Related papers: Probing Correlations in the Binary Black Hole Popu…
When formed through dynamical interactions, stellar-mass binary black holes may retain eccentric orbits ($e>0.1$ at 10 Hz) detectable by ground-based gravitational-wave detectors. Eccentricity can therefore be used to differentiate…
With the growing number of detections of binary black hole mergers, we are beginning to probe structure in the distribution of masses. A recent study by Schneider et al. proposes that isolated binary evolution of stripped stars naturally…
Binary systems of massive black holes will be detectable by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) throughout the entire Universe. Observations of gravitational waves from this class of sources will have important repercussions on…
A promising signature of coalescing black holes is their spin angular distribution. We consider the aLIGO collaboration gravitational wave measurements of the binary black hole spins and the predicted modified gravity (MOG) preference for…
The dynamical formation of stellar-mass black hole-black hole binaries has long been a promising source of gravitational waves for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). Mass segregation, gravitational focusing, and…
We report on the population of the 47 compact binary mergers detected with a false-alarm rate 1/yr in the second LIGO--Virgo Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog, GWTC-2. We observe several characteristics of the merging binary black hole…
Templates modeling just the dominant mode of gravitational radiation are generally sufficient for the unbiased parameter inference of near-equal-mass compact binary mergers. However, neglecting the subdominant modes can bias the inference…
The mass and spin distributions of compact binary gravitational-wave sources are currently uncertain due to complicated astrophysics involved in their formation. Multiple sub-populations of compact binaries representing different…
The recent discovery of GW150914, the binary black hole merger detected by Advanced LIGO, has the potential to revolutionize observational astrophysics. But to fully utilize this new window into the universe, we must compare these new…
A population of more than 50 binary black hole mergers has now been observed by the LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave observatories. While neutron stars are known to have large velocities associated with impulsive kicks imparted to them at…
Knowledge of the spin of the black hole resulting from the merger of a generic black-hole binary is of great importance for studying the cosmological evolution of supermassive black holes. Several attempts have been made to model the spin…
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…
Observations of gravitational waves and their electromagnetic counterparts may soon uncover the existence of coalescing compact binary systems formed by a stellar-mass black hole and a neutron star. These mergers result in a remnant black…
Understanding the formation and evolution of the stellar-mass binary black holes discovered by LIGO and Virgo is a challenge that spans many areas of astrophysics, from stellar evolution, dynamics and accretion disks, to possible exotic…
The spins of binary black holes measured with gravitational waves provide insights about the formation, evolution, and dynamics of these systems. However, interpreting these measurements-especially for heavy black holes-remains an open…
Using recent results from numerical relativity simulations of black hole mergers, we revisit previous studies of cosmological black hole spin evolution. We show that mergers are very unlikely to yield large spins, unless alignment of the…
The recent detection of gravitational waves indicates that stellar-mass black hole binaries are likely to be a key population of sources for forthcoming observations. With future upgrades, ground-based detectors could detect merging black…
Orbital eccentricity is one of the most robust discriminators for distinguishing between dynamical and isolated formation scenarios of binary black hole mergers using gravitational-wave observatories such as LIGO and Virgo. Using…
Current searches for compact binary mergers by ground-based gravitational-wave detectors assume for simplicity the two bodies are not spinning. If the binary contains compact objects with significant spin, then this can reduce the…
The standard model of cosmology is underpinned by the assumption of the statistical isotropy of the Universe. Observations of the cosmic microwave background, galaxy distributions, and supernovae, among other media, support the assumption…