Post-Newtonian simulations of super-massive black hole binaries in galactic nuclei

Abstract

We present some preliminary results from recent numerical simulations that model the evolution of super-massive black hole (SMBH) binaries in galactic nuclei. Including the post-Newtonian terms for the binary system and adopting appropriate models for the galaxies allows us, for the first time, to follow the evolution of SMBH binaries from kpc scales down to the coalescence phase. We use our results to make predictions of the detectability of such events with the gravitational wave detector LISA. © 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.