boco

Gravitational wave detectors are observing an increasing number of binary black hole (BBH) mergers, revealing a bimodal mass distribution of BBHs, which hints at diverse formation histories for these systems. Using the rapid binary…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-10-10 Lei Li , Guoliang Lv , Chunhua Zhu , Sufen Guo , Hongwei Ge , Weimin Gu , Zhuowen Li , Xiaolong He