Inspiral of double black holes in gaseous nuclear disks

Abstract

We study the inspiral of double black holes orbiting inside a massive rotationally supported gaseous disk, with masses in the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) window of detectability. Using high-resolution SPH simulations, we follow the black hole dynamics in the early phase when gas-dynamical friction acts on the black holes individually, and continue our simulation until the form a close binary. We find that in the early sinking the black holes loose memory of their initial orbital eccentricity if they co-rotate with the gaseous disk. As a consequence the massive black holes form a binary with very low eccentricity. During the inspiral, gravitational capture of gas by the black holes occurs mainly when they move on circular orbits and may ignite AGN activity: eccentric orbits imply instead high relative velocities and weak gravitational focusing.