TY - JOUR

T1 - On the Assembly Rate of Highly Eccentric Binary Black Hole Mergers

AU - Samsing, Johan

AU - Ramirez-Ruiz, Enrico

PY - 2017/5/10

Y1 - 2017/5/10

N2 - In this Letter we calculate the fraction of highly eccentric binary black hole (BBH) mergers resulting from binary-single interactions. Using an N-body code that includes post-Newtonian correction terms, we show that ≳1% of all BBH mergers resulting from this channel will have an eccentricity e > 0.1 when coming into the LIGO frequency band. As the majority of BBH mergers forming in globular clusters are assembled through three-body encounters, we suggest that such interactions are likely to dominate the population of high-eccentricity BBH mergers detectable by LIGO. The relative frequency of highly eccentric events could eventually help to constrain the astrophysical origin of BBH mergers.

AB - In this Letter we calculate the fraction of highly eccentric binary black hole (BBH) mergers resulting from binary-single interactions. Using an N-body code that includes post-Newtonian correction terms, we show that ≳1% of all BBH mergers resulting from this channel will have an eccentricity e > 0.1 when coming into the LIGO frequency band. As the majority of BBH mergers forming in globular clusters are assembled through three-body encounters, we suggest that such interactions are likely to dominate the population of high-eccentricity BBH mergers detectable by LIGO. The relative frequency of highly eccentric events could eventually help to constrain the astrophysical origin of BBH mergers.

KW - gravitational waves

KW - stars: black holes

KW - stars: kinematics and dynamics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85019406234&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3847/2041-8213/aa6f0b

DO - 10.3847/2041-8213/aa6f0b

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85019406234

VL - 840

JO - The Astrophysical Journal Letters

JF - The Astrophysical Journal Letters

SN - 2041-8205

IS - 2

M1 - L14

ER -