Cross Section, Final Spin, and Zoom-Whirl Behavior in High-Energy Black-Hole Collisions

Ulrich Sperhake, Vitor Cardoso, Frans Pretorius, Emanuele Berti, Tanja Hinderer, and Nicolas Yunes
Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 131102 – Published 22 September 2009

Abstract

We study the collision of two highly boosted equal-mass, nonrotating black holes with generic impact parameter. We find such systems to exhibit zoom-whirl behavior when fine-tuning the impact parameter. Near the threshold of immediate merger the remnant black-hole Kerr parameter can be near maximal (a/M0.95) and the radiated energy can be as large as 35±5% of the center-of-mass energy.

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  • Received 7 July 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.131102

©2009 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Ulrich Sperhake1, Vitor Cardoso2,3, Frans Pretorius4, Emanuele Berti1,2, Tanja Hinderer1, and Nicolas Yunes4

  • 1California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91109, USA
  • 2Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi 38677, USA
  • 3CENTRA, Departamento de Física, Instituto Superior Técnico, Avenida Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
  • 4Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA

See Also

Zoom-Whirl Orbits in Black Hole Binaries

James Healy, Janna Levin, and Deirdre Shoemaker
Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 131101 (2009)

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Vol. 103, Iss. 13 — 25 September 2009

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