Formation of counter-rotating and highly eccentric massive black hole binaries in galaxy mergers

Nasim, Imran, Petrovich, Cristobal, Nasim, Adam, Dosopoulou, Fani and Antonini, Fabio ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3138-6199 2021. Formation of counter-rotating and highly eccentric massive black hole binaries in galaxy mergers. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 503 (1) , pp. 498-510. 10.1093/mnras/stab351

Preview

PDF - Published Version Download (5MB) | Preview

Abstract

Supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries represent the main target for missions such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna and Pulsar Timing Arrays. The understanding of their dynamical evolution prior to coalescence is therefore crucial to improving detection strategies and for the astrophysical interpretation of the gravitational wave data. In this paper, we use high-resolution N-body simulations to model the merger of two equal-mass galaxies hosting a central SMBH. In our models, all binaries are initially prograde with respect to the galaxy sense of rotation. But, binaries that form with a high eccentricity, e ≳ 0.7, quickly reverse their sense of rotation and become almost perfectly retrograde at the moment of binary formation. The evolution of these binaries proceeds towards larger eccentricities, as expected for a binary hardening in a counter-rotating stellar distribution. Binaries that form with lower eccentricities remain prograde and at comparatively low eccentricities. We study the origin of the orbital flip by using an analytical model that describes the early stages of binary evolution. This model indicates that the orbital plane flip is due to the torque from the triaxial background mass distribution that naturally arises from the galactic merger process. Our results imply the existence of a population of SMBH binaries with a high eccentricity and could have significant implications for the detection of the gravitational wave signal emitted by these systems.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
ISSN:	0035-8711
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	4 February 2021
Date of Acceptance:	4 February 2021
Last Modified:	03 May 2023 18:50
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/138272

Citation Data

Cited 2 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item