A promising channel for producing binary black hole mergers is the Lidov-Kozai orbital resonance in hierarchical triple systems. While this mechanism has been studied in isolation, the distribution of such mergers in time and across star-forming environments is not well characterized. In this work, we explore Lidov-Kozai-induced black hole mergers in open clusters, combining semi-analytic and Monte Carlo methods to calculate merger rates and delay times for nine different population models. We predict a merger rate density of ∼1–10 Gpc−3 yr−1 for the Lidov-Kozai channel in the local universe, and all models yield delay-time distributions in which a significant fraction of binary black hole mergers (e.g. ∼20 per cent–50 per cent in our baseline model) occur during the open cluster phase. Our findings suggest that a substantial fraction of mergers from hierarchical triples occur within star-forming regions in spiral galaxies.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.