arXiv subjects

Diptajyoti Mukherjee

Publications and source records attributed to Diptajyoti Mukherjee.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

MAGICS III. Seeds sink swiftly: nuclear star clusters dramatically accelerate seed black hole mergers

Merger rate predictions of Massive Black Hole (MBH) seeds from large-scale cosmological simulations differ widely, with recent studies highlighting the challenge of low-mass MBH seeds failing to reach the galactic center, a phenomenon known as the seed sinking problem. In this work, we tackle this issue by integrating cosmological simulations and galaxy merger simulations from the MAGICS-I and MAGICS-II resimulation suites with high-resolution $N$-body simulations. Building on the findings of MAGICS-II, which showed that only MBH seeds embedded in stellar systems are able to sink to the center, we extend the investigation by incorporating nuclear star clusters (NSCs) into our models. Utilizing $N$-body resimulations with up to $10^7$ particles, we demonstrate that interactions between NSCs and their surrounding galactic environment, particularly tidal forces triggered by cluster interactions, significantly accelerate the sinking of MBHs to the galactic center. This process leads to the formation of a hard binary in $\lesssim 500$ Myr after the onset of a galaxy merger. Our results show that in 8 out of 12 models, the high stellar density of the surrounding NSCs enhances MBH hardening, facilitating gravitational wave (GW) mergers by redshift $z = 4$. We conclude that at $z > 4$, dense NSCs serve as the dominant channel for MBH seed mergers, producing a merger rate of $0.3$--$0.6\, \mathrm{yr}^{-1}$ at $z = 4$, which is approximately 300--600 times higher than in non-NSC environments. In contrast, in environments without NSCs, surrounding dark matter plays a more significant role in loss-cone scattering.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

MAGICS II. Seed black holes stripped of their surrounding stars do not sink

MBH seed mergers are expected to be among the loudest sources of gravitational waves detected by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), providing a unique window into the birth and early growth of SMBH. We present the MAGICS-II simulation suite, consisting of 6 galaxy mergers that result in MBH seeds mergers identified in the cosmological simulation ASTRID. With the enhanced resolution (mass resolution: 500 $\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$; softening length: $5$ pc), improved subgrid models for the MBH dynamics and accretion, and the accurate regularized gravity integrator included in KETJU, we trace MBH seeds dynamics down to 0.1 pc. After evolving all the systems for $\approx$ 1.2 Gyr in three stages (MAGICS-2000, MAGICS-500, and MAGICS-K), we find in 4 of the 6 systems the MBHs stall at separations $ Δr \gtrsim 200$ pc. Only in 2 systems, the MBHs manage to sink further, and only in one of them a bound binary forms. In the sinking systems, the MBH retains a population of bound stars. The final separation between the MBH is related to the surrounding unstripped stellar (and/or dark matter) mass: if more than 90\% of the surrounding stellar system is stripped away, the MBHs stall. Besides the unstripped stars from the original host galaxy, we find that newly formed stars bound to the MBH significantly contribute to its sinking. Resolving the stellar system around MBH seeds, and its induced tidal interactions and dynamical friction is key for accurately capturing MBH dynamics. For this, high resolution simulations are required. In a companion paper (MAGICS-III), we resimulate the central regions of these systems with increased resolution to model directly the effects of actual star clusters around MBHs.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

Examining the effects of dark matter spikes on eccentric intermediate mass ratio inspirals using N-body simulations

Recent studies suggest that dark matter (DM) spikes around intermediate-mass black holes could cause observable dephasing in gravitational wave (GW) signals from Intermediate Mass Ratio Inspirals (IMRIs). Previous research primarily used non-self-consistent analytic methods to estimate the impact of DM spikes on eccentric IMRIs. Our study provides the first self-consistent treatment of this phenomenon using $N$-body simulations, incorporating Post-Newtonian effects up to the 2.5 order for accurate and robust results. Contrary to prior works, which posited that the cumulative effect of two-body encounters (dynamical friction; DF) is the primary mechanism for energy dissipation, we reveal that a three-body effect (slingshot mechanism) plays a more significant role in driving the binary system's energy loss and consequent orbital shrinkage. We find that binaries counter-rotating with respect to the DM spike merge faster, while co-rotating binaries merge slower, contrary to expectations from the DF theory. Using Fokker-Planck methods, we also assess the presence and detectability of spikes in realistic environments. When interacting with surrounding materials, DM spikes can have shallower slopes and lower densities than previously considered, leading to smaller signals and lower detection prospects via dephasing. Our results suggest that `deshifting' rather than dephasing might be a more optimistic signature, as it is more robust even in low-density environments.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

MAGICS I. The First Few Orbits Encode the Fate of Seed Massive Black Hole Pairs

The elusive massive black hole (MBH) seeds stand to be revealed by the Laser Space Antenna Interferometer through mergers. As an aftermath of galaxy mergers, MBH coalescence is a vastly multi-scale process connected to galaxy formation. We introduce the "Massive black hole Assembly in Galaxies Informed by Cosmological Simulations" (MAGICS) suite, with galaxy/MBH properties and orbits recovered from large-volume cosmological simulation ASTRID. The simulations include subgrid star formation, supernovae feedback, and MBH accretion/feedback. In this first suite, we extract fifteen representative galaxy mergers with seed MBHs to examine their dynamics at an improved mass and spatial resolution (by $\sim2000$ and $\sim20$) and follow MBH orbits down to $\sim10\,\text{pc}$. We find that the seed MBH energy loss and orbital decay are largely governed by global torques induced by the galaxy merger process on scales resolvable by cosmological simulations. Specifically, pairs sink quickly if their orbits shrink rapidly below $1\,\text{kpc}$ during the first $\sim200\,\text{Myr}$ of pairing due to effective energy loss in major galaxy mergers, whereas MBHs gaining energy in minor galaxy mergers with head-on collisions are likely to stall. High initial eccentricities ($e_\text{init}>0.5$) and high stellar densities at kpc scales ($ρ_\text{star}>0.05\,M_\odot/\text{pc}^3$) also lead to most efficient decays. $\sim50\%$ high-redshift seed MBH pairs experience consecutive galaxy mergers and are more likely to stall at $\sim1\,\text{kpc}$. For a subset of systems, we carry out N-Body re-simulations until binary formation and find that some stalled systems merge at high-z when embedded in sufficient nuclear star clusters.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

Close Encounters of the Interstellar Kind: Examining the Capture of Interstellar Objects in Near Earth Orbit

Recent observations and detections of interstellar objects (ISOs) passing through the solar system have sparked a wave of interest into these objects. Although rare, these ISOs can be captured into bound orbits around the Sun. In this study, we investigate the novel idea of capture of ISOs into near-Earth orbits and find that a steady population of ISOs exists among the current population of Near Earth Objects (NEOs). Using numerical simulations, we find that the capture of ISOs into near-Earth orbits is dominated by Jupiter which is $10^4\times$ more efficient in capturing ISOs compared to Earth. Captured ISOs are more likely to be in orbits with high eccentricities and low inclinations. We also investigate the stability of captured ISOs and find that they are generally unstable and have an average survival life time of $\sim 1$ Myr, consistent with lifetime of NEOs originating from outer asteroid belt, and are ejected from the solar system due to interactions with other planets or the Sun. Our results have important implications for understanding the population of ISOs in the solar system and possible future detection. We find that about one to a few $50-70$ m sized captured ISOs among NEOs would be detectable by LSST over its lifetime. By detecting and studying captured interstellar objects, we can learn about the properties and origins of such objects, and the formation and evolution of exoplanetary systems and even our solar system.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2022

Evolution of Massive Black Hole Binaries in Collisionally Relaxed Nuclear Star Clusters -- Impact of Mass Segregation

Massive Black Hole (MBH) binaries are considered to be one of the most important sources of Gravitational Waves (GW) that can be detected by GW detectors like LISA. However, there are a lot of uncertainties in the dynamics of MBH binaries in the stages leading up to the GW-emission phase. It has been recently suggested that Nuclear Star Clusters (NSCs) could provide a viable route to overcome the final parsec problem for MBH binaries at the center of galaxies. NSCs are collisional systems where the dynamics would be altered by the presence of a mass spectrum. In this study, we use a suite of high-resolution $N$-body simulations with over 1 million particles to understand how collisional relaxation under the presence of a mass spectrum of NSC particles affects the dynamics of the MBH binary under the merger of two NSCs. We consider MBH binaries with different mass ratios and additional non-relaxed models. We find that mass-segregation driven by collisional relaxation can lead to accelerated hardening in lower mass ratio binaries but has the opposite effect in higher mass ratio binaries. Crucially, the relaxed models also demonstrate much lower eccentricities at binary formation and negligible growth during hardening stages leading to longer merger timescales. The results are robust and highlight the importance of collisional relaxation on changing the dynamics of the binary. Our models are state-of-the-art, use zero softening, and high enough particle numbers to model NSCs realistically.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Fast Multipole Methods for $N$-body Simulations of Collisional Star Systems

Direct $N$-body simulations of star clusters are accurate but expensive, largely due to the numerous $\mathcal{O} (N^2)$ pairwise force calculations. To solve the post-million-body problem, it will be necessary to use approximate force solvers, such as tree codes. In this work, we adapt a tree-based, optimized Fast Multipole Method (FMM) to the collisional $N$-body problem. The use of a rotation-accelerated translation operator and an error-controlled cell opening criterion leads to a code that can be tuned to arbitrary accuracy. We demonstrate that our code, Taichi, can be as accurate as direct summation when $N> 10^4$. This opens up the possibility of performing large-$N$, star-by-star simulations of massive stellar clusters, and would permit large parameter space studies that would require years with the current generation of direct summation codes. Using a series of tests and idealized models, we show that Taichi can accurately model collisional effects, such as dynamical friction and the core-collapse time of idealized clusters, producing results in strong agreement with benchmarks from other collisional codes such as NBODY6++GPU or PeTar. Parallelized using OpenMP and AVX, Taichi is demonstrated to be more efficient than other CPU-based direct $N$-body codes for simulating large systems. With future improvements to the handling of close encounters and binary evolution, we clearly demonstrate the potential of an optimized FMM for the modeling of collisional stellar systems, opening the door to accurate simulations of massive globular clusters, super star clusters, and even galactic nuclei.

astro-ph.GA↗