Production of EMRIs in supermassive black hole binaries

We consider the formation of extreme mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs) sourced from a stellar cusp centred on a primary supermassive black hole (SMBH) and perturbed by an inspiraling less massive secondary SMBH. The problem is approached numerically, assuming the stars are non-interacting over these shor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMonthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Vol. 438; no. 1; pp. 573 - 589
Main Authors Bode, J. Nate, Wegg, Christopher
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Oxford University Press 11.02.2014
Subjects
Black holes
Kinematics
Stars & galaxies
black hole physics
stars: kinematics and dynamics
gravitational waves
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Summary:We consider the formation of extreme mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs) sourced from a stellar cusp centred on a primary supermassive black hole (SMBH) and perturbed by an inspiraling less massive secondary SMBH. The problem is approached numerically, assuming the stars are non-interacting over these short time-scales and performing an ensemble of restricted three-body integrations. From these simulations, we see that not only can EMRIs be produced during this process, but the dynamics are also quite rich. In particular, most of the EMRIs are produced through a process akin to the Kozai-Lidov mechanism, but with strong effects due to the non-Keplerian stellar potential, general relativity and non-secular oscillations in the angular momentum on the orbital time-scale of the binary SMBH system.
ISSN:0035-8711
1365-2966
DOI:10.1093/mnras/stt2227