Merger of Massive Black Holes using N-Body Simulations with Post-Newtonian Corrections

Abstract

We present preliminary results from self-consistent, high resolution direct {\it N}-body simulations of massive black hole binaries in mergers of galactic nuclei. The dynamics of the black hole binary includes the full Post-Newtonian corrections (up to 2.5PN) to its equations of motion. We show that massive black holes starting at separations of 100 pc can evolve down to gravitational-wave-induced coalescence in less than a Hubble time. The binaries, in our models, often form with very high eccentricity and, as a result, reach separations of 50 Schwarzschild radius with eccentricities which are clearly distinct from zero -- even though gravitational wave emission damps the eccentricity during the inspiral. These deviations from exact circular orbits, at such small separations, may have important consequences for LISA data analysis.

8 pages, 6 figures, proceedings to the 7th LISA Symposium, Barcelona, 16-20 June 2008. Submitted to Journal of Physics: Conference Series

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Cited by in corpus (9)

• Fast coalescence of massive black hole binaries from mergers of galactic nuclei: implications for low-frequency gravitational-wave astrophysics
• Observational Signatures of Binary Supermassive Black Holes
• Mergers of Unequal Mass Galaxies: Supermassive Black Hole Binary Evolution and Structure of Merger Remnants
• Parameter estimation for inspiraling eccentric compact binaries including pericenter precession
• Numerical evolution of multiple black holes with accurate initial data
• The Link Between Ejected Stars, Hardening and Eccentricity Growth of Super Massive Black Holes in Galactic Nuclei
• The minimum measurable eccentricity from gravitational waves of LISA massive black hole binaries
• Eccentric first post-Newtonian waveforms for compact binaries in frequency domain with Hansen coefficients
• Spin and quadrupolar effects in the secular evolution of precessing compact binaries with black hole, neutron star, gravastar, or boson star components