Gravitational-Wave Signatures of Massive Black Hole Formation

Direct-collapse black holes (DCBHs) are an important component of the massive black hole population of the early universe, and their formation and early mergers will be prominent in the data stream of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). However, the population and binary properties of these early black holes are poorly understood, with masses, mass ratios, spins, and orbital eccentricities strongly dependent on the details of their formation, and the properties of the remaining exterior material (baryonic and non-baryonic), which may be substantial to the point of merger.

We report on initial work to simulate the formation, collapse, and/or merger of such DCBH regions in order to extract the resulting gravitational-wave signals, and to assess the ability of LISA to detect and identify them.