Related papers: Milky Way Globular Clusters: Nurseries for Dynamic…
The predicted rate of binary black hole mergers from galactic fields can vary over several orders of magnitude and is extremely sensitive to the assumptions of stellar evolution. But in dense stellar environments such as globular clusters,…
The growing number of binary black hole mergers detected through gravitational waves offers unprecedented insight into their underlying population, yet their astrophysical formation channels remain unresolved. We present a new method to…
The recent discovery of GW150914, the binary black hole merger detected by Advanced LIGO, has the potential to revolutionize observational astrophysics. But to fully utilize this new window into the universe, we must compare these new…
Binary black holes can form efficiently in dense young stellar clusters, such as the progenitors of globular clusters, via a combination of gravitational segregation and cluster evaporation. We use simple analytic arguments supported by…
Binary black holes are the primary endpoint of massive stellar evolution. Their properties provide a unique opportunity to constrain binary evolution, which is still poorly understood. In this paper, we predict the inventory of binary black…
Motivated by the recent detection of gravitational waves from the black hole binary merger GW150914, we study the dynamical evolution of black holes in galactic nuclei where massive star clusters reside. With masses of ~10^7M_Sun and sizes…
When two black holes merge in a dense star cluster, they form a new black hole with a well-defined mass and spin. If that "second-generation" black hole remains in the cluster, it will continue to participate in dynamical encounters, form…
The high rate of black hole (BH) mergers detected by LIGO/Virgo opened questions on their astrophysical origin. One possibility is the dynamical channel, in which binary formation and hardening is catalyzed by dynamical encounters in…
We present an empirical approach for interpreting gravitational wave signals of binary black hole mergers under the assumption that the underlying black hole population is sourced by remnants of stellar evolution. Using the observed…
Since the first signal in 2015, the gravitational-wave detections of merging binary black holes (BBHs) by the LIGO and Virgo collaborations (LVC) have completely transformed our understanding of the lives and deaths of compact object…
After the nearly hundred gravitational-wave detections reported by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration, the question of the cosmological origin of merging binary black holes (BBHs) remains open. The two main formation channels generally…
The LIGO/Virgo/Kagra (LVK) Collaboration has detected numerous binary black hole mergers with properties that challenge standard binary evolution scenarios, such as component masses above the pair-instability gap and high spin magnitudes.…
Understanding binary black hole (BBH) dynamics in dense star clusters is key to interpreting the gravitational wave detections by LIGO and Virgo. Here, we perform $N$-body simulations of star clusters, focusing on BBH formation mechanisms,…
Binary black holes (BBHs) are one of the endpoints of isolated binary evolution, and their mergers a leading channel for gravitational wave events. Here, using the evolutionary code \textsc{StarTrack}, we study the statistical properties of…
The multitude of binary black hole coalescence detections in gravitational waves has renewed our interest on environments that can be the cradle of these mergers. In this work we study merger rates of binary black holes in globular clusters…
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…
The detection of gravitational waves from merging black holes with masses $\sim\,80-150\,\mathrm{M_\odot}$ suggests that some proportion of black hole binary systems form hierarchically in dense astrophysical environments, as most stellar…
Several astrophysical scenarios have been proposed to explain the origin of the population of binary black hole (BBH) mergers detected in gravitational waves (GWs) by the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration. Among them, BBH mergers assembled…
We explore the properties of dense star clusters that are likely to be the nurseries of stellar black holes pairing in close binaries. We combine a cosmological model of globular cluster formation with analytic prescriptions for the…
Two of the dominant channels to produce the black-hole binary mergers observed by LIGO and Virgo are believed to be the isolated evolution of stellar binaries in the field and dynamical formation in star clusters. Their relative efficiency…