Speaker
Cole Miller
Description
The LIGO-Virgo detections of three double black hole
coalescences, plus a third
likely BH-BH merger, have begun to give us a glimpse of the
astrophysics of thes
e events. There are currently two broad categories of
models for coalescing compact
binaries: evolution of an isolated massive binary and
dynamical processes in dense
stellar systems. I will discuss some of the specifics of
both models, as well as their
uncertainties, and will talk about how measurements of the
rates and the effective
spin parameter parallel to the orbital axis are beginning to
help us elucidate the
origins of these mergers.
