Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2011-03-01
ApJ(2011) 732-89K
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
9 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal
Scientific paper
In spherical galaxies, binary supermassive black holes (SMBHs) have difficulty reaching sub-parsec separations due to depletion of stars on orbits that intersect the massive binary - the final-parsec problem. Galaxies that form via major mergers are substantially nonspherical, and it has been argued that the centrophilic orbits in triaxial galaxies might provide stars to the massive binary at a high enough rate to avoid stalling. Here we test that idea by carrying out fully self-consistent merger simulations of galaxies containing central SMBHs. We find hardening rates of the massive binaries that are indeed much higher than in spherical models, and essentially independent of the number of particles used in the simulations. Binary eccentricities remain high throughout the simulations. Our results constitute a fully stellar-dynamical solution to the final-parsec problem and imply a potentially high rate of events for low-frequency gravitational wave detectors like LISA.
Just Andreas
Khan Fazeel
Merritt David
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