2001/03/31 by Marc Hemsendorf, Steinn Sigurdsson, Rainer Spurzem · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/344255
published as Astrophys.J. 581 (2002) 1256-1270 · 38 pages, 13 figures, submitted to ApJ, accepted, revised text and added figures
arxiv created 2002/08/19 · openalex publication_date 2002/12/16 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
We follow the sinking of two massive black holes in a spherical stellar system where the black holes become bound under the influence of dynamical friction. Once bound, the binary hardens by three-body encounters with surrounding stars. We find that the binary wanders inside the core, providing an enhanced supply of reaction partners for the hardening. The binary evolves into a highly eccentric orbit leading to coalescence well beyond a Hubble time. These are the first results from a hybrid "self-consistent field" (SCF) and direct Aarseth N -body integrator (NBODY6), which combines the advantages of the direct force calculation with the efficiency of the field method. The code is designed for use on parallel architectures and is therefore applicable to collisional N -body integrations with extraordinarily large particle numbers (>10 5 ). This creates the possibility of simulating the dynamics of both globular clusters with realistic collisional relaxation and stellar systems surrounding supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei.