Related papers: Circular orbits and spin in black-hole initial dat…
The observation of gravitational-wave signals from merging black-hole binaries enables direct measurement of the properties of the black holes. An individual observation allows measurement of the black-hole masses, but only limited…
Numerical relativity simulations of merging black holes provide the most accurate description of the binary dynamics and the emitted gravitational wave signal. However, practical considerations such as imperfect initial data and initial…
We study the general relativistic periastron advance in spinning black hole binaries on quasi-circular orbits, with spins aligned or anti-aligned with the orbital angular momentum, using numerical-relativity simulations, the post-Newtonian…
Using a post-Newtonian diagnostic tool developed by Mora and Will, we examine numerically generated quasiequilibrium initial data sets that have been used in recently successful numerical evolutions of binary black holes through plunge,…
Extreme mass-ratio inspirals are among the key sources of gravitational waves for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna space-based gravitational-wave detector. Achieving sufficient accuracy in the gravitational-wave template for these…
Using equations of motion accurate to the third post-Newtonian (3PN) order (O(v/c)^6 beyond Newtonian gravity), we derive expressions for the total energy E and angular momentum J of the orbits of compact binary systems (black holes or…
We study a simple analytic solution to Einstein's field equations describing a thin spherical shell consisting of collisionless particles in circular orbit. We then apply two independent criteria for the identification of circular orbits,…
We present a new choice of initial data for binary black hole simulations that significantly improves the efficiency of high-spin simulations. We use spherical Kerr-Schild coordinates, where the horizon of a rotating black hole is…
We present improvements to construction of binary black hole initial data used in SpEC (the Spectral Einstein Code). We introduce new boundary conditions for the extended conformal thin sandwich elliptic equations that enforce the excision…
We present improved post-Newtonian-inspired initial data for non-spinning black-hole binaries, suitable for numerical evolution with punctures. We revisit the work of Tichy et al. [W. Tichy, B. Bruegmann, M. Campanelli, and P. Diener, Phys.…
Attempts to understand the formation of binary black hole (BBH) systems detected via gravitational wave (GW) emission are affected by many unknowns and uncertainties, from both the observational and theoretical (astrophysical modelling)…
We perform a parameter study of non-spinning, equal and unequal mass black hole binaries on generic, eccentric orbits in numerical relativity. The linear momentum considered ranges from that of a circular orbit to ten times that value. We…
Astrophysical black holes could be nearly extremal (that is, rotating nearly as fast as possible); therefore, nearly extremal black holes could be among the binaries that current and future gravitational-wave observatories will detect.…
We present a study of the gravitational waveforms from a series of spinning, equal-mass black hole binaries focusing on the harmonic content of the waves and the contribution of the individual harmonics to the signal-to-noise ratio. The…
We derive the equations of motion of spinning compact binaries including the spin-orbit (SO) coupling terms one post-Newtonian (PN) order beyond the leading-order effect. For black holes maximally spinning this corresponds to 2.5PN order.…
We present the first exact and analytical solution in General Relativity describing an equilibrium configuration for two stationary black holes. The metric models two collinear extremal Kerr black holes immersed in an external and…
Simulation of quasicircular compact binaries is a major goal in numerical relativity, as they are expected to constitute most gravitational wave observations. However, given that orbital eccentricity is not well-defined in general…
Observations of X-ray emissions from binary systems have long since been considered important tools to test General Relativity in strong-field regimes. The high frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (HFQPOs) observed in binaries containing…
We compare waveforms and orbital dynamics from the first long-term, fully non-linear, numerical simulations of a generic black-hole binary configuration with post-Newtonian predictions. The binary has mass ratio q~0.8 with arbitrarily…
Determining the final spin of a black-hole (BH) binary is a question of key importance in astrophysics. Modelling this quantity in general is made difficult by the fact that it depends on the 7-dimensional space of parameters characterizing…