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Related papers: Mass-gap Mergers in Active Galactic Nuclei

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The accretion disks that power active galactic nuclei (AGN) are thought to house populations of stars and compact objects; after forming binaries these compact objects may merge, begetting gravitational waves such as those detected by LIGO…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-05-12 Alexander J. Dittmann , Adam M. Dempsey , Hui Li

We explore the evolution of stellar mass black hole binaries (BHBs) which are formed in the self-gravitating disks of active galactic nuclei (AGN). Hardening due to three-body scattering and gaseous drag are effective mechanisms that reduce…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2017-01-03 Nicholas C. Stone , Brian D. Metzger , Zoltan Haiman

The search for multi-messenger signals of binary black hole (BBH) mergers is crucial to understanding the merger process of BBH and the relative astrophysical environment. Considering BBH mergers occurring in the active galactic nuclei…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2023-11-07 Zi-Hang Zhou , Kai Wang

There is much debate about the channels for astrophysical origins of the stellar-mass binary black hole (BBH) mergers detected by LIGO and Virgo. Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are promising sites for the efficient formation and rapid…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-04-30 Guo-Peng Li

The growing number of stellar-mass binary black hole mergers discovered by Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo are starting to constrain the binaries' origin and environment. However, we still lack sufficiently accurate modeling of binary…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2019-05-15 Y. Yang , I. Bartos , Z. Haiman , B. Kocsis , Z. Marka , N. C. Stone , S. Marka

We present a study on the dynamics of massive BHs in galaxy mergers, obtained from a series of high-resolution N-Body/SPH simulations. The presence of a gaseous component is essential for the rapid formation of an eccentric (Keplerian) BH…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-06-23 M. Colpi , S. Callegari , M. Dotti , S. Kazantzidis , L. Mayer

The accretion disks that fuel active galactic nuclei (AGN) may house numerous stars and compact objects, formed in situ or captured from nearby star clusters. Embedded neutron stars and black holes may form binaries and eventually merge,…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2023-10-31 Alexander J. Dittmann , Adam M. Dempsey , Hui Li

The origins of the stellar-mass black hole mergers discovered by LIGO/Virgo are still unknown. Here we show that, if migration traps develop in the \add{accretion} disks of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) and promote the mergers of their…

LIGO and Virgo have reported the detection of GW190521, from the merger of a binary black hole (BBH) with a total mass around $150$ M$_\odot$. While current stellar models limit the mass of any black hole (BH) remnant to about $40 - 50$…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2020-10-21 Giacomo Fragione , Abraham Loeb , Frederic A. Rasio

Despite the increasing number of Gravitational Wave (GW) detections, the astrophysical origin of Binary Black Hole (BBH) mergers remains elusive. A promising formation channel for BBHs is inside accretion discs around supermassive black…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2023-10-25 Niccolò Veronesi , Elena Maria Rossi , Sjoert van Velzen

The majority of gravitational wave (GW) events detected so far by LIGO/Virgo originate from binary black hole (BBH) mergers. Among the different binary evolution paths, the merger of BBHs in accretion discs of active galactic nuclei (AGNs)…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2020-07-01 Matthias Gröbner , Wako Ishibashi , Shubhanshu Tiwari , Maria Haney , Philippe Jetzer

Stars can either be formed in or captured by the accretion disks in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). These AGN stars are irradiated and subject to extreme levels of accretion, which can turn even low-mass stars into very massive ones ($M > 100…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2021-06-30 Adam S. Jermyn , Alexander J. Dittmann , Matteo Cantiello , Rosalba Perna

Active galactic nucleus (AGN) disks may be important sites of binary black hole (BBH) mergers. Here we show via numerical experiments with the high-accuracy, high precision code {\tt SpaceHub} that broken symmetry in dynamical encounters in…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2022-01-05 Yihan Wang , Barry McKernan , Saavik Ford , Rosalba Perna , Nathan W. C. Leigh , Mordecai-Mark Mac Low

The first three observing runs with Advanced LIGO and Virgo have resulted in the detection of binary black hole mergers (BBH) with highly unequal mass components, which are difficult to reconcile with standard formation paradigms. The most…

The origin of stellar-mass black hole mergers discovered through gravitational waves is being widely debated. Mergers in the disks of active galactic nuclei (AGN) represent a promising source of origin, with possible observational clues in…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2023-06-14 Hiromichi Tagawa , Shigeo S. Kimura , Zoltán Haiman , Rosalba Perna , Imre Bartos

The LIGO/Virgo Collaboration (LVC) recently reported the detection of GW190814, a merger of a $23^{+1.0}_{-0.9}~M_{\odot}$ primary black hole (BH), and a $2.6^{+0.08}_{-0.08}~M_{\odot}$ secondary. The secondary's mass falls into the…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2020-08-19 Mohammadtaher Safarzadeh , Abraham Loeb

The origins of the coalescing binary black holes (BBHs) detected by the advanced LIGO/Virgo are still in debate and clues may present in the mass and effective spin ($\chi_{\rm eff}$) distributions of these merger events. Here we analyze…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2021-10-22 Yuan-Zhu Wang , Yi-Zhong Fan , Shao-Peng Tang , Ying Qin , Da-Ming Wei

Galactic nuclei are promising sites for stellar origin black hole (BH) mergers, as part of merger hierarchies in deep potential wells. We show that binary black hole (BBH) merger rates in active galactic nuclei (AGN) should always exceed…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2022-12-07 K. E. Saavik Ford , Barry McKernan

Black holes (BHs) with masses between $\sim 3-5M_{\odot}$, produced by a binary neutron star (BNS) merger, can further pair up with a neutron star or BH and merge again within a Hubble time. However, the astrophysical environments in which…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-11-11 Parthapratim Mahapatra , Debatri Chattopadhyay , Anuradha Gupta , Fabio Antonini , Marc Favata , B. S. Sathyaprakash , K. G. Arun

The Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) channel for the formation of binary black hole (BBH) mergers has been previously studied as a potential formation channel for the merging compact binaries observed by the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA (LVK) scientific…