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Gravitational waves (GW), emanating from binary black holes (BBH), encode vital information about their source. GW signals enable us to deduce key properties of the BBH population across the universe, including mass, spin, and eccentricity…
The spins of merging binary black holes (BBHs) inferred from gravitational-wave (GW) observations provide key insights into their formation channels. However, spin parameters are typically weakly constrained from data, and their inferred…
Mergers of black hole-neutron star (BHNS) binaries have now been observed by GW detectors with the recent announcement of GW200105 and GW200115. Such observations not only provide confirmation that these systems exist, but will also give…
Using the Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis code BPASS, we have calculated the rates, timescales and mass distributions for binary black hole mergers as a function of metallicity. We consider these in the context of the recently…
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…
The global network of interferometric gravitational wave (GW) observatories (LIGO, Virgo, KAGRA) has detected and characterized nearly 100 mergers of binary compact objects. However, many more real GWs are lurking sub-threshold, which need…
The spin-orbit tilt angles $\theta_{1(2)}$ of merging stellar-mass black holes provide key insights into their astrophysical origin. Non-parametric population modelling of The LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA Collaborations (2025a, arXiv:2508.18083)…
The LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA (LVK) collaboration has announced 90 coalescing binary black holes (BBHs) with $p_{\rm astro} > 50\%$ to date, however, the origin of their formation channels is still an open scientific question. Given various…
We present a novel framework to infer the mass of clusters that host hierarchical binary black hole (BBH) mergers detected with gravitational-waves (GWs), on a single event basis. We show that the requirement that a second-generation (2G)…
In this paper, we explore the mechanisms that regulate the formation and evolution of stellar black hole binaries (BHBs) around supermassive black holes (SMBHs). We show that dynamical interactions can efficiently drive "in-situ" BHB…
Recent detections of gravitational waves from merging binary black holes opened new possibilities to study the evolution of massive stars and black hole formation. In particular, stellar evolution models may be constrained on the basis of…
The LIGO Scientific, Virgo and KAGRA Collaborations recently released the third gravitational wave transient catalog or GWTC-3, significantly expanding the number of gravitational wave (GW) signals. To address the -- still uncertain --…
Current population models of binary black hole distributions are difficult to interpret because standard population inferences hinge on modeling choices, which can mask or mimic real structure. The maximum population likelihood…
We study the expected distribution of massive black hole (MBH) spins and its evolution with cosmic time in the context of hierarchical galaxy formation theories. Our model uses Monte Carlo realizations of the merger hierarchy in a LCDM…
The mass ratio q and effective inspiral spin chi_eff of binary black hole (BBH) mergers in GWTC-4.0 show a weaker anti-correlation than in GWTC-3.0, motivating investigation of its physical origin. Within the isolated binary evolution…
The recent discovery of a gravitational wave from the merging of two black holes of about 30 solar masses each challenges our incomplete understanding of massive stars and their evolution. Critical ingredients comprise mass-loss, rotation,…
We quantify for the first time the gravitational wave (GW) phase shift appearing in the waveform of eccentric binary black hole (BBH) mergers formed dynamically in three-body systems. For this, we have developed a novel numerical method…
The recent observations of gravitational waves (GWs) by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration (LVK) have provided a new opportunity for studying our Universe. By detecting several merging events of black holes (BHs), LVK has spurred the…
I investigate the roles of cluster dynamics and massive binary evolution in producing stellar-remnant binary black hole (BBH) mergers over the cosmic time. To that end, dynamical BBH mergers are obtained from long-term direct N-body…
Massive black hole (MBH) coalescences are powerful sources of low-frequency gravitational waves. To study these events in the cosmological context we need to trace the large-scale structure and cosmic evolution of a statistical population…