Dynamically formed black hole+millisecond pulsar binaries in globular clusters

TL;DR

This paper models the formation of black hole and millisecond pulsar binaries in globular clusters, predicting their properties, population size, and rarity, which informs observational searches and tests of gravity.

Contribution

It introduces a dynamical formation model for BH+MSP binaries in GCs, estimating their orbital characteristics and population size, highlighting their rarity and dependence on cluster parameters.

Findings

Most BH+MSP binaries have 2-10 day orbital periods.

Estimated 0.6±0.2 such binaries in the Milky Way GCs.

BH+MSP binaries are rare even with large BH populations.

Abstract

The discovery of a binary comprising a black hole (BH) and a millisecond pulsar (MSP) would yield insights into stellar evolution and facilitate exquisitely sensitive tests of general relativity. Globular clusters (GCs) are known to harbor large MSP populations and recent studies suggest that GCs may also retain a substantial population of stellar mass BHs. We modeled the formation of BH+MSP binaries in GCs through exchange interactions between binary and single stars. We found that in dense, massive clusters most of the dynamically formed BH+MSP binaries will have orbital periods of 2 to 10 days, regardless of the mass of the BH, the number of BHs retained by the cluster, and the nature of the GC's binary population. The size of the BH+MSP population is sensitive to several uncertain parameters, including the BH mass function, the BH retention fraction, and the binary fraction in GCs. Based on our models, we estimate that there are $0.6\pm0.2$ dynamically formed BH+MSP binaries in the Milky Way GC system, and place an upper limit on the size of this population of $\sim 10$. Interestingly, we find that BH+MSP binaries will be rare even if GCs retain large BH populations.