Simulation of Binary-Single Interactions in AGN Disk I: Gas-Enhanced Binary Orbital Hardening

Fuente: arXiv
Enregistré dans:
Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs principaux: Wang, Mengye, Ma, Yiqiu, Li, Hui, Wu, Qingwen, Li, Ya-Ping, Lei, Xiangli, Wu, Jiancheng
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
Sujets:
Accès en ligne:
Tags: Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
_version_ 1866915244912148480
author Wang, Mengye
Ma, Yiqiu
Li, Hui
Wu, Qingwen
Li, Ya-Ping
Lei, Xiangli
Wu, Jiancheng
author_facet Wang, Mengye
Ma, Yiqiu
Li, Hui
Wu, Qingwen
Li, Ya-Ping
Lei, Xiangli
Wu, Jiancheng
contents Stellar-mass binary black hole\,(BBH) mergers within the accretion disks of active galactic nuclei may contribute to gravitational wave\,(GW) events detected by grounded-based GW detectors. In particular, the interaction between a BBH and a single stellar-mass black hole\,(sBH), known as the binary-single interaction\,(BSI) process, can potentially lead to GW events with detectable non-zero eccentricity. Previous studies of the BSI process, which neglected the effects of gas, showed that BSIs contribute non-negligibly to GW events in a coplanar disk environment. In this work, we conduct a series of 2-dimensional hydrodynamical and N-body simulations to explore the BSI in a gas environment by coupling REBOUND with Athena++. We perform 360 simulation runs, spanning parameters in disk surface density \(Σ_0\) and impact parameter \(b\). We find that the gas-induced energy dissipation within the three-body system becomes significant if the encounter velocity between the sBHs is sufficiently large\,($\gg c_s$). Our simulation results indicate that approximately half of the end states of the BSI are changed by gas. Furthermore, at higher gas density, the number of close encounters during the BSI process will increase and the end-state BBHs tend to be more compact. Consequently, the presence of gas may shorten the GW merger timescale for end-state BBHs and increase the three-body merger rate.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_10703
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Simulation of Binary-Single Interactions in AGN Disk I: Gas-Enhanced Binary Orbital Hardening
Wang, Mengye
Ma, Yiqiu
Li, Hui
Wu, Qingwen
Li, Ya-Ping
Lei, Xiangli
Wu, Jiancheng
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Stellar-mass binary black hole\,(BBH) mergers within the accretion disks of active galactic nuclei may contribute to gravitational wave\,(GW) events detected by grounded-based GW detectors. In particular, the interaction between a BBH and a single stellar-mass black hole\,(sBH), known as the binary-single interaction\,(BSI) process, can potentially lead to GW events with detectable non-zero eccentricity. Previous studies of the BSI process, which neglected the effects of gas, showed that BSIs contribute non-negligibly to GW events in a coplanar disk environment. In this work, we conduct a series of 2-dimensional hydrodynamical and N-body simulations to explore the BSI in a gas environment by coupling REBOUND with Athena++. We perform 360 simulation runs, spanning parameters in disk surface density \(Σ_0\) and impact parameter \(b\). We find that the gas-induced energy dissipation within the three-body system becomes significant if the encounter velocity between the sBHs is sufficiently large\,($\gg c_s$). Our simulation results indicate that approximately half of the end states of the BSI are changed by gas. Furthermore, at higher gas density, the number of close encounters during the BSI process will increase and the end-state BBHs tend to be more compact. Consequently, the presence of gas may shorten the GW merger timescale for end-state BBHs and increase the three-body merger rate.
title Simulation of Binary-Single Interactions in AGN Disk I: Gas-Enhanced Binary Orbital Hardening
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.10703