Binary Mergers near a Supermassive Black Hole: Relativistic Effects in Triples

Bin Liu; Dong Lai; Yi-Han Wang

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Binary Mergers near a Supermassive Black Hole: Relativistic Effects in Triples

Bin Liu, Dong Lai, Yi-Han Wang

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Submitted 18 Jun 2019

abstract compiled · 2026-09-23 · no language-model review

The authors' main claim This "GR-enhanced" channel may play an important role in BHB mergers.

how it is stated · hedged possibility 1.00 read the record →

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arXiv ID1906.07726 (version 2)

Pith ID65CSTGLF, Pith's permanent record of this paper and its review

CitationBin Liu, Dong Lai, Yi-Han Wang. "Binary Mergers near a Supermassive Black Hole: Relativistic Effects in Triples." arXiv:1906.07726 (2019). https://pith.science/paper/65CSTGLF

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Compiled by classifier-1.13.0 via TypeSafe API, question bank abstract-p1-20260923, 2026-09-23: 1 request, 3,632 input tokens.

What the abstract itself states, as probabilities: claims first 0.03 · states limitation 0.06 · human participants 0.01 · controlled comparison 0.05 · randomized assignment 0.01 · states quantitative result 0.05 · compares with prior results 0.13 · mentions code or data availability 0.02.

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We study the general relativitic (GR) effects induced by a spinning supermassive black hole on the orbital and spin evolution of a merging black hole binary (BHB) in a hierarchical triple system. A sufficiently inclined outer orbit can excite Lidov-Kozai eccentricity oscillations in the BHB and induce its merger. These GR effects generate extra precessions on the BHB orbits and spins, significantly increasing the inclination window for mergers and producing a wide range of spin orientations when the BHB enters LIGO band. This "GR-enhanced" channel may play an important role in BHB mergers.

background contribution method result interpretation main claim

What the classifier reports for each sentence. The number is the probability it gave the label.
#	sentence	role	the authors' own work	states the main conclusion	strength
s0	We study the general relativitic (GR) effects induced by a spinning supermassive black hole on the orbital and spin evolution of a merging black hole binary (BHB) in a hierarchical triple system.	contribution 1.00	0.85	0.04	asserted 0.72
s1	A sufficiently inclined outer orbit can excite Lidov-Kozai eccentricity oscillations in the BHB and induce its merger.	background 0.59	0.25	0.12	asserted 0.64
s2	These GR effects generate extra precessions on the BHB orbits and spins, significantly increasing the inclination window for mergers and producing a wide range of spin orientations when the BHB enters LIGO band.	result 0.99	0.81	0.55	asserted 1.00
s3	This "GR-enhanced" channel may play an important role in BHB mergers.	interpretation 1.00	0.35	0.63	hedged possibility 1.00

What kind of paper the classifier reports this is: simulation study 0.63 · evidence from simulation or computation 0.78.

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The paper

Original abstract

We study the general relativitic (GR) effects induced by a spinning supermassive black hole on the orbital and spin evolution of a merging black hole binary (BHB) in a hierarchical triple system. A sufficiently inclined outer orbit can excite Lidov-Kozai eccentricity oscillations in the BHB and induce its merger. These GR effects generate extra precessions on the BHB orbits and spins, significantly increasing the inclination window for mergers and producing a wide range of spin orientations when the BHB enters LIGO band. This "GR-enhanced" channel may play an important role in BHB mergers.

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References

Forward citations

Cited by 3 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

Black Hole Binary Mergers in Galactic Nuclei: Combined Effects of Secular Dynamics and Stellar Flybys
astro-ph.HE 2026-10 accept novelty 6.0 of 10

Stellar flybys in galactic nuclei boost the merger rate of black hole binaries to approximately 16 Gpc^-3 yr^-1, with a detectable eccentricity signature at 5 Hz.
Self-lensing of gravitational waves from binary extreme-mass-ratio inspirals: Extended caustics and paired flashes
gr-qc 2026-10 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

A circular equatorial orbit around a Kerr black hole crosses the second-order caustic twice per revolution, producing paired lensed gravitational-wave flashes whose time separation grows as spin squared times radius t...
Dynamical von Zeipel-Lidov-Kozai Oscillations of a Binary on a Spherical Orbit around a Rotating Supermassive Black Hole
gr-qc 2025-04 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

Latitudinal libration of a binary's spherical orbit around a spinning supermassive black hole shortens von Zeipel-Lidov-Kozai oscillation periods and boosts maximum eccentricity, even to near unity for soft binaries.

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14 arXiv papers cite this in 33 sentences

Each citing sentence is taken from the citing paper's LaTeX source and typed by Pith's classifier. A label appears at probability 0.8 or more (0.95 for support), a contest at 0.7 or more; the quoted words are the citing authors'. How each label was checked · JSON

Papers citing it · 22 sentences without a confident label

Compares with it 1 paper

Indeed, varying the kinetic term for the spin with respect to the canonical variables $α̂$ and $W = J ×α̂$, one obtains the equations of motion [equation] where the precession frequency is equal to [equation] From these two equations, and using the Jacobi identity for the cross product, one obtains the precession equation [equation] which is in complete accordance with earlier results on the hierarchical three-body problem [ref] .

Effective two-body approach to the hierarchical three-body problem · Dipole · 0.92

Cites it as support 2 papers

This assumption holds because the effect of spin becomes negligible at the distances relevant for binary black holes with respect to the supermassive black hole [ref] .

Multimessenger hierarchical triple merger gravitational-wave event pair GW190514-GW190521 inside AGN J124942.3 + 344929 · Environmental effects · 0.99
However, we do not include the effect of the spin because, for the distances we expect the BBH to be with respect to the SMBH, it becomes negligible [ref] .

GW190521: a binary black hole merger inside an active galactic nucleus? · Environmental effects · 0.96

Cites it as background 6 papers

Several interesting behaviors can emerge from the non-trivial interplay between quadrupolar and PN terms [ref] * $t_PN ≪t_KL$: PN terms dominate the evolution.

Precession resonances in hierarchical triple systems · Resonant hierarchical systems · 0.90
The Lidov-Kozai and Lense-Thirring effects also play a role in the evolution of hierarchical triples [ref] .

Measuring Supermassive Black Hole Properties via Gravitational Radiation from Eccentrically Orbiting Stellar Mass Black Hole Binaries · Introduction · 0.82
These involve either strong gravitational scatterings in dense clusters [ref] or more gentle “tertiary-induced mergers” [ref] .

Spin-Orbit Misalignments in Tertiary-Induced Black-Hole Binary Mergers: Theoretical Analysis · Introduction · 0.95

What it cites · 3 sentences without a confident label

Cites as background 2 papers

Dynamical formation channels include mergers arising from strong gravitational scattering in dense clusters [ref] and more gentle “tertiary-induced mergers” – the latter can take place either in isolated triple/quadrupole systems [ref] or in nuclear clusters dominated by a central supermassive BH (SMBH) [ref] .

Black Hole Mergers from Globular Clusters Observable by LISA and LIGO: Results from post-Newtonian Binary-Single Scatterings · Introduction · 0.98
Dynamical formation channels include mergers arising from strong gravitational scattering in dense clusters [ref] and more gentle “tertiary-induced mergers” – the latter can take place either in isolated triple/quadrupole systems [ref] or in nuclear clusters dominated by a central supermassive BH (SMBH) [ref] .

Supernovae in massive binaries and compact object mergers near supermassive black holes · Introduction · 0.98

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