articleMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical SocietySep 8, 2016GREEN OA

Assisted inspirals of stellar mass black holes embedded in AGN discs: solving the ‘final au problem’

NCNicholas C. StoneBDBrian D. MetzgerZHZoltán Haiman

Columbia University · Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Indexed inarxivcrossrefdoaj

Abstract

We explore the evolution of stellar mass black hole binaries (BHBs) which are formed in the self-gravitating discs of active galactic nuclei (AGN). Hardening due to three-body scattering and gaseous drag are effective mechanisms that reduce the semimajor axis of a BHB to radii where gravitational waves take over, on time-scales shorter than the typical lifetime of the AGN disc. Taking observationally motivated assumptions for the rate of star formation in AGN discs, we find a rate of disc-induced BHB mergers (⁠| $\mathcal {R} \sim 3\ {\rm yr}^{-1}\ {\rm Gpc}^{-3}$ |⁠, but with large uncertainties) that is comparable with existing estimates of the field rate of BHB mergers, and the approximate BHB merger rate…

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Topics & keywords

Topics
Keywords
  • Physics
  • Astrophysics
  • LIGO
  • Gravitational wave
  • Black hole (networking)
  • Stellar mass
  • Astronomy
  • Supermassive black hole
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