Motivated by the recent detection of gravitational waves from the black hole binary merger GW150914, we study the dynamical evolution of black holes in galactic nuclei where massive star clusters reside. With masses of ~10^7M_Sun and sizes of only a few parsecs, nuclear star clusters are the densest stellar systems observed in the local universe and represent a robust environment where (stellar mass) black hole binaries can dynamically form, harden and merge. We show that due to their large escape speeds, nuclear star clusters can keep a large fraction of their merger remnants while also evolving rapidly enough that the holes can sink back to the central regions where they can swap in new binaries that can subsequently harden and merge. This process can repeat several times and produce black hole mergers of several tens of solar masses similar to GW150914 and up to a few hundreds of solar masses, without the need of invoking extremely low metallicity environments or implausible initial conditions. We use a semi-analytical approach to describe the formation and dynamics of black holes in massive star clusters. We find a black hole binary merger rate per volume from nuclear star clusters of ~1.5 Gpc^-3 yr^-1, implying up to a few tens of possible detections per year with Advanced LIGO. Our models suggest a local merger rate of 0.3- 1 Gpc^-3 yr^-1 for high mass black hole binaries similar to GW150914 (total mass >~ 50 M_Sun, redshift z< 0.3); a merger rate comparable to that of high mass black hole binaries that are dynamically assembled in globular clusters. Finally, we show that if all black holes receive high natal kicks, >~50km s^-1, then nuclear star clusters could dominate the local merger rate of binary black holes compared to the merger rate of similar binaries produced in either globular clusters or through isolated binary evolution.
New strong non-spiralling-in gravitational wave (GW) source for LIGO/VIRGO detectors are proposed. Double O-Ne-Mg white dwarf mergers can produce strong gravitational waves with frequencies in the several hundreds Hz range. Such events can be followed by a Super Nova type Ia.
The dynamical formation of stellar-mass black hole-black hole binaries has long been a promising source of gravitational waves for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). Mass segregation, gravitational focusing, and multibody dynamical interactions naturally increase the interaction rate between the most massive black holes in dense stellar systems, eventually leading them to merge. We find that dynamical interactions, particularly three-body binary formation, enhance the merger rate of black hole binaries with total mass M_tot roughly as ~M_tot^beta, with beta >~ 4. W…
We study the impact of the black hole binary population currently probed by LIGO-Virgo on future searches for the primordial gravitational wave background. We estimate the foreground generated by the binaries using the observed event rate and a simple modeling of the black hole population. We subtract individually resolvable binaries from the foreground and utilize Fisher analysis to derive sensitivity curves for power-law signals including these astrophysical foregrounds. Even with optimistic assumptions, we find that the reach of future experiments will be severely reduced.
In this letter, we note that the observed in the LIGO / Virgo experiment ratio of the detection rate of black holes to the rate of detection of binary neutron stars requires the assumption of a "conservative" collapse of massive stars into a black hole: almost all the mass of the collapsing star goes under the horizon. This is consistent with the large masses of black holes detected by LIGO/Virgo. On the other hand, the assumption of a small loss of matter during the collapse into a black hole is in good agreement with the small eccentricity of Single-lined Binaries. At the same time, the abse…
Following the reported discovery of the gravitational-wave pulse GW170817/ G298048 by three LIGO/Virgo antennae (Abbott et al., 2017a), the MASTER Global Robotic Net telescopes obtained the first image of the NGC 4993 galaxy after the NS+NS merging. The optical transient MASTER OTJ130948.10-232253.3/SSS17a was later found, which appears to be a kilonova resulting from a merger of two neutron stars. In this paper we report the independent detection and photometry of the kilonova made in white light and in B, V, and R filters. We note that luminosity of the discovered kilonova NGC 4993 is very c…
With the hundreds of merging binary black hole (BH) signals expected to be detected by LIGO/Virgo, LISA and other instruments in the next few years, the modeling of astrophysical channels that lead to the formation of compact-object binaries has become of fundamental importance. In this paper, we carry out a systematic statistical study of quadruple BHs consisting of two binaries in orbit around their center of mass, by means of high-precision direct $N$-body simulations including Post-Newtonian (PN) terms up to 2.5PN order. We found that most merging systems have high initial inclinations and…
The detections of gravitational waves produced in mergers of binary black holes (BH) and neutron stars (NS) by LIGO/Virgo have stimulated interest in the origin of the progenitor binaries. Dense stellar systems - globular and nuclear star clusters - are natural sites of compact object binary formation and evolution towards merger. Here we explore a new channel for the production of binary mergers in clusters, in which the tidal field of the cluster secularly drives the binary to high eccentricity (even in the absence of a central massive black hole) until gravitational wave emission becomes im…
Using simulations performed with the population synthesis code MOBSE, we compute the merger rate densities and detection rates of compact binary mergers formed in isolation for second- and third-generation gravitational-wave detectors. We estimate how rates are affected by uncertainties on key stellar-physics parameters, namely common envelope evolution and natal kicks. We estimate how future upgrades will increase the size of the available catalog of merger events, and we discuss features of the merger rate density that will become accessible with third-generation detectors.
Low mass X-ray binaries are prime targets for continuous gravitational wave searches by ground-based interferometers. Results are presented from a search for five low-mass X-ray binaries whose spin frequencies and orbital elements are measured accurately from X-ray pulsations: HETE J1900.1-2455, IGR J00291+5934, SAX J1808.4-3658, XTE J0929-314, and XTE J1814-338. Data are analysed from Observing Run 2 of the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). The search algorithm uses a hidden Markov model to track spin wandering, the $\mathcal{J}$-statistic maximum likelihood…
I investigate the roles of cluster dynamics and massive binary evolution in producing stellar-remnant binary black hole (BBH) mergers over the cosmic time. To that end, dynamical BBH mergers are obtained from long-term direct N-body evolutionary models of $\sim10^4M_\odot$, pc-scale young massive clusters (YMC) evolving into moderate-mass open clusters (OC). Fast evolutionary models of massive isolated binaries (IB) yield BBHs from binary evolution. Population synthesis in a Model Universe is then performed, taking into account observed cosmic star-formation and enrichment histories, to obtain…
We discuss in this contribution some issues of the NS-NS merging events, emphasizing that the data and independent evidence gathered from NS mass distribution suggest an asymmetric system as the progenitor of GW170817. The issue of the maximum static NS mass (likely found in redback-black widow systems) is in tension with the value related to this particular event.
The first four gravitational wave events detected by LIGO were all interpreted as merging black hole binaries (BHBs), opening a new perspective on the study of such systems. Here we use our new population-synthesis code MOBSE, an upgraded version of BSE (Hurley et al. 2002), to investigate the demography of merging BHBs. MOBSE includes metallicity-dependent prescriptions for mass loss of massive hot stars. It also accounts for the impact of the electron-scattering Eddington factor on mass loss. We perform >10^8 simulations of isolated massive binaries, with 12 different metallicities, to study…
Nuclear star clusters that surround supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in galactic nuclei are among the densest systems in the Universe, harbouring millions of stars and compact objects (COs). Within a few parsecs from the SMBH, stars can form binaries. In this paper, we model the supernova (SN) process of massive binaries that are born in proximity of the SMBH and that produce CO binaries. These binaries can later merge via emission of gravitational waves as a consequence of the Lidov-Kozai mechanism. We study the dynamical evolution of these systems by means of high-precision $N$-body simulati…
We study the effect of external companion on the orbital and spin evolution of merging black-hole (BH) binaries. An sufficiently close by and inclined companion can excite Lidov-Kozai (LK) eccentricity oscillations in the binary, thereby shortening its merger time. During such LK-enhanced orbital decay, the spin axis of the BH generally exhibits chaotic evolution, leading to a wide range ($0^\circ$-$180^\circ$) of final spin-orbit misalignment angle from an initially aligned configuration. For systems that do not experience eccentricity excitation, only modest ($\lesssim 20^\circ$) spin-orbit …
There are increasing interests in binary supermassive black holes (SMBHs), but merging binaries with separations smaller than ~1 light days (~10^2 gravitational radii for 10^8 Msun), which are rapidly evolving under control of gravitational waves, are elusive in observations. In this paper, we discuss fates of mini-disks around component SMBHs for three regimes: 1) low rates (advection-dominated accretion flows: ADAFs); 2) intermediate rates; 3) super-Eddington accretion rates. Mini-disks with intermediate rates are undergoing evaporation through thermal conduction of hot corona forming a hybr…
The recent detections of the binary black hole mergers GW150914 and GW151226 have inaugurated the field of gravitational-wave astronomy. For the two main formation channels that have been proposed for these sources, isolated binary evolution in galactic fields and dynamical formation in dense star clusters, the predicted masses and merger rates overlap significantly, complicating any astrophysical claims that rely on measured masses alone. Here, we examine the distribution of spin- orbit misalignments expected for binaries from the field and from dense star clusters. Under standard assumptions…
The predicted rate of binary black hole mergers from galactic fields can vary over several orders of magnitude and is extremely sensitive to the assumptions of stellar evolution. But in dense stellar environments such as globular clusters, binary black holes form by well-understood gravitational interactions. In this letter, we study the formation of black hole binaries in an extensive collection of realistic globular cluster models. By comparing these models to observed Milky Way and extragalactic globular clusters, we find that the mergers of dynamically-formed binaries could be detected at …
The recent advanced LIGO/Virgo detections of gravitational waves (GWs) from stellar binary black hole (BBH) mergers, in particular GW190521, which is potentially associated with a quasar, have stimulated renewed interest in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) as factories of merging BBHs. Compact objects evolving from massive stars are unavoidably enshrouded by a massive envelope to form accretion-modified stars (AMSs) in the dense gaseous environment of a supermassive black hole (SMBH) accretion disk. We show that most AMSs form binaries due to gravitational interaction with each other during radia…
Scalar fields around black hole binaries in LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA
Université Catholique de Louvain（天主教鲁汶大学）；Royal Observatory of Belgium（比利时皇家天文台）；University of Amsterdam（阿姆斯特丹大学）；Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院）；Queen Mary University of London（伦敦玛丽女王大学）；University of Oxford（牛津大学）
The LIGO/Virgo gravitational--wave observatories have detected 50 BH-BH coalescences. This sample is large enough to have allowed several recent studies to draw conclusions about the branching ratios between isolated binaries versus dense stellar clusters as the origin of double BHs. It has also led to the exciting suggestion that the population is highly likely to contain primordial black holes. Here we demonstrate that such conclusions cannot yet be robust, because of the large current uncertainties in several key aspects of binary stellar evolution. These include the development and surviva…
The recent discovery of gravitational radiation from merging black holes poses a challenge of how to organize the electromagnetic follow-up of gravitational-wave events as well as observed bursts of neutrinos. We propose a technique to select the galaxies that are most likely to host the event given some assumptions of whether the particular event is associated with recent star formation, low metallicity stars or simply proportional to the total stellar mass in the galaxy. We combine data from the 2-MASS Photometric Redshift Galaxy Catalogue with results from galaxy formation simulations to de…
Recently, the LIGO-Virgo collaborations have reported the coalescence of a binary involving a black hole and a low-mass gap object (LMGO) with mass in the range $\sim2.5-5M_\odot$. Such detections, challenge our understanding of the black hole and neutron star mass spectrum, as well as how such binaries evolve especially if isolated. In this work we study the dynamical formation of compact object pairs, via multiple binary-single exchanges that occur at the cores of globular clusters. We start with a population of binary star systems, which interact with single compact objects as first generat…
We present a search for gravitational waves from the coalescence of sub-solar mass black hole binaries using data from the first half of Advanced LIGO and Virgo's third observing run. The observation of a sub-solar mass black hole merger may be an indication of primordial origin; primordial black holes may contribute to the dark matter distribution. We search for black hole mergers where the primary mass is $0.1-7 M_{\odot}$ and the secondary mass is $0.1-1 M_{\odot}$. A variety of models predict the production and coalescence of binaries containing primordial black holes; some involve dynamic…
Merging neutron star binaries are prime candidate sources for heavy r-process nucleosynthesis. The amount of heavy r-process material is consistent with the mass ejection and rates of mergers, and abundances of relic radioactive materials suggest that heavy r-process material is produced in rare events. Observations of possible macronovae provide further support for this model. Still, some concerns remain. One is the observation of heavy r-process elements in Ultra Faint Dwarf (UFD) galaxies. The escape velocities from UFDs are so small that the natal kicks, taking place at neutron stars birth…
The detection of gravitational waves from the merger of binary black holes by the LIGO Collaboration has opened a new window to astrophysics. With the sensitivities of ground based detectors in the coming years we can only detect the local black hole binary mergers. The integrated merger rate can instead be probed by the gravitational-wave background, the incoherent superposition of the released energy in gravitational waves during binary-black-hole coalescence. Through that, the properties of the binary black holes can be studied. In this work we show that by measuring the energy density $Ω_{…
Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) span the approximate mass range $100$--$10^5\,M_\odot$, between black holes (BHs) formed by stellar collapse and the supermassive BHs at the centers of galaxies. Mergers of IMBH binaries are the most energetic gravitational-wave sources accessible by the terrestrial detector network. Searches of the first two observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo did not yield any significant IMBH binary signals. In the third observing run (O3), the increased network sensitivity enabled the detection of GW190521, a signal consistent with a binary merger of mas…
The formation of compact stellar-mass binaries is a difficult, but interesting problem in astrophysics. There are two main formation channels: In the field via binary star evolution, or in dense stellar systems via dynamical interactions. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) has detected black hole binaries (BHBs) via their gravitational radiation. These detections provide us with information about the physical parameters of the system. It has been claimed that when the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is operating, the joint observation of these binaries wit…
Prior to the detection of black holes (BHs) via the gravitational waves (GWs) they generate at merger, the presence of BHs was inferred in X-ray binaries, mostly via dynamical measurements, with masses in the range between $\sim 5-20~M_\odot$. The LIGO discovery of the first BHs via GWs was surprising in that the two BHs that merged had masses of $35.6^{+4.8}_{-3.0}$ and $30.6^{+3.0}_{-4.4}\,M_\odot$, which are both above the range inferred from X-ray binaries. With 20 BH detections from the O1/O2 runs, the distribution of masses remains generally higher than the X-ray inferred one, while the …
The LIGO detection of gravitational waves (GW) from merging black holes in 2015 marked the beginning of a new era in observational astronomy. The detection of an electromagnetic signal from a GW source is the critical next step to explore in detail the physics involved. The Antarctic Survey Telescopes (AST3), located at Dome A, Antarctica, is uniquely situated for rapid response time-domain astronomy with its continuous night-time coverage during the austral winter. We report optical observations of the GW source (GW~170817) in the nearby galaxy NGC 4993 using AST3. The data show a rapidly fad…
Recently discovered bursts of gravitational waves provide a good opportunity to verify the current view on the evolution of close binary stars. Modern population synthesis computer programs help to study this evolution from two main sequence stars up to the formation of compact remnants. To calculate the evolution of predecessors of black hole (BH) mergers we used the `Scenario Machine' code. The scenario modelling allowed to describe the evolution of systems for which the final stage is a BH+BH merger and showed the plausibility of modern evolutionary scenarios for binary stars and population…
Modern astrophysical methods of determination of spins of rotating stellar-mass black hole in close binaries and of supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei are briefly discussed. Effective spins of coalescing binary black holes derived from LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave observations are specially addressed. We consider three types of coalescing binaries: double black holes, black hole-neutron star binaries and primordial double black holes. The effective spins of coalescing astrophysical binary black holes and black holes with neutron stars are calculated for two plausible models of…
LIGO's detection of gravitational waves from binary black hole mergers was an unexpected surprise that immediately raised the question - what is the origin of these black hole binaries? The "simplest" scenario is evolution of field massive stellar binaries. However, other possibilities involving capture have been proposed. We explore here one of the more interesting clues on this puzzle: the relatively modest spins of the resulting black holes that imply that the progenitor black holes were not spinning rapidly. More specifically we consider the implication of observed distribution of, $χ_{\rm…
Interactions between a supermassive black hole binary and the surrounding accretion disc can both assist the binary inspiral and align the black hole spins to the disc angular momentum. While binary migration is due to angular-momentum transfer within the circumbinary disc, the spin-alignment process is driven by the mass accreting on to each black hole. Mass transfer between different disc components thus couples the inspiral and the alignment process together. Mass is expected to leak through the cavity cleared by the binary, and preferentially accretes on to the lighter (secondary) black ho…
We investigate secular evolution in hierarchical quadruple systems as a formation channel of mass-gap black holes (with masses of about $3-5$ $M_{\odot}$) in systems that will eventually lead to binary black hole mergers detectable by ground-based gravitational wave detectors (LIGO/Virgo). We show that in a 3+1 hierarchical system, two episodes of induced mergers would first cause two neutron stars to merge and form a mass-gap black hole, which will subsequently merge with another (more massive) black hole through a second induced merger. We demonstrate that such systems are stable to flybys, …
We present a critical reanalysis of the black-hole binary coalescences detected during LIGO's first observing run under different Bayesian prior assumptions. We summarize the main findings of Vitale et al. (2017) and show additional marginalized posterior distributions for some of the binaries' intrinsic parameters.
Context: The LIGO consortium announced the first direct detection of gravitation wave event GW150914 from two merging black holes; however the nature of the black holes are still not clear. Aims: We study whether electromagnetic radiation can be detected from merging stellar mass black binaries like GW150914. Methods: We briefly investigate the possible growth and merging processes of the two stellar mass black holes in the merging event of GW150914 detected by aLIGO, as clocked by a distant external observer. Our main results are: (1) The description of the black hole growth using stationary …
We study the dynamics of merging compact binaries near a rotating supermassive black hole (SMBH) in a hierarchical triple configuration. We include various general relativistic effects that couple the inner orbit, the outer orbit and the spin of the SMBH. During the orbital decay due to gravitational radiation, the inner binary can encounter an "apsidal precession resonance" and experience eccentricity excitation. This resonance occurs when the apsidal precession rate of the inner binary matches that of the outer binary, with the precessions driven by both Newtonian interactions and various po…
Eccentricity and Inclination Excitation of Stellar Orbits around merging Black-Hole Binaries
School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University（南京大学天文与空间科学学院）；Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics in Ministry of Education, Nanjing University（南京大学现代天体学与天体物理教育部重点实验室）
Recent work paints a conflicting portrait of the distribution of black hole spins in merging binaries measured with gravitational waves. Some analyses find that a significant fraction of merging binaries contain at least one black hole with a spin tilt $>90^\circ$ with respect to the orbital angular momentum vector, which has been interpreted as a signature for dynamical assembly. Other analyses find the data are consistent with a bimodal population in which some binaries contain black holes with negligible spin while the rest contain black holes with spin vectors preferentially aligned with t…
The exciting development of gravitational wave (GW) astronomy in the correlation of LIGO and VIRGO detection of GW signals makes possible to expect registration of effects of not only Binary Black Hole (BH) coalescence, but also Binary Neutron Star (NS) merging accompanied by electromagnetic (GRB) signal. Here we consider the possibility that a Neutron Star (NS), merging in a NS-NS or NS-BH system might be (soon) observed in correlation with any LIGO-VIRGO Gravitational Waves detection. We analyze as an example the recent case of the short GRB 170817A observed by Fermi and Integral. The associ…
The recent detection of gravitational waves has proven the existence of massive stellar black hole binaries (BBHs), but the formation channels of BBHs are still an open question. Here, we investigate the demography of BBHs by using our new population-synthesis code MOBSE. MOBSE is an updated version of the widely used binary population-synthesis code BSE (Hurley et al. 2000, Hurley et al. 2002) and includes the key ingredients to determine the fate of massive stars: up-to-date stellar wind prescriptions and supernova models. With MOBSE, we form BBHs with total mass up to $\sim{}120$ M$_\odot$ …
The early inspiral of massive stellar-mass black-hole binaries merging in LIGO's sensitivity band will be detectable at low frequencies by the upcoming space mission LISA. LISA will predict, with years of forewarning, the time and frequency with which binaries will be observed by LIGO. We will, therefore, find ourselves in the position of knowing that a binary is about to merge, with the unprecedented opportunity to optimize ground-based operations to increase their scientific payoff. We apply this idea to detections of multiple ringdown modes, or black-hole spectroscopy. Narrowband tunings ca…
Our understanding of the formation and evolution of binary black holes (BBHs) is significantly impacted by the recent discoveries made by the LIGO/Virgo collaboration. Of utmost importance is the detection of the most massive BBH system, GW190521. Here we investigate what it takes for field massive stellar binaries to account for the formation of such massive BBHs. Whether the high mass end of the BH mass function is populated by remnants of massive stars that either formed at extremely low metallicities and avoid the pair-instability mass gap or increase their birth mass beyond the pair-insta…
Binaries within the sphere of influence of a massive black hole (MBH) in galactic nuclei are susceptible to the Lidov-Kozai (LK) mechanism, which can drive orbits to high eccentricities and trigger strong interactions within the binary such as the emission of gravitational waves (GWs), and mergers of compact objects. These events are potential sources for GW detectors such as Advanced LIGO and VIRGO. The LK mechanism is only effective if the binary is highly inclined with respect to its orbit around the MBH (within a few degrees of 90 deg), implying low rates. However, close to an MBH, torques…
