Gravitational waves from black-hole mergers

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in numerical relativity that enable precise modeling of gravitational waves from black-hole mergers, enhancing detection and astrophysical understanding.

Contribution

It summarizes recent progress in numerical relativity and its application to gravitational wave observations and black-hole recoil calculations.

Findings

Numerical relativity now allows accurate waveform predictions.

Black-hole mergers produce detectable gravitational waves.

Recoil velocities depend on mass and spin configurations.

Abstract

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 when the merging components have unequal masses, or unequal or unaligned spins. We highlight recent work in this area, focusing on results of interest to astrophysics.