Cross section, final spin, and zoom-whirl behavior in high-energy black-hole collisions

Ulrich Sperhake, Vitor Cardoso, Frans Pretorius, Emanuele Berti, Tanja Hinderer, Nicolas Yunes

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

115 Scopus citations

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.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number131102
JournalPhysical review letters
Volume103
Issue number13
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 22 2009

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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