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Title:
Triplets of supermassive black holes: astrophysics, gravitational waves and detection
Authors:
Amaro-Seoane, Pau; Sesana, Alberto; Hoffman, Loren; Benacquista, Matthew; Eichhorn, Christoph; Makino, Junichiro; Spurzem, Rainer
Affiliation:
AA(Max-Planck Institut für Gravitationsphysik (Albert-Einstein-Institut), Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam, Germany and Institut de Ciències de l'Espai (CSIC-IEEC), Campus UAB, Torre C-5, parells, 2na planta, ES-08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain), AB(Penn State University, 104 Davey Lab, 113 University Park, PA 16802-6300, USA), AC(Northwestern University, Dearborn Observatory, 2131 Tech Drive, Evanston, IL 60208-2900, USA), AD(Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy, University of Texas at Brownsville, Brownsville, TX 78520, USA), AE(Institut für Raumfahrtsysteme, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 31, D-70550 Stuttgart, Germany; National Astronomical Observatories of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20A Datun Lu, Chaoyang District, 100012, Beijing, China), AF(Division of Theoretical Astronomy, National Astronomical Observatory, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan), AG(National Astronomical Observatories of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20A Datun Lu, Chaoyang District, 100012, Beijing, China; Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, China; Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Mönchhofstraße 12-14, 69120, Zentrum für Astronomie, Universität Heidelberg, Germany)
Publication:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Online Early (MNRAS Homepage)
Publication Date:
01/2010
Origin:
MNRAS
MNRAS Keywords:
gravitational waves, pulsars: general, cosmology: theory
Abstract Copyright:
(c) Journal compilation © 2010 RAS
DOI:
10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.16104.x
Bibliographic Code:
2010MNRAS.tmp....9A

Abstract

ABSTRACT Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) found in the centres of many galaxies are understood to play a fundamental, active role in the cosmological structure formation process. In hierarchical formation scenarios, SMBHs are expected to form binaries following the merger of their host galaxies. If these binaries do not coalesce before the merger with a third galaxy, the formation of a black hole triple system is possible. Numerical simulations of the dynamics of triples within galaxy cores exhibit phases of very high eccentricity (as high as e ~ 0.99). During these phases, intense bursts of gravitational radiation can be emitted at orbital periapsis, which produces a gravitational wave signal at frequencies substantially higher than the orbital frequency. The likelihood of detection of these bursts with pulsar timing and the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is estimated using several population models of SMBHs with masses >rsim 107 Msolar. Assuming that 10 per cent or more of binaries are in triple systems, we find that up to a few dozen of these bursts will produce residuals >1 ns, within the sensitivity range of forthcoming pulsar timing arrays. However, most of such bursts will be washed out in the underlying confusion noise produced by all the other `standard' SMBH binaries emitting in the same frequency window. A detailed data analysis study would be required to assess resolvability of such sources. Implementing a basic resolvability criterion, we find that the chance of catching a resolvable burst at a 1 ns precision level is 2-50 per cent, depending on the adopted SMBH evolution model. On the other hand, the probability of detecting bursts produced by massive binaries (masses >~107Msolar) with LISA is negligible.
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