Related papers: Detecting regular precession using a new gravitati…
The detection of double black hole (BH+BH) mergers provides a unique possibility to understand their physical properties and origin. To date, the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA network of high-frequency gravitational wave observatories have announced the…
In a previous work, we have identified the spin of the dominant black hole of a binary from its jet properties. Analysing Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observations of the quasar S5~1928+738, taken at $15$-GHz during $43$ epochs between…
The first direct detection of gravitational waves by the LIGO collaboration, GW150914, marked the start of a new exciting era in astronomy, enabling the study of the Universe through a new messenger. Since then, the field has grown rapidly,…
The growing number of gravitational-wave (GW) observations allows for constraints to be placed on the underlying population of black holes; current estimates show that black hole spins are small, with binaries more likely to have comparable…
Binary black hole mergers are of great interest to the astrophysics community, not least because of their promise to test general relativity in the highly dynamic, strong field regime. Detections of gravitational waves from these sources by…
Gravitational waves from coalescing binary black holes encode the evolution of their spins prior to merger. In the post-Newtonian regime and on the precession timescale, this evolution has one of three morphologies, with the spins either…
The observation of gravitational waves from merging black holes and neutron stars provides a unique opportunity to discern information about their astrophysical environment. Two signatures that are considered powerful tracers to distinguish…
The precession of astrophysical jets produced by active-galactic nuclei is likely related to the dynamics of the accretion disks surrounding the central supermassive black holes (BHs) from which jets are launched. The two main mechanisms…
We examine the possibility that hyper-accretion onto newly born, black holes occurs in highly intermittent, non-asymmetric fashion favorable to gravitational wave emission in a neutrino cooled disk. This picture of near-hole accretion is…
We compute exactly the Lense-Thirring precession frequency for point masses in the Kerr metric, for arbitrary black hole mass and specific angular momentum. We show that this frequency, for point masses at or close to the innermost stable…
Gravitational waves are a prediction of general relativity, and with ground-based detectors now running in their advanced configuration, we will soon be able to measure them directly for the first time. Binaries of stellar-mass black holes…
Coalescing binary black holes are among the primary science targets for second generation ground-based gravitational wave (GW) detectors. Reliable GW models are central to detection of such systems and subsequent parameter estimation. This…
The first direct detections of gravitational waves from merging binary black holes open a unique window into the binary black hole formation environment. One promising environmental signature is the angular distribution of the black hole…
The higher-multipoles of gravitational wave signals from coalescing compact binaries play a vital role in the accurate reconstruction of source properties, bringing about a deeper and nuanced understanding of fundamental physics and…
We present the numerical code PRECESSION: a new open-source python module to study the dynamics of precessing black-hole binaries in the post-Newtonian regime. The code provides a comprehensive toolbox to (i) study the evolution of the…
Gravitational waves from binary black hole mergers have allowed us to directly observe stellar-mass black hole binaries for the first time, and therefore explore their formation channels. One of the ways to infer how a binary system is…
We estimate the expected signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) from the three phases (inspiral,merger,ringdown) of coalescing binary black holes (BBHs) for initial and advanced ground-based interferometers (LIGO/VIRGO) and for space-based…
Magnetic fields regulate black hole (BH) accretion, governing both inflow and outflow dynamics. When a BH accumulates substantial vertical magnetic flux, it enters the magnetically arrested disk (MAD) state, where dynamically important…
Binary black holes with spins that are aligned with the orbital angular momentum do not precess. However, post-Newtonian calculations predict that "up-down" binaries, in which the spin of the heavier (lighter) black hole is aligned…
Binary black holes formed via different pathways are predicted to have distinct spin properties. Measuring these properties with gravitational waves provides an opportunity to unveil the origins of binary black holes. Recent work draws…