We present a new compilation of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), a new data set of low-redshift nearby-Hubble-flow SNe, and new analysis procedures to work with these heterogeneous compilations. This ''Union'' compilation of 414 SNe Ia, which reduces to 307 SNe after selection cuts, includes the recent large samples of SNe Ia from the Supernova Legacy Survey and ESSENCE Survey, the older data sets, as well as the recently extended data set of distant supernovae observed with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST ). A single, consistent, and blind analysis procedure is used for all the various SN Ia subsamples, and a new procedure is implemented that consistently weights the heterogeneous data sets and rejects outliers. We present the latest results from this Union compilation and discuss the cosmological constraints from this new compilation and its combination with other cosmological measurements (CMB and BAO). The constraint we obtain from supernovae on the dark energy density is à ¼ 0:713 þ0:027 À0:029 (stat) þ0:036 À0:039 (sys), for a flat, ÃCDM universe. Assuming a constant equation of state parameter, w, the combined constraints from SNe, BAO, and A CMB give w ¼ À0:969 þ0:059 À0:063 (stat) þ0:063 À0:066 (sys). While our results are consistent with a cosmological constant, we obtain only relatively weak constraints on a w that varies with redshift. In particular, the current SN data do not yet significantly constrain w at z > 1. With the addition of our new nearby Hubble-flow SNe Ia, these resulting cosmological constraints are currently the tightest available.

We present the results of 2D hydrodynamical simulations of circumbinary disk accretion using the finite-volume code DISCO. This code solves the 2D viscous Navier-Stokes equations on a highresolution moving mesh which shears with the fluid flow, greatly reducing advection errors in comparison with a fixed grid. We perform a series of simulations for binary mass ratios in the range 0.026 ≤ q ≤ 1.0, each lasting longer than a viscous time so that we reach a quasi-steady accretion state. In each case, we find that gas is efficiently stripped from the inner edge of the circumbinary disk and enters the cavity along accretion streams, which feed persistent "mini-disks" surrounding each black hole. We find that for q 0.1, the binary excites eccentricity in the inner region of the circumbinary disk, creating an overdense lump which gives rise to enhanced periodicity in the accretion rate. The dependence of the periodicity on mass ratio may provide a method for observationally inferring mass ratios from measurements of the accretion rate. We also find that for all mass ratios studied, the magnitude of the accretion onto the secondary is sufficient to drive the binary toward larger mass ratio. This suggests a mechanism for biasing mass ratio distributions toward equal mass.

We present the results of 2D, moving mesh, viscous hydrodynamical simulations of accretion onto merging supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries. We include viscous heating, shock heating, and radiative cooling, and simulate the transition from the "pre-decoupling" epoch, where the inspiral timescale is longer than the viscous timescale, to the "post-decoupling" epoch, where the inspiral timescale is shorter than the viscous timescale. We find that there is no abrupt halt to the accretion at decoupling, but rather the accretion shows a slow decay, with significant accretion well after the expected decoupling. Moreover, we find that the luminosity in X-rays is significantly higher prior to the merger, as orbital energy from the SMBH binary is converted to heat via strong shocks inside the cavity, and radiated away. Following the merger, the cavity refills viscously and the accretion rate relaxes to the Shakura-Sunyaev value, while the X-ray luminosity drops as the shocks quickly dissipate.

We present results from the first fully general relativistic, magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations of an equal-mass black hole binary (BHBH) in a magnetized, circumbinary accretion disk. We simulate both the pre and post-decoupling phases of a BHBH-disk system and both "cooling" and "no-cooling" gas flows. Prior to decoupling, the competition between the binary tidal torques and the effective viscous torques due to MHD turbulence depletes the disk interior to the binary orbit. However, it also induces a two-stream accretion flow and mildly relativistic polar outflows from the BHs. Following decoupling, but before gas fills the low-density "hollow" surrounding the remnant, the accretion rate is reduced, while there is a prompt electromagnetic (EM) luminosity enhancement following merger due to shock heating and accretion onto the spinning BH remnant. This investigation, though preliminary, previews more detailed GRMHD simulations we plan to perform in anticipation of future, simultaneous detections of gravitational and EM radiation from a merging BHBH-disk system.

Most standard descriptions of Type II migration state that massive, gap-opening planets must migrate at the viscous drift rate. This is based on the idea that the disk is separated into an inner and outer region and gas is considered unable to cross the gap. In fact, gas easily crosses the gap on horseshoe orbits, nullifying this necessary premise which would set the migration rate. In this work, it is demonstrated using highly accurate numerical calculations that the actual migration rate is dependent on disk and planet parameters, and can be significantly larger or smaller than the viscous drift rate. In the limiting case of a disk much more massive than the secondary, the migration rate saturates to a constant which is sensitive to disk parameters and is not necessarily of order viscous rate. In the opposite limit of a low-mass disk, the migration rate decreases linearly with disk mass. Steady-state solutions in the low disk mass limit show no pile-up outside the secondary's orbit, and no corresponding drainage of the inner disk.

Many systems of current interest in relativistic astrophysics require a knowledge of radiative transfer in a magnetized gas flowing in a strongly curved, dynamical spacetime. Such systems include coalescing compact binaries containing neutron stars or white dwarfs, disks around merging black holes, corecollapse supernovae, collapsars, and gamma-ray burst sources. To model these phenomena, all of which involve general relativity, radiation (photon and/or neutrino), and magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), we have developed a general relativistic code capable of evolving MHD fluids and radiation in dynamical spacetimes. Our code solves the coupled Einstein-Maxwell-MHD-radiation system of equations both in axisymmetry and in full 3 þ 1 dimensions. We evolve the metric by integrating the BSSN (BaumgarteShapiro-Shibata-Nakamura) equations, and use a conservative, high-resolution shock-capturing scheme to evolve both the MHD and radiation moment equations. In this paper, we implement our scheme for optically thick gases and gray-body opacities. Our code gives accurate results in a suite of tests involving radiating shocks and nonlinear waves propagating in Minkowski spacetime. In addition, to test our code's ability to evolve the relativistic radiation-MHD equations in strong-field dynamical spacetimes, we study ''thermal Oppenheimer-Snyder collapse'' to a black hole and find good agreement between analytic and numerical solutions.

We study circumbinary accretion discs in the framework of the restricted three-body problem (R3Bp) and via numerically solving the height-integrated equations of viscous hydrodynamics. Varying the mass ratio of the binary, we find a pronounced change in the behaviour of the disc near mass ratio q ≡ M s /M p ∼ 0.04. For mass ratios above q = 0.04, solutions for the hydrodynamic flow transition from steady, to stronglyfluctuating; a narrow annular gap in the surface density around the secondary's orbit changes to a hollow central cavity; and a spatial symmetry is lost, resulting in a lopsided disc. This phase transition is coincident with the mass ratio above which stable orbits do not exist around the L4 and L5 equilibrium points of the R3B problem. Using the DISCO code, we find that for thin discs, for which a gap or cavity can remain open, the mass ratio of the transition is relatively insensitive to disc viscosity and pressure. The q = 0.04 transition has relevance for the evolution of massive black hole binary+disc systems at the centers of galactic nuclei, as well as for young stellar binaries and possibly planets around brown dwarfs. INTRODUCTIONBinaries embedded in gas discs are ubiquitous astrophysical systems. They are realized in the proto-planetary nebulae surrounding young stars and their growing planets (Kley & Nelson 2012) and possibly in young binary star systems as evidenced by circumbinary planets (e.g. Orosz et al. 2012). They also arise at the centers of galactic nuclei to which gas can be funneled to accompany an inspiraling massive black hole binary (MBHB) (Barnes & Hernquist 1996, and see recent reviews by Dotti et al. (2012);Mayer (2013)).Understanding the long-term evolution of the binary+disc system is complicated by the coupled nature of mass, angular momentum, and energy conservation for the total binary+disc system. The binary affects the structure of the disc, and the disc alters the orbital parameters of the binary. For planets and stars enveloped by a gas disc, the binary+disc interaction determines the migration and growth of the planets, dictating the post-disc-configuration of the planetary system. For a MBHB+disc system, gas torques can alter the inspiral rate of the binary. The effect is important for deciphering the final parsec problem and predicting the rate of gravitational wave events due to MBHB mergers (Begelman et al. 1980 Additionally, interaction of the binary and disc can lead to periodic accretion (Hayasaki et al. 2007;MacFadyen & Milosavljević 2008;Cuadra et al. 2009;Roedig et al. 2011;Noble et al. 2012;Shi et al. 2012;Roedig et al. 2012;D'Orazio et al. 2013;Farris et al. 2014;Dunhill et al. 2015;Shi & Krolik 2015) which can aid in identifying MBHB candidates in electromagnetic (EM) surveys (Haiman et al. 2009). As has been recently been made clear by the discovery of multiple MBHB candidates in EM time-domain surveys (Graham et al. 2015b,a;Liu et al. 2015), the interpretation of variability in EM surveys will rely heavily on our knowledge of how accretion ...

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