Indication for a compact object next to a LIGO-Virgo binary black hole merger
arXiv:2401.01743 · doi:10.3847/2041-8213/adeaad
Abstract
The astrophysical origin of binary black hole (BBH) mergers remains uncertain, although many events have been observed by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA network. Such mergers are potentially originated in the vicinity of massive black holes (MBHs). GW190814, due to its secondary mass and mass ratio being beyond the expectations of isolated stellar evolution theories, is a promising event that has occurred in an active galactic nucleus (AGN) disk. In this model, a compact object resides in the vicinity of a merging BBH. Here we report multiple pieces of evidence suggesting that GW190814 is a BBH merging near a compact object. The orbital motion of BBHs around a third body produces a line-of-sight acceleration (LSA) and induces a varying Doppler shift. Using a waveform template that considers LSA, we perform Bayesian inference on a few BBH events with a high signal-to-noise ratio in the gravitational-wave (GW) transient catalog. Compared to the model for isolated BBH mergers, we obtain significantly higher network signal-to-noise ratios for GW190814 with the inclusion of LSA, constraining the LSA to at a confidence level. Additionally, the Bayes factor for the LSA case over the isolated case is , indicating that the GW data strongly prefer the LSA model. We conclude that this is the first indication showing merging BBHs are located near a third compact object.
8 pages, 6 figures
References in corpus (44)
- Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger
- GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral
- Advanced Virgo: a 2nd generation interferometric gravitational wave detector
- GWTC-1: A Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog of Compact Binary Mergers Observed by LIGO and Virgo during the First and Second Observing Runs
- Advanced LIGO
- GWTC-2: Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo During the First Half of the Third Observing Run
- TianQin: a space-borne gravitational wave detector
- GW190814: Gravitational Waves from the Coalescence of a 23 M Black Hole with a 2.6 M Compact Object
- GWTC-3: Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo During the Second Part of the Third Observing Run
- Bilby: A user-friendly Bayesian inference library for gravitational-wave astronomy
- Robust parameter estimation for compact binaries with ground-based gravitational-wave observations using the LALInference software library
- Binary Black Hole Population Properties Inferred from the First and Second Observing Runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo
- Astrophysical Implications of the Binary Black-Hole Merger GW150914
- Frequency-domain gravitational waves from non-precessing black-hole binaries. I. New numerical waveforms and anatomy of the signal
- A simple model of complete precessing black-hole-binary gravitational waveforms
- Properties and astrophysical implications of the 150 Msun binary black hole merger GW190521
- Computationally efficient models for the dominant and sub-dominant harmonic modes of precessing binary black holes
- Matching post-Newtonian and numerical relativity waveforms: systematic errors and a new phenomenological model for non-precessing black hole binaries
- An introduction to Bayesian inference in gravitational-wave astronomy: parameter estimation, model selection, and hierarchical models
- The promise of multi-band gravitational wave astronomy
- Intermediate mass black holes in AGN disks: I. Production & Growth
- Eccentric Black Hole Mergers Forming in Globular Clusters
- AGN as Potential Factories for Eccentric Black Hole Mergers
- Eccentric Black Hole Mergers in Active Galactic Nuclei
- Disks, spikes, and clouds: distinguishing environmental effects on BBH gravitational waveforms
- Gravitational-wave observations of binary black holes: Effect of non-quadrupole modes
- Detecting triple systems with gravitational wave observations
- Probing stellar binary black hole formation in galactic nuclei via the imprint of their center of mass acceleration on their gravitational wave signal
- The Effect of Massive Perturbers on Extreme Mass-Ratio Inspiral Waveforms
- The effect of matter structure on the gravitational waveform
- The peculiar acceleration of stellar-origin black hole binaries: measurement and biases with LISA
- A New Type of Extreme-mass-ratio Inspirals Produced by Tidal Capture of Binary Black Holes
- The last migration trap of compact objects in AGN accretion disc
- Binary radial velocity measurements with space-based gravitational-wave detectors
- Gravitational-wave detection and parameter estimation for accreting black-hole binaries and their electromagnetic counterpart
- A Direct Probe of Mass Density Near Inspiraling Binary Black Holes
- Observable signature of merging stellar-mass black holes in active galactic nuclei
- Quiescent and active galactic nuclei as factories of merging compact objects in the era of gravitational-wave astronomy
- Phase shift of gravitational waves induced by aberration
- Detectability and parameter estimation of stellar origin black hole binaries with next generation gravitational wave detectors
- Detecting the Beaming Effect of Gravitational Waves
- Waltzing binaries: Probing line-of-sight acceleration of merging compact objects with gravitational waves
- Moving gravitational wave sources at cosmological distances: Impact on the measurement of the Hubble constant
- Aberration of gravitational waveforms by peculiar velocity