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Estimating the final spin of a binary black hole coalescence

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arxiv 0709.3839 v1 pith:6AOTG35T submitted 2007-09-24 astro-ph gr-qc

classification astro-phgr-qc
keywords blackholefinalspinangularmomentumspinsapproach
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal

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We present a straightforward approach for estimating the final black hole spin of a binary black hole coalescence with arbitrary initial masses and spins. Making some simple assumptions, we estimate the final angular momentum to be the sum of the individual spins plus the orbital angular momentum of a test particle orbiting at the last stable orbit around a Kerr black hole with a spin parameter of the final black hole. The formula we obtain is able to reproduce with reasonable accuracy the results from available numerical simulations, but, more importantly, it can be used to investigate what configurations might give rise to interesting dynamics. In particular, we discuss scenarios which might give rise to a ``flip'' in the direction of the total angular momentum of the system. By studying the dependence of the final spin upon the mass ratio and initial spins we find that our simple approach suggests that it is not possible to spin-up a black hole to extremal values through merger scenarios irrespective of the mass ratio of the objects involved.

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Cited by 6 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

  1. Signatures of a subpopulation of hierarchical mergers in the GWTC-4 gravitational-wave dataset

    gr-qc 2026-01 unverdicted novelty 6.0 of 10

    Using a joint effective-spin and precession-spin model on 155 gravitational-wave events, the authors infer that the hierarchical (second-generation) merger fraction rises sharply above ~46 M_sun and peaks again near 1...

  2. Spinning Effective-to-Backwards One Body ($\texttt{SEBOB}$): combining Effective One-Body inspirals and Backwards One-Body merger-ringdowns for aligned spin black hole binaries

    gr-qc 2025-08 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    SEBOB combines an EOB inspiral with a BOB merger-ringdown to produce aligned-spin waveforms that match numerical relativity to about 2e-4 median mismatch, comparable to SEOBNRv5.

  3. Constraining deviations from the Teukolsky equation with GW250114

    gr-qc 2026-07 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    GW250114's fundamental ringdown mode bounds theory-agnostic deviations from the Teukolsky equation to be consistent with zero at characteristic scales of 60-100 km.

  4. Disentangling spinning and nonspinning binary black hole populations with spin sorting

    gr-qc 2025-07 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    Spin sorting with the default spin model distinguishes spinning and nonspinning binary black hole populations in simulations and shows real data rule out a fully nonspinning population but allow mixed ones with up to ...

  5. Eccentricity Effects on Modeling Dynamic Quantities and Their Correlations in Binary Black Hole Mergers

    gr-qc 2025-01 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    Varying the initial orbital phase of an eccentric binary black hole at fixed eccentricity produces an envelope of radiated energy, momentum, and spin, so eccentric mergers span broad domains of remnant properties rela...

  6. Evidence for additional structure in the effective spin distribution hints at multiple formation pathways in GWTC-5.0

    astro-ph.HE 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 4.0 of 10

    GWTC-5.0 analysis finds evidence for structure beyond a non-skewed Gaussian bulk in χ_eff, with suggestive mass-dependent excess of positive over negative spins outside the bulk at 13:1 odds in one mass bin.

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