Dynamical evolution of quasi-circular binary black hole data

We present fully nonlinear dynamical evolutions of binary black hole data, whose orbital parameters are specified via the effective potential method for determining quasi-circular orbits. The cases studied range from the Cook-Baumgarte innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) to significantly beyond that separation. In all cases we find the black holes to coalesce (as determined by the appearance of a common apparent horizon) in less than half an orbital period, indicating that the holes are not in quasi-circular orbits but are in fact nearly plunging together. We have studied the dynamics of the final black hole and determined its physical parameters, such as spin, mass and oscillation frequency.