Related papers: Collisional dynamics around binary black holes in …
Massive black hole binaries (BHBs) are expected to form as the result of galaxy mergers; they shrink via dynamical friction and stellar scatterings, until gravitational waves (GWs) bring them to the final coalescence. It has been argued…
We study binary stars moving through a uniform dark matter background and experiencing dynamical friction. The centre-of-mass motion of the pairs is taken into account. We derive formulas and timescales for the secular evolution of the…
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…
We present models of realistic globular clusters with post-Newtonian dynamics for black holes. By modeling the relativistic accelerations and gravitational-wave emission in isolated binaries and during three- and four-body encounters, we…
We study a new channel for binary system formation involving stars and stellar-mass primordial black holes (PBHs) embedded in dark matter (DM) minihalos. In this scenario, binaries form when a star passes through the DM minihalo surrounding…
Mergers of gas-rich galaxies are key events in the hierarchical built-up of cosmic structures, and can lead to the formation of massive black hole binaries. By means of high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations we consider the late stages…
Binary black hole (BBH) mergers, particularly those with component masses in the pair-instability gap, may be produced by hierarchical mergers in the disks surrounding Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). While the interaction of an embedded BBH…
Coalescence of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) as a result of the migration toward galactic centers via dynamical friction may contribute to the formation of supermassive BHs. Here we reinvestigate the gaseous dynamical friction,…
Evidence has been mounting for the existence of black holes with masses from 10^2 to 10^4 M_Solar associated with stellar clusters. Such intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) will encounter other black holes in the dense cores of these…
We discuss the latest results of numerical simulations following the orbital decay of massive black hole pairs in galaxy mergers. We highlight important differences between gas-poor and gas-rich hosts, and between orbital evolution taking…
If supermassive black holes (BHs) are generically present in galaxy centers, and if galaxies are built up through hierarchical merging, BH binaries are at least temporary features of most galactic bulges. Observations suggest, however, that…
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,…
Black holes are believed to be crucial in regulating star formation in massive galaxies, which makes it essential to faithfully represent the physics of these objects in cosmological hydrodynamics simulations. Limited spatial and mass…
In this short review we describe some of the latest endeavours to understand the activity around Black Holes. First, it has been possible to demonstrate that a large part of the electromagnetic emission observed can be interpreted as…
We study the spin dynamics of individual black holes in a binary system. In particular we focus on the polar precession of spins and the possibility of a complete flip of spins with respect to the orbital plane. We perform a full numerical…
There is significant observational evidence that a large fraction of galactic centers, including those in the Milky Way and M31, host a supermassive black hole (SMBH) embedded in a triaxial nuclear star cluster. In this work, we study the…
In currently favoured hierarchical cosmologies, the formation of massive black hole binaries (MBHBs) following galaxy mergers is unavoidable. Still, due the complex physics governing the (hydro)dynamics of the post-merger dense environment…
A numerical solution scheme for the Einstein field equations based on generalized harmonic coordinates is described, focusing on details not provided before in the literature and that are of particular relevance to the binary black hole…
Galaxy centers are residing places for Super Massive Black Holes (SMBHs). Galaxy mergers bring SMBHs close together to form gravitationally bound binary systems which, if able to coalesce in less than a Hubble time, would be one of the most…
While supermassive binary black holes inspiral toward merger they may also experience significant accretion of matter from a surrounding disk. We study the dynamics of this system, simultaneously describing the evolving spacetime and…