{"paper":{"title":"Assisted Inspirals of Stellar Mass Black Holes Embedded in AGN Disks: Solving the \"Final AU Problem\"","license":"http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/","headline":"","cross_cats":["astro-ph.HE","astro-ph.SR","gr-qc"],"primary_cat":"astro-ph.GA","authors_text":"Brian D. Metzger, Nicholas C. Stone, Zoltan Haiman","submitted_at":"2016-02-12T21:05:34Z","abstract_excerpt":"We explore the evolution of stellar mass black hole binaries (BHBs) which are formed in the self-gravitating disks of active galactic nuclei (AGN). Hardening due to three-body scattering and gaseous drag are effective mechanisms that reduce the semi-major axis of a BHB to radii where gravitational waves take over, on timescales shorter than the typical lifetime of the AGN disk. Taking observationally-motivated assumptions for the rate of star formation in AGN disks, we find a rate of disk-induced BHB mergers ($\\mathcal{R} \\sim 3~{\\rm yr}^{-1}~{\\rm Gpc}^{-3}$, but with large uncertainties) that"},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"1602.04226","kind":"arxiv","version":2},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}