1. The Effect of Thermal Torques on AGN Disc Migration Traps and Gravitational Wave Populations
- Author
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Grishin, Evgeni, Gilbaum, Shmuel, and Stone, Nicholas C.
- Subjects
Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies - Abstract
Accretion discs in active galactic nuclei (AGN) foster black hole (BH) formation, growth, and mergers. Stellar mass BHs migrate inwards under the influence of hydrodynamical torques unless they encounter a region where the torque flips sign. At these migration traps, BHs accumulate and merge via dynamical or gas-assisted interactions, producing high-frequency LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA (LVK) gravitational wave (GW) sources and potentially cutting off the supply of extreme mass ratio inspirals that would otherwise make low-frequency, {\it LISA}-band GWs. In this paper, we study the interplay between different types of migration torques, focusing especially on the ``thermal torques'' generated by the thermal response of the AGN to embedded stellar-mass BHs that accrete through their own mini-discs.In contrast to previous work, we find that Type I torques cannot produce migration traps on their own, but thermal torques often do, particularly in low-mass AGN. The migration traps produced by thermal torques exist at much larger radii ($\sim 10^{3-5}$ gravitational radii) than do previously identified Type I traps, carrying implications for GW populations at multiple frequencies. Finally, we identify a bifurcation of AGN discs into two regimes: migration traps exist below a critical AGN luminosity, and do not at higher luminosities. This critical luminosity is fit as $\log_{10} L_{\rm AGN}^c = 45 - 0.32 \log_{10}{(\alpha/0.01)}$ where $\alpha$ is the AGN alpha viscosity parameter, a range compatible with recent claims that LVK GWs are not preferentially associated with high-luminosity AGN., Comment: Accepted to MNRAS
- Published
- 2023
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