Description
Black hole coalescences may occur within the dense accretion disks of active galactic nuclei. For extreme/intermediate mass ratio inspirals that last for years in the LISA frequency band, interaction with the gas imparts a phase drift (a `gas imprint’) in the GW waveform that may be detectable and carry information on disk properties. I will present a suite of simulations with the hydrodynamical moving-mesh code DISCO of a two-dimensional, viscous disk with an embedded inspiraling BH, and show how the torques exerted by the gas are different from previous analytical estimates in their strength, direction, and temporal evolution, all of which are sensitive to the BH mass and disk parameters. I will discuss how torques can evolve throughout an inspiral depending on the system properties, under what conditions the gas imprint is detectable, and some critical next steps.
Primary author
Dr
Andrea Derdzinski
(University of Zurich)
