Gravitational Wave Recoil and the Retention of Intermediate Mass Black Holes

Details Gravitational Wave Recoil and the Retention of Intermediate Mass Black Holes Gravitational Wave Recoil and the Retention of Intermediate Mass Black Holes

Dec 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007aas...211.4902h&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #211, #49.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.811

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During the inspiral and merger of a binary black hole, gravitational radiation is emitted anisotropically due to asymmetries in the merger configuration. This anisotropic radiation leads to a gravitational wave kick, or recoil velocity, as large as 4000 km/sec. We investigate the effect gravitational recoil has on the retention of intermediate mass black holes (IMBH) within Galactic globular clusters. Assuming that our current understanding of IMBH-formation is correct and yields an IMBH-seed in every globular cluster, we find a significant problem retaining low mass IMBHs in the typical merger-rich globular cluster environment. Given a uniform black hole spin distribution and orientation and a Kroupa IMF, we find that at most 3 percent of the globular clusters can retain an IMBH larger than 1000 solar masses today. For a population of black holes that better approximates mass loss from winds and supernovae, we find that 16 percent of globulars can retain an IMBH larger than 1000 solar masses. Our calculations show that if there are black holes larger than 60 solar masses in a cluster, repeated IMBH-BH encounters will eventually eject a 1000 solar mass IMBH with greater than 30 percent probability. As a consequence, a large population of rogue black holes may exist in our Milky Way halo. We discuss the dynamical implications of this subpopulation, and its possible connection to ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs).

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