Binary Black Hole Mergers from Field Triples: Properties, Rates, and the Impact of Stellar Evolution

By F. Antonini, S. Toonen, Adrian S. Hamers. 2017

250 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We consider the formation of binary black hole (BH) mergers through the evolution of field massive triple stars. In this scenario, favorable conditions for the inspiral of a BH binary are initiated by its gravitational interaction with a distant companion, rather than by a common-envelope phase invoked in standard binary evolution models. We use a code that follows self-consistently the evolution of massive triple stars, combining the secular triple dynamics (Lidov–Kozai cycles) with stellar evolution. After a BH triple is formed, its dynamical evolution is computed using either the orbit-averaged equations of motion, or a high-precision direct integrator for triples with weaker hierarchies for which the secular perturbation theory breaks down. Most BH mergers in our models are produced in the latter non-secular dynamical regime. We derive the properties of the merging binaries and compute a BH merger rate in the range (0.3–1.3) Gpc−3 yr−1, or up to ≈2.5 Gpc−3 yr−1 if the BH orbital planes have initially random orientation. Finally, we show that BH mergers from the triple channel have significantly higher eccentricities than those formed through the evolution of massive binaries or in dense star clusters. Measured eccentricities could therefore be used to uniquely identify binary mergers formed through the evolution of triple stars. While our results suggest up to ≈10 detections per year with Advanced-LIGO, the high eccentricities could render the merging binaries harder to detect with planned space based interferometers such as LISA.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a87154012e357ed627624be891f1d1b8cba9067f

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

Citations in the corpus

Black hole and neutron star mergers in galactic nuclei (2018, background): “Isolated triples that merge due to the KL mechanism show a very pronounced peak at ∼ 90◦, with only a few mergers happening in lowinclination systems (Antonini et al. 2017).”
The progenitors of compact-object binaries: impact of metallicity, common envelope and natal kicks (2018, background): “…Colpi et al. 2003; Mapelli et al. 2005; Grindlay et al. 2006; Ivanova et al. 2008; Clausen et al. 2013; Mapelli & Zampieri 2014; Ziosi et al. 2014; Rodriguez et al. 2015, 2016; Mapelli 2016; Askar et al. 2016; Antonini et al. 2017; Petrovich & Antonini 2017; Banerjee 2017; Belczynski et al. 2017a).”
Greatly Enhanced Merger Rates of Compact-object Binaries in Non-spherical Nuclear Star Clusters (2017, background): “One potential concern from this simplification is that binaries might merge during the main sequence before they become compact objects (e.g., Antonini et al. 2017).”
Eccentric Black Hole Mergers in Dense Star Clusters: The Role of Binary–Binary Encounters (2018, background): “…three-body and four-body hierarchical systems (e.g., Miller & Hamilton 2002; Antonini & Perets 2012; Antonini et al. 2016; Silsbee & Tremaine 2017; Antonini et al. 2017; Rodriguez & Antonini 2018; Hoang et al. 2017; Liu & Lai 2017, 2018a,b; Randall & Xianyu 2018a,b; Hamers et al. 2018;…”
Binary Black Hole Population Properties Inferred from the First and Second Observing Runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo (2018, background): “…et al. 2017) and galactic nuclei (Antonini & Perets 2012; Antonini & Rasio 2016; Petrovich & Antonini 2017), evolution of hierarchical triple systems(Antonini et al. 2014, 2017; Kimpson et al. 2016; Liu & Lai 2018), gas drag and stellar scattering in accretion disks surrounding supermassive…”
Merging black hole binaries: the effects of progenitor's metallicity, mass-loss rate and Eddington factor (2017, background): “The impact of stellar dynamics on the formation of BHBs is also matter of debate (e.g. Ziosi et al. 2014; Rodriguez et al. 2015, 2016; Mapelli 2016; Askar et al. 2016; Antonini et al. 2017; Banerjee 2017).”
The cosmic merger rate of stellar black hole binaries from the Illustris simulation (2017, background): “Furthermore, Kozai-Lidov resonances in triple systems might enhance the merger rate both in dense star clusters (e.g. Kimpson et al. 2016; Antonini & Rasio 2016) and in the field (e.g. Antonini et al. 2017).”
Black hole growth through hierarchical black hole mergers in dense star clusters: implications for gravitational wave detections (2018, methodology): “…of massive stars (Belczynski et al. 2002; Belczynski et al. 2016; Marchant et al. 2016; Mandel & De Mink 2016; Gerosa et al. 2018; Spera et al. 2018) or in hierarchical triple systems via the Lidov-Kozai mechanism (Silsbee & Tremaine 2017; Antonini et al. 2017, 2018; Rodriguez & Antonini 2018).”
Constraining Formation Models of Binary Black Holes with Gravitational-wave Observations (2017, background): “…scenarios, more exotic formation channels have been suggested for facilitating BBH mergers, such as ﬁeld triples tightened by Lidov–Kozai cycles (Antonini et al. 2017; Silsbee & Tremaine 2017), primordially formed black holes (Bird et al. 2016), or remnants of population III stars (Inayoshi…”
One Channel to Rule Them All? Constraining the Origins of Binary Black Holes Using Multiple Formation Pathways (2020, methodology): “This process will expedite the inspiral time of the BBH, allowing systems to merge as GW sources that would not typically merge within a Hubble time (Silsbee & Tremaine 2017; Antonini et al. 2017; Fragione & Kocsis 2019; Vigna-Gómez et al. 2020).”