Massive Black-Hole Binaries in Galactic Nuclei

Physics

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Scientific paper

We present N-body simulations of the formation and the evolution of massive black-hole binaries in galactic nuclei. We simulate the merger of two spherical galaxies containing central point masses and ρ ~ r-2 central density cusps. Once the two black holes form a bound pair at the center of the merged galaxies, the evolution is continued using the direct summation code NBODY6 at high resolution. Immediately following the formation of a black-hole binary, the merged density cusp is nearly homologous to the cusps in the initial galaxies. However the central density decreases rapidly as the binary ejects stars which pass near to it, reducing the slope of the cusp from ~ r-2 to ~ r-1. The binary exhibits Brownian motion about the center while engaging in hard encounters with stars on radial orbits that are ejected at high speed. Ejection induces further shrinking of the binary at a lower but approximately constant rate. We discuss the dynamics of the binaries in the limit of large N, appropriate to real galactic nuclei, and discuss the possibility that massive black-hole binaries exist in the nuclei of some galaxies.

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