Hypervelocity binaries from close encounters with a SMBH-IMBH binary: orbital properties and diagnostics
Abstract
Hypervelocity binaries (HVBs) can be produced by a close encounter between stellar binaries and supermassive black hole (SMBH)-intermediate massive black hole (IMBH) binaries. We perform scattering experiments between tight stellar binaries and an SMBH-IMBH binary (within the observationally allowed parameters), using high-precision N-body integrations. Simulation results show that only a few HVBs can be produced in the Galactic center if it harbors a IMBH. However, we find that tight HVBs can be efficiently produced in prograde coplanar orbits with respect to the SMBH-IMBH binary. Therefore, the trajectories of the HVBs provide a promising way to constrain the IMBH orbital plane, if one exists. More importantly, we find that the ejected tight binaries are eccentric. For other galaxies hosting equal-mass SMBH binaries for which the HVB ejection rate is much higher relative to SMBH-IMBH binaries, these ejected compact binaries constitute promising extragalactic merger sources that could be detected by gravitational wave detectors.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1807.10765,
title = {Hypervelocity binaries from close encounters with a SMBH-IMBH binary: orbital properties and diagnostics},
author = {Yi-Han Wang and Nathan Leigh and Alberto Sesana and Rosalba Perna},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1807.10765},
year = {2018}
}