Massive black hole binaries are naturally predicted in the context of the hierarchical model of structure formation. The binaries that manage to lose most of their angular momentum can coalesce to form a single remnant. In the last stages of this process, the holes undergo an extremely loud phase of gravitational wave emission, possibly detectable by current and future probes. The theoretical effort towards obtaining a coherent physical picture of the binary path down to coalescence is still underway. In this paper, for the first time, we take advantage of observational studies of active galactic nuclei evolution to constrain the efficiency of gas-driven binary decay. Under conservative assumptions we find that gas accretion toward the nuclear black holes can efficiently lead binaries of any mass forming at high redshift (> 2) to coalescence within the current time. The observed "downsizing" trend of the accreting black hole luminosity function further implies that the gas inflow is sufficient to drive light black holes down to coalescence, even if they bind in binaries at lower redshifts, down to z~0.5 for binaries of ~10 million solar masses, and z~0.2 for binaries of ~1 million solar masses. This has strong implications for the detection rates of coalescing black hole binaries of future space-based gravitational wave experiments.
Diagnosing the Properties and Evolutionary Fates of Black Hole and Wolf-Rayet X-ray Binaries as Potential Gravitational Wave Sources for the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Network
Anhui Normal University（安徽师范大学）；Université de Genève（日内瓦大学）；Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院紫金山天文台）；Guizhou University（贵州大学）；Zhejiang University of Water Resources and Electric Power（浙江水利水电学院）
Linking high-mass X-ray binaries to binary compact object mergers in Milky Way-like galaxies
Universidad Andres Bello（安德烈斯贝略大学）；INAF - Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio（意大利国家天体物理研究所空间科学与天体物理观测站）；Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias（加那利群岛天体物理研究所）；Universidad de La Laguna（拉拉克鲁纳大学）；Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (ICCUB), Universitat de Barcelona (UB)（巴塞罗那宇宙科学研究所）；Universität Heidelberg, Zentrum für Astronomie (ZAH), Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik（海德堡大学天文学中心理论天体物理研究所）
Unravelling the progenitors of merging black hole binaries
近年来的引力波探测证实了大质量恒星黑洞双星的存在，但黑洞双星的形成通道仍是一个悬而未决的问题。在这里，我们调查的人口BBHs使用我们的新的人口合成代码MOBSE。MOBSE是广泛使用的双星总体合成代码BSE（Hurley et al. 2000，Hurley et al. 2002）的更新版本，包括确定大质量恒星命运的关键要素：最新的恒星风处方和超新星模型。使用MOBSE，我们在低金属丰度下形成总质量高达$\sim{}120$ M $_\odot$的BBH，但只有总质量高达$\sim{}80$ M $_\odot$的系统在不到一个哈勃时间内合并。我们的研究结果表明，只有大质量贫金属星（$Z\lesssim 0.002$）才可能是像GW 150914这样的引力波事件的祖先。此外，我们预测，合并BBH形式更有效地从金属贫比富金属的恒星。
Populations of evolved massive binary stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud I: Predictions from detailed evolution models
Universität Bonn（波恩大学）；Argelander-Institut für Astronomie, Universität Bonn（波恩大学阿尔兰德天体物理研究所）；Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie（马克斯·普朗克射电天文研究所）；Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik（马克斯·普朗克天体物理学研究所）；Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik（马克斯·普朗克地外物理学研究所）；Tel Aviv University（特拉维夫大学）
A Framework for Linking Pre- and Post-Common Envelope Binary Properties with Star Clusters: The First Demonstration with a Massive White Dwarf+M Dwarf Binary in Alessi 12
University of California San Diego（加州大学圣地亚哥分校）；David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto（多伦多大学戴维·A·邓普天文学与天体物理学系）；National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology（罗切斯特理工学院国家聋人技术学院）；Center for Computational Relativity and Gravitation, Rochester Institute of Technology（罗切斯特理工学院计算相对论与引力中心）；Department of Astronomy & The Institute for Astrophysical Research, Boston University（波士顿大学天文学与天体物理研究所）；School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology（罗切斯特理工学院物理与天文学院）
The diverse outcomes of binary white dwarf mergers and connections to Galactic LISA sources
University of California, San Diego（加州大学圣地亚哥分校）；Carnegie Mellon University（卡内基梅隆大学）；Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto（多伦多大学加拿大理论天体物理研究所）
Enabling population studies on wind-driven Galactic binary systems
Joint Institute for VLBI ERIC（甚长基线干涉测量欧洲研究基础设施）；ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy（荷兰射电天文研究所）；Space Sciences, Technologies and Astrophysics Research (STAR) Institute, University of Liège（列日大学空间科学、技术与天体物理研究（STAR）研究所）；Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology（查尔姆斯理工大学空间、地球与环境系）；Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology（印度空间科学与技术学院）
The Emergence of Little Red Dots from Binary Massive Black Holes
Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University（北京大学 Kavli天体物理与天文研究所）；Department of Astronomy, School of Physics, Peking University（北京大学物理学院天文学系）；Department of Astronomy, Columbia University（哥伦比亚大学天文学系）；Department of Physics, Columbia University（哥伦比亚大学物理系）；Institute of Science and Technology Austria（奥地利科学技术研究院）
