Speaker
Description
The discovery of gravitational waves (GWs) has revolutionized our understanding of the Universe, providing a unique observational window into cosmic phenomena. Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are promising sites for the formation of binary black holes (BHs).
In this scenario, the so-called AGN channel, BHs from the galactic nucleus gradually align with the AGN accretion disk, forming a dynamic population of BHs within the disk. Processes such as disk migration and dynamical scattering can lead to close encounters between BHs, which may potentially become gravitational wave sources. The dynamics of close encounters within a disk is described by the Jacpbi capture mechanism, in which two interacting black holes enter their mutual Hill sphere and engage in a temporary dynamical capture. With the addition of gravitational wave dissipation during these encounters, the temporary captures may be promoted into permanent captures.
This project extends previous research by taking into account Post-Newtonian (PN) effects directly in the numerical integration of Jacobi captures, thereby measuring accurate GW capture statistics.
By measuring capture probabilities and analyzing the theoretical distribution of gravitational wave binaries, this study is capable of contributing towards understanding the role of the AGN channel to the cosmic rate of gravitational wave events.
| Talk category | Splinter 2: Supporting Europe's astronomical future |
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