Issue |
A&A
Volume 690, October 2024
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A299 | |
Number of page(s) | 13 | |
Section | Astrophysical processes | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202451304 | |
Published online | 18 October 2024 |
Dynamical friction from self-interacting dark matter
1
Universitäts-Sternwarte, Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Scheinerstr. 1, D-81679 München, Germany
2
Excellence Cluster ORIGINS, Boltzmannstrasse 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany
3
Institute for Theoretical Physics, Goethe University, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Received:
28
June
2024
Accepted:
15
July
2024
Context. Merging compact objects such as binary black holes provide a promising probe for the physics of dark matter (DM). The gravitational waves emitted during inspiral potentially allow one to detect DM spikes around black holes. This is because the dynamical friction force experienced by the inspiralling black hole alters the orbital period and thus the gravitational wave signal.
Aims. The dynamical friction arising from DM can potentially differ from the collisionless case when DM is subject to self-interactions. This paper aims to understand how self-interactions impact dynamical friction.
Methods. To study the dynamical friction force, we use idealised N-body simulations, where we include self-interacting dark matter.
Results. We find that the dynamical friction force for inspiralling black holes would be typically enhanced by DM self-interactions compared to a collisionless medium (ignoring differences in the DM density). At lower velocities below the sound speed, we find that the dynamical friction force can be reduced by the presence of self-interactions.
Conclusions. DM self-interactions have a significant effect on the dynamical friction for black hole mergers. Assuming the Chandrasekhar formula may underpredict the deceleration due to dynamical friction.
Key words: black hole physics / gravitational waves / methods: numerical / dark matter
© The Authors 2024
Open Access article, published by EDP Sciences, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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