We revisit the modeling of the properties of the remnant black hole resulting the merger of a black-hole binary as a function of the parameters of the binary. We provide a set of empirical formulas for the final mass, spin and recoil velocity of the final black hole as a function of the mass ratio and individual spins of the progenitor. In order to determine the fitting coefficients for these formulas, we perform a set of 128 new numerical evolutions of precessing, unequal-mass black-hole binaries, and fit to the resulting remnant mass, spin, and recoil. In order to reduce the complexity of the analysis, we chose configurations that have one of the black holes spinning, with dimensionless spin alpha=0.8, at different angles with respect to the orbital angular momentum, and the other non-spinning. In addition to evolving families of binaries with different spin-inclination angles, we also evolved binaries with mass ratios as small as q=1/6. We use the resulting empirical formulas to predict the probabilities of black hole mergers leading to a given recoil velocity, total radiated gravitational energy, and final black hole spin.
We present results from an extensive study of 88 precessing, equal-mass black-hole binaries with large spins (83 with intrinsic spins of 0.8 and 5 with intrinsic spins of 0.9)and use these data to model new nonlinear contributions to the gravitational recoil imparted to the merged black hole. We find a new effect, the cross kick, that enhances the recoil for partially aligned binaries beyond the hangup kick effect. This has the consequence of increasing the probabilities of recoils larger than 2000 km/s by nearly a factor two, and, consequently, of black holes getting ejected from galaxies, as…
We measure the gravitational recoil for unequal-mass-black- hole-binary mergers, with the larger BH having spin a/m^H=0.8, and the smaller BH non-spinning. We choose our configurations such that, initially, the spins lie on the orbital plane. The spin and orbital plane precess significantly, and we find that the out-of plane recoil (i.e. the recoil perpendicular to the orbital plane around merger) varies as η^2 / (1+q), in agreement with our previous prediction, based on the post-Newtonian scaling.
We present accurate fits for the remnant properties of generically precessing binary black holes, trained on large banks of numerical-relativity simulations. We use Gaussian process regression to interpolate the remnant mass, spin, and recoil velocity in the 7-dimensional parameter space of precessing black-hole binaries with mass ratios $q\leq2$, and spin magnitudes $χ_1,χ_2\leq0.8$. For precessing systems, our errors in estimating the remnant mass, spin magnitude, and kick magnitude are lower than those of existing fitting formulae by at least an order of magnitude (improvement is also repor…
The radiation of linear momentum imparts a recoil (or "kick") to the center of mass of a merging black hole binary system. Recent numerical relativity calculations have shown that eccentricity can lead to an approximate 25% increase in recoil velocities for equal-mass, spinning binaries with spins lying in the orbital plane ("superkick" configurations) [U Sperhake et al. Phys. Rev. D 101 (2020) 024044 (arXiv:1910.01598)]. Here we investigate the impact of nonzero eccentricity on the kick magnitude and gravitational-wave emission of nonspinning, unequal-mass black hole binaries. We confirm that…
Only numerical relativity simulations can capture the full complexities of binary black hole mergers. These simulations, however, are prohibitively expensive for direct data analysis applications such as parameter estimation. We present two new fast and accurate surrogate models for the outputs of these simulations: the first model, NRSur7dq4, predicts the gravitational waveform and the second model, \RemnantModel, predicts the properties of the remnant black hole. These models extend previous 7-dimensional, non-eccentric precessing models to higher mass ratios, and have been trained against 1…
We present gravitational waveforms for the last orbits and merger of black-hole-binary (BBH) systems along two branches of the BBH parameter space: equal-mass binaries with equal non-precessing spins, and nonspinning unequal-mass binaries. The waveforms are calculated from numerical solutions of Einstein's equations for black-hole binaries that complete between six and ten orbits before merger. Along the equal-mass spinning branch, the spin parameter of each BH is $χ_i = S_i/M_i^2 \in [-0.85,0.85]$, and along the unequal-mass branch the mass ratio is $q =M_2/M_1 \in [1,4]$. We discuss the cons…
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 represent generic binaries with unequal masses and precessing spins. Results of these simulations indicate that the recoil formula is accurate to within a few km/s in the similar mass-ratio regime for the out-of-plane recoil.
Adding equatorial-asymmetric effects for spin-precessing binaries into the SEOBNRv5PHM waveform model
Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)(马克斯·普朗克引力物理研究所(阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦研究所));Department of Physics, University of Maryland(马里兰大学物理系)
We present results from fully nonlinear simulations of unequal mass binary black holes plunging from close separations well inside the innermost stable circular orbit with mass ratios q = M_1/M_2 = {1,0.85,0.78,0.55,0.32}, or equivalently, with reduced mass parameters $η=M_1M_2/(M_1+M_2)^2 = {0.25, 0.248, 0.246, 0.229, 0.183}$. For each case, the initial binary orbital parameters are chosen from the Cook-Baumgarte equal-mass ISCO configuration. We show waveforms of the dominant l=2,3 modes and compute estimates of energy and angular momentum radiated. For the plunges from the close separations…
We analyze the inspiral dynamics of equal-mass precessing black-hole binaries using multi-timescale techniques. The orbit-averaged post-Newtonian evolutionary equations admit two constants of motion in the equal-mass limit, namely the magnitude of the total spin $S$ and the effective spin $ξ$. This feature makes the entire dynamics qualitatively different compared to the generic unequal-mass case, where only $ξ$ is constant while the variable $S$ parametrizes the precession dynamics. For fixed individual masses and spin magnitudes, an equal-mass black-hole inspiral is uniquely characterized by…
We present results from the first fully nonlinear numerical calculations of the head--on collision of two unequal mass black holes. Selected waveforms of the most dominant l=2, 3 and 4 quasinormal modes are shown, as are the total radiated energies and recoil velocities for a range of mass ratios and initial separations. Our results validate the close and distant separation limit perturbation studies, and suggest that the head--on collision scenario is not likely to produce an astrophysically significant recoil effect.
We evolve a binary black hole system bearing a mass ratio of $q=m_1/m_2=2/3$ and individual spins of $S^z_1/m_1^2=0.95$ and $S^z_2/m_2^2=-0.95$ in a configuration where the large black hole has its spin antialigned with the orbital angular momentum, $L^z$, and the small black hole has its spin aligned with $L^z$. This configuration was chosen to measure the maximum recoil of the remnant black hole for nonprecessing binaries. We find that the remnant black hole recoils at 500km/s, the largest recorded value from numerical simulations for aligned spin configurations. The remnant mass, spin, and …
The final evolution of a binary black-hole system gives rise to a recoil velocity if an asymmetry is present in the emitted gravitational radiation. Measurements of this effect for non-spinning binaries with unequal masses have pointed out that kick velocities $\sim~175$ km/s can be reached for a mass ratio $\simeq 0.36$. However, a larger recoil can be obtained for equal-mass binaries if the asymmetry is provided by the spins. Using two independent methods we show that the merger of such binaries yields velocities as large as $\sim 440$ km/s for black holes having unequal spins that are antia…
Several groups have recently computed the gravitational radiation recoil produced by the merger of two spinning black holes. The results suggest that spin can be the dominant contributor to the kick, with reported recoil speeds of hundreds to even thousands of kilometers per second. The parameter space of spin kicks is large, however, and it is ultimately desirable to have a simple formula that gives the approximate magnitude of the kick given a mass ratio, spin magnitudes, and spin orientations. As a step toward this goal, we perform a systematic study of the recoil speeds from mergers of bla…
We test the accuracy of our recently proposed empirical formula to model the recoil velocity imparted to the merger remnant of spinning, unequal-mass black-hole binaries. We study three families of black-hole binary configurations, all with mass ratio q=3/8 (to maximize the unequal-mass contribution to the kick) and spins aligned (or counter aligned) with the orbital angular momentum, two with spin configurations chosen to minimize the spin-induced tangential and radial accelerations of the trajectories respectively, and a third family where the trajectories are significantly altered by spin-o…
Unified remnant models for aligned-spin, precessing, and eccentric binary black hole mergers
Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California Santa Barbara(加州大学圣塔芭芭拉分校卡弗里理论物理研究所);Weinberg Institute, University of Texas at Austin(德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校温伯格研究所);Department of Physics and Institute for AI & Computational Research, University of Rhode Island(罗德岛大学物理与人工智能及计算研究院);Department of Physics and Center for Scientific Computing & Data Science Research, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth(马萨诸塞大学达特茅斯分校物理与科学计算及数据科学研究中心)
We present a new frequency-domain phenomenological model of the gravitational-wave signal from the inspiral, merger and ringdown of non-precessing (aligned-spin) black-hole binaries. The model is calibrated to 19 hybrid effective-one-body--numerical-relativity waveforms up to mass ratios of 1:18 and black-hole spins of $|a/m| \sim 0.85$ ($0.98$ for equal-mass systems). The inspiral part of the model consists of an extension of frequency-domain post-Newtonian expressions, using higher-order terms fit to the hybrids. The merger-ringdown is based on a phenomenological ansatz that has been signifi…
Gravitational waves from precessing black-hole binaries exhibit features that are absent in nonprecessing systems. The most prominent of these is a parity-violating asymmetry that beams energy and linear momentum preferentially along or opposite to the orbital angular momentum, leading to recoil of the binary. The asymmetry will appear as amplitude and phase modulations at the orbital frequency. For strongly precessing systems, it accounts for at least 3% amplitude modulation for binaries in the sensitivity band of ground-based gravitational-wave detectors, and can exceed 50% for massive syste…
A precessing source frame, constructed using the Newtonian orbital angular momentum ${\bf L_{\rm N}}$, can be invoked to model inspiral gravitational waves from generic spinning compact binaries. An attractive feature of such a precessing convention is its ability to remove all spin precession induced modulations from the orbital phase evolution. However, this convention usually employs a post-Newtonian (PN) accurate precessional equation, appropriate for the PN accurate orbital angular momentum ${\bf L}$, to evolve the ${\bf L_{\rm N}}$-based precessing source frame. This influenced us to dev…
It is customary to use a precessing convention, based on Newtonian orbital angular momentum ${\bf L}_{\rm N}$, to model inspiral gravitational waves from generic spinning compact binaries. A key feature of such a precessing convention is its ability to remove all spin precession induced modulations from the orbital phase evolution. However, this convention usually employs a post-Newtonian (PN) accurate precessional equation, appropriate for the PN accurate orbital angular momentum ${\bf L}$, to evolve the ${\bf L}_{\rm N}$-based precessing source frame. This motivated us to develop inspiral wa…
Recoil ``kicks'' induced by gravitational radiation are expected in the inspiral and merger of black holes. Recently the numerical relativity community has begun to measure the significant kicks found when both unequal masses and spins are considered. Because understanding the cause and magnitude of each component of this kick may be complicated in inspiral simulations, we consider these effects in the context of a simple test problem. We study recoils from collisions of binaries with initially head-on trajectories, starting with the simplest case of equal masses with no spin and then adding s…
The inspiral and merger of binary black holes will likely involve black holes with both unequal masses and arbitrary spins. The gravitational radiation emitted by these binaries will carry angular as well as linear momentum. A net flux of emitted linear momentum implies that the black hole produced by the merger will experience a recoil or kick. Previous studies have focused on the recoil velocity from unequal mass, non-spinning binaries. We present results from simulations of equal mass but spinning black hole binaries and show how a significant gravitational recoil can also be obtained in th…
In this paper we present IMRPhenomXAS, a thorough overhaul of the IMRPhenomD [1,2] waveform model, which describes the dominant $l=2, \:| m | = 2$ spherical harmonic mode of non-precessing coalescing black holes in terms of piecewise closed form expressions in the frequency domain. Improvements include in particular the accurate treatment of unequal spin effects, and the inclusion of extreme mass ratio waveforms. IMRPhenomD has previously been extended to approximately include spin precession [3] and subdominant spherical harmonics [4], and with its extensions it has become a standard tool in …
Gravitational waves carry energy, angular momentum, and linear momentum. In generic binary black hole mergers, the loss of linear momentum imparts a recoil velocity, or a "kick", to the remnant black hole. We exploit recent advances in gravitational waveform and remnant black hole modeling to extract information about the kick from the gravitational wave signal. Kick measurements such as these are astrophysically valuable, enabling independent constraints on the rate of second-generation mergers. Further, we show that kicks must be factored into future ringdown tests of general relativity with…
Binary black holes radiate linear momentum in gravitational waves as they merge. Recoils imparted to the black-hole remnant can reach thousands of km/s, thus ejecting black holes from their host galaxies. We exploit recent advances in gravitational waveform modeling to quickly and reliably extract recoils imparted to generic, precessing, black hole binaries. Our procedure uses a numerical-relativity surrogate model to obtain the gravitational waveform given a set of binary parameters, then from this waveform we directly integrate the gravitational-wave linear momentum flux. This entirely bypas…
The close-limit method has given approximations in excellent agreement with those of numerical relativity for collisions of equal mass black holes. We consider here colliding holes with unequal mass, for which numerical relativity results are not available. We try to ask two questions: (i) Can we get approximate answers to astrophysical questions (ideal mass ratio for energy production, maximum recoil velocity, etc.), and (ii) can we better understand the limitations of approximation methods. There is some success in answering the first type of question, but more with the second, especially in…
In vacuum, the gravitational recoil of the final black hole from the merger of two black holes depends exclusively on the mass ratio and spins of the coalescing black holes, and on the eccentricity of the binary. If matter is present, accretion by the merging black holes may modify significantly their masses and spins, altering both the dynamics of the binary and the gravitational recoil of the remnant black hole. This paper considers such scenario. We investigate the effects on the kick of the final black hole from immersing the binary in a scalar field cloud. We consider two types of configu…
We explore different gauge choices in the moving puncture formulation in order to improve the accuracy of a linear momentum measure evaluated on the horizon of the remnant black hole produced by the merger of a binary. In particular, motivated by constant values studies, we design a gauge via a variable shift parameter $mη(\vec{r}(t))$ such that it takes a low asymptotic (and at the orbiting punctures) value, while about the standard value of 2 at the final hole horizon. This choice then follows the remnant black hole as it moves due to its net recoil velocity. We find that this choice keeps t…
Celephais: efficient spectral initial data code for precessing compact binaries
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign(伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校);Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)(马克斯·普朗克引力物理研究所(阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦研究所))
Massive black hole (MBH) binary inspiral time scales are uncertain, and their spins are even more poorly constrained. Spin misalignment, along with unequal mass ratios and spin magnitudes, introduces asymmetry in the gravitational radiation, which imparts a recoil kick to the merged MBH. Understanding how MBH binary spins evolve is crucial for determining their recoil velocities, their gravitational wave (GW) waveforms detectable with LISA, as well as their post-merger retention rate in galaxies and thus their subsequent merger rate. Here we present a novel study that introduces a sub-resoluti…
We present the results of 74 new simulations of nonprecessing spinning black hole binaries with mass ratios $q=m_1/m_2$ in the range $1/7\leq q\leq1$ and individual spins covering the parameter space $-0.95\leqα_{1,2}\leq0.95$ with one runs with spins of $\pm0.95$. We supplement those runs with 107 previous simulations to study the hangup effect in black hole mergers, i.e. the delay or prompt merger of spinning holes with respect to non spinning binaries. We perform the numerical evolution for typically the last ten orbits before the merger and down to the formation of the final remnant black …
The formation and growth of supermassive black holes is a key issue to unveil the secrets of galaxy formation. In particular, the gravitational recoil produced in the merger of unequal mass black hole binaries could have a number of astrophysical implications, such as the ejection of black holes from the host galaxy or globular cluster. We present estimates of the recoil velocity that include the effect of small eccentricities. The approach is specially suited for the last stage of the merger, where most of the emission of linear momentum in gravitational waves takes place. Supplementing our e…
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 and including l=4 are sufficient to accurately reproduce the final recoil velocity (within ~2%) and that only a few dominant modes contribute significantly to it (within ~5%). We describe how the relative amplitudes, and more importantly, the relative phases, of these few modes control the way in which the recoil builds up throughout the inspiral, merger, and …
Matched filtering is a popular data analysis framework used to search for gravitational wave signals emitted by compact object binaries. The templates used in matched filtering searches are constructed predominantly from the quadrupolar mode because this mode is the energetically most dominant channel. However, for highly precessing binaries or binaries with moderately large mass ratios, significant power is also carried by higher-order modes. We investigate how the inclusion of higher modes in the templates increases the prospects for detecting gravitational waves. Specifically, we use numeri…
When unequal-mass black holes merge, the final black hole receives a ``kick'' due to the asymmetric loss of linear momentum in the gravitational radiation emitted during the merger. The magnitude of this kick has important astrophysical consequences. Recent breakthroughs in numerical relativity allow us to perform the largest parameter study undertaken to date in numerical simulations of binary black hole inspirals. We study non-spinning black-hole binaries with mass ratios from $q=M_1/M_2=1$ to $q =0.25$ ($η= q/(1 + q)^2$ from 0.25 to 0.16). We accurately calculate the velocity of the kick to…
Post-Newtonian inspiral waveform model for eccentric precessing binaries with higher-order modes and matter effects
Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)(马克斯·普朗克引力物理研究所(爱因斯坦研究所));Instituto de Física Teórica UAM/CSIC, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid(马德里自治大学理论物理研究所);School of Physics and Astronomy and Institute for Gravitational Wave Astronomy, University of Birmingham(伯明翰大学物理与天文学院及引力波天文研究所);Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park(马里兰大学帕克分校物理系)
Progenitor of the recoiling super-massive black hole RBH-1 identified using HST/JWST imaging
Department of Physics, University of California at Santa Barbara(加州大学圣塔芭芭拉分校物理系);International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research(塔塔基础研究所国际理论科学中心);Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University(约翰斯·霍普金斯大学物理与天文学系);Weinberg Institute, University of Texas at Austin(德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校温伯格研究所)
Horizon absorption in eccentric precessing binary black hole inspirals and its importance for gravitational wave data analysis
Instituto de Física Teórica UAM/CSIC, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid(马德里自治大学理论物理研究所);Atmospheric Research and Instrumentation Branch, National Institute for Aerospace Technology (INTA)(国家航空航天技术研究院大气研究与仪器分支);Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)(马克斯·普朗克引力物理学研究所(爱因斯坦研究所))
We report the first results from evolutions of a generic black-hole binary, i.e. a binary containing unequal mass black holes with misaligned spins. Our configuration, which has a mass ratio of 2:1, consists of an initially non-spinning hole orbiting a larger, rapidly spinning hole (specific spin a/m = 0.885), with the spin direction oriented -45 degrees with respect to the orbital plane. We track the inspiral and merger for ~2 orbits and find that the remnant receives a substantial kick of 454 km/s, more than twice as large as the maximum kick from non-spinning binaries. The remnant spin dire…
Gravitational-wave (GW) signals from coalescing compact binaries carry enormous information about the source dynamics and are an excellent tool to probe unknown astrophysics and fundamental physics. Though the updated catalog of compact binary signals reports evidence for slowly spinning systems and unequal mass binaries, the data so far cannot provide convincing proof of strongly precessing binaries. Here, we use the GW inference library parallel Bilby to compare the performance of two waveform models for measuring spin-induced orbital precession. One of the waveform models incorporates both …
We propose a quasi-local formula for the linear momentum of black-hole horizons inspired by the formalism of quasi-local horizons. We test this formula using two complementary configurations: (i) by calculating the large orbital linear momentum of the two black holes in an unequal-mass, zero-spin, quasi-circular binary and (ii) by calculating the very small recoil momentum imparted to the remnant of the head-on collision of an equal-mass, anti-aligned-spin binary. We obtain results consistent with the horizon trajectory in the orbiting case, and consistent with the net radiated linear momentum…
We explore spinning, precessing, unequal mass binary black holes to display the long term orbital angular momentum, $\vec{L}$, flip dynamics. We study two prototypical cases of binaries with mass ratios $q=1/7$ and $q=1/15$ and a misaligned spin of the large black hole (with an intrinsic spin magnitude of $S_2/m_2^2=0.85$). We conduct full numerical simulations, for nearly 14 and 18 orbits respectively, to evolve the binary down to merger and display a full $L$-flip cycle. The pattern of radiation of such systems is particularly interesting, displaying strong polarization-dependent variation o…
We present new results from accurate and fully general-relativistic simulations of the coalescence of unmagnetized binary neutron stars with various mass ratios. The evolution of the stars is followed through the inspiral phase, the merger and prompt collapse to a black hole, up until the appearance of a thick accretion disk, which is studied as it enters and remains in a regime of quasi-steady accretion. Although a simple ideal-fluid equation of state with Γ=2 is used, this work presents a systematic study within a fully general relativistic framework of the properties of the resulting black-…
We present the results of 14 simulations of nonspinning black hole binaries with mass ratios $q=m_1/m_2$ in the range $1/100\leq q\leq1$. For each of these simulations we perform three runs at increasing resolution to assess the finite difference errors and to extrapolate the results to infinite resolution. For $q\geq 1/6$, we follow the evolution of the binary typically for the last ten orbits prior to merger. By fitting the results of these simulations, we accurately model the peak luminosity, peak waveform frequency and amplitude, and the recoil of the remnant hole for unequal mass nonspinn…
[abridged] The coalescence of a binary black hole system is one of the main sources of gravitational waves that present and future detectors will study. Apart from the energy and angular momentum that these waves carry, for unequal-mass binaries there is also a net flux of linear momentum that implies a recoil velocity of the resulting final black hole in the opposite direction. We present a computation of the recoil velocity based on the close-limit approximation scheme, which gives excellent results for head-on and grazing collisions of black holes when compared to full numerical relativisti…
One way to select a preferred frame from gravitational radiation is via the principal axes of < L L>, an average of the action of rotation group generators on the Weyl tensor at asymptotic infinity. In this paper we evaluate this time-domain average for a quasicircular binary using approximate (post-Newtonian) waveforms. For nonprecessing unequal-mass binaries, we show the dominant eigenvector of this tensor lies along the orbital angular momentum. For precessing binaries, this frame is not generally aligned with either the orbital or total angular momentum, working to leading order in the spi…
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. Predicting the gravitational waves emitted by merging black holes requires numerical-relativity simulations, but these simulations are especially challenging when one or both holes have mass $m$ and spin $S$ exceeding the Bowen-York limit of $S/m^2=0.93$. We present improved methods that enable us to simulate merging, nearly extremal black holes more robustly an…
Coalescing black-hole binaries are expected to be the strongest sources of gravitational waves for ground-based interferometers as well as the space-based interferometer LISA. Recent progress in numerical relativity now makes it possible to calculate the waveforms from the strong-field dynamical merger and is revolutionizing our understanding of these systems. We review these dramatic developments, emphasizing applications to issues in gravitational wave observations. These new capabilities also make possible accurate calculations of the recoil or kick imparted to the final remnant black hole …
Gravitational-wave observations of merging compact binaries hold the key to precision measurements of the objects' masses and spins. General-relativistic precession, caused by spins misaligned with the orbital angular momentum, is considered a crucial tracer for determining the binary's formation history and environment, and it also improves mass estimates -- its measurement is therefore of particular interest with wide-ranging implications. Precession leaves a characteristic signature in the emitted gravitational-wave signal that is even more pronounced in binaries with highly unequal masses.…
Information about the last stages of a binary neutron star inspiral and the final merger can be extracted from quasi-equilibrium configurations and dynamical evolutions. In this article, we construct quasi-equilibrium configurations for different spins, eccentricities, mass ratios, compactnesses, and equations of state. For this purpose we employ the SGRID code, which allows us to construct such data in previously inaccessible regions of the parameter space. In particular, we consider spinning neutron stars in isolation and in binary systems; we incorporate new methods to produce highly eccent…
We study the transformation of multipolar decompositions of gravitational radiation under rotations and boosts. Rotations to the remnant black hole's frame simplify the waveforms from the merger of generic spinning black hole binaries. Boosts may be important to get an accurate gravitational-wave phasing, especially for configurations leading to large recoil velocities of the remnant. As a test of our formalism we revisit the classic problem of point particles falling into a Schwarzschild black hole. Then we highlight by specific examples the importance of choosing the right frame in numerical…
Binary black hole spins are among the key observables for gravitational wave astronomy. Among the spin parameters, their orientations within the orbital plane, $ϕ_1$, $ϕ_2$ and $Δϕ=ϕ_1-ϕ_2$, are critical for understanding the prevalence of the spin-orbit resonances and merger recoils in binary black holes. Unfortunately, these angles are particularly hard to measure using current detectors, LIGO and Virgo. Because the spin directions are not constant for precessing binaries, the traditional approach is to measure the spin components at some reference stage in the waveform evolution, typically …
The inspiral and merger of black-hole binary systems are a promising source of gravitational waves. The most effective method to look for a signal with a well understood waveform, such as the binary black hole signal, is matched filtering against a library of model waveforms. Current model waveforms are comprised solely of the dominant radiation mode, the quadrupole mode, although it is known that there can be significant power in the higher-order modes. The binary black hole waveforms produced by numerical relativity are accurate through late inspiral, merger, and ringdown and include the hig…
Intrinsic handedness in O1-O4a black-hole mergers: probing orbital precession, remnant retention in dense environments and cosmological mirror asymmetry
Instituto Galego de Física de Altas Enerxías, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela(加利西亚高等物理研究所,圣地亚哥-德孔波斯特拉大学);The Chinese University of Hong Kong(香港中文大学);Universidad Carlos III de Madrid(马德里卡洛斯三世大学);Universitat de València(瓦伦西亚大学);Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)(马克斯·普朗克引力物理研究所(爱因斯坦研究所))