Survival of the Fittest: Testing Superradiance Termination with Simulated Binary Black Hole Statistics
The superradiance instability of rotating black holes (BHs) leads to the formation of an ultralight boson cloud with distinctive observational signatures, making BHs an effective probe of ultralight bosons. However, around BHs in a binary system, the superradiance effect of such clouds can be termin...
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adb1db |
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| author | Hui-Yu Zhu Xi Tong Giorgio Manzoni Yanjiao Ma |
| author_facet | Hui-Yu Zhu Xi Tong Giorgio Manzoni Yanjiao Ma |
| author_sort | Hui-Yu Zhu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The superradiance instability of rotating black holes (BHs) leads to the formation of an ultralight boson cloud with distinctive observational signatures, making BHs an effective probe of ultralight bosons. However, around BHs in a binary system, the superradiance effect of such clouds can be terminated by tidal perturbations from the companion, leading to cloud depletion. In this study, we focus on the superradiance of a scalar boson, and perform the first analysis of the impact of this termination effect on superradiant BH binaries, which are realistically modeled after their statistics in our Galaxy. Working with a data set of approximately 10 ^7 BH binaries simulated using the Stellar Evolution for N -body population synthesis code, we identify the superradiant candidates and those that manage to survive the termination effect. We then calculate the cloud survival rate for various boson masses and BH spin models. Our findings reveal that the l = m = 1 cloud modes are generally stable against termination, whereas the l = m = 2 modes can be significantly affected, with survival rates dropping below 10% for boson masses below approximately 0.5 × 10 ^−12 eV. In addition, our analysis indicates that clouds that overcome termination typically exhibit a higher superradiant growth rate and therefore a higher detectability. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-fe87b674c41c48718151d02b615d16e7 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
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| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-fe87b674c41c48718151d02b615d16e72025-08-20T03:16:26ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-01981216510.3847/1538-4357/adb1dbSurvival of the Fittest: Testing Superradiance Termination with Simulated Binary Black Hole StatisticsHui-Yu Zhu0Xi Tong1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5737-2652Giorgio Manzoni2Yanjiao Ma3Department of Physics, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology , Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China ; hzhuav@connect.ust.hk, ymaby@connect.ust.hk; Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology , Hong Kong S.A.R., People’s Republic of China ; iasmanzoni@ust.hkDepartment of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge , Wilberforce Road, Cambridge, CB3 0WA, UK ; xt246@cam.ac.ukJockey Club Institute for Advanced Study, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology , Hong Kong S.A.R., People’s Republic of China ; iasmanzoni@ust.hkDepartment of Physics, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology , Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China ; hzhuav@connect.ust.hk, ymaby@connect.ust.hk; Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology , Hong Kong S.A.R., People’s Republic of China ; iasmanzoni@ust.hkThe superradiance instability of rotating black holes (BHs) leads to the formation of an ultralight boson cloud with distinctive observational signatures, making BHs an effective probe of ultralight bosons. However, around BHs in a binary system, the superradiance effect of such clouds can be terminated by tidal perturbations from the companion, leading to cloud depletion. In this study, we focus on the superradiance of a scalar boson, and perform the first analysis of the impact of this termination effect on superradiant BH binaries, which are realistically modeled after their statistics in our Galaxy. Working with a data set of approximately 10 ^7 BH binaries simulated using the Stellar Evolution for N -body population synthesis code, we identify the superradiant candidates and those that manage to survive the termination effect. We then calculate the cloud survival rate for various boson masses and BH spin models. Our findings reveal that the l = m = 1 cloud modes are generally stable against termination, whereas the l = m = 2 modes can be significantly affected, with survival rates dropping below 10% for boson masses below approximately 0.5 × 10 ^−12 eV. In addition, our analysis indicates that clouds that overcome termination typically exhibit a higher superradiant growth rate and therefore a higher detectability.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adb1dbBlack holesRotating black holesAstrophysical black holesDark matterStellar evolutionCompact objects |
| spellingShingle | Hui-Yu Zhu Xi Tong Giorgio Manzoni Yanjiao Ma Survival of the Fittest: Testing Superradiance Termination with Simulated Binary Black Hole Statistics The Astrophysical Journal Black holes Rotating black holes Astrophysical black holes Dark matter Stellar evolution Compact objects |
| title | Survival of the Fittest: Testing Superradiance Termination with Simulated Binary Black Hole Statistics |
| title_full | Survival of the Fittest: Testing Superradiance Termination with Simulated Binary Black Hole Statistics |
| title_fullStr | Survival of the Fittest: Testing Superradiance Termination with Simulated Binary Black Hole Statistics |
| title_full_unstemmed | Survival of the Fittest: Testing Superradiance Termination with Simulated Binary Black Hole Statistics |
| title_short | Survival of the Fittest: Testing Superradiance Termination with Simulated Binary Black Hole Statistics |
| title_sort | survival of the fittest testing superradiance termination with simulated binary black hole statistics |
| topic | Black holes Rotating black holes Astrophysical black holes Dark matter Stellar evolution Compact objects |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adb1db |
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