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Anatomy of the Binary Black Hole Recoil: A Multipolar AnalysisWe present a multipolar analysis of the recoil velocity computed in recent numerical simulations of binary black hole coalescence, for both unequal masses and non-zero, non-precessing spins. We show that multipole moments up to and including 1 = 4 are sufficient to accurately reproduce the final recoil velocity (= 98%) and that only a few dominant modes contribute significantly to it (2 95%). We describe how the relative amplitude, and more importantly, the relative phase, of these few modes control the way in which the recoil builds up throughout the inspiral, merger, and ring-down phases. We also find that the numerical results can be reproduced, to a high level of accuracy, by an effective Newtonian formula for the multipole moments obtained by replacing in the Newtonian formula the radial separation with an effective radius computed from the numerical data. Beyond the merger, the numerical results are reproduced by a superposition of three Kerr quasi-normal modes. Analytic formulae, obtained by expressing the multipole moments in terms of the fundamental QNMs of a Kerr BH, are able to explain the onset and amount of '.anti-kick" for each of the simulations. Lastly, we apply this multipolar analysis to understand the remarkable difference between the amplitudes of planar and non-planar kicks for equal-mass spinning black holes.
Document ID
20080045487
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Schnittman, Jeremy
(Maryland Univ. College Park, MD, United States)
Buonanno, Alessandra
(Maryland Univ. College Park, MD, United States)
vanMeter, James R.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Baker, John G.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Boggs, William D.
(Maryland Univ. College Park, MD, United States)
Centrella, Joan
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Kelly, Bernard J.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
McWilliams, Sean T.
(Maryland Univ. College Park, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2007
Subject Category
Astronomy
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNH06CC03B
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF PHYS-0603762
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
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