Formation Channels of Gravitationally Resolvable Double White Dwarf Binaries Inside Globular Clusters

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Hellström, Lucas, Giersz, Mirosław, Askar, Abbas, Hypki, Arkadiusz, Zhao, Yuetong, Lu, Youjun, Zhang, Siqi, Vázquez-Aceves, Verónica, Wiktorowicz, Grzegorz
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Hellström, Lucas
Giersz, Mirosław
Askar, Abbas
Hypki, Arkadiusz
Zhao, Yuetong
Lu, Youjun
Zhang, Siqi
Vázquez-Aceves, Verónica
Wiktorowicz, Grzegorz
author_facet Hellström, Lucas
Giersz, Mirosław
Askar, Abbas
Hypki, Arkadiusz
Zhao, Yuetong
Lu, Youjun
Zhang, Siqi
Vázquez-Aceves, Verónica
Wiktorowicz, Grzegorz
contents Current gravitational wave detectors are sensitive to coalescing black holes and neutron stars. However, double white dwarfs (DWDs) have long been recognized as promising sources of gravitational waves, and upcoming detectors like LISA will be able to observe these systems in abundance. DWDs are expected to be the dominant gravitational wave (GW) sources in parts of the LISA frequency range, making it crucial to understand their formation for future detections. The Milky Way contains many white dwarfs (WDs) in both the field and star clusters, promising a rich population of DWDs for LISA. However, the large number of sources may make it difficult to resolve individual binaries, and DWDs in the field and clusters often have similar properties, complicating the identification of their origins from GW signals alone. In this work, we focus on eccentric and tight DWDs, which cannot form in the field, but require dynamical interactions in dense clusters to increase their eccentricity after circularization through mass transfer phases and common-envelope evolution during binary evolution. These binaries may also form in three- and four-body dynamical interactions where a DWD binary may directly form with high eccentricity and low separation. Our results show that we should expect eccentric and tight DWDs in clusters that can provide meaningful GW signal, however, the number is low; with an upper limit of 10-15 in the MW. These can be used to independently obtain distances of their host cluster.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_13122
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Formation Channels of Gravitationally Resolvable Double White Dwarf Binaries Inside Globular Clusters
Hellström, Lucas
Giersz, Mirosław
Askar, Abbas
Hypki, Arkadiusz
Zhao, Yuetong
Lu, Youjun
Zhang, Siqi
Vázquez-Aceves, Verónica
Wiktorowicz, Grzegorz
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Current gravitational wave detectors are sensitive to coalescing black holes and neutron stars. However, double white dwarfs (DWDs) have long been recognized as promising sources of gravitational waves, and upcoming detectors like LISA will be able to observe these systems in abundance. DWDs are expected to be the dominant gravitational wave (GW) sources in parts of the LISA frequency range, making it crucial to understand their formation for future detections. The Milky Way contains many white dwarfs (WDs) in both the field and star clusters, promising a rich population of DWDs for LISA. However, the large number of sources may make it difficult to resolve individual binaries, and DWDs in the field and clusters often have similar properties, complicating the identification of their origins from GW signals alone. In this work, we focus on eccentric and tight DWDs, which cannot form in the field, but require dynamical interactions in dense clusters to increase their eccentricity after circularization through mass transfer phases and common-envelope evolution during binary evolution. These binaries may also form in three- and four-body dynamical interactions where a DWD binary may directly form with high eccentricity and low separation. Our results show that we should expect eccentric and tight DWDs in clusters that can provide meaningful GW signal, however, the number is low; with an upper limit of 10-15 in the MW. These can be used to independently obtain distances of their host cluster.
title Formation Channels of Gravitationally Resolvable Double White Dwarf Binaries Inside Globular Clusters
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.13122