The evolution of massive black-hole binaries in merging galaxies. I - Evolution of a binary in a spherical galaxy

Statistics – Computation

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Binary Stars, Black Holes (Astronomy), Interacting Galaxies, Massive Stars, Stellar Evolution, Computational Astrophysics, Elliptical Galaxies, Galactic Evolution, Galactic Nuclei, Many Body Problem

Scientific paper

We investigated the evolution of a binary massive black hole formed by the merging of galaxies containing central black holes. When two galaxies merge, their central black holes sink towards the center of the merger, due to dynamical friction, and form a binary system. We studied the timescale of the merging and the amount of the energy deposited into the core by means of a direct N-body simulation with 16384+2 particles. We found that the black-hole binary tends to have a large eccentricity (approximately equal to or greater than 0.9). This is because the evolution is driven by dynamical friction from the field stars. This dynamical friction is strongest at the apocenter, since its strength is inversely proportional to the third power of the velocity. The binding energy of the binary per unit mass becomes about 10 times as large as the kinetic energy of the field particles in the crossing timescale of the core. For a typical elliptical galaxy with an internal velocity dispersion of 300 km/s, the velocity of the binary at the periastron would easily reach 3000 km/s, for which the timescale of the merging by the radiation of the gravitational wave is equal to or less than 10 exp 9 yr. Most black-hole binaries which are formed by the merging of ellipticals would merge within a time much shorter than the Hubble time.

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