2007/02/28 by J. A. Gonzalez, José A. González, M. D. Hannam +5 · 10 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.98.231101
published as Phys.Rev.Lett.98:231101,2007 · Final version, published by Phys. Rev. Lett.; title changed according to suggestion of PRL; note added after preparation of manuscript
openalex publication_date 2007/06/07 · arxiv created 2007/06/08 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Recent calculations of the recoil velocity in binary black-hole mergers have found the kick velocity to be of the order of a few hundred km/s in the case of nonspinning binaries and about 500 km/s in the case of spinning configurations, and have lead to predictions of a maximum kick of up to 1300 km/s. We test these predictions and demonstrate that kick velocities of at least 2500 km/s are possible for equal-mass binaries with antialigned spins in the orbital plane. Kicks of that magnitude are likely to have significant repercussions for models of black-hole formation, the population of intergalactic black holes, and the structure of host galaxies.