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Register a new userGravitational Wave Recoil Oscillations of Black Holes: Implications for Unified Models of Active Galactic Nuclei
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We consider the consequences of gravitational wave recoil for unified models of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Spatial oscillations of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) around the cores of galaxies following gravitational wave (GW) recoil imply that the SMBHs spend a significant fraction of time off-nucleus, at scales beyond that of the molecular obscuring torus. Assuming reasonable distributions of recoil velocities, we compute the off-core timescale of (intrinsically type-2) quasars. We find that roughly one-half of major mergers result in a SMBH being displaced beyond the torus for a time of 30 Myr or more, comparable to quasar activity timescales. Since major mergers are most strongly affected by GW recoil, our results imply a deficiency of type 2 quasars in comparison to Seyfert 2 galaxies. Other consequences of the recoil oscillations for the observable properties of AGNs are also discussed.
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I review how AGN black hole masses are calculated from emission-line reverberation-mapping data, with particular attention to both assumptions and caveats. I discuss the empirical relationship between AGN luminosity and broad-line region radius that underpins the indirect methods by which most AGN masses are estimated. I also discuss how line widths are characterized in this method and illustrate how different ways of measuring the line-widths can lead to systematic errors in the mass scale. I discuss specific implications for NLS1 galaxies and consider whether the NLS1 phenomenon is better explained by source inclination or by Eddington rate, and conclude that there is evidence that both of these effects are contributing factors and that at least the high-Eddington rate NLS1s are physically similar to some high-luminosity quasars.
Gravitational-wave memory refers to the permanent displacement of the test masses in an idealized (freely-falling) gravitational-wave interferometer. Inspiraling binaries produce a particularly interesting form of memory--the Christodoulou memory. Although it originates from nonlinear interactions at 2.5 post-Newtonian order, the Christodoulou memory affects the gravitational-wave amplitude at leading (Newtonian) order. Previous calculations have computed this non-oscillatory amplitude correction during the inspiral phase of binary coalescence. Using an effective-one-body description calibrated with the results of numerical relativity simulations, the evolution of the memory during the inspiral, merger, and ringdown phases, as well as the memorys final saturation value, are calculated. Using this model for the memory, the prospects for its detection are examined, particularly for supermassive black hole binary coalescences that LISA will detect with high signal-to-noise ratios. Coalescing binary black holes also experience center-of-mass recoil due to the anisotropic emission of gravitational radiation. These recoils can manifest themselves in the gravitational-wave signal in the form of a linear memory and a Doppler shift of the quasi-normal-mode frequencies. The prospects for observing these effects are also discussed.
Coalescing binary black holes experience a ``kick due to anisotropic emission of gravitational waves with an amplitude as great as 200$ km/s. We examine the orbital evolution of black holes that have been kicked from the centers of triaxial galaxies. Time scales for orbital decay are generally longer in triaxial galaxies than in equivalent spherical galaxies, since a kicked black hole does not return directly through the dense center where the dynamical friction force is highest. We evaluate this effect by constructing self-consistent triaxial models and integrating the trajectories of massive particles after they are ejected from the center; the dynamical friction force is computed directly from the velocity dispersion tensor of the self-consistent model. We find return times that are several times longer than in a spherical galaxy with the same radial density profile, particularly in galaxy models with dense centers, implying a substantially grea
We compute the isotropic gravitational wave (GW) background produced by binary supermassive black holes (SBHs) in galactic nuclei. In our model, massive binaries evolve at early times via gravitational-slingshot interaction with nearby stars, and at later times by the emission of GWs. Our expressions for the rate of binary hardening in the stellar regime are taken from the recent work of Vasiliev et al., who show that in the non-axisymmetric galaxies expected to form via mergers, stars are supplied to the center at high enough rates to ensure binary coalescence on Gyr timescales. We also include, for the first time, the extra degrees of freedom associated with evolution of the binarys orbital plane; in rotating nuclei, interaction with stars causes the orientation and the eccentricity of a massive binary to change in tandem, leading in some cases to very high eccentricities (e>0.9) before the binary enters the GW-dominated regime. We argue that previous studies have over-estimated the mean ratio of SBH mass to galaxy bulge mass by factors of 2 - 3. In the frequency regime currently accessible to pulsar timing arrays (PTAs), our assumptions imply a factor 2 - 3 reduction in the characteristic strain compared with the values computed in most recent studies, removing the tension that currently exists between model predictions and the non-detection of GWs.
The spin angular momentum S of a supermassive black hole (SBH) precesses due to torques from orbiting stars, and the stellar orbits precess due to dragging of inertial frames by the spinning hole. We solve the coupled post-Newtonian equations describing the joint evolution of S and the stellar angular momenta Lj, j = 1...N in spherical, rotating nuclear star clusters. In the absence of gravitational interactions between the stars, two evolutionary modes are found: (1) nearly uniform precession of S about the total angular momentum vector of the system; (2) damped precession, leading, in less than one precessional period, to alignment of S with the angular momentum of the rotating cluster. Beyond a certain distance from the SBH, the time scale for angular momentum changes due to gravitational encounters between the stars is shorter than spin-orbit precession times. We present a model, based on the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck equation, for the stochastic evolution of star clusters due to gravitational encounters and use it to evaluate the evolution of S in nuclei where changes in the Lj are due to frame dragging close to the SBH and to encounters farther out. Long-term evolution in this case is well described as uniform precession of the SBH about the clusters rotational axis, with an increasingly important stochastic contribution when SBH masses are small. Spin precessional periods are predicted to be strongly dependent on nuclear properties, but typical values are 10-100 Myr for low-mass SBHs in dense nuclei, 100 Myr - 10 Gyr for intermediate mass SBHs, and > 10 Gyr for the most massive SBHs. We compare the evolution of SBH spins in stellar nuclei to the case of torquing by an inclined, gaseous accretion disk.
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