Related papers: Revising the Spin and Kick Connection in Isolated …
Measurements of the binary black hole spin distribution from the growing catalog of gravitational-wave observations can help elucidate the astrophysical processes shaping the formation and evolution of these systems. Spin-orbit resonances…
Measurements of the spin of stellar mass black holes (BHs) are now possible both through LIGO observations of binary BH mergers and for BHs in X-ray binary systems. The spins of BHs as inferred from LIGO observations suggest that BH spins…
If massive black holes (BHs) are ubiquitous in galaxies and galaxies experience multiple mergers during their cosmic assembly, then BH binaries should be common albeit temporary features of most galactic bulges. Observationally, the paucity…
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…
We present new numerical-relativity simulations of eccentric merging black holes with initially antiparallel spins lying in the orbital plane (the so-called \emph{superkick} configuration). Binary eccentricity boosts the recoil of the…
The three dynamically confirmed wind-fed black hole high-mass X-ray binaries (BH-HMXBs) are suggested to all contain a highly spinning black hole (BH). However, based on the theories of efficient angular momentum transport inside the stars,…
The environment near super massive black holes (SMBHs) in galactic nuclei contain a large number of stars and compact objects. A fraction of these are likely to be members of binaries. Here we discuss the binary population of stellar black…
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…
Binary black hole spin measurements from gravitational wave observations can reveal the binary's evolutionary history. In particular, the spin orientations of the component black holes within the orbital plane, $\phi_1$ and $\phi_2$, can be…
The merging black-hole (BH) binaries GW190412, GW190814 and GW190521 from the third LIGO/VIRGO observing run exhibit some extraordinary properties, including highly asymmetric masses, significant spin, and component mass in the "mass gap".…
Multiple pieces of evidence suggest that neutron stars receive large kicks when formed from the remnant of a collapsing star. However, the evidence for whether black holes (BH) receive natal kicks is less clear, reliant on weak constraints…
Black hole (BH) - neutron star (NS) binary mergers are not only strong sources of gravitational waves (GWs), but they are also candidates for joint detections in the GW and electromagnetic (EM) spectra. However, the possible emergence of an…
Coalescing binary black holes emit anisotropic gravitational radiation. This causes a net emission of linear momentum that produces a gradual acceleration of the source. As a result, the final remnant black hole acquires a characteristic…
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are commonly found at the centers of their host galaxies, but their formation still remains an open question. In light of the tight correlation between the BH mass and the velocity dispersions of the bulge…
Gravitational-wave observations provide the unique opportunity of studying black hole formation channels and histories -- but only if we can identify their origin. One such formation mechanism is the dynamical synthesis of black hole…
The spin of a black hole is an important quantity to study, providing a window into the processes by which a black hole was born and grew. Further, spin can be a potent energy source for powering relativistic jets and energetic particle…
Black-hole (BH) high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) systems are likely to be the progenitors of BH-BH mergers detected by LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA (LVK). Yet merging BHs reach higher masses ($\sim 100M_{\odot}$) than BHs in HMXBs ($\sim 20 M_{\odot}$)…
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…
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…
In a recent paper we have shown that the evolution of a misaligned disc around a spinning black hole can result in tearing the disc into many distinct planes. Tearing discs with random orientations produce direct dynamical accretion on to…