Post-Newtonian simulations of super-massive black hole binaries in galactic nuclei

TL;DR

This paper reports on numerical simulations of super-massive black hole binaries in galactic nuclei, incorporating post-Newtonian effects to track their evolution from large scales to merger, and assesses their detectability with LISA.

Contribution

It introduces the first simulations that model SMBH binary evolution from kiloparsec scales to coalescence using post-Newtonian terms and galaxy models.

Findings

Simulations successfully track SMBH binaries from kpc to merger.

Predictions made for gravitational wave signals detectable by LISA.

First to incorporate post-Newtonian effects in such large-scale simulations.

Abstract

We present some preliminary results from recent numerical simulations that model the evolution of super-massive black hole (SMBH) binaries in galactic nuclei. Including the post-Newtonian terms for the binary system and adopting appropriate models for the galaxies allows us, for the first time, to follow the evolution of SMBH binaries from kpc scales down to the coalescence phase. We use our results to make predictions of the detectability of such events with the gravitational wave detector LISA.