Public Dissertation Talk by Chengcheng Xin, Columbia
This dissertation investigates the detectability and multimessenger signatures of two types of black hole binaries: compact supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) driven by gravitational wave inspiral, and the tidal disruptions of a star by a stellar-mass black hole (sBH) in close and low-eccentricity encounters (“Tidal-Peeling Events”, or TPEs). We investigate the demography of compact SMBHBs in LSST and their rates in LISA as milli-Hz GWs, using a quasar luminosity function. We assess their detectability as quasars with periodic variability (i) by combining hypothetical LISA detection and archival LSST data, and (ii) using LSST observations alone. We then study the EM signatures of TPEs using a suite of hydrodynamical simulations. We observe interesting tidal-peeling morphology and ultra-high, quasi-periodic accretion rates that can potential produce a new form of nuclear transient.
Note: A zoom link will be circulated by email.
Host/Advisor: Zoltan Haiman