Dynamical friction in gravitational atoms

Due to superradiant instabilities, clouds of ultralight bosons can spontaneously grow around rotating black holes, creating so-called “gravitational atoms”. In this work, we study their dynamical effects on binary systems. We first focus on open orbits, showing that the presence of a cloud can incre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of cosmology and astroparticle physics 2023-07, Vol.2023 (7), p.70
Main Authors: Tomaselli, Giovanni Maria, Spieksma, Thomas F.M., Bertone, Gianfranco
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
axions
GR black holes
gravitational waves / sources
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Summary:Due to superradiant instabilities, clouds of ultralight bosons can spontaneously grow around rotating black holes, creating so-called “gravitational atoms”. In this work, we study their dynamical effects on binary systems. We first focus on open orbits, showing that the presence of a cloud can increase the cross section for the dynamical capture of a compact object by more than an order of magnitude. We then consider closed orbits and demonstrate that the backreaction of the cloud's ionization on the orbital motion should be identified as dynamical friction. Finally, we study for the first time eccentric and inclined orbits. We find that, while ionization quickly circularizes the binary, it barely affects the inclination angle. These results enable a more realistic description of the dynamics of gravitational atoms in binaries and pave the way for dedicated searches with future gravitational wave detectors.
ISSN:1475-7516
1475-7516
DOI:10.1088/1475-7516/2023/07/070