Related papers: Getting a kick out of numerical relativity
Galactic bulges are known to harbour central black holes whose mass is tightly correlated with the stellar mass and velocity dispersion of the bulge. In a hierarchical universe, mergers of subgalactic units are accompanied by the…
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) may not always reside right at the centers of their host galaxies. This is a prediction of numerical relativity simulations, which imply that the newly formed single SMBH, after binary coalescence in a…
Astrophysically realistic black holes may have spins that are nearly extremal (i.e., close to 1 in dimensionless units). Numerical simulations of binary black holes are important tools both for calibrating analytical templates for…
Asymmetric binary systems radiate linear momentum through gravitational waves, leading to the recoil of the merger remnant. Black-hole kicks have attracted much attention because of their astrophysical implications. However, little…
The numerical relativity session at GR18 was dominated by physics results on binary black hole mergers. Several groups can now simulate these from a time when the post-Newtonian equations of motion are still applicable, through several…
We derive an analytic phenomenological expression that predicts the final mass of the black-hole remnant resulting from the merger of a generic binary system of black holes on quasi-circular orbits. Besides recovering the correct…
We review the current status of general relativistic studies for coalescences of black hole--neutron star binaries. First, high-precision computations of black hole--neutron star binaries in quasiequilibrium circular orbits are summarized,…
We review the developments in modeling gravitational recoil from merging black-hole binaries and introduce a new set of 20 simulations to test our previously proposed empirical formula for the recoil. The configurations are chosen to…
Primordial stars are likely to be very massive $\geq30\Msun$, form in isolation, and will likely leave black holes as remnants in the centers of their host dark matter halos in the mass range $10^{6}-10^{10}\Ms$. Such early black holes, at…
We evolve for the first time in full general relativity a small, collisional N-body black hole cluster of arbitrary total mass M. The bound cluster is initially compact (radius R/M~10), stable, and consists of 25 equal-mass, nonspinning…
We perform a set of 36 nonprecessing black-hole binary simulations with spins either aligned or counteraligned with the orbital angular momentum in order to model the final mass, spin, and recoil of the merged black hole as a function of…
We present a multipolar analysis of the gravitational recoil computed in recent numerical simulations of binary black hole (BH) coalescence, for both unequal masses and non-zero, non-precessing spins. We show that multipole moments up to…
When two relativistically boosted, nonspinning black holes pass by one another on a scattering trajectory, we might expect the tidal interaction to spin up each black hole. We present the first exploration of this effect, appearing at…
Understanding the predictions of general relativity for the dynamical interactions of two black holes has been a long-standing unsolved problem in theoretical physics. Black-hole mergers are monumental astrophysical events, releasing…
We consider black holes resulting from binary black hole mergers. By fitting to numerical results we construct analytic formulas that predict the mass and spin of the final black hole. Our formulas are valid for arbitrary initial spins and…
In massive binary-star systems, supernova explosions can significantly alter the orbit during the formation of compact objects. Some compact objects are predicted to form via direct collapse, a scenario with negligible mass loss and no…
Solitary stars that wander too close to their galactic centres can become tidally disrupted, if the tidal forces due to the supermassive black hole (SMBH) residing there overcome the self-gravity of the star. If the star is only partially…
Dynamical captures of black holes are unique events that provide an exceptional opportunity to probe the strong-field regime of gravitational physics. In this article, we perform numerical relativity simulations to study the events of…
The coalescence history of massive black holes has been derived from cosmological simulations, in which the evolution of those objects and that of the host galaxies are followed in a consistent way. The present study indicates that…
Mergers of black hole (BH) and neutron star (NS) binaries are expected to be observed by gravitational wave observatories in the coming years. Until now, LIGO has only set an upper limit on this merger rate. BH-NS binaries are expected to…