Binary Mergers in the Centers of Galaxies: Synergy between Stellar Flybys and Tidal Fields
Mila Winter-Granic,
Cristobal Petrovich,
Valentın Peña-Donaire
et al.
Abstract:Galactic centers (GCs) are very dynamically active environments, often harboring a nuclear star cluster and supermassive black hole at their cores. Binaries in these environments are subject to strong tidal fields that can efficiently torque its orbit, exciting near-unity eccentricities that ultimately lead to their merger. In turn, frequent close interactions with passing stars impulsively perturb the orbit of the binary, generally softening their orbit until their evaporation, potentially hindering the role … Show more
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