Coincident morphological transitions in precessing black-hole binaries

We present new insights into the phenomenology of post-Newtonian spin precession in black-hole binaries. Using multi-timescale methods, previous work has shown that the precession and nutation dynamics in such systems can be classified into so-called spin morphologies --mutually exclusive regions that partition the configuration space and characterize the motion of the black-hole spins relative to the binary's angular momentum. Radiation reaction can induce secular transitions between different morphology classes, which are generic occurrences during the inspiral of black-hole binaries. In this contribution, we systematically explore a more restrictive class of solutions in which multiple morphological transitions occur concurrently, i.e., within the same precession cycle. We find that all such cases can be mapped and characterized analytically, and we confirm these findings through numerical integrations. These coincident transitions correspond to extreme spin configurations in black-hole binaries with potential observational signatures in gravitational-wave astronomy.

Publication Details

Journal
ArXiv.org
Published
2025-08-27
Primary Topic
Geochemistry and Geologic Mapping
Type
article
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article

Coincident morphological transitions in precessing black-hole binaries

ArXiv.org
Geochemistry and Geologic Mapping
article

Coincident morphological transitions in precessing black-hole binaries

article en

Abstract

We present new insights into the phenomenology of post-Newtonian spin precession in black-hole binaries. Using multi-timescale methods, previous work has shown that the precession and nutation dynamics in such systems can be classified into so-called spin morphologies --mutually exclusive regions that partition the configuration space and characterize the motion of the black-hole spins relative to the binary's angular momentum. Radiation reaction can induce secular transitions between different morphology classes, which are generic occurrences during the inspiral of black-hole binaries. In this contribution, we systematically explore a more restrictive class of solutions in which multiple morphological transitions occur concurrently, i.e., within the same precession cycle. We find that all such cases can be mapped and characterized analytically, and we confirm these findings through numerical integrations. These coincident transitions correspond to extreme spin configurations in black-hole binaries with potential observational signatures in gravitational-wave astronomy.

ArXiv.org
Openalex Percentile: Top 60%
Geochemistry and Geologic Mapping
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