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Hierarchical Black Hole Mergers in Active Galactic Nuclei

Y. Yang, I. Bartos, V. Gayathri, K. E. S. Ford, Z. Haiman, S. Klimenko, B. Kocsis, S. Márka, Z. Márka, B. McKernan, and R. O’Shaughnessy
Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 181101 – Published 1 November 2019
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Abstract

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 accretion disks of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and promote the mergers of their captive black holes, the majority of black holes within disks will undergo hierarchical mergers—with one of the black holes being the remnant of a previous merger. 40% of AGN-assisted mergers detected by LIGO/Virgo will include a black hole with mass 50M, the mass limit from stellar core collapse. Hierarchical mergers at traps in AGNs will exhibit black hole spins (anti)aligned with the binary’s orbital axis, a distinct property from other hierarchical channels. Our results suggest, although not definitively (with odds ratio of 1), that LIGO’s heaviest merger so far, GW170729, could have originated from this channel.

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  • Received 3 July 2019
  • Revised 19 September 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.181101

© 2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Gravitation, Cosmology & Astrophysics

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Black Hole Assembly Line

Published 1 November 2019

A multiple merger scenario occurring in the centers of galaxies might explain some surprisingly large merger events recorded by gravitational-wave detectors.

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Authors & Affiliations

Y. Yang1, I. Bartos1,*, V. Gayathri2,1, K. E. S. Ford3,4,5, Z. Haiman6, S. Klimenko1, B. Kocsis7, S. Márka8, Z. Márka9, B. McKernan3,4,5, and R. O’Shaughnessy10

  • 1Department of Physics, University of Florida, P.O. Box 118440, Gainesville, Forida 32611-8440, USA
  • 2Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400 076, India
  • 3Department of Science, City University of New York-Borough of Manhattan Community College, 199 Chambers Street, New York, New York 10007, USA
  • 4Department of Astrophysics, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West, New York, New York 10028, USA
  • 5Physics Program, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, New York 10016, USA
  • 6Department of Astronomy, Columbia University in the City of New York, 550 W 120th Street, New York, New York 10027, USA
  • 7Eötvös University, Institute of Physics, Pázmány P. s. 1/A, Budapest, 1117, Hungary
  • 8Department of Physics, Columbia University in the City of New York, 550 W 120th Street, New York, New York 10027, USA
  • 9Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University in the City of New York, 550 W 120th Street, New York, New York 10027, USA
  • 10Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York 14623, USA

  • *imrebartos@ufl.edu

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Issue

Vol. 123, Iss. 18 — 1 November 2019

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