On the Assembly Rate of Highly Eccentric Binary Black Hole Mergers

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In this Letter we calculate the fraction of highly eccentric binary black hole (BBH) mergers resulting from binary-single interactions. Using an N-body code that includes post-Newtonian correction terms, we show that ≳1% of all BBH mergers resulting from this channel will have an eccentricity e > 0.1 when coming into the LIGO frequency band. As the majority of BBH mergers forming in globular clusters are assembled through three-body encounters, we suggest that such interactions are likely to dominate the population of high-eccentricity BBH mergers detectable by LIGO. The relative frequency of highly eccentric events could eventually help to constrain the astrophysical origin of BBH mergers.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberL14
JournalAstrophysical Journal Letters
Volume840
Issue number2
Number of pages4
ISSN2041-8205
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10 May 2017
Externally publishedYes

    Research areas

  • gravitational waves, stars: black holes, stars: kinematics and dynamics

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