The Fate of Binaries in the Galactic Center: The Mundane and the Exotic
Alexander P. Stephan, Smadar Naoz, Andrea M. Ghez, Mark R. Morris,, Anna Ciurlo, Tuan Do, Katelyn Breivik, Scott Coughlin, Carl L. Rodriguez

TL;DR
This paper investigates the dynamical evolution of binary stars near the Galactic Center's supermassive black hole, revealing that most binaries are disrupted, but some produce exotic objects and detectable transient events like supernovae and gravitational waves.
Contribution
It provides a detailed analysis of binary star evolution under EKL effects in galactic nuclei, predicting rates of supernovae and gravitational wave sources.
Findings
75% of binaries are separated into single stars.
25% undergo mergers or common-envelope evolution.
Estimated supernova and gravitational wave event rates.
Abstract
The Galactic Center (GC) is dominated by the gravity of a super-massive black hole (SMBH), Sagittarius A, and is suspected to contain a sizable population of binary stars. Such binaries form hierarchical triples with the SMBH, undergoing Eccentric Kozai-Lidov (EKL) evolution, which can lead to high eccentricity excitations for the binary companions' mutual orbit. This effect can lead to stellar collisions or Roche-lobe crossings, as well as orbital shrinking due to tidal dissipation. In this work we investigate the dynamical and stellar evolution of such binary systems, especially with regards to the binaries' post-main-sequence evolution. We find that the majority of binaries (~75%) is eventually separated into single stars, while the remaining binaries (~25%) undergo phases of common-envelope evolution and/or stellar mergers. These objects can produce a number of different exotic…
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Taxonomy
TopicsHistory and Developments in Astronomy · Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies · Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
