Eccentric Signatures of Stellar-Mass Binary Black Holes with Circumbinary Disks in LISA

Abstract

Stellar-mass binary black holes may have circumbinary disks if formed through common-envelope evolution or within gaseous environments. Disks can drive binaries into wider and more eccentric orbits, while gravitational waves harden and circularise them. We combine cutting-edge evolution prescriptions for disk-driven binaries with well-known equations for gravitational-wave-driven evolution, and study the evolution of stellar-mass binary black holes. We find that binaries are driven by their disk to an equilibrium eccentricity, $0.2\lesssim e_{\mathrm{eq}}\lesssim 0.5$, that dominates their evolution. Once they transition to the GW-dominated regime their eccentricity decreases rapidly; we find that stellar-mass binary black holes with long-lived disks will likely be observed in LISA with detectable eccentricities $\sim 10^{-2}$ at $0.01$ Hz, with the precise value closely correlating with the binary's initial mass ratio. This may lead stellar-mass binary black holes with CBDs observed in LISA to be confused with dynamically-formed binary black holes.

7 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters