Binary Black Hole Mergers from Planet-like Migrations Export

@article{citeulike:3651599, abstract = {If supermassive black holes (BHs) are generically present in galaxy centers, and if galaxies are built up through hierarchical merging, BH binaries are at least temporary features of most galactic bulges. Observations suggest, however, that binary BHs are rare, pointing towards a binary lifetime far shorter than the Hubble time. We show that, regardless of the detailed mechanism, all stellar-dynamical processes are insufficient to reduce significantly the orbital separation once orbital velocities in the binary exceed the virial velocity of the system. We propose that a massive gas disk surrounding a BH binary can effect its merger rapidly, in a scenario analogous to the orbital decay of super-jovian planets due to a proto-planetary disk. As in the case of planets, gas accretion onto the secondary (here a supermassive BH) is integrally connected with its inward migration. Such accretion would give rise to quasar activity. BH binary mergers could therefore be responsible for many or most quasars.}, archivePrefix = {arXiv}, author = {Gould, Andrew and Rix, Hans-Walter}, citeulike-article-id = {3651599}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9912111}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/9912111}, day = {6}, eprint = {astro-ph/9912111}, keywords = {accretion, binaries, black, close, disks, galaxies, hole, physics, quasars, stars}, month = {Dec}, posted-at = {2008-11-21 15:45:41}, priority = {4}, title = {Binary Black Hole Mergers from Planet-like Migrations}, url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9912111}, year = {1999} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:3651599 L3 - citeulike-article-id:3651599 N2 - If supermassive black holes (BHs) are generically present in galaxy centers, and if galaxies are built up through hierarchical merging, BH binaries are at least temporary features of most galactic bulges. Observations suggest, however, that binary BHs are rare, pointing towards a binary lifetime far shorter than the Hubble time. We show that, regardless of the detailed mechanism, all stellar-dynamical processes are insufficient to reduce significantly the orbital separation once orbital velocities in the binary exceed the virial velocity of the system. We propose that a massive gas disk surrounding a BH binary can effect its merger rapidly, in a scenario analogous to the orbital decay of super-jovian planets due to a proto-planetary disk. As in the case of planets, gas accretion onto the secondary (here a supermassive BH) is integrally connected with its inward migration. Such accretion would give rise to quasar activity. BH binary mergers could therefore be responsible for many or most quasars. TI - Binary Black Hole Mergers from Planet-like Migrations KW - accretion KW - binaries KW - black KW - close KW - disks KW - galaxies KW - hole KW - physics KW - quasars KW - stars AU - Gould, Andrew AU - Rix, Hans-Walter PY - 1999/Dec/06/ UR - http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9912111 ER -