Reconstructing the family histories of black holes
How a physical model of repeated mergers turns patterns in black-hole masses and spins into tests of their origins.
01 / The science lane
Astrophysics
What can merging black holes and neutron stars tell us about the universe?
This lane follows the physical questions: gravitational-wave sources, multimessenger observations, compact-binary populations, and the simulations and inference methods used to study them.
Sources
Binary dynamics, spins, eccentricity, and the signals emitted as compact objects merge.
Populations
Connecting individual systems to formation environments and the history of binary evolution.
Inference
Computational methods that turn observations and physical models into quantified constraints.
Code that supports this work
From RIFT inference to kilonova surrogates and public samples: explore the software and data that connect these science questions.
Explore the software ecosystemNotes from the science lane
Science RSS feedWhat can we rely on? A small protocol for science that can be checked and repaired
An agent-first MCRP prototype: four actions, a bounded JSON interface, executable examples, and reproducible counterexamples.
How waveform choices change what we learn from gravitational waves
A 60-event comparison shows why gravitational-wave conclusions should be tested against multiple waveform models.
Constraining the Equation of State of Neutron Stars with third-generation Gravitational Wave detectors
How future gravitational-wave observations could reveal the physics of matter inside neutron stars.
Physics-based phenomenological modeling of binary black hole hierarchical formation 1: Synthetic universes from globular cluster simulations for GWTC
A new population framework lets detailed globular-cluster and isolated-binary models face the growing gravitational-wave catalog on equal terms.
GWTC-5: Measuring the Binary Black Hole Population
What GWTC-5 reveals about the masses, spins, and pairing of merging black holes.