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Related papers: Eccentric Black Hole Mergers in Active Galactic Nu…

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We derive the probability for a newly formed binary black hole (BBH) to undergo an eccentric gravitational wave (GW) merger during binary-single interactions inside a stellar cluster. By integrating over the hardening interactions such a…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2018-05-30 Johan Samsing

The orbital eccentricity of a merging binary black hole leaves an imprint on the associated gravitational-wave signal that can reveal whether the binary formed in isolation or in a dynamical environment, such as the core of a dense star…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2021-11-17 Isobel M. Romero-Shaw , Paul D. Lasky , Eric Thrane

The detection of gravitational waves from merging black holes with masses $\sim\,80-150\,\mathrm{M_\odot}$ suggests that some proportion of black hole binary systems form hierarchically in dense astrophysical environments, as most stellar…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2025-10-08 Jordan Moncrieff , Fiona Panther

The dense and gaseous environments of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) can catalyze repeated mergers of stellar-mass black holes (BHs), potentially explaining the high-mass tail of binary black hole (BBH) mergers observed by LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-08-22 Maria Paola Vaccaro

Stellar mass black holes (BHs) are expected to segregate and form a steep density cusp around supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in galactic nuclei. We follow the evolution of a multi-mass system of BHs and stars by numerically integrating…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-13 Ryan M. O'Leary , Bence Kocsis , Abraham Loeb

It has been suggested that merging black hole (BH) binaries in active galactic nucleus (AGN) discs formed through two-body scatterings via the gas-capture process may explain a significant fraction of BH mergers in AGN and a non-negligible…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-12-10 Connar Rowan , Henry Whitehead , Bence Kocsis

Stellar-mass binary black hole mergers are poised to represent the majority of gravitational-wave (GW) observations by Advanced LIGO and Virgo. Probing their origin will be difficult due to the expected lack of electromagnetic emission and…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2018-02-07 I. Bartos , Z. Haiman , Z. Marka , B. D. Metzger , N. C. Stone , S. Marka

Mergers of binary black holes on eccentric orbits are among the targets for second-generation ground-based gravitational-wave detectors. These sources may commonly form in galactic nuclei due to gravitational-wave emission during close…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2018-11-06 László Gondán , Bence Kocsis , Péter Raffai , Zsolt Frei

The origin of the black hole mergers detected by LIGO and Virgo remains an open question. While the unusual mass and spin of a few events constrain their possible astrophysical formation mechanisms, it is difficult to classify the bulk of…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2021-10-27 V. Gayathri , Y. Yang , H. Tagawa , Z. Haiman , I. Bartos

Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are promising environments for the assembly of merging binary black hole (BBH) systems. Interest in AGNs as nurseries for merging BBH is rising following the detection of gravitational waves from a BBH system…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2023-03-06 Avi Vajpeyi , Eric Thrane , Rory Smith , Barry McKernan , K. E. Saavik Ford

Stellar mass, binary black hole (BBH) mergers dominates the sources of gravitational wave (GW) events so far detected by the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA (LVK) experiment. The origin of these BBHs is unknown, and no electromagnetic (EM) counterpart has…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-03-28 Juan C. Rodríguez-Ramírez , Rodrigo Nemmen , Clécio R. Bom

Binary black holes are thought to form primarily via two channels: isolated evolution and dynamical formation. The component masses, spins, and eccentricity of a binary black hole system provide clues to its formation history. We focus on…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2020-01-08 Isobel M. Romero-Shaw , Paul D. Lasky , Eric Thrane

Ground-based gravitational wave (GW) observatories have detected approximately 200 binary black hole (BH) mergers. The astrophysical origin of these events are debated, with evidence suggesting that at least a subset originated from dynamic…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2026-04-30 Hiromichi Tagawa , Zoltán Haiman , Bence Kocsis

Advanced LIGO \& Advanced Virgo are detecting a large number of binary stellar origin black hole (BH) mergers. A promising channel for accelerated BH merger lies in active galactic nucleus (AGN) disks of gas around super-masssive black…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2020-10-07 B. McKernan , K. E. S. Ford , R. O'Shaughnessy

The stellar mass binary black hole (sBBH) mergers presently detected by LIGO may originate wholly or in part from binary black hole mergers embedded in disks of gas around supermassive black holes. Determining the contribution of these…

In this {\it Letter} we calculate the fraction of highly eccentric binary black hole (BBH) mergers resulting from binary-single interactions. Using an $N$-body code that includes post-Newtonian correction terms, we show that $\gtrsim 1\%$…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2017-05-24 Johan Samsing , Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz

The growing population of compact binary mergers detected with gravitational waves contains multiple events that are challenging to explain through isolated binary evolution. Such events have higher masses than are expected in isolated…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2022-12-14 Isobel M. Romero-Shaw , Paul D. Lasky , Eric Thrane

The recently discovered gravitational wave sources GW190521 and GW190814 have shown evidence of BH mergers with masses and spins that could be outside of the range expected from isolated stellar evolution. These merging objects could have…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2021-03-03 Hiromichi Tagawa , Bence Kocsis , Zoltan Haiman , Imre Bartos , Kazuyuki Omukai , Johan Samsing

While the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA (LVK) gravitational wave (GW) detectors have detected over 300 binary black hole (BBH) mergers to date, the first confirmation of an electromagnetic (EM) counterpart to such an event remains elusive. Previous…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2026-03-04 Tomás Cabrera , Antonella Palmese , Maya Fishbach

The origin of the black-hole:black-hole mergers discovered through gravitational waves with for example the LIGO/Virgo collaboration are a mystery. We investigate the idea that some of these black holes originate from the centers of…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2019-07-12 Christopher J. Conselice , Rachana Bhatawdekar , Antonella Palmese , William G. Hartley