Gravitational Radiation Assisted Capture

2017/06/10 by J. A. Toner, Toner, John
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #FOS: Physical sciences #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1706.03159

openalex publication_date 2017/06/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

It is shown that gravitational radiation can bind two initially unbound bodies; no third body is needed. Such captured bodies will almost always inspiral and merge due to further gravitational radiation on cosmologically negligible time scales (e.g., @ 5 years for GW150914). The capture cross-section σ for such "capture and inspiraling" is far larger, for initial relative speed of the two objects v_∞≪ c, than that σ_d for "direct capture": σ∝(c / v_∞)^18/7, while σ_d∝(c / v_∞)². Implications of these results for black hole binary mergers, and giant black holes at galactic centers, are discussed.

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