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Busting up binaries: encounters between compact binaries and a supermassive black hole

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Abstract

Close encounters between compact object binaries and a supermassive black hole are plausible at galactic centers. We present results from a numerical study of close to 13 million such encounters. Consistent with previous studies, we found that disrupted binaries produce bound extreme-mass-ratio binaries with eccentricities of \(\sim 0.97\) which circularize dramatically by the time they enter the classical LISA sensitivity band. We also investigated the regions of parameter space for binary survival and estimated the distribution of orbital parameters post-encounter. Our results showed that the semi-major axis of the population of surviving binaries is not significantly affected by the encounter. On the other hand, the eccentricity does; it increases in most cases. As a consequence, the encounter with the super-massive black hole accelerates the merger of the surviving binary, increasing the predicted merger rates by up to \(1\%\).

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Acknowledgements

PL supported by NSF grants 1806580, 1550461, 1505824. EA and SLL supported by NSF grant PHY-0970152, and from NASA award NNX13AM10G.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Utah State University, Logan, UT, 84322, USA

    Eric Addison

  2. Center for Relativistic Astrophysics and School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA

    Miguel Gracia-Linares & Pablo Laguna

  3. Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA

    Shane L. Larson

  4. Department of Astronomy, Adler Planetarium, Chicago, IL, 60605, USA

    Shane L. Larson

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  1. Eric Addison
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  2. Miguel Gracia-Linares
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Correspondence to Pablo Laguna.

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Addison, E., Gracia-Linares, M., Laguna, P. et al. Busting up binaries: encounters between compact binaries and a supermassive black hole. Gen Relativ Gravit 51, 38 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10714-019-2523-4

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