Extreme recoils: impact on the detection of gravitational waves from massive black hole binaries

Abstract

Recent numerical simulations of coalescences of highly spinning massive black hole binaries (MBHBs) suggest that the remnant can suffer a recoil velocity of the order of few thousands km/s. We study here, by means of dedicated simulations of black holes build--up, how such extreme recoils could affect the cosmological coalescence rate of MBHBs, placing a robust lower limit for the predicted number of gravitational wave (GW) sources detectable by future space--borne missions (such as LISA). We consider two main routes for black hole formation: one where seeds are light remnants of Population III stars (~10^2 \msun), and one where seeds are much heavier (>~10^4 \msun), formed via the direct gas collapse in primordial nuclear disks. We find that extreme recoil velocities do not compromise the efficient MBHB detection by LISA. If seeds are already massive and/or relatively rare, the detection rate is reduced by only ~15%. The number of detections drops substantially (by ~60%) if seeds are instead light and abundant, but in this case the number of predicted coalescences is so high that at least ~10 sources in a three year observation are guaranteed.

5 pages, 4 figures, replaced with final version

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Cited by in corpus (13)

• The stochastic gravitational-wave background from massive black hole binary systems: implications for observations with Pulsar Timing Arrays
• Recoiling black holes: electromagnetic signatures, candidates, and astrophysical implications
• Black hole kicks as new gravitational wave observables
• Supermassive Black Hole Binaries: The Search Continues
• LISA detection of massive black hole binaries: imprint of seed populations and of exterme recoils
• Interplay of spin-precession and higher harmonics in the parameter estimation of binary black holes
• Amplification of superkicks in black-hole binaries through orbital eccentricity
• Drifting through the medium: kicks and self-propulsion of binaries within accretion disks and other environments
• Dynamics and spin alignment in massive, gravito-turbulent circumbinary discs around supermassive black hole binaries
• SMBH growth parameters in the early Universe of Millennium and Millennium-II simulations
• Astrophysics with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
• Effect of kick velocity on gravitational wave detection of binary black holes with space- and ground-based detectors
• Evidence of large recoil velocity from a black hole merger signal