SCYON Abstract

Received on May 15 2001

Collisional dynamics around binary black holes in galactic centers

AuthorsMarc Hemsendorf (1,3), Steinn Sigurdsson (2), Rainer Spurzem (3)
Affiliation(1) Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 136 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 0 8854-8019, USA
(2) Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 525 Davey Lab, Penn State University, University Park, PA 1 6802, USA
(3) Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Mönchhofstr. 12-14, D- 6 9120 Heidelberg, Germany
Submitted toAstrophysical Journal
Contactmarchems@physics.rutgers.edu
URLhttp://physics.rutgers.edu/~marchems/
Links

Abstract

We follow the sinking of two massive black holes in a spherical stellar system. The massive particles become bound under the regime of dynamical friction. Once bound, the binary hardens by three body encounters with surrounding stars. Unlike other assumptions the massive system moves inside the core providing an enhanced supply of reaction partners for the hardening. These are the first results from simulations applying a hybrid ``self consistent field'' (SCF) and direct Aarseth N-body integrator (NBODY6), which synthesizes the advantages of the direct force calculation with the efficiency of the field method. The code is aimed for use on parallel architectures and is therefore applicable for collisional N-body integrations with extraordinarily large particle numbers (> 10^5). It opens the perspective to simulate the dynamics of globular clusters with realistic collisional relaxation, as well as stellar systems surrounding a supermassive black hole in galactic nuclei.