Tidal Resonance in Extreme Mass-Ratio Inspirals

Béatrice Bonga, Huan Yang, and Scott A. Hughes

Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 101103 – Published 6 September 2019

Abstract

We describe a new class of resonances for extreme mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs): tidal resonances, induced by the tidal field of nearby stars or stellar-mass black holes. A tidal resonance can be viewed as a general relativistic extension of the Kozai-Lidov resonances in Newtonian systems and is distinct from the transient resonance already known for EMRI systems. Tidal resonances will generically occur for EMRIs. By probing their influence on the phase of an EMRI waveform, we can learn about the tidal environmental of the EMRI system, albeit at the cost of a more complicated waveform model. Observations by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna of EMRI systems therefore have the potential to provide information about the distribution of stellar-mass objects near their host galactic-center black holes.

Received 29 April 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.101103

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Astrophysical studies of gravity Classical black holes Formation & evolution of stars & galaxies Gravitational wave detection Gravitational wave sources

Gravitation, Cosmology & Astrophysics

Authors & Affiliations

Béatrice Bonga¹, Huan Yang^1,2, and Scott A. Hughes³

¹Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2Y5, Canada
²University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
³Department of Physics and Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA