Heidelberg 2007 – scientific programme

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GR: Fachverband Gravitation und Relativitätstheorie

GR 202: Numerische Simulationen

GR 202.3: Talk

Tuesday, March 6, 2007, 14:30–14:45, KIP Kl. HS

Total recoil: the maximum kick from nonspinning black-hole binary inspiral — Jose Gonzalez, •Ulrich Sperhake, Bernd Brügmann, Mark Hannam, and Sascha Husa — TPI, University of Jena, Germany

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 and evaluate the kick resulting from mass ratios ranging from 1:1 to 1:4.