Black holes are amongst the most fundamental and the most extreme gravity objects that we know of in the Universe. However, the lifecycle of black holes the Universe remain amongst one of the big mysteries in our understanding of the cosmos. To understand the Universe and its evolution better, as this working group tackles head-on, an in-depth and urgent understanding of the formation, evolution and fate pairs of black-holes (referred to as black hole binaries) are crucial to make progress in strong-field gravity astrophysics. Black hole binaries, as gravitational wave sources, are already shedding light on processes governing star formation and evolution, galactic clustering and phenomena like quasars and gamma-ray bursts, from cosmic dawn to the present, as well as constraints on primordial black hole formation and the nature of dark matter. The gravitational wave signal from coalescing binaries encodes unprecedented measurements on the masses and spins of the original black holes and of the newly formed black hole. From these gravitational wave measurements this COST action will infer properties on the origin, evolution and environment of black holes across the entire mass spectrum, from stellar-origin to giant black holes at the center of galaxies. On the other hand, this COST action will also use electromagnetic and astro particle observations that provide orthogonal and necessary information on the energetics, immediate environment, and host galaxies of there systems; these are now attainable due to the advent of wide-field optical and radio time-domain telescopes. When possible we require both gravitational wave and electromagnetic observations to complete the picture and to place black hole formation, their evolution and fate in a complete picture of our Universe.
| Topic | Leader |
|---|---|
WG1a: Super massive black hole growth and evolution | Marta Volonteri martav _at_ iap.fr |
WG1b: Transient observations (Multi-freq X-ray, optical, radio) | Assaf Horesh assafh _at_ mail.huji.ac.il |
WG1c: Numerical relativity/SPH with GR+matter+plasma | Albino Perego alvin.0983_at_gmail.com |
WG1d: N-body dynamics | Bence Kocsis bkocsis _at_ gmail.com |
WG1e: Binary formation and population synthesis | Monica Colpi Monica.Colpi _at_ mib.infn.it |
WG1f: Dark matter and primordial Black Holes | Gianfranco Bertone gf.bertone _at_ gmail.com |
WG1g: Cosmography | Germano Nardini germano.nardini _at_ uis.no |
WG1h: Astroparticles | Maria Chernyakova masha.chernyakova _at_ dcu.ie |
WG1i: Super massive binary black hole observational signatures | Edi Bon ebon _at_ aob.rs |
WG1j: Binary stellar evolution | Chris Belczynski chrisbelczynski_at_gmail.com Thomas Tauris tauris_at_astro.uni-bonn.de |