Enabling multi-messenger science with black hole binaries

Projektbeschreibung

Vorhersage der elektromagnetischen und Gravitationswellensignaturen von binären Schwarzen Löchern

Die jüngste Entdeckung von Verschmelzungen binärer Neutronensterne mithilfe von Gravitationswellen- (GW) und elektromagnetischen (EM) Beobachtungen hat eine neue Ära der Multi-Messenger-Astrophysik eingeläutet. In diesem Kontext zielt das ERC-finanzierte Projekt Bright BHBs darauf ab, die EM- und GW-Signaturen während der gesamten Entwicklung von Binärsystemen aus Schwarzen Löchern mit zirkumbinären Scheiben vorherzusagen. Mithilfe hydrodynamischer und magnetohydrodynamischer Simulationen soll die Signatur von supermassereichen Systemen von Schwarzen Löchern unter den aktiven Galaxienkernen (active galactic nuclei, AGNs) erkannt werden. Darüber hinaus wird das Projekt selbstkonsistente, zeitabhängige Modelle von AGN-Scheiben erstellen, um die Signaturen von Verschmelzungen Schwarzer Löcher mit stellarer Masse zu identifizieren. Diese Instrumente werden nicht nur Einblicke in die Prozesse kosmischer Ereignisse ermöglichen, sondern auch eine Bereicherung für die bevorstehende Laser-Interferometer-Weltraumantennen-Mission der Europäischen Weltraumorganisation darstellen.

Ziel

Combining electromagnetic (EM) and gravitational-wave (GW) observations of the same object opens windows to new science, from astronomy and astrophysics to fundamental physics and cosmology. The era of such multi-messenger astrophysics began with the recent GW+EM discovery of two binary neutron-star mergers. This proposal will enable novel multi-messenger science with black hole binaries (BHBs) across all masses.

Supermassive and stellar-mass BHBs in galactic nuclei are both expected to be surrounded by circumbinary gas disks. The binary's orbit and the hydrodynamics of its disk are coupled and their evolution must be followed jointly. Our goal is to understand this coupled long-term evolution of BHB+disk systems, along with their corresponding EM and GW signatures.

This is an exceptionally well-posed physics problem. We will solve it through hydrodynamical and MHD simulations of unprecedented size, spatial resolution and duration, incorporating radiation transport, realistic thermodynamics, gravitational radiation and disk self-gravity for the first time. We will predict the EM and GW signatures of BHBs with circumbinary disks throughout their evolution, and apply these to observations in three work packages (WPs).

WP1 will perform 2D hydro and 3D radiation-MHD simulations to understand the orbital evolution and the EM and GW signatures of BHBs with circumbinary disks.

WP2 will apply these results to robustly identify the first SMBH binaries among AGNs in LSST and other time-domain surveys, and to interpret pulsar-timing array observations of the GW background.

WP3 will develop the first self-consistent time-dependent models of AGN disks coupled with the embedded populations of stellar-mass objects, and derive the EM and GW signatures of stellar-mass BH mergers in these disks.

The tools we build will also allow ESA's LISA mission to realize its full science potential, by enabling the astrophysical interpretation of any deviations from vacuum GR waveforms.