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Register a new userUp-down instability of binary black holes in numerical relativity
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Binary black holes with spins that are aligned with the orbital angular momentum do not precess. However, post-Newtonian calculations predict that up-down binaries, in which the spin of the heavier (lighter) black hole is aligned (antialigned) with the orbital angular momentum, are unstable when the spins are slightly perturbed from perfect alignment. This instability provides a possible mechanism for the formation of precessing binaries in environments where sources are preferentially formed with (anti) aligned spins. In this paper, we present the first full numerical relativity simulations capturing this instability. These simulations span $sim 100$ orbits and $sim 3$-$5$ precession cycles before merger, making them some of the longest numerical relativity simulations to date. Initialized with a small perturbation of $1^{circ}$-$10^{circ}$, the instability causes a dramatic growth of the spin misalignments, which can reach $sim 90^{circ}$ near merger. We show that this leaves a strong imprint on the subdominant modes of the gravitational wave signal, which can potentially be used to distinguish up-down binaries from other sources. Finally, we show that post-Newtonian and effective-one-body approximants are able to reproduce the unstable dynamics of up-down binaries extracted from numerical relativity.
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Binary black holes on quasicircular orbits with spins aligned with their orbital angular momentum have been testbeds for analytic and numerical relativity for decades, not least because symmetry ensures that such configurations are equilibrium solutions to the spin-precession equations. In this work, we show that these solutions can be unstable when the spin of the higher-mass black hole is aligned with the orbital angular momentum and the spin of the lower-mass black hole is anti-aligned. Spins in these configurations are unstable to precession to large misalignment when the binary separation $r$ is between the values $r_{rm udpm}= (sqrt{chi_1} pm sqrt{q chi_2})^4 (1-q)^{-2} M$, where $M$ is the total mass, $q equiv m_2/m_1$ is the mass ratio, and $chi_1$ ($chi_2$) is the dimensionless spin of the more (less) massive black hole. This instability exists for a wide range of spin magnitudes and mass ratios and can occur in the strong-field regime near merger. We describe the origin and nature of the instability using recently developed analytical techniques to characterize fully generic spin precession. This instability provides a channel to circumvent astrophysical spin alignment at large binary separations, allowing significant spin precession prior to merger affecting both gravitational-wave and electromagnetic signatures of stellar-mass and supermassive binary black holes.
By probing the population of binary black hole (BBH) mergers detected by LIGO-Virgo, we can infer properties about the underlying black hole formation channels. A mechanism known as pair-instability (PI) supernova is expected to prevent the formation of black holes from stellar collapse with mass greater than $sim 40-65,M_odot$ and less than $sim 120,M_odot$. Any BBH merger detected by LIGO-Virgo with a component black hole in this gap, known as the PI mass gap, likely originated from an alternative formation channel. Here, we firmly establish GW190521 as an outlier to the stellar-mass BBH population if the PI mass gap begins at or below $65, M_{odot}$. In addition, for a PI lower boundary of $40-50, M_{odot}$, we find it unlikely that the remaining distribution of detected BBH events, excluding GW190521, is consistent with the stellar-mass population.
Recently neutral and charged black-hole solutions were found for static perfect fluid with the equation of state $p(r)=-rho(r)/3$, for fluid only as well as for fluid in the presence of electric field. In those works, the stability of the black holes were studied in an analytic manner, which concluded that the black holes are unconditionally unstable. In this work, we focus particularly on the {it numerical} study of the instability. For the black-hole solutions as well as the static solutions without horizons, we solve the perturbation equations numerically and find the unstable mode functions.
We present the first set of numerical relativity simulations of binary neutron mergers that include spin precession effects and are evolved with multiple resolutions. Our simulations employ consistent initial data in general relativity with different spin configurations and dimensionless spin magnitudes $sim 0.1$. They start at a gravitational-wave frequency of $sim392$~Hz and cover more than $1$ precession period and about 15 orbits up to merger. We discuss the spin precession dynamics by analyzing coordinate trajectories, quasi-local spin measurements, and energetics, by comparing spin aligned, antialigned, and irrotational configurations. Gravitational waveforms from different spin configuration are compared by calculating the mismatch between pairs of waveforms in the late inspiral. We find that precession effects are not distinguishable from nonprecessing configurations with aligned spins for approximately face-on binaries, while the latter are distinguishable from a nonspinning configurations. Spin precession effects are instead clearly visible for approximately edge-on binaries. For the parameters considered here, precession does not significantly affect the characteristic postmerger gravitational-wave frequencies nor the mass ejection. Our results pave the way for the modeling of spin precession effects in the gravitational waveform from binary neutron star events.
In response to LIGOs observation of GW170104, we performed a series of full numerical simulations of binary black holes, each designed to replicate likely realizations of its dynamics and radiation. These simulations have been performed at multiple resolutions and with two independent techniques to solve Einsteins equations. For the nonprecessing and precessing simulations, we demonstrate the two techniques agree mode by mode, at a precision substantially in excess of statistical uncertainties in current LIGOs observations. Conversely, we demonstrate our full numerical solutions contain information which is not accurately captured with the approximate phenomenological models commonly used to infer compact binary parameters. To quantify the impact of these differences on parameter inference for GW170104 specifically, we compare the predictions of our simulations and these approximate models to LIGOs observations of GW170104.
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