Related papers: Indication for a compact object next to a LIGO-Vir…
Mergers of stellar-mass black holes (BHs), such as GW150914 observed by LIGO, are not expected to have electromagnetic counterparts. However, the Fermi GBM detector identified of a gamma-ray transient 0.4 s after the gravitational wave (GW)…
Recent numerical simulations have suggested the possibility of forming double intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) via the collisional runaway scenario in young dense star clusters. The two IMBHs formed would exchange into a common binary…
Prior to the detection of black holes (BHs) via the gravitational waves (GWs) they generate at merger, the presence of BHs was inferred in X-ray binaries, mostly via dynamical measurements, with masses in the range between $\sim…
On 2020 February 24, during their third observing run ("O3"), the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory and Virgo Collaboration (LVC) detected S200224ca: a candidate gravitational wave (GW) event produced by a binary black…
Black holes (BHs) with masses between $\sim 3-5M_{\odot}$, produced by a binary neutron star (BNS) merger, can further pair up with a neutron star or BH and merge again within a Hubble time. However, the astrophysical environments in which…
Gravitational waves from binary black hole pairs have emerged as an important observational tool in current times. The energy of the BH - BH binary pair is radiated in the form of gravitational waves and to compensate for that energy,…
We present the results from three gravitational-wave searches for coalescing compact binaries with component masses above 1$\mathrm{M}_\odot$ during the first and second observing runs of the Advanced gravitational-wave detector network.…
The origin, environment, and evolution of stellar-mass black hole binaries are still a mystery. One of the proposed binary formation mechanisms is manifest in dynamical interactions between multiple black holes. A resulting framework of…
We search for strongly lensed and multiply imaged gravitational wave signals in the second observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo (O2). We exploit a new source of information, the so-called Morse phase, which further mitigates…
We review the state of the evidence for the existence and observational appearance of supermassive black hole binaries. Such objects are expected from standard hierarchical galaxy evolution to form after two galaxies, each containing a…
Gravitational waves (GWs) have provided a new lens through which to view the universe beyond traditional electromagnetic methods. The upcoming space-based gravitational wave mission, Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), will give us…
Since the initial detection of Gravitational Waves in 2015, 50 candidate events have been reported by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration. As the current generation of detectors move towards their design sensitivity the rate of these…
The LIGO/Virgo detections of gravitational waves from merging black holes of $\simeq$ 30 solar mass suggest progenitor stars of low metallicity (Z/Z$_{\odot} \lesssim 0.3$). In this talk I will provide constrains on where the progenitors of…
Recent theoretical studies suggest that stellar-mass binary black holes (BBHs) would merge more efficiently due to the Kozai-Lidov mechanism if these binaries form in the vicinity of supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Since SMBHs are likely…
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…
Motivated by the preponderance of so-called "heavy black holes" in the binary black hole (BBH) gravitational wave (GW) detections to date, and the role that gravitational lensing continues to play in discovering new galaxy populations, we…
We present a search for gravitational waves from the coalescence of sub-solar mass black hole binaries using data from the first half of Advanced LIGO and Virgo's third observing run. The observation of a sub-solar mass black hole merger…
GW190521, the most massive binary black hole merger confidently detected by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration, is the first gravitational-wave observation of an intermediate-mass black hole. The signal was followed approximately 34 days…
Recent advances in gravitational-wave astronomy make the direct detection of gravitational waves from the merger of two stellar-mass compact objects a realistic prospect. Evolutionary scenarios towards mergers of double compact objects…
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…