# GRAVITATIONAL WAVES AND STALLED SATELLITES FROM MASSIVE GALAXY MERGERS AT z ⩽ 1

@article{McWilliams2014GRAVITATIONALWA,
title={GRAVITATIONAL WAVES AND STALLED SATELLITES FROM MASSIVE GALAXY MERGERS AT z ⩽ 1},
author={S. McWilliams and J. Ostriker and F. Pretorius},
journal={The Astrophysical Journal},
year={2014},
volume={789},
pages={156}
}
• Published 2014
• Physics
• The Astrophysical Journal
We present a model for merger-driven evolution of the mass function for massive galaxies and their central supermassive black holes at late times. We discuss the current observational evidence in favor of merger-driven massive galaxy evolution during this epoch, and demonstrate that the observed evolution of the mass function can be reproduced by evolving an initial mass function under the assumption of negligible star formation. We calculate the stochastic gravitational wave signal from the… Expand

#### Figures from this paper

The imminent detection of gravitational waves from massive black-hole binaries with pulsar timing arrays
• Physics
• 2012
Recent observations of massive galaxies indicate that they double in mass and quintuple in size between redshift z = 1 and the present, despite undergoing very little star formation, suggesting thatExpand
Prospects for gravitational-wave detection and supermassive black hole astrophysics with pulsar timing arrays
• Physics
• 2015
Large-area sky surveys show that massive galaxies undergo at least one major merger in a Hubble time. Ongoing pulsar timing array (PTA) experiments are aimed at measuring the gravitational wave (GW)Expand
Gravitational Waves from the Inspiral of Supermassive Black Holes in Galactic-scale Simulations
• Physics
• 2019
We study the orbital evolution and gravitational wave (GW) emission of supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries formed in gas-free mergers of massive early-type galaxies using the hybridExpand
Understanding black hole mass assembly via accretion and mergers at late times in cosmological simulations
• Physics
• 2015
Accretion is thought to primarily contribute to the mass accumulation history of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) throughout cosmic time. While this may be true at high redshifts, at lower redshiftsExpand
The nightmare scenario: measuring the stochastic gravitational-wave background from stalling massive black-hole binaries with pulsar-timing arrays
• Physics
• 2017
Massive black hole binaries, formed when galaxies merge, are among the primary sources of gravitational waves targeted by ongoing pulsar timing array (PTA) experiments and the upcoming space-basedExpand
Massive Black Hole Binary Mergers in Dynamical Galactic Environments
• Physics
• 2017
Gravitational Waves (GW) have now been detected from stellar-mass black hole binaries, and the first observations of GW from Massive Black Hole (MBH) Binaries are expected within the next decade.Expand
What can we learn from pulsar timing arrays (or not) : constraining astrophysical parametric models with gravitational waves
Super massive black holes have been found in the centre of massive galaxies, which have also been observed to merge. Consequently, the central black holes should also form a binary and merge whenExpand
Post-Newtonian evolution of massive black hole triplets in galactic nuclei - III. A robust lower limit to the nHz stochastic background of gravitational waves
• Physics
• 2017
Inspiraling massive black-hole binaries (MBHBs) forming in the aftermath of galaxy mergers are expected to be the loudest gravitational-wave (GW) sources relevant for pulsar-timing arrays (PTAs) atExpand
Interactions between multiple supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei: a solution to the final parsec problem
• Physics
• 2018
Using few-body simulations, we investigate the evolution of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in galaxies ($M_{\star}=10^{10}-10^{12}{\rm M}_{\odot}$ at $z=0$) at $0<z<4$. Following galaxy mergerExpand
Constraining Supermassive Black Hole Binary Dynamics Using Pulsar Timing Data
• J. Ellis
• Physics
• Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
• 2015
Abstract The most likely sources of nanohertz gravitational waves (GWs) are supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the center of merging galaxies. A stochastic superposition of GWs from these sources isExpand

#### References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 75 REFERENCES
The imminent detection of gravitational waves from massive black-hole binaries with pulsar timing arrays
• Physics
• 2012
Recent observations of massive galaxies indicate that they double in mass and quintuple in size between redshift z = 1 and the present, despite undergoing very little star formation, suggesting thatExpand
Gravitational Waves Probe the Coalescence Rate of Massive Black Hole Binaries
• Physics
• 2003
We calculate the expected nHz-μHz gravitational wave (GW) spectrum from coalescing massive black hole (MBH) binaries resulting from mergers of their host galaxies. We consider detection of thisExpand
Systematic investigation of the expected gravitational wave signal from supermassive black hole binaries in the pulsar timing band
In this letter we carry out the first systematic investigatio n of the expected gravitational wave (GW) background generated by supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries in the nHz frequency bandExpand
The Most Massive Black Holes in the Universe: Effects of Mergers in Massive Galaxy Clusters
• Physics
• 2007
Recent observations support the idea that nuclear black holes grew by gas accretion while shining as luminous quasars at high redshift, and they establish a relation of the black hole mass with theExpand
Massive black hole remnants of the first stars - III. Observational signatures from the past
• Physics
• 2004
The first stars forming in minihaloes at redshifts z > 20 may have been very massive and could have left behind massive black hole (MBH) remnants. In previous papers we investigated the hierarchicalExpand
THE MERGER-DRIVEN EVOLUTION OF MASSIVE GALAXIES
We explore the rate and impact of galaxy mergers on the massive galaxy population using the amplitude of the two-point correlation function on small scales for M� > 5� 10 10 Mgalaxies from the COSMOSExpand
MINOR MERGERS AND THE SIZE EVOLUTION OF ELLIPTICAL GALAXIES
• Physics
• 2009
Using a high-resolution hydrodynamical cosmological simulation of the formation of a massive spheroidal galaxy we show that elliptical galaxies can be very compact and massive at high redshift inExpand
The merger rate of massive galaxies
• Physics
• 2006
We calculate the projected two-point correlation function for samples of luminous and massive galaxies in the COMBO-17 photometric redshift survey, focusing particularly on the amplitude of theExpand
The Assembly and Merging History of Supermassive Black Holes in Hierarchical Models of Galaxy Formation
• Physics
• 2003
We assess models for the assembly of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the center of galaxies that trace their hierarchical buildup far up in the dark halo merger tree. Motivated by the recentExpand
The stochastic gravitational-wave background from massive black hole binary systems: implications for observations with Pulsar Timing Arrays
• Physics
• 2008
Massive black hole binary systems, with masses in the range � 10 4 10 10 M⊙, are among the primary sources of gravitational waves in the frequency window � 10 −9 Hz 0.1Hz. Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTAs)Expand