Dynamical Interactions and the Black Hole Merger Rate of the Universe
| dc.creator | O'Leary, Ryan | |
| dc.creator | O'Shaughnessy, Richard | |
| dc.creator | Rasio, Frederic | |
| dc.date | 2007-01-31 | |
| dc.date | 2007-08-16 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-07-07T11:00:46Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-07-07T11:00:46Z | |
| dc.description | Binary black holes can form efficiently in dense young stellar clusters, such as the progenitors of globular clusters, via a combination of gravitational segregation and cluster evaporation. We use simple analytic arguments supported by detailed N-body simulations to determine how frequently black holes born in a single stellar cluster should form binaries, be ejected from the cluster, and merge through the emission of gravitational radiation. We then convolve this ``transfer function'' relating cluster formation to black hole mergers with (i) the distribution of observed cluster masses and (ii) the star formation history of the universe, assuming that a significant fraction gcl of star formation occurs in clusters and that a significant fraction gcand of clusters undergo this segregation and evaporation process. We predict future ground--based gravitational wave (GW) detectors could observe ~500 (gcl/0.5) (gcand/0.1) double black hole mergers per year, and the presently operating LIGO interferometer would have a chance (50%) at detecting a merger during its first full year of science data. More realistically, advanced LIGO and similar next-generation gravitational wave observatories provide unique opportunities to constrain otherwise inaccessible properties of clusters formed in the early universe. | |
| dc.description | 4 pages, 2 figures. To appear in PRD Rapid Communications | |
| dc.identifier | https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0701887 | |
| dc.identifier | http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0701887 | |
| dc.identifier | Phys.Rev.D76:061504,2007 | |
| dc.identifier | doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.76.061504 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/187764 | |
| dc.subject | Astrophysics | |
| dc.title | Dynamical Interactions and the Black Hole Merger Rate of the Universe | |
| dc.type | text |