Electromagnetic signature of supermassive black hole binaries that enter their gravitational-wave induced inspiral
- Astronomy Department, Harvard University, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 (United States)
Mergers of gas-rich galaxies lead to black hole binaries that coalesce as a result of dynamical friction on the ambient gas. Once the binary tightens to < or approx. 10{sup 3} Schwarzschild radii, its merger is driven by the emission of gravitational waves (GWs). We show that this transition occurs generically at orbital periods of {approx}1-10 years and an orbital velocity v of a few thousand km s{sup -1}, with a very weak dependence on the supply rate of gas (v{proportional_to}M{sup 1/8}). Therefore, as binaries enter their GW-dominated inspiral, they inevitably induce large periodic shifts in the broad emission lines of any associated quasar(s). The probability of finding a binary in tighter configurations scales as v{sup -8} owing to their much shorter lifetimes. Narrow-band monitoring of the broad emission lines of quasars on time scales of months to decades can set a lower limit on the expected rate of GW sources for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna.
- OSTI ID:
- 21409357
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 81, Issue 4; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.81.047503; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 0556-2821
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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