Relativistic Binary Precession: Impact on Eccentric Massive Binary Black Hole Accretion and Hydrodynamics

The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 980, pp. 55

Abstract

Abstract Recent hydrodynamical simulations have shown that circumbinary gas disks drive the orbits of massive binary black holes (BHs) to become eccentric, even when general relativistic (GR) corrections to the orbit are significant. Here, we study the GR apsidal precession of eccentric equal-mass massive binary BHs in circumbinary disks via two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations. We perform a suite of simulations comparing precessing and nonprecessing binaries across a range of eccentricities, semimajor axes, and precession rates. We find that the GR precession of the binary’s semimajor axis can introduce a dominant modulation in the binary’s accretion rate and the corresponding high-energy electromagnetic light curves. We discuss the conditions under which this occurs and its detailed characteristics and mechanism. Finally, we discuss the potential to observe these precession signatures in electromagnetic- and gravitational-wave observations, as well as the precession signal’s unique importance as a potential tool to constrain the mass, eccentricity, and semimajor axis of binary merger events.

Authors 7

1. Stanislav DeLaurentiis

   University of Cambridge · Columbia University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA, UK; sod2112@columbia.edu

   Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, 550 W. 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA

2. Zoltán Haiman

   Columbia University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, 550 W. 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA

   Department of Physics, Columbia University, 550 W. 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA

3. John Ryan Westernacher-Schneider Aachen Leiden Observatory

   Leiden University · Leiden Observatory

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, P. O. Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands

4. Luke Major Krauth

   Columbia University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, 550 W. 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA

5. Jordy Davelaar

   Princeton University · Flatiron Institute · Columbia University

   Affiliation as printed

   Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute, 162 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA

   Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, 550 W. 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA

   Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Peyton Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA

6. Jonathan Zrake

   Clemson University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA

7. Andrew I. MacFadyen

   New York University

   Affiliation as printed

   Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, Physics Department, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA