Where angular momentum goes in a precessing black hole binary

Abstract

We evolve a set of 32 equal-mass black-hole binaries with collinear spins (with intrinsic spin magnitudes $|{\vec{S}}_{1,2}/m_{1,2}^2|=0.8$) to study the effects of precession in the highly nonlinear plunge and merger regimes. We compare the direction of the instantaneous radiated angular momentum, ${\widehat{\delta J}}_{\mathrm{rad}}(t)$, to the directions of the total angular momentum, $\hat{J}(t)$, and the orbital angular momentum, $\hat{L}(t)$. We find that ${\widehat{\delta J}}_{\mathrm{rad}}(t)$ approximately follows $\hat{L}$ throughout the evolution. During the orbital evolution and merger, we observe that the angle between $\vec{L}$ and total spin $\vec{S}$ is approximately conserved to within $1^{\circ }$, which allows us to propose and test models for the merger remnant's mass and spin. For instance, we verify that the \hangup effect is the dominant effect and largely explains the observed total energy and angular momentum radiated by these precessing systems. We also verify that the total angular momentum, which significantly decreases in magnitude during the inspiral, varies in direction by less than $\sim 5^{\circ }$. The maximum variation in the direction of $\vec{J}$ occurs when the spins are nearly antialigned with the orbital angular momentum. Based on our results, we conjecture that transitional precession, which would lead to large variations in the direction of $\vec{J}$, is not possible for similar-mass binaries and would require a mass ratio $m_1/m_2\lesssim 1/4$.

Updated to published version

References in corpus (6)

• Towards models of gravitational waveforms from generic binaries: A simple approximate mapping between precessing and non-precessing inspiral signals
• Spin Flips and Precession in Black-Hole-Binary Mergers
• High-spin binary black hole mergers
• Final spin and radiated energy in numerical simulations of binary black holes with equal masses and equal, aligned or anti-aligned spins
• Recoil velocity at 2PN order for spinning black hole binaries
• A practical formula for the radiated angular momentum

Cited by in corpus (15)

• GW170814: A Three-Detector Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Coalescence
• The final spin from binary black holes in quasi-circular orbits
• High-accuracy mass, spin, and recoil predictions of generic black-hole merger remnants
• The RIT binary black hole simulations catalog
• Remnant of binary black-hole mergers: New simulations and peak luminosity studies
• The second RIT binary black hole simulations catalog and its application to gravitational waves parameter estimation
• The Third RIT binary black hole simulations catalog
• Modeling the remnant mass, spin, and recoil from unequal-mass, precessing black-hole binaries: The Intermediate Mass Ratio Regime
• Spin flips in generic black hole binaries
• Black hole binary remnant mass and spin: A new phenomenological formula
• Flip-flopping binary black holes
• Compact binary coalescences: The subtle issue of angular momentum
• Gravitational Wave Beacons
• Black Hole Spin Axis in Numerical Relativity
• The Fourth RIT binary black hole simulations catalog: Extension to Eccentric Orbits