Semianalytical Fokker–Planck Models for Nuclear Star Clusters
We study the dynamics of nuclear star clusters, the dense stellar environments surrounding massive black holes in the centers of galaxies. We consider angular momentum diffusion due to two-body scatterings among stellar objects and energy advection due to gravitational-wave emission upon interaction...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada8a8 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1823860931970465792 |
|---|---|
| author | Karamveer Kaur Barak Rom Re’em Sari |
| author_facet | Karamveer Kaur Barak Rom Re’em Sari |
| author_sort | Karamveer Kaur |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We study the dynamics of nuclear star clusters, the dense stellar environments surrounding massive black holes in the centers of galaxies. We consider angular momentum diffusion due to two-body scatterings among stellar objects and energy advection due to gravitational-wave emission upon interaction with the central massive black hole. Such dynamics are described by a 2D Fokker–Planck (FP) equation in energy–angular momentum space. Focusing on the transition between the diffusion-dominated region and the advection-dominated one, we utilize self-similarity to obtain a full solution for the steady-state FP equation. This solution provides the density and flux of the stellar objects in nuclear star clusters. This improves the rate estimates for extreme-mass ratio inspirals, and has interesting implications for a new class of galactic center transients called quasiperiodic eruptions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-06353822b8254f14a236fdc1c48cada6 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-06353822b8254f14a236fdc1c48cada62025-02-10T07:53:43ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-01980115010.3847/1538-4357/ada8a8Semianalytical Fokker–Planck Models for Nuclear Star ClustersKaramveer Kaur0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6474-4402Barak Rom1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7420-3578Re’em Sari2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1084-3656Technion—Israel Institute of Technology , Haifa, 3200002, Israel ; karamveerkaur30@gmail.com; Racah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem , 9190401, IsraelRacah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem , 9190401, IsraelRacah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem , 9190401, IsraelWe study the dynamics of nuclear star clusters, the dense stellar environments surrounding massive black holes in the centers of galaxies. We consider angular momentum diffusion due to two-body scatterings among stellar objects and energy advection due to gravitational-wave emission upon interaction with the central massive black hole. Such dynamics are described by a 2D Fokker–Planck (FP) equation in energy–angular momentum space. Focusing on the transition between the diffusion-dominated region and the advection-dominated one, we utilize self-similarity to obtain a full solution for the steady-state FP equation. This solution provides the density and flux of the stellar objects in nuclear star clusters. This improves the rate estimates for extreme-mass ratio inspirals, and has interesting implications for a new class of galactic center transients called quasiperiodic eruptions.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada8a8Galaxy nucleiStellar dynamicsSupermassive black holesStellar mass black holesGravitational wave sourcesX-ray transient sources |
| spellingShingle | Karamveer Kaur Barak Rom Re’em Sari Semianalytical Fokker–Planck Models for Nuclear Star Clusters The Astrophysical Journal Galaxy nuclei Stellar dynamics Supermassive black holes Stellar mass black holes Gravitational wave sources X-ray transient sources |
| title | Semianalytical Fokker–Planck Models for Nuclear Star Clusters |
| title_full | Semianalytical Fokker–Planck Models for Nuclear Star Clusters |
| title_fullStr | Semianalytical Fokker–Planck Models for Nuclear Star Clusters |
| title_full_unstemmed | Semianalytical Fokker–Planck Models for Nuclear Star Clusters |
| title_short | Semianalytical Fokker–Planck Models for Nuclear Star Clusters |
| title_sort | semianalytical fokker planck models for nuclear star clusters |
| topic | Galaxy nuclei Stellar dynamics Supermassive black holes Stellar mass black holes Gravitational wave sources X-ray transient sources |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada8a8 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT karamveerkaur semianalyticalfokkerplanckmodelsfornuclearstarclusters AT barakrom semianalyticalfokkerplanckmodelsfornuclearstarclusters AT reemsari semianalyticalfokkerplanckmodelsfornuclearstarclusters |