Kavli Affiliate: Xian Chen
| First 5 Authors: Yucheng Yin, Josh Mathews, Alvin J. K. Chua, Xian Chen,
| Summary:
A binary extreme-mass-ratio inspiral (b-EMRI) is a hierarchical triple system
consisting of a stellar-mass binary black hole (BBH) orbiting a central Kerr
supermassive black hole (SMBH). Although predicted by several astrophysical
models, b-EMRIs pose a challenge in waveform modeling due to their complex
three-body dynamics and strong relativistic effects. Here we take advantage of
the hierarchical nature of b-EMRI systems to transform the internal motion of
the small binary into global trajectories around the SMBH. This allows us to
use black hole perturbation theory to calculate both the low-frequency
gravitational waveform due to its EMRI nature and the high-frequency waveform
generated by the inner motion of the BBH. When the inner binary’s separation
vanishes, our calculation recovers the standard relativistic adiabatic EMRI
waveform. Furthermore, by including the high-frequency perturbation, we find a
correction to the waveform as large as the adiabatic order when the frequency
matches the quasinormal modes (QNMs) of the SMBH, therefore supporting an
earlier proof-of-concept study claiming that the small BBH can resonantly
excite the QNMs of the SMBH. More importantly, we find that b-EMRIs can evolve
faster than regular EMRIs due to this resonant dissipation through the
high-frequency modes. These characteristics distinguish b-EMRI waveform
templates from regular EMRI templates for future space-based gravitational-wave
detectors.
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