ORIGINS Black Hole Days

Session

Stellar Black Holes & Gravitational Waves

GW

27 Oct 2025, 16:20

X5 1.1.18 (MPE, Garching)

35. Unveiling the milli-Herz Gravitational Wave Universe with LISA

Valeriya Korol (Max Planck for Astrophysics)

27/10/2025, 16:20

Gravitational-wave observations have opened a new window onto compact objects across the Universe. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is a flagship European-led mission that will explore the intermediate-frequency gravitational-wave spectrum between 0.1 and 100 mHz. With its unique discovery potential, LISA will detect an exceptionally rich variety of sources, from stellar binaries...

5. Where are the isolated stellar-mass black holes?

Antoine Mérand (European Southern Observatory)

27/10/2025, 16:45

Stellar evolution models predict that our galaxy should be filled with hundred of millions of isolated stellar-mass black holes (ISBH), yet only one has been detected conclusively as of today. Microlensing is the only method to detect ISBH, and only spatially resolving the event can break the degeneracy between distance and mass to the lens. I will present the latest developments in predicting...

36. Gravitational Waves from Stars Stripped by Supermassive Black Holes

Aleksandra Olejak (Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics)

28/10/2025, 09:00

Recent discoveries of puzzling electromagnetic transients in galactic centers, such as quasi-periodic eruptions and oscillations, point to a new class of stellar-mass objects interacting with supermassive black holes (SMBH). One compelling scenario is that stars gradually spiral inward through gravitational-wave emission and eventually transfer mass to the SMBH, forming stellar extreme mass...

15. 3D Simulations of Stellar Black Hole Formation

Daniel Kresse (Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics)

28/10/2025, 09:25

Stellar-mass black holes (BHs) are formed in the collapse of massive stars. The detailed pathways to BH formation are, however, still under active debate. In my talk, I will present results from a set of three-dimensional (3D) neutrino-hydrodynamics simulations of BH formation in failed core-collapse supernova explosions (sometimes called "unnovae"). Because failed supernovae lack a bright...

11. The Tip of the Iceberg: Unveiling the Origins of Compact Object Mergers through Gravitational-Wave Outlier Events

Jakob Stegmann (Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics)

28/10/2025, 09:40

There is growing evidence that a substantial fraction of the compact object mergers detected through gravitational waves merge with non-zero eccentricity or large spin-orbit misalignment. In particular, recent evidence for an eccentric neutron star-black hole (NSBH) merger and NSBHs with anti-aligned BH spins challenge leading formation scenarios to date. Residual eccentricity rules out...

8. Very Massive, Rapidly Spinning Binary Black Hole Progenitors through Chemically Homogeneous Evolution -- The Case of GW231123

Silvia Popa (MPA)

28/10/2025, 09:55

Among the over 200 gravitational wave detections reported so far, GW231123 is a remarkable event that not only holds the record for the most massive black hole merger, but also exhibits extreme spins. Its origin is actively debated. Proposed scenarios include dynamical formation involving a sequence of mergers, Population III stars, accretion in an AGN disk and also more exotic explanations...