Nicholas C. Stone

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

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Brian D. Metzger

Columbia University

P. G. Jonker

Radboud University Nijmegen

Sjoert van Velzen

Leiden University

Abraham Loeb

Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian

Jeremiah P. Ostriker

Princeton University

Aleksey Generozov

Technion – Israel Institute of Technology

Nathan W. C. Leigh

American Museum of Natural History

T. Wevers

European Southern Observatory

M. Fraser

University College Dublin

Zoltán Haiman

Columbia University

Cooperative Institutions

Max Planck Society

Radboud University Nijmegen

Queen's University Belfast

Columbia University

California Institute of Technology

Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian

Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory

South African Radio Astronomy Observatory

Astronomical Observatory

Weizmann Institute of Science

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An overabundance of black hole X-ray binaries in the Galactic Centre from tidal captures

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2018)

Aleksey Generozov Nicholas C. Stone Brian D. Metzger Jeremiah P. Ostriker

A large population of X-ray binaries (XRBs) was recently discovered within the central parsec of the Galaxy by Hailey et al. While the presence of compact objects on this scale due to radial mass segregation is, in itself, unsurprising, the fraction of binaries would naively be expected to be small because of how easily primordial binaries are dissociated in the dynamically hot environment of the nuclear star cluster (NSC). We propose that the formation of XRBs in the central parsec is dominated by the tidal capture of stars by black holes (BHs) and neutron stars (NSs). We model the time-dependent radial density profiles of stars and compact objects in the NSC with a Fokker-Planck approach, using the present-day stellar population and rate of in situ massive star (and thus compact object) formation as observational constraints. Of the ~10,000-40,000 BHs that accumulate in the central parsec over the age of the Galaxy, we predict that ~60 - 200 currently exist as BH-XRBs formed from tidal capture, consistent with the population seen by Hailey et al. A somewhat lower number of tidal capture NS-XRBs is also predicted. We also use our observationally calibrated models for the NSC to predict rates of other exotic dynamical processes, such as the tidal disruption of stars by the central supermassive black hole (~0.0001 per year at z=0).

Compact star

Parsec

Black hole (networking)

10.1093/mnras/sty1262

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Citations (90)

The rapidly spinning intermediate-mass black hole 3XMM J150052.0+015452

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2022)

Zheng Cao P. G. Jonker Sixiang Wen Nicholas C. Stone Ann I. Zabludoff

A star tidally disrupted by a black hole can form an accretion disc with a super-Eddington mass accretion rate; the X-ray emission produced by the inner disc provides constraints on the black hole mass $M_\bullet$ and dimensionless spin parameter $a_\bullet$. Previous studies have suggested that the $M_\bullet$ responsible for the tidal disruption event 3XMM J150052.0+015452 (hereafter J150052) is $\sim$10$^{5} M_{\odot}$, in the intermediate black hole (IMBH) regime. Fitting multi-epoch XMM-Newton and Chandra X-ray spectra obtained after 2008 during the source's decade-long decay, with our latest slim accretion disc model gives $M_\bullet = 2.0^{+1.0}_{-0.3}\times10^{5} M_{\odot}$ (at 68% confidence) and $a_\bullet > 0.97$ (a 84.1% confidence lower limit). The spectra obtained between 2008-2014 are significantly harder than those after 2014, an evolution that can be well explained by including the effects of inverse-Comptonisation by a corona on the early-time spectra. The corona is present when the source accretion rate is super-Eddington, while there is no evidence for its effect in data obtained after 2014, when the mass accretion rate is around the Eddington-limit. Based on our spectral study, we infer that the corona is optically thick and warm ($kT_e=2.3^{+2.7}_{-0.8}$ keV). Our mass and spin measurements of J150052 confirm it as an IMBH and point to a rapid, near extremal, spin. These $M_\bullet$ and $a_\bullet$ values rule out both vector bosons and axions of masses $\sim10^{-16}$ eV.

Eddington luminosity

Black hole (networking)

Dimensionless quantity

10.1093/mnras/stac3539

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Citations (7)

Rates of Stellar Tidal Disruption

Space Science Reviews (2020)

Nicholas C. Stone Eugene Vasiliev Michael Kesden Elena M. Rossi H. B. Perets

10.1007/s11214-020-00651-4

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Citations (90)

Intermediate mass black hole formation in compact young massive star clusters

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2020)

Francesco Paolo Rizzuto Thorsten Naab R. Spurzem Mirek Giersz Jeremiah P. Ostriker

Young dense massive star clusters are a promising environment for the formation of intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) through collisions. We present a set of 80 simulations carried out with Nbody6++GPU of 10 initial conditions for compact $\sim 7 \times 10^4 M_{\odot}$ star clusters with half-mass radii $R_\mathrm{h} \lesssim 1 pc$, central densities $\rho_\mathrm{core} \gtrsim 10^5 M_\odot pc^{-3}$, and resolved stellar populations with 10\% primordial binaries. Very massive stars (VMSs) with masses up to $\sim 400 M_\odot$ grow rapidly by binary exchange and three-body scattering events with main sequences stars in hard binaries. Assuming that in VMS - stellar BH collisions all stellar material is accreted onto the BH, IMBHs with masses up to $M_\mathrm{BH} \sim 350 M_\odot$ can form on timescales of $\lesssim 15$ Myr. This process was qualitatively predicted from Monte Carlo MOCCA simulations. Despite the stochastic nature of the process - typically not more than 3/8 cluster realisations show IMBH formation - we find indications for higher formation efficiencies in more compact clusters. Assuming a lower accretion fraction of 0.5 for VMS - BH collisions, IMBHs can also form. The process might not work for accretion fractions as low as 0.1. After formation, the IMBHs can experience occasional mergers with stellar mass BHs in intermediate mass-ratio inspiral events (IMRIs) on a 100 Myr timescale. Realised with more than $10^5$ stars, 10 \% binaries, the assumed stellar evolution model with all relevant evolution processes included and 300 Myr simulation time, our large suite of simulations indicates that IMBHs of several hundred solar masses might form rapidly in massive star clusters right after their birth while they are still compact.

Star (game theory)

Mass segregation

Stellar mass

Black hole (networking)

Compact star

10.1093/mnras/staa3634

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Citations (82)

Prompt tidal disruption of stars as an electromagnetic signature of supermassive black hole coalescence

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2011)

Nicholas C. Stone Abraham Loeb

A precise electromagnetic measurement of the sky coordinates and redshift of a coalescing black hole binary holds the key for using its gravitational wave (GW) signal to constrain cosmological parameters and to test general relativity. Here we show that the merger of ∼ 106−7 M⊙ black holes is generically followed by electromagnetic flares from tidally disrupted stars. The sudden recoil imparted to the merged black hole by GW emission promptly fills its loss cone and results in a tidal disruption rate of stars as high as ∼ 0.1 yr−1. The prompt disruption of a single star within a galaxy provides a unique electromagnetic flag of a recent black hole coalescence event, and sequential disruptions could be used on their own to calibrate the expected rate of GW sources for pulsar timing arrays or the proposed Laser Interferometer Space Antenna.

Black hole (networking)

10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17880.x

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Citations (67)

Tidal disruption flares of stars from moderately recoiled black holes

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2012)

Nicholas C. Stone Abraham Loeb

We analyse stellar tidal disruption events as a possible observational signature of gravitational wave induced recoil of supermassive black holes. As a black hole wanders through its galaxy, it will tidally disrupt bound and unbound stars at rates potentially observable by upcoming optical transient surveys. To quantify these rates, we explore a broad range of host galaxy and black hole kick parameters. We find that emission from a transient accretion disc can produce ∼1 event per year which the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope would identify as spatially offset, while super-Eddington outflows, if they exist, are likely to produce ∼10 spatially offset events per year. A majority of tidal disruption flares, and a large majority of flares with an observable spatial offset, are due to bound rather than unbound stars. The total number of disruption events due to recoiled black holes could be almost 1 per cent of the total stellar tidal disruption rate.

Black hole (networking)

10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.20577.x

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Citations (23)

The superluminous transient ASASSN-15lh as a tidal disruption event from a Kerr black hole

Nature Astronomy (2016)

G. Leloudas M. Fraser Nicholas C. Stone Sjoert van Velzen P. G. Jonker

Black hole (networking)

Flare

10.1038/s41550-016-0002

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Citations (213)

The thermodynamics of stellar multiplicity: an analytic model for the dynamical evolution of binary star populations in dense stellar environments due to single–binary interactions

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2022)

Nathan W. C. Leigh Nicholas C. Stone Jeremy J. Webb Wladimir Lyra

ABSTRACT We recently derived, using the density-of-states approximation, analytic distribution functions for the outcomes of direct single-binary scatterings. Using these outcome distribution functions, we present in this paper a self-consistent statistical mechanics-based analytic model obtained using the Fokker–Planck limit of the Boltzmann equation. Our model quantifies the dominant gravitational physics, combining both strong and weak single–binary interactions, which drives the time evolution of binary orbital parameter distributions in dense stellar environments. We focus in particular the distributions of binary orbital energies and eccentricities. We find a novel steady-state distribution of binary eccentricities, featuring strong depletions of both the highest and the lowest eccentricity binaries. In energy space, we compare the predictions of our analytic model to the results of numerical N-body simulations, and find that the agreement is good for the initial conditions considered here. This work is a first step towards the development of a fully self-consistent semi-analytic model for dynamically evolving binary star populations in dense stellar environments due to direct few-body interactions.

Binary Independence Model

10.1093/mnras/stac2907

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Citations (5)

Density wakes driving dynamical friction in cored potentials

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2022)

Karamveer Kaur Nicholas C. Stone

ABSTRACT Dynamical friction is often modelled with reasonable accuracy by the widely used Chandrasekhar formula. However, in some circumstances, Chandrasekhar’s local and uniform approximations can break down severely. An astrophysically important example is the ‘core stalling’ phenomenon seen in N-body simulations of massive perturber inspiralling into the near-harmonic potential of a stellar system’s constant-density core (and possibly also in direct observations of dwarf galaxies with globular clusters). In this paper, we use the linearized collisionless Boltzmann equation to calculate the global response of a cored galaxy to the presence of a massive perturber. We evaluate the density deformation, or wake, due to the perturber and study its geometrical structure to better understand the phenomenon of core stalling. We also evaluate the dynamical friction torque acting on perturber from the Lynden-Bell–Kalnajs (LBK) formula. In agreement with past work, we find that the dynamical friction force arising from corotating resonances is greatly weakened, relative to the Chandrasekhar formula, inside a constant-density core. In contrast to past work, however, we find that a population of previously neglected high-order and non-corotating resonances sustain a minimum level of frictional torque at $\sim 10{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the torque from Chandrasekhar formula. This suggests that complete core stalling likely requires phenomena beyond the LBK approach; we discuss several possible explanations. Additionally, to study core stalling for multiple perturbers, we investigate approximate secular dynamical interactions (akin to Lidov–Kozai dynamics) between two perturbers orbiting a cored stellar system and derive a criterion for instability arising due to their close encounters.

Dynamical friction

Chandrasekhar limit

10.1093/mnras/stac1729

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Citations (11)

Correction to: The effect of thermal torques on AGN disc migration traps and gravitational wave populations

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2024)

Evgeni Grishin Shmuel Gilbaum Nicholas C. Stone

10.1093/mnras/stae2475

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Citations (0)