Related papers: Interaction of eccentric supermassive binary black…
When binary black holes form in the field, it is expected that their orbits typically circularize before coalescence. In galactic nuclei and globular clusters, binary black holes can form dynamically. Recent results suggest that…
Merging supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries will likely be surrounded by a circumbinary accretion disk. Close to merger, gravitational radiation-driven inspiral will happen on timescales faster than the effective viscous time at the…
Perturber objects interacting with supermassive black hole accretion disks are often invoked to explain observed quasi-periodic behavior in active galactic nuclei (AGN). We present global, 3D general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD)…
[Abridged] Binary black holes may form and merge dynamically. These binaries are likely to become bound with high eccentricities, resulting in a burst of gravitational radiation at their point of closest approach. When such a binary is…
We apply the theory of nonlinear resonance capture to the problem of a black hole binary (BHB) orbiting a supermassive black hole (SMBH) while embedded in the accretion disk of an active galactic nucleus (AGN). If successful, resonance…
When galaxies collide, dynamical friction drives their central supermassive black holes close enought to each other such that gravitational radiation becomes the leading dissipative effect. Gravitational radiation takes away energy,…
Angular momentum loss to circumbinary gas provides a possible mechanism for overcoming the `last parsec' problem and allowing the most massive black hole binaries formed from galactic mergers to coalesce. Here, we show that if gas disks…
Binary supermassive black holes (SMBH) are expected to form naturally during galaxy mergers. After the dynamical friction phase, when the two SMBHs become gravitationally bound to each other, and a brief stage of initial rapid hardening,…
With hydrodynamical simulations we examine the evolution of a highly misaligned circumbinary disc around a black hole binary including the effects of general relativity. We show that a disc mass of just a few percent of the binary mass can…
Recent studies have shown that AGN discs can host sources of gravitational waves. Compact binaries can form and merge in AGN discs through their interactions with the gas and other compact objects in the disc. It is also possible for the…
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…
Motivated by the increasing number of detections of merging black holes by LIGO-VIRGO-KAGRA, black hole (BH) binary mergers in the discs of active galactic nuclei (AGN) is investigated as a possible merger channel. In this pathway, BH…
We show that gas disks around the components of an orbiting binary system (so-called minidisks) may be susceptible to a resonant instability which causes the minidisks to become significantly eccentric. Eccentricity is injected by, and also…
Many astrophysical environments, from star clusters and globular clusters to the disks of Active Galactic Nuclei, are characterized by frequent interactions between stars and the compact objects that they leave behind. Here, using a suite…
Binary black hole systems (BBHs) have become a vivid reality in astrophysics as stellar-mass black hole mergers are now detected through their related gravitational wave emission during the merger stage. If many studies were recently…
For massive black hole binaries produced in galactic mergers, we examine the possibility of inspiral induced by interaction with field stars. We model the evolution of such binaries for a range of galaxy core and binary parameters, using…
Using high-resolution hydrodynamics simulations, we show that equal-mass binaries accreting from a circumbinary disk evolve toward an orbital eccentricity of $e \simeq 0.45$, unless they are initialized on a nearly circular orbit with $e…
The radiation of linear momentum imparts a recoil (or "kick") to the center of mass of a merging black hole binary system. Recent numerical relativity calculations have shown that eccentricity can lead to an approximate 25% increase in…
Using SPH numerical simulations, we investigate the effects of gas on the inspiral and merger of a massive black hole binary. This study is motivated by the very massive nuclear gas disks observed in the central regions of merging galaxies.…
We perform magnetohydrodynamic simulations in full general relativity of disk accretion onto nonspinning black hole binaries with mass ratio 36:29. We survey different disk models which differ in their scale height, total size and magnetic…