title: Cross section, final spin, and zoom-whirl behavior in high-energy black-hole collisions.
abstract: We study the collision of two highly boosted equal-mass, nonrotating black holes with generic impact parameter. We find such systems to exhibit zoom-whirl behavior when fine-tuning the impact parameter. Near the threshold of immediate merger the remnant black-hole Kerr parameter can be near maximal (a/M greater, similar 0.95) and the radiated energy can be as large as 35 +/- 5% of the center-of-mass energy.
authors.affiliation: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91109, USA.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Sperhake
authors.forename: Vitor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cardoso
authors.forename: Frans
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pretorius
authors.forename: Emanuele
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Berti
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hinderer
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yunes