$N-$body dynamics of Intermediate mass-ratio inspirals in globular clusters

Abstract

The intermediate mass-ratio inspiral of a stellar compact remnant into an intermediate mass black hole (IMBH) can produce a gravitational wave (GW) signal that is potentially detectable by current ground-based GW detectors (e.g., Advanced LIGO) as well as by planned space-based interferometers (e.g., eLISA). Here, we present results from a direct integration of the post-Newtonian $N$-body equations of motion describing stellar clusters containing an IMBH and a population of stellar-mass black holes (BHs) and solar mass stars. We take particular care to simulate the dynamics closest to the IMBH, including post-Newtonian effects up to order $2.5$. Our simulations show that the IMBH readily forms a binary with a BH companion. This binary is gradually hardened by transient 3-body or 4-body encounters, leading to frequent substitutions of the BH companion, while the binary's eccentricity experiences large amplitude oscillations due to the Lidov-Kozai resonance. We also demonstrate suppression of these resonances by the relativistic precession of the binary orbit. We find an intermediate mass-ratio inspiral in one of the 12 cluster models we evolved for $\sim 100$ Myr. This cluster hosts a $100M_{\odot }$ IMBH embedded in a population of 32 $10M_{\odot }$ BH and 32,000 $1M_{\odot }$ stars. At the end of the simulation, after $\sim 100$ Myr of evolution, the IMBH merges with a BH companion. The IMBH--BH binary inspiral starts in the eLISA frequency window ($\gtrsim 1\mathrm{mHz}$) when the binary reaches an eccentricity $1-e\simeq 10^{-3}$. After $\simeq 10^5$ years the binary moves into the LIGO frequency band with a negligible eccentricity. We comment on the implications for GW searches, with a possible detection within the next decade.

arXiv comment11 pages, 6 figures, Submitted to ApJ

References in corpus (70)

• Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger
• Advanced Virgo: a 2nd generation interferometric gravitational wave detector
• Characterization of the LIGO detectors during their sixth science run
• Predictions for the Rates of Compact Binary Coalescences Observable by Ground-based Gravitational-wave Detectors
• Astrophysical Implications of the Binary Black-Hole Merger GW150914
• Black hole mergers in the universe
• Intermediate and Extreme Mass-Ratio Inspirals -- Astrophysics, Science Applications and Detection using LISA
• An Intermediate-mass Black Hole of Over 500 Solar Masses in the Galaxy ESO 243-49
• The dynamical evolution of massive black hole binaries - I. Hardening in a fixed stellar background
• Production of Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in Globular Clusters
• Total recoil: the maximum kick from nonspinning black-hole binary inspiral
• Effective-one-body model for black-hole binaries with generic mass ratios and spins
• Intermediate-Mass Black Holes
• The promise of multi-band gravitational wave astronomy
• On the fraction of star formation occurring in bound stellar clusters
• On the Eccentricity Distribution of Coalescing Black Hole Binaries Driven by the Kozai Mechanism in Globular Clusters
• Fermi GBM Observations of LIGO Gravitational Wave event GW150914
• The Formation of Eccentric Compact Binary Inspirals and the Role of Gravitational Wave Emission in Binary-Single Stellar Encounters
• The Dynamical Evolution of Stellar Black Holes in Globular Clusters
• Massive black hole binaries from runaway collisions: the impact of metallicity
• Resonant Post-Newtonian Eccentricity Excitation in Hierarchical Three-body Systems
• The (black hole mass)-(host spheroid luminosity) relation at high and low masses, the quadratic growth of black holes, and intermediate-mass black hole candidates
• The effect of mass-segregation on gravitational wave sources near massive black holes
• A 400 solar mass black hole in the Ultraluminous X-ray source M82 X-1 accreting close to its Eddington limit
• Black hole mergers and blue stragglers from hierarchical triples formed in globular clusters
• Black hole triple dynamics: breakdown of the orbit average approximation and implications for gravitational wave detections
• Massive Black Holes in Star Clusters. II. Realistic Cluster Models
• Implementing Few-Body Algorithmic Regularization with Post-Newtonian Terms
• eLISA eccentricity measurements as tracers of binary black hole formation
• Growth of Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in Globular Clusters
• Accurate and efficient waveforms for compact binaries on eccentric orbits
• Scattering experiments meet N-body I: a practical recipe for the evolution of massive black hole binaries in stellar environments
• Three-Body Dynamics with Gravitational Wave Emission
• Gravitational-wave phasing for low-eccentricity inspiralling compact binaries to 3PN order
• SAPPORO: A way to turn your graphics cards into a GRAPE-6
• Massive Black Holes in Star Clusters. I. Equal-mass clusters
• Rates and Characteristics of Intermediate Mass Ratio Inspirals Detectable by Advanced LIGO
• Frequency and time domain inspiral templates for comparable mass compact binaries in eccentric orbits
• Detection of IMBHs with ground-based gravitational wave observatories: A biography of a binary of black holes, from birth to death
• Algorithmic regularization with velocity-dependent forces
• The Cool Accretion Disk in ESO 243-49 HLX-1: Further Evidence of an Intermediate Mass Black Hole
• Gravitational waves from intermediate-mass-ratio inspirals for ground-based detectors
• Multi-band gravitational-wave astronomy: parameter estimation and tests of general relativity with space and ground-based detectors
• Mergers and ejections of black holes in globular clusters
• Gravitational Radiation from Intermediate-Mass Black Holes
• On the coexistence of stellar-mass and intermediate-mass black holes in globular clusters
• Star Clusters with Primordial Binaries: I. Dynamical Evolution of Isolated Models
• Star Clusters with Primordial Binaries: III. Dynamical Interaction between Binaries and an Intermediate Mass Black Hole
• Tidal disruption, global mass function and structural parameters evolution in star clusters
• Star Clusters with Primordial Binaries: II. Dynamical Evolution of Models in a Tidal Field
• Secular dynamics of hierarchical quadruple systems: the case of a triple system orbited by a fourth body
• Intermediate-mass black holes in colliding clusters: Implications for lower-frequency gravitational-wave astronomy
• The Close Stellar Companions to Intermediate Mass Black Holes
• Radio observations of NGC 2808 and other globular clusters: constraints on intermediate mass black holes
• Testing the Paradigm that Ultraluminous X-ray Sources as a Class Represent Accreting Intermediate-Mass Black Holes
• A Proposed Search for the Detection of Gravitational Waves from Eccentric Binary Black Holes
• Formation of intermediate-mass black holes in circumnuclear regions of galaxies
• Inference on gravitational waves from coalescences of stellar-mass compact objects and intermediate-mass black holes
• Observing the Galaxy's massive black hole with gravitational wave bursts
• Investigating the retention of intermediate-mass black holes in star clusters using N-body simulations
• Search for gravitational radiation from intermediate mass black hole binaries in data from the second LIGO-Virgo joint science run
• A Hybrid N-Body Code Incorporating Algorithmic Regularization and Post-Newtonian Forces
• Implications of the delayed 2013 outburst of the ESO 243-49 HLX-1
• Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in Early Globular Clusters
• Binary Disruption by Massive Black Holes in Globular Clusters
• Characterizing Spinning Black Hole Binaries in Eccentric Orbits with LISA
• Gravitational waves from intermediate-mass black holes in young clusters
• Studies of waveform requirements for intermediate mass-ratio coalescence searches with advanced detectors
• Constraining Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in Globular Clusters
• Globular clusters hosting intermediate-mass black-holes: no mass-segregation based candidates

Cited by in corpus (34)

• Black holes, gravitational waves and fundamental physics: a roadmap
• Binary black hole mergers from field triples: properties, rates and the impact of stellar evolution
• Eccentric Black Hole Mergers in Dense Star Clusters: The Role of Binary-Binary Encounters
• Rates of Compact Object Coalescences
• The Missing Link in Gravitational-Wave Astronomy: Discoveries waiting in the decihertz range
• ELGAR -- a European Laboratory for Gravitation and Atom-interferometric Research
• Gravitational Waves and Intermediate-mass Black Hole Retention in Globular Clusters
• The MAVERIC Survey: Still No Evidence for Accreting Intermediate-mass Black Holes in Globular Clusters
• Intermediate-mass Black Holes from High Massive-star Binary Fractions in Young Star Clusters
• Constraining the orbital eccentricity of inspiralling compact binary systems with Advanced LIGO
• Detectability of Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in Multiband Gravitational Wave Astronomy
• Astrophysics and cosmology with a decihertz gravitational-wave detector: TianGO
• The MEGaN project II. Gravitational waves from intermediate mass- and binary black holes around a supermassive black hole
• Detecting Intermediate-Mass Ratio Inspirals From The Ground And Space
• Tidal Disruption Events and Gravitational Waves from Intermediate-mass Black Holes in Evolving Globular Clusters Across Space and Time
• Gravitational waves from Population III binary black holes formed by dynamical capture
• The astrophysical science case for a decihertz gravitational-wave detector
• Merging stellar and intermediate-mass black holes in dense clusters: implications for LIGO, LISA and the next generation of gravitational wave detectors
• Detection of astrophysical gravitational wave sources by TianQin and LISA
• The Combined Effects of Two-Body Relaxation Processes and the Eccentric Kozai-Lidov Mechanism on the EMRI Rate
• Eccentric binary black hole mergers in globular clusters hosting intermediate-mass black holes
• A surrogate model for gravitational waveforms of spin-aligned binary black holes with eccentricities
• Formation of supermassive black hole seeds in nuclear star clusters via gas accretion and runaway collisions
• Multiband gravitational-wave searches for ultralight bosons
• Formation of super-massive black holes in galactic nuclei I: delivering seed intermediate-mass black holes in massive stellar clusters
• Astrophysical science metrics for next-generation gravitational-wave detectors
• Limits on Runaway Growth of Intermediate Mass Black Holes from Advanced LIGO
• The gravitational capture of compact objects by massive black holes
• Spin and Quadrupole Couplings for High Spin Equatorial Intermediate Mass-ratio Coalescences
• Wandering off the centre: a characterization of the random motion of intermediate-mass black holes in star clusters
• Evaluating the Merger Rate of Binary Black Holes from Direct Captures and Third-Body Soft Interactions Using the Milky Way Globular Clusters
• Hunting intermediate-mass black holes with LISA binary radial velocity measurements
• Astrophysics with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
• The Steady State of Intermediate-Mass Black Holes Near a Supermassive Black Hole