Chaotic gas accretion by black holes embedded in AGN discs as cause of low-spin signatures in gravitational wave events

Abstract

Accretion discs around supermassive black holes not only power active galactic nuclei (AGNs), but also host single and binary embedded stellar-mass black holes (EBHs) that grow rapidly from gas accretion. The merger of these EBHs provides a promising mechanism for the excitation of some gravitational wave events observed by LIGO-Virgo, especially those with source masses considerably larger than isolated stellar-mass black hole binaries. In addition to their mass and mass-ratio distribution, their hitherto enigmatic small spin parameters (χeff) carry important clues and stringent constraints on their formation channels and evolutionary pathways. Here, we show that, between each coalescence, the typical rapid spin of the merged EBHs is suppressed by their subsequent accretion of gas from a turbulent environment, due to its ability to randomize the flow's spin orientation with respect to that of the EBHs on an eddy-turnover time-scale. This theory provides supporting evidence for the prolificacy of EBH mergers and suggests that their mass growth may be dominated by gas accretion rather than their coalescence in AGN discs.