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ABSTRACT Many astrophysical environments, from star clusters and globular clusters to the discs of active galactic nuclei, are characterized by frequent interactions between stars and the compact objects that they leave behind. Here, using a suite of 3D hydrodynamics simulations, we explore the outcome of close interactions between $$1\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$$ stars and binary black holes (BBHs) in the gravitational wave regime, resulting in a tidal disruption event (TDE) or a pure scattering, focusing on the accretion rates, the back reaction on the BH binary orbital parameters, and the increase in the binary BH effective spin. We find that TDEs can make a significant impact on the binary orbit, which is often different from that of a pure scattering. Binaries experiencing a prograde (retrograde) TDE tend to be widened (hardened) by up to $$\simeq 20{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$$. Initially circular binaries become more eccentric by $$\lesssim 10{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$$ by a prograde or retrograde TDE, whereas the eccentricity of initially eccentric binaries increases (decreases) by a retrograde (prograde) TDE by $$\lesssim 5{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$$. Overall, a single TDE can generally result in changes of the gravitational-wave-driven merger time-scale by order unity. The accretion rates of both black holes are very highly super-Eddington, showing modulations (preferentially for retrograde TDEs) on a time-scale of the orbital period, which can be a characteristic feature of BBH-driven TDEs. Prograde TDEs result in the effective spin parameter χ to vary by ≲0.02, while χ ≳ −0.005 for retrograde TDEs.
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Impact of eccentricity and mean anomaly in numerical relativity mergers
Abstract Accurate modelling of black hole (BH) binaries is critical to achieve the science goals of gravitational-wave detectors. Modelling such configurations relies strongly on calibration to numerical-relativity (NR) simulations. Binaries on quasi-circular orbits have been widely explored in NR, however, coverage of the broader nine-dimensional parameter space, including orbital eccentricity, remains sparse. This article develops a new procedure to control orbital eccentricity of binary BH (BBH) simulations that enables choosing initial data parameters with precise control over eccentricity and mean anomaly of the subsequent evolution, as well as the coalescence time. We then calculate several sequences of NR simulations that nearly uniformly cover the two-dimensional eccentricity–mean anomaly space for equal mass, non-spinning BBHs. We demonstrate that, for fixed eccentricity, many quantities related to the merger dynamics of BBHs show an oscillatory dependence on mean anomaly. The amplitude of these oscillations scales nearly linearly with the eccentricity of the system. We find that for the eccentricities explored in this work, the magnitude of deviations in various quantities such as the merger amplitude and peak luminosity can approach ∼5% of their quasi-circular value. We use our findings to explain eccentric phenomena reported in other studies. We also show that methods for estimating the remnant mass employed in the effective-one-body approach exhibit similar deviations, roughly matching the amplitude of the oscillations we find in NR simulations. This work is an important step towards a complete description of eccentric BBH mergers, and demonstrates the importance of considering the entire two-dimensional parameter subspace related to eccentricity.
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- PAR ID:
- 10632257
- Publisher / Repository:
- Classical and Quantum Gravity
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Classical and Quantum Gravity
- Volume:
- 42
- Issue:
- 13
- ISSN:
- 0264-9381
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 135011
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6382/ade35d
