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Authors: Manuela Campanelli, Carlos O. Lousto, Yosef Zlochower, David Merritt

Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007

Abstract: We report the first results from evolutions of a generic black-hole binary, i.e. a binary containing unequal mass black holes with misaligned spins. Our configuration, which has a mass ratio of 2:1, consists of an initially non-spinning hole orbiting a larger, rapidly spinning hole (specific spin a/m = 0.885), with the spin direction oriented -45-degrees with respect to the orbital plane. We track the inspiral and merger for ~2 orbits and find that the remnant receives a substantial kick of 454 km/s, more than twice as large as the maximum kick from non-spinning binaries. Such a large recoil velocity reopens the possibility that a merged binary can be ejected even from the nucleus of a massive host galaxy. The remnant spin direction is flipped by 103-degrees with respect to the initial spin direction of the larger hole.

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