No Arabic abstract
Gravitational waves (GWs) from the inspiral of a neutron star (NS) or stellar-mass black hole (BH) into an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) with mass between ~50 and ~350 solar masses may be detectable by the planned advanced generation of ground-based GW interferometers. Such intermediate mass ratio inspirals (IMRIs) are most likely to be found in globular clusters. We analyze four possible IMRI formation mechanisms: (1) hardening of an NS-IMBH or BH-IMBH binary via three-body interactions, (2) hardening via Kozai resonance in a hierarchical triple system, (3) direct capture, and (4) inspiral of a compact object from a tidally captured main-sequence star; we also discuss tidal effects when the inspiraling object is an NS. For each mechanism we predict the typical eccentricities of the resulting IMRIs. We find that IMRIs will have largely circularized by the time they enter the sensitivity band of ground-based detectors. Hardening of a binary via three-body interactions, which is likely to be the dominant mechanism for IMRI formation, yields eccentricities under 10^-4 when the GW frequency reaches 10 Hz. Even among IMRIs formed via direct captures, which can have the highest eccentricities, around 90% will circularize to eccentricities under 0.1 before the GW frequency reaches 10 Hz. We estimate the rate of IMRI coalescences in globular clusters and the sensitivity of a network of three Advanced LIGO detectors to the resulting GWs. We show that this detector network may see up to tens of IMRIs per year, although rates of one to a few per year may be more plausible. We also estimate the loss in signal-to-noise ratio that will result from using circular IMRI templates for data analysis and find that, for the eccentricities we expect, this loss is negligible.
One of the main targets of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is the detection of extreme mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs) and extremely large mass-ratio inspirals (X-MRIs). Their orbits are expected to be highly eccentric and relativistic when entering the LISA band. Under these circumstances, the inspiral time-scale given by Peters formula loses precision and the shift of the last-stable orbit (LSO) caused by the massive black hole spin could influence the event rates estimate. We re-derive EMRIs and X-MRIs event rates by implementing two differe
The intermediate mass-ratio inspiral of a stellar compact remnant into an intermediate mass black hole (IMBH) can produce a gravitational wave (GW) signal that is potentially detectable by current ground-based GW detectors (e.g., Advanced LIGO) as well as by planned space-based interferometers (e.g., eLISA). Here, we present results from a direct integration of the post-Newtonian $N$-body equations of motion describing stellar clusters containing an IMBH and a population of stellar-mass black holes (BHs) and solar mass stars. We take particular care to simulate the dynamics closest to the IMBH, including post-Newtonian effects up to order $2.5$. Our simulations show that the IMBH readily forms a binary with a BH companion. This binary is gradually hardened by transient 3-body or 4-body encounters, leading to frequent substitutions of the BH companion, while the binarys eccentricity experiences large amplitude oscillations due to the Lidov-Kozai resonance. We also demonstrate suppression of these resonances by the relativistic precession of the binary orbit. We find an intermediate mass-ratio inspiral in one of the 12 cluster models we evolved for $sim 100$ Myr. This cluster hosts a $100 M_odot$ IMBH embedded in a population of 32 $10M_odot$ BH and 32,000 $1M_odot$ stars. At the end of the simulation, after $sim 100$ Myr of evolution, the IMBH merges with a BH companion. The IMBH--BH binary inspiral starts in the eLISA frequency window ($gtrsim 1rm mHz$) when the binary reaches an eccentricity $1-esimeq 10^{-3}$. After $simeq 10^5$ years the binary moves into the LIGO frequency band with a negligible eccentricity. We comment on the implications for GW searches, with a possible detection within the next decade.
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 mass $sim 150,M_odot,$ providing direct evidence of IMBH formation. Here we report on a dedicated search of O3 data for further IMBH binary mergers, combining both modelled (matched filter) and model independent search methods. We find some marginal candidates, but none are sufficiently significant to indicate detection of further IMBH mergers. We quantify the sensitivity of the individual search methods and of the combined search using a suite of IMBH binary signals obtained via numerical relativity, including the effects of spins misaligned with the binary orbital axis, and present the resulting upper limits on astrophysical merger rates. Our most stringent limit is for equal mass and aligned spin BH binary of total mass $200,M_odot$ and effective aligned spin 0.8 at $0.056,Gpc^{-3} yr^{-1}$ (90 $%$ confidence), a factor of 3.5 more constraining than previous LIGO-Virgo limits. We also update the estimated rate of mergers similar to GW190521 to $0.08, Gpc^{-3}yr^{-1}$.
Inspiral of compact stellar remnants into massive black holes (MBHs) is accompanied by the emission of gravitational waves at frequencies that are potentially detectable by space-based interferometers. Event rates computed from statistical (Fokker-Planck, Monte-Carlo) approaches span a wide range due to uncertaintities about the rate coefficients. Here we present results from direct integration of the post-Newtonian N-body equations of motion descrbing dense clusters of compact stars around Schwarzschild MBHs. These simulations embody an essentially exact (at the post-Newtonian level) treatment of the interplay between stellar dynamical relaxation, relativistic precession, and gravitational-wave energy loss. The rate of capture of stars by the MBH is found to be greatly reduced by relativistic precession, which limits the ability of torques from the stellar potential to change orbital angular momenta. Penetration of this Schwarzschild barrier does occasionally occur, resulting in capture of stars onto orbits that gradually inspiral due to gravitational wave emission; we discuss two mechanisms for barrier penetration and find evidence for both in the simulations. We derive an approximate formula for the capture rate, which predicts that captures would be strongly disfavored from orbits with semi-major axes below a certain value; this prediction, as well as the predicted rate, are verified in the N-body integrations. We discuss the implications of our results for the detection of extreme-mass-ratio inspirals from galactic nuclei with a range of physical properties.
The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will open the mHz frequency window of the gravitational wave (GW) landscape. Among all the new GW sources expected to emit in this frequency band, extreme mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs) constitute a unique laboratory for astrophysics and fundamental physics. Here we show that EMRIs can also be used to extract relevant cosmological information, complementary to both electromagnetic (EM) and other GW observations. By using the loudest EMRIs (SNR$>$100) detected by LISA as dark standard sirens, statistically matching their sky localisation region with mock galaxy catalogs, we find that constraints on $H_0$ can reach $sim$1.1% ($sim$3.6%) accuracy, at the 90% credible level, in our best (worst) case scenario. By considering a dynamical dark energy (DE) cosmological model, with $Lambda$CDM parameters fixed by other observations, we further show that in our best (worst) case scenario $sim$5.9% ($sim$12.3%) relative uncertainties at the 90% credible level can be obtained on $w_0$, the DE equation of state parameter. Besides being relevant in their own right, EMRI measurements will be affected by different systematics compared to both EM and ground-based GW observations. Cross validation with complementary cosmological measurements will therefore be of paramount importance, especially if convincing evidence of physics beyond $Lambda$CDM emerges from future observations.