Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Conducting Elevated Temperature Normal and Combined Pressure-Shear Plate Impact Experiments Via a Breech-end Sabot Heater System
Published on: August 7, 2018
Maximum gravitational recoil
Manuela Campanelli1, Carlos O Lousto, Yosef Zlochower
1Center for Computational Relativity and Gravitation, School of Mathematical Sciences, Rochester Institute of Technology, 78 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
Abstract:
Recent calculations of gravitational radiation recoil generated during black-hole binary mergers have reopened the possibility that a merged binary can be ejected even from the nucleus of a massive host galaxy. Here we report the first systematic study of gravitational recoil of equal-mass binaries with equal, but counteraligned, spins parallel to the orbital plane. Such an orientation of the spins is expected to maximize the recoil. We find that recoil velocity (which is perpendicular to the orbital plane) varies sinusoidally with the angle that the initial spin directions make with the initial linear momenta of each hole and scales up to a maximum of approximately 4000 km s-1 for maximally rotating holes. Our results show that the amplitude of the recoil velocity can depend sensitively on spin orientations of the black holes prior to merger.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Impact: Problem Solving
By designating the launch point as the origin and utilizing kinematic equations, the vertical component of the projectile's velocity at the point of impact is...
Newton's Law of Gravitational Attraction
Newton's law of gravitational attraction is a fundamental law of physics that governs the attraction between objects. It states that the magnitude of the gravitational force between any two objects is proportional to their masses and inversely proportional...
Rocket Propulsion in Gravitational Field - II
A rocket's acceleration depends on three major factors, consistent with the equation for the...
Potential Energy due to Gravitation
Consider a mass gravitationally bound to another object. For example, the Earth is gravitationally bound to the Sun’s gravitational field. The potential energy of...
Rocket Propulsion in Gravitational Field - I
The motion of a rocket in space changes its velocity (and hence its...
Newton's Law of Gravitation

