Physics of eccentric binary black hole mergers: A numerical relativity
  perspective
  Gravitational wave observations of eccentric binary black hole mergers will
provide unequivocal evidence for the formation of these systems through
dynamical assembly in dense stellar environments. The study of these
astrophysically motivated sources is timely in view of electromagnetic
observations, consistent with the existence of stellar mass black holes in the
globular cluster M22 and in the Galactic center, and the proven detection
capabilities of ground-based gravitational wave detectors. In order to get
insights into the physics of these objects in the dynamical, strong-field
gravity regime, we present a catalog of 89 numerical relativity waveforms that
describe binary systems of non-spinning black holes with mass-ratios $1\leq q
\leq 10$, and initial eccentricities as high as $e_0=0.18$ fifteen cycles
before merger. We use this catalog to quantify the loss of energy and angular
momentum through gravitational radiation, and the astrophysical properties of
the black hole remnant, including its final mass and spin, and recoil velocity.
We discuss the implications of these results for gravitational wave source
modeling, and the design of algorithms to search for and identify eccentric
binary black hole mergers in realistic detection scenarios.
