Binary Mergers near a Supermassive Black Hole: Relativistic Effects in Triples

We study the general relativistic (GR) effects induced by a spinning supermassive black hole on the orbital and spin evolution of a merging black hole binary (BHB) in a hierarchical triple system. A sufficiently inclined outer orbit can excite Lidov-Kozai eccentricity oscillations in the BHB and ind...

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Published inAstrophysical journal. Letters Vol. 883; no. 1; p. L7
Main Authors Liu, Bin, Lai, Dong, Wang, Yi-Han
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Austin The American Astronomical Society 20.09.2019
IOP Publishing
Subjects
Astrophysical processes
Eccentric orbits
Gravitation
Gravitational wave sources
Gravitational waves
Inclination
Relativism
Relativistic effects
Supermassive black holes
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Summary:We study the general relativistic (GR) effects induced by a spinning supermassive black hole on the orbital and spin evolution of a merging black hole binary (BHB) in a hierarchical triple system. A sufficiently inclined outer orbit can excite Lidov-Kozai eccentricity oscillations in the BHB and induce its merger. These GR effects generate extra precessions on the BHB orbits and spins, significantly increasing the inclination window for mergers and producing a wide range of spin orientations when the BHB enters LIGO band. This "GR-enhanced" channel may play an important role in BHB mergers.
Bibliography:AAS19340
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ISSN:2041-8205
2041-8213
DOI:10.3847/2041-8213/ab40c0