Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 171102 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Physical review letters |
| Volume | 123 |
| Issue number | 17 |
| Publication status | Published - 21 Oct 2019 |
Abstract
We find strong numerical evidence for a new phenomenon in a binary black hole spacetime, namely, the merger of marginally outer trapped surfaces (MOTSs). By simulating the head-on collision of two nonspinning unequal mass black holes, we observe that the MOTS associated with the final black hole merges with the two initially disjoint surfaces corresponding to the two initial black holes. This yields a connected sequence of MOTSs interpolating between the initial and final state all the way through the nonlinear binary black hole merger process. In addition, we show the existence of a MOTS with self-intersections formed immediately after the merger. This scenario now allows us to track physical quantities (such as mass, angular momentum, higher multipoles, and fluxes) across the merger, which can be potentially compared with the gravitational wave signal in the wave zone, and with observations by gravitational wave detectors. This also suggests a possibility of proving the Penrose inequality mathematically for generic astrophysical binary back hole configurations.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physics and Astronomy(all)
- General Physics and Astronomy
Cite this
- Standard
- Harvard
- Apa
- Vancouver
- BibTeX
- RIS
In: Physical review letters, Vol. 123, No. 17, 171102, 21.10.2019.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Interior of a Binary Black Hole Merger
AU - Pook-Kolb, Daniel
AU - Birnholtz, Ofek
AU - Krishnan, Badri
AU - Schnetter, Erik
N1 - Funding Information: We thank Lars Andersson, Abhay Ashtekar, Alex Nielsen, Jeff Winicour, Jose-Luis Jaramillo, and the referees for valuable discussions and suggestions. O. B. acknowledges the National Science Foundation (NSF) for financial support from Grant No. PHY-1607520. This research was also supported by the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. Research at Perimeter Institute is supported in part by the Government of Canada through the Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and by the Province of Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. Some calculations were performed on the Niagara cluster of the University of Toronto.
PY - 2019/10/21
Y1 - 2019/10/21
N2 - We find strong numerical evidence for a new phenomenon in a binary black hole spacetime, namely, the merger of marginally outer trapped surfaces (MOTSs). By simulating the head-on collision of two nonspinning unequal mass black holes, we observe that the MOTS associated with the final black hole merges with the two initially disjoint surfaces corresponding to the two initial black holes. This yields a connected sequence of MOTSs interpolating between the initial and final state all the way through the nonlinear binary black hole merger process. In addition, we show the existence of a MOTS with self-intersections formed immediately after the merger. This scenario now allows us to track physical quantities (such as mass, angular momentum, higher multipoles, and fluxes) across the merger, which can be potentially compared with the gravitational wave signal in the wave zone, and with observations by gravitational wave detectors. This also suggests a possibility of proving the Penrose inequality mathematically for generic astrophysical binary back hole configurations.
AB - We find strong numerical evidence for a new phenomenon in a binary black hole spacetime, namely, the merger of marginally outer trapped surfaces (MOTSs). By simulating the head-on collision of two nonspinning unequal mass black holes, we observe that the MOTS associated with the final black hole merges with the two initially disjoint surfaces corresponding to the two initial black holes. This yields a connected sequence of MOTSs interpolating between the initial and final state all the way through the nonlinear binary black hole merger process. In addition, we show the existence of a MOTS with self-intersections formed immediately after the merger. This scenario now allows us to track physical quantities (such as mass, angular momentum, higher multipoles, and fluxes) across the merger, which can be potentially compared with the gravitational wave signal in the wave zone, and with observations by gravitational wave detectors. This also suggests a possibility of proving the Penrose inequality mathematically for generic astrophysical binary back hole configurations.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074425417&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.48550/arXiv.1903.05626
DO - 10.48550/arXiv.1903.05626
M3 - Article
C2 - 31702254
AN - SCOPUS:85074425417
VL - 123
JO - Physical review letters
JF - Physical review letters
SN - 0031-9007
IS - 17
M1 - 171102
ER -