Binary Black Holes and Their Echoes in the Universe
The binary black hole problem has long been heralded as the holy grail
of numerical
relativity. The first successful solution of the problem from the orbit
of two black holes
through their merger occurred in 2005 and since then many groups have
followed that success.
Two of strong motivations pushing this problem forward are 1) the role
that binary black holes play as one of the primary sources of
gravitational radiation
for both ground and space-based detectors and 2) the role they play in
determining
gravitational recoil and final spins in galactic merger scenarios.
The detection and characterization of gravitational
waves is a formidable undertaking, requiring innovative engineering,
powerful data
analysis tools as well as careful theoretical and numerical modeling.
I will discuss aspects
of numerical simulations of binary black holes in connection with spins,
gravitational
recoil and eccentricities that have been recently
obtained and have direct relevance to gravitational wave data analysis
and astrophysics.
