Related papers: Merging binary black holes formed through double-c…
Black hole (BH) binary mergers formed through dynamical interactions in dense star clusters are believed to be one of the main sources of gravitational waves for Advanced LIGO and Virgo. Here we present a fast numerical method for…
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,…
Black hole (BH) triples represent one of the astrophysical pathways for BH mergers in the Universe detectable by LIGO and VIRGO. We study the formation of BH triples via binary-binary encounters in dense clusters, showing that one-third of…
The population of binary black hole (BBH) mergers observed by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) collaboration offers a window into the cosmic evolution of compact binaries and their formation. We employ the semi-analytic population-synthesis code…
We propose a formation pathway linking black holes (BHs) observed in gravitational-wave (GW) mergers, wide BH-stellar systems uncovered by Gaia, and accreting low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). In this scenario, a stellar-mass BH binary…
During the first three observing runs of the Advanced gravitational-wave detector network, the LIGO/Virgo collaboration detected several black hole binary (BHBH) mergers. As the population of detected BHBH mergers grows, it will become…
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…
We address two important questions in gravitational-wave astronomy. What is the astrophysical formation scenario leading to black-hole binary mergers? Did some of the merging black holes form hierarchically through previous generations of…
With the hundreds of merging binary black hole (BH) signals expected to be detected by LIGO/Virgo, LISA and other instruments in the next few years, the modeling of astrophysical channels that lead to the formation of compact-object…
The high rate of black hole (BH) mergers detected by LIGO/Virgo opened questions on their astrophysical origin. One possibility is the dynamical channel, in which binary formation and hardening is catalyzed by dynamical encounters in…
Binary black holes (BBHs) can form from the collapsed cores of isolated high-mass binary stars. The masses and spins of these BBHs are determined by the complicated interplay of phenomena such as tides, winds, accretion, common-envelope…
These are exciting times for binary black hole (BBH) research. LIGO and Virgo detections are progressively drawing a spectacular fresco of BBH masses, spins and merger rates. In this review, we discuss the main formation channels of BBHs…
We model the dynamical evolution of primordial black holes (BHs) in dense star clusters using a simplified treatment of stellar dynamics in which the BHs are assumed to remain concentrated in an inner core, completely decoupled from the…
With about a hundred mergers of binary black holes (BBHs) detected via gravitational waves by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) Collaboration, our understanding of the darkest objects in the Universe has taken unparalleled steps forward. While…
Short-period massive binary stars are predicted to undergo chemically homogeneous evolution (CHE), making them prime candidates for producing binary black holes (BBHs) that may merge within the age of the Universe. Most of these binaries…
Recently Venumadhav et al. (2019) proposed a new pipeline to analyze LIGO-Virgo's O1-O2 data and discovered eight new binary black hole (BBH) mergers, including a high effective spin, chi_{eff}, one. This discovery sheds new light on the…
The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) Collaboration has reported nearly 100 BH-BH mergers. The LVK provides estimates of rates, masses, effective spins, and redshifts for these mergers. Yet, the formation channel(s) of the mergers remains uncertain.…
The promise by the LIGO/Virgo/Kagra (LVK) collaboration to detect black hole--neutron star (BH--NS) mergers via gravitational wave (GW) emission has recently been fulfilled with the detection of GW200105 and GW200115. Mergers of BH--NS…
We study the orbital evolution of black hole (BH) binaries in quadruple systems, where the tertiary binary excites large eccentricity in the BH binary through Lidov-Kozai (LK) oscillations, causing the binary BHs to merge via gravitational…
If supermassive black holes (BHs) are generically present in galaxy centers, and if galaxies are built up through hierarchical merging, BH binaries are at least temporary features of most galactic bulges. Observations suggest, however, that…