The Use of Binary Black Holes Merging in Active Galactic Nuclei Disks for Hubble Constant Measurements

We study the impact of environmental effects on the measurement of the Hubble constant ( H _0 ) from gravitational-wave (GW) observations of binary black hole mergers residing in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) near the central supermassive black hole. Using the potential hierarchical triple merger ca...

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Main Authors: Guo-Peng Li, Xi-Long Fan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:The Astrophysical Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adda46
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author Guo-Peng Li
Xi-Long Fan
author_facet Guo-Peng Li
Xi-Long Fan
author_sort Guo-Peng Li
collection DOAJ
description We study the impact of environmental effects on the measurement of the Hubble constant ( H _0 ) from gravitational-wave (GW) observations of binary black hole mergers residing in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) near the central supermassive black hole. Using the potential hierarchical triple merger candidate GW190514–GW190521 in AGN J124942.3+344929 with its potential electromagnetic counterpart ZTF19abanrhr as a multimessenger case study, we demonstrate that environmental effects can be negligible for mergers at approximately tens to hundreds of Schwarzschild radii from the supermassive black hole. We find ${H}_{0}=40.{9}_{-8.9}^{+19.3}\,{\rm{km}}\,{{\rm{s}}}^{-1}\,{{\rm{Mpc}}}^{-1}$ (median and 68% credible interval) under a flat prior and flat ΛCDM cosmology. Incorporating GW170817 prior information improves constraints to ${H}_{0}=68.{8}_{-6.0}^{+7.7}\,{\rm{km}}\,{{\rm{s}}}^{-1}\,{{\rm{Mpc}}}^{-1}$ . We suggest that, in general, AGN environments could serve as viable laboratories for cosmological studies from GW observations where environmental effects remain below detection thresholds.
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spelling doaj-art-5fc457ec7f6b47999108e1459ccf8ad62025-08-20T03:25:16ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-0198616110.3847/1538-4357/adda46The Use of Binary Black Holes Merging in Active Galactic Nuclei Disks for Hubble Constant MeasurementsGuo-Peng Li0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3306-5217Xi-Long Fan1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8174-0128Department of Astronomy, School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, People’s Republic of China ; xilong.fan@whu.edu.cnDepartment of Astronomy, School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, People’s Republic of China ; xilong.fan@whu.edu.cnWe study the impact of environmental effects on the measurement of the Hubble constant ( H _0 ) from gravitational-wave (GW) observations of binary black hole mergers residing in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) near the central supermassive black hole. Using the potential hierarchical triple merger candidate GW190514–GW190521 in AGN J124942.3+344929 with its potential electromagnetic counterpart ZTF19abanrhr as a multimessenger case study, we demonstrate that environmental effects can be negligible for mergers at approximately tens to hundreds of Schwarzschild radii from the supermassive black hole. We find ${H}_{0}=40.{9}_{-8.9}^{+19.3}\,{\rm{km}}\,{{\rm{s}}}^{-1}\,{{\rm{Mpc}}}^{-1}$ (median and 68% credible interval) under a flat prior and flat ΛCDM cosmology. Incorporating GW170817 prior information improves constraints to ${H}_{0}=68.{8}_{-6.0}^{+7.7}\,{\rm{km}}\,{{\rm{s}}}^{-1}\,{{\rm{Mpc}}}^{-1}$ . We suggest that, in general, AGN environments could serve as viable laboratories for cosmological studies from GW observations where environmental effects remain below detection thresholds.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adda46Gravitational wave sourcesHubble constantActive galactic nuclei
spellingShingle Guo-Peng Li
Xi-Long Fan
The Use of Binary Black Holes Merging in Active Galactic Nuclei Disks for Hubble Constant Measurements
The Astrophysical Journal
Gravitational wave sources
Hubble constant
Active galactic nuclei
title The Use of Binary Black Holes Merging in Active Galactic Nuclei Disks for Hubble Constant Measurements
title_full The Use of Binary Black Holes Merging in Active Galactic Nuclei Disks for Hubble Constant Measurements
title_fullStr The Use of Binary Black Holes Merging in Active Galactic Nuclei Disks for Hubble Constant Measurements
title_full_unstemmed The Use of Binary Black Holes Merging in Active Galactic Nuclei Disks for Hubble Constant Measurements
title_short The Use of Binary Black Holes Merging in Active Galactic Nuclei Disks for Hubble Constant Measurements
title_sort use of binary black holes merging in active galactic nuclei disks for hubble constant measurements
topic Gravitational wave sources
Hubble constant
Active galactic nuclei
url https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adda46
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