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Abstract

We have shown previously that a merger of marginally outer trapped surfaces
(MOTSs) occurs in a binary black hole merger and that there is a continuous
sequence of MOTSs which connects the initial two black holes to the final one.
In this paper, we confirm this scenario numerically and we detail further
improvements in the numerical methods for locating MOTSs. With these
improvements, we confirm the merger scenario and demonstrate the existence of
self-intersecting MOTSs formed in the immediate aftermath of the merger. These
results will allow us to track physical quantities across the non-linear merger
process and to potentially infer properties of the merger from gravitational
wave observations.