Binary black holes' effects on electromagnetic fields

TL;DR

This paper investigates how binary black hole mergers influence surrounding electromagnetic fields, revealing variable emissions and field enhancements that could aid in detecting electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational waves.

Contribution

It demonstrates the impact of binary black hole dynamics on electromagnetic fields and emissions, providing insights into potential observational signatures during mergers.

Findings

Binary black hole mergers induce variability in electromagnetic emissions.

Enhanced electromagnetic fields occur during late-merge and merger phases.

Time-dependent electromagnetic features may help identify gravitational wave events.

Abstract

In addition to producing gravitational waves (GW), the dynamics of a binary black hole system could induce emission of electromagnetic (EM) radiation by affecting the behavior of plasmas and electromagnetic fields in their vicinity. We here study how the electromagnetic fields are affected by a pair of orbiting black holes through the merger. In particular, we show how the binary's dynamics induce a variability in possible electromagnetically induced emissions as well as a possible enhancement of electromagnetic fields during the late-merge and merger epochs. These time dependent features will likely leave their imprint in processes generating detectable emissions and can be exploited in the detection of electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational waves.