REVIEW 12 cited by
McFACTS I: Testing the LVK AGN channel with Monte Carlo For AGN Channel Testing & Simulation (McFACTS)
Not yet reviewed by Pith; the record is open.
This paper has not been read by Pith yet. Machine review is queued; the pith claim, tier, and objections will appear here once it completes.
SPECIMEN: schema-true, not a live event
T0 review · schema-true
One-sentence machine reading of the paper's core claim.
pith:XXXXXXXX · record.json · timestamp
McFACTS I: Testing the LVK AGN channel with Monte Carlo For AGN Channel Testing & Simulation (McFACTS)
abstract
Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are a promising source of the binary black hole (BBH) mergers observed in gravitational waves with LIGO-Virgo-Kagra (LVK). Constraining the AGN channel allows us to limit AGN parameter space (disk density, size, average lifetime) and nuclear star cluster (NSC) parameter space. Constraints on AGN and NSCs have implications for $\Lambda$CDM models of AGN feedback and models of AGN-driven SMBH merger and growth. Here we present several qualitative studies of the AGN channel using new public, open-source, fast, reproducible code \texttt{McFACTS}\footnote{https://github.com/mcfacts/mcfacts}:Monte Carlo for AGN channel Testing \& Simulation. We demonstrate several important features for testing the AGN channel, including: i) growth to large mass IMBH is helped by the presence of migration traps or swamps, ii) flat BH initial mass functions highlight hierarchical merger features in the mass spectrum, iii) the ($q,\chi_{\rm eff}$) anti-correlation is a strong test of the bias to prograde mergers in the AGN channel, iv) spheroid encounters can drive a fraction of mergers with high in-plane spin components ($\chi_{\rm p}$), v) a high rate of extreme mass ratio inspirals (EMRIs) are driven by an initial population of embedded retrograde BH, vi) Both LVK and LISA are powerful probes of models of AGN disks and their embedded populations.
Forward citations
Cited by 12 Pith papers
-
A Four-dimensional Model-agnostic Probe into the Astrophysical Origins of Binary Black Hole Subpopulations
A GPU-accelerated binned Gaussian process yields the first model-agnostic 4D BBH population in (m1, q, χeff, χp), revealing four mass-based subpopulations and new spin-mass-ratio correlations.
-
Constraints on Line-of-Sight Acceleration from O1-O4
All gravitational-wave binaries analyzed through O4a are consistent with zero line-of-sight acceleration, measured with a new time-domain Doppler method applicable to any waveform model.
-
Binary disruptions driven by massive disks around massive black holes
Disk torques can drive stellar binaries around a massive black hole to tidal disruption, and the Milky Way's young stellar disk likely caused ~10^2 such events ~5 Myr ago.
-
Uncovering Hierarchical Sub-Population of Binary Black Holes
A flexible six-component fit to 259 LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA black-hole mergers finds a roughly geometric sequence of mass peaks but no aligned-spin signal except in the lowest-mass component.
-
Constraints on Line-of-Sight Acceleration from O1-O4
All known compact binary mergers show line-of-sight accelerations consistent with zero under a new time-domain Doppler-shift model, with current detectors only sensitive to high-acceleration scenarios.
-
Milky Way Globular Clusters: Nurseries for Dynamically-Formed Binary Black Holes
A coupled galaxy-cluster model shows that Milky Way globular clusters, many from satellite galaxies, form dynamically interacting black hole binaries whose merger rates increase with redshift up to z=5.
-
Aligned Hierarchical Black Hole Mergers in Active-Galactic-Nuclei Disks Revealed by GWTC-4
GWTC-4 reveals a high-spin, high-mass black hole subpopulation with spin-orbit alignment, interpreted as evidence for hierarchical mergers in AGN disks.
-
AGN-driven BBH mergers: Black hole populations and hierarchical growth across the AGN parameter space
Semi-analytical models show AGN disks produce repeated BBH mergers with a high-mass tail beyond the pair-instability gap, more efficiently at low viscosity, with spin and mass-ratio signatures that can match events li...
-
McFACTS II: Mass Ratio--Effective Spin Relationship of Black Hole Mergers in the AGN Channel
Monte Carlo simulations of AGN-disk black hole mergers identify dense, moderately short-lived disks, a steep initial mass function, and mostly prograde orbits as the parameter combination that reproduces the observed ...
-
Evidence for additional structure in the effective spin distribution hints at multiple formation pathways in GWTC-5.0
GWTC-5.0 analysis finds evidence for structure beyond a non-skewed Gaussian bulk in χ_eff, with suggestive mass-dependent excess of positive over negative spins outside the bulk at 13:1 odds in one mass bin.
-
The first decade of gravitational-wave measurements of black hole spins
A decade of gravitational-wave data shows most merging stellar-mass black holes have small spins, with subdominant fast-spinning, misaligned, and hierarchical-merger populations.
-
The first decade of gravitational-wave measurements of black hole spins
A review summarizing formation-channel predictions, waveform effects, and population-level constraints on stellar-mass black hole spins from the first decade of gravitational-wave observations.
discussion (0)
Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.