scholarly journals The gravitational wave background signal from tidal disruption events

2020 ◽  
Vol 498 (1) ◽  
pp. 507-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Toscani ◽  
Elena M Rossi ◽  
Giuseppe Lodato

ABSTRACT In this paper, we derive the gravitational wave stochastic background from tidal disruption events (TDEs). We focus on both the signal emitted by main-sequence stars disrupted by supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in galaxy nuclei and on that from disruptions of white dwarfs by intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) located in globular clusters. We show that the characteristic strain hc’s dependence on frequency is shaped by the pericenter distribution of events within the tidal radius and under standard assumptions hc∝f−1/2. This is because, the TDE signal is a burst of gravitational waves at the orbital frequency of the closest approach. In addition, we compare the background characteristic strains with the sensitivity curves of the upcoming generation of space-based gravitational wave interferometers: the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), TianQin, ALIA, the DECI-hertz inteferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (DECIGO), and the Big Bang Observer (BBO). We find that the background produced by main-sequence stars might be just detected by BBO in its lowest frequency coverage, but it is too weak for all the other instruments. On the other hand, the background signal from TDEs with white dwarfs will be within reach of ALIA, and especially of DECIGO and BBO, while it is below the LISA and TianQin sensitive curves. This background signal detection will not only provide evidence for the existence of IMBHs up to redshift z ∼ 3, but it will also inform us on the number of globular clusters per galaxy and on the occupation fraction of IMBHs in these environments.

2019 ◽  
Vol 489 (1) ◽  
pp. 727-737 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giacomo Fragione ◽  
Nathan W C Leigh ◽  
Rosalba Perna ◽  
Bence Kocsis

ABSTRACT Stars passing too close to a black hole can produce tidal disruption events (TDEs), when the tidal force across the star exceeds the gravitational force that binds it. TDEs have usually been discussed in relation to massive black holes that reside in the centres of galaxies or lurk in star clusters. We investigate the possibility that triple stars hosting a stellar black hole (SBH) may be sources of TDEs. We start from a triple system made up of three main-sequence stars and model the supernova (SN) kick event that led to the production of an inner binary comprised of an SBH. We evolve these triples with a high-precision N-body code and study their TDEs as a result of Kozai–Lidov oscillations. We explore a variety of distributions of natal kicks imparted during the SN event, various maximum initial separations for the triples, and different distributions of eccentricities. We show that the main parameter that governs the properties of the SBH–MS binaries that produce a TDE in triples is the mean velocity of the natal kick distribution. Smaller σ’s lead to larger inner and outer semimajor axes of the systems that undergo a TDE, smaller SBH masses, and longer time-scales. We find that the fraction of systems that produce a TDE is roughly independent of the initial conditions, while estimate a TDE rate of $2.1\times 10^{-4}{\!-\!}4.7 \, \mathrm{yr}^{-1}$, depending on the prescriptions for the SBH natal kicks. This rate is almost comparable to the expected TDE rate for massive black holes.


1999 ◽  
Vol 190 ◽  
pp. 508-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. R. Majewski ◽  
J. C. Ostheimer ◽  
W. E. Kunkel ◽  
K. V. Johnston ◽  
R. J. Patterson ◽  
...  

An important discriminant between leading models for the origin of the Magellanic Stream is the presence of a stellar counterpart to the HI gas stream: ram pressure stripping of gas by a putative hot Galactic halo would act only on Magellanic gas while gravitational tidal stripping would act on both gas and stars. Several previous attempts to find tidal stellar debris have failed to find carbon stars, A stars, or other main sequence stars in the Magellanic Stream (Mathewson et al. 1979; Recillas-Cruz 1982; Brück & Hawkins 1983; Guhathakurta & Lin 1999). However, there has long been a suggestion (Kunkel 1979; Lynden-Bell 1982) of a possible Magellanic association of satellite galaxies and globular clusters that have similar orbits and may derive from the break up of a greater Magellanic galaxy (Lynden-Bell & Lynden-Bell 1995; Majewski et al. 1997). Recent models (Moore & Davis 1994; Johnston 1998) of the tidal disruption of Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC)-like systems indicate a wide dispersal of debris, much wider than the rather confined HI stream, so that the contrast of tidal debris against the Galactic fore/background would be low. If true, this could explain some of the previous negative results for tidal debris searches.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (S334) ◽  
pp. 166-169
Author(s):  
P. E. Nissen ◽  
V. Silva Aguirre ◽  
J. Christensen-Dalsgaard ◽  
R. Collet ◽  
F. Grundahl ◽  
...  

AbstractHigh-precision abundances of elements have been derived from HARPS-N spectra of F and G main-sequence stars having ages determined from oscillation frequencies delivered by the Kepler mission. The tight relations between abundance ratios of refractory elements, e.g., [Mg/Fe] and [Y/Mg], and stellar age previously found for solar twin stars are confirmed. These relations provide new information on nucleosynthesis and Galactic evolution. Abundance ratios between volatile and refractory elements, e.g., [C/Fe] and [O/Fe], show on the other hand a significant scatter at a given age, which may be related to planet-star interactions. This is a potential problem for chemical tagging studies.


Author(s):  
Nils Andersson

This chapter introduces the different classes of compact objects—white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes—that are relevant for gravitational-wave astronomy. The ideas are placed in the context of developing an understanding of the likely endpoint(s) of stellar evolution. Key ideas like Fermi gases and the Chandrasekhar mass are discussed, as is the emergence of general relativity as a cornerstone of astrophysics in the 1950s. Issues associated with different formation channels for, in particular, black holes are considered. The chapter ends with a discussion of the supermassive black holes that are found at the centre of galaxies.


1997 ◽  
Vol 189 ◽  
pp. 355-360
Author(s):  
Charles R. Proffitt

Comparisons between models of the solar interior and sound speed profiles derived from inversions of helioseismic data have demonstrated that it is essential to include the effects of gravitational settling when calculating the structure and evolution of the Sun. Including settling should also be necessary for models of metal poor main-sequence stars and results in a substantial reduction in the ages derived for globular clusters.In many cases it is clear that competing hydrodynamic processes, such as mass loss or rotationally driven mixing, will limit the effectiveness of gravitational separation of chemical elements. However, the quantitative details and even the relative importance of the different processes in various types of stars remains poorly understood.


2019 ◽  
Vol 488 (4) ◽  
pp. 5340-5351 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Baumgardt ◽  
C He ◽  
S M Sweet ◽  
M Drinkwater ◽  
A Sollima ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We compare the results of a large grid of N-body simulations with the surface brightness and velocity dispersion profiles of the globular clusters ω Cen and NGC 6624. Our models include clusters with varying stellar-mass black hole retention fractions and varying masses of a central intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH). We find that an $\sim 45\, 000$ M⊙ IMBH, whose presence has been suggested based on the measured velocity dispersion profile of ω Cen, predicts the existence of about 20 fast-moving, m > 0.5 M⊙, main-sequence stars with a (1D) velocity v > 60 km s−1 in the central 20 arcsec of ω Cen. However, no such star is present in the HST/ACS proper motion catalogue of Bellini et al. (2017), strongly ruling out the presence of a massive IMBH in the core of ω Cen. Instead, we find that all available data can be fitted by a model that contains 4.6 per cent of the mass of ω Cen in a centrally concentrated cluster of stellar-mass black holes. We show that this mass fraction in stellar-mass BHs is compatible with the predictions of stellar evolution models of massive stars. We also compare our grid of N-body simulations with NGC 6624, a cluster recently claimed to harbour a 20 000 M⊙ black hole based on timing observations of millisecond pulsars. However, we find that models with MIMBH > 1000 M⊙ IMBHs are incompatible with the observed velocity dispersion and surface brightness profile of NGC 6624, ruling out the presence of a massive IMBH in this cluster. Models without an IMBH provide again an excellent fit to NGC 6624.


1983 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
pp. 257-262
Author(s):  
H. Ritter

ABSTRACTIt is shown that the secondary components of cataclysmic binaries with orbital periods of less than ~10 hours are indistinguishable from ordinary low-mass main-sequence stars and that, therefore, they are essentially unevolved. On the other hand, it is shown that, depending on the mass ratio of the progenitor system, the secondary of a cataclysmic binary could be significantly evolved. The fact that nevertheless most of the observed secondaries are essentially unevolved can be accounted for by assuming that the probability distribution for the initial mass ratio is not strongly peaked towards unity mass ratio.


2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (S266) ◽  
pp. 421-421
Author(s):  
S. Hubrig ◽  
F. Castelli ◽  
G. De Silva ◽  
J. F. González ◽  
Y. Momany ◽  
...  

AbstractLarge abundance anomalies have previously been detected in horizontal-branch B-type stars. We present the first high-resolution study of isotopic anomalies and chemical abundances in six horizontal-branch B-type stars in the globular clusters NGC 6397 and NGC 6752, carried out with UVES on the VLT and compare them to those observed in chemically peculiar main-sequence stars.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (S329) ◽  
pp. 118-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantin Postnov ◽  
Alexander Kuranov

AbstractPossible formation mechanisms of massive close binary black holes that can merge in the Hubble time to produce powerful gravitational wave bursts detected during advanced LIGO O1 science run are briefly discussed. The pathways include the evolution from field low-metallicity massive binaries, the dynamical formation in globular clusters and primordial black holes. Low effective black hole spins inferred for LIGO GW150914 and LTV151012 events are discussed. Population synthesis calculations of the expected spin and chirp mass distributions from the standard field massive binary formation channel are presented for different metallicities (from zero-metal Population III stars up to solar metal abundance). We conclude that that merging binary black holes can contain systems from different formation channels, discrimination between which can be made with increasing statistics of mass and spin measurements from ongoing and future gravitational wave observations.


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